BIOGRAPHY
As a producer, Jim has worked with artists such as John Eddie and the North Mississippi AllStars. Jim has also produced the Boondogs for garageband.com and a few tracks for Rod Piazza/Tone Cool. Prior to that he produced Alvin Youngblood Hart for Rykodisc and Steve Forbert for Koch, Calvin Russell/Last Call, Willy De Ville/East West GmbH and tracks for V2's Giant Sand. Jim has also produced Mudhoney's Tomorrow Hit Today/Reprise and has mixed tracks for Skeleton Key/Capitol and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

The multi-talented and highly acclaimed Jim Dickinson is legendary is the music industry. He's made the pages of books such as, "White Boy Singin' the Blues: The Black Roots of White Rock"/ Michael Bane/PENGUIN BOOKS, "Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom"/Peter Guralnick/HARPER AND ROW, "Good Rockin' Tonight: SUN Records and the Birth of Rock 'n Roll"/Colin Escott with Martin Hawkins/ST. MARTINS PRESS, "Dance with the Devil: An authorized biography of the Rolling Stones"/Stanley Booth/RANDOM HOUSE, "Up and Down with the Rolling Stones: The Inside Story"/"Spanish" Tony Sanchez/SIGNET, "12 Days on the Road: The Sex Pistols in America"/Noel Monks and Jimmy Gutterman/MORROW, and "Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music"/Jerry Wexler/ST. MARTIN'S PRESS. He's been written up in such magazines as Billboard, MIX, Village Voice, Memphis Flyer, Musician, Reel to Reel, Airplay, Memphis Business Journal and Hit Parader. He's also been in documentary videos such as Rhythm, Country and Blues /MCA, Hip to the Tip / History of Atlantic Records, D.O.A.: Sex Pistols U.S. Tour, Gimme Shelter/Rolling Stones /Maezel Bros. and All We Need is Love for the BBC. Jim was also on the film 40 Shades of Blue which featured Rip Torn.

His career began in the '50's as a east Memphis teenager. He was first signed as an artist to Rubin Cherry's Home of the Blues label on Beale Street. His next move was to the legendary Sun Records. Besides his own projects, as a musician, he's been a successful sideman as a keyboardist for The Rolling Stones on "Wild Horses", Aretha Franklin on "Don't Play That Song", "Thrill is Gone", "Spirit in the Dark", Arlo Guthrie on "City of New Orleans", Dr. John, Albert Collins, Albert King, Johnny Cash, Alex Chilton, Jerry Jeff Walker, Eric Clapton, The Cramps, Sam & Dave, John Hiatt, Los Lobos, Carmen McRae, and on Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind/Columbia which was certified Gold.

Also a songwriter, Jim has had success with songs such as "If U Got It (I Can Get It) recorded by Albert King, "Sanctified" recorded by Ronnie Millsap, and songs for soundtrack albums such as The Border a Universal Pictures release with co-writers such as Ry Cooder and John Hiatt, Paris, Texas a 20th Century Fox release, Streets of Fire a Universal Pictures release, The Long Riders a United Artists release, and Blue City a Paramount Pictures release, among others.

Jim's multitude of musical interests made having his own studio an obvious choice. Zebra Ranch is located in a barn in rural north Mississippi. In addition to the usual digital and analog gear at his disposal, Dickinson has an array of vintage gear, including a San Angelo Ampex tube 8-track, which he has used for treating guitar sounds and for recording. The studio has the same type of acoustic tile used in the original Sun Studio. "The room is what I record, and it is half the struggle," says Dickinson. "How you put the instruments in the room, to me, is a lot more important than how you put the sounds on the tape. That is what you are there to record..."

Jim Dickinson's career as a producer (Big Star, Replacements, Texas Tornados) and a side man (Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan) has overshadowed Jim's career as a solo artist. He has re-emerged, however, with Free Beer Tomorrow, his first solo studio album in 30 years, and it's a welcome return. As on Dixie Fried, his 1972 debut, Dickinson proves to adept at unearthy songs that suit his vocal style. He can sound like a southern hipster or a world-weary philosopher, dispensing hard-earned wisdom.

On Blaze Foley's "If I Could Only Fly" (previously covered by Merle Haggard), he brings out the song's theme of regret and wistfulness without being overwrought. By contrast, "Asshole" is a cheecky put down that uses a lighter vocal and musical touch. " Last Night I Gave Up Smoking ", with its punch line of " tonight I'm giving up you," is a Bob Frank song that's tailor-made for Dickinson.

"I've never met a man with more great ideas and applied talent in a recording session than Jim Dickinson. His work with the Mississippi blues artist has not only been beneficial to the "Blues Movement" as a whole, but has been instrumental in bringing the blues medium to the commercial forefront. Save some of your talent for Ace. We'll be calling on you again soon."
- Johnny Vincent, Ace Records, Jackson, Mississippi

PARTIAL DISCOGRAPHY