In the late 1960s, Dickinson joined with fellow Memphis musicians Charlie Freeman (guitar),
Michael Utley (keyboards), Tommy McClure (bass) and
Sammy Creason (drums); this group became known as the Dixie Flyers and backed a variety of performers, including Bettye LaVette,
Hank Ballard,
James Carr,
Albert Collins and
The Tempters. In 1970, the group began to back
Atlantic Records' venerable stable of soul acts at the behest of the producer
Jerry Wexler (who was introduced to the group by Booth) following the acrimonious dissolution of his relationship with the
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Based at
Criteria Studios in
Miami, Florida, they recorded
Aretha Franklin's 1970 hit "
Spirit in the Dark"; over the next year, the Flyers also contributed to recordings by
Carmen McRae,
Delaney & Bonnie,
Jerry Jeff Walker,
Dee Dee Warwick,
Ronnie Hawkins,
Sam & Dave,
Dion,
Brook Benton,
Lulu,
Sam the Sham, and
Esther Phillips. Unable to acclimate to life in Miami and the variegated production styles of Wexler,
Tom Dowd, and
Arif Mardin, Dickinson heeded the advice of
Duane Allman and left the group to pursue a solo career in 1971. The remaining Flyers backed
Kris Kristofferson and
Rita Coolidge for several years before ultimately disbanding in the mid-1970s. Dickinson's first
solo album,
Dixie Fried, was released by Atlantic in 1972. In addition to the
Carl Perkins-penned
title song, it featured
songs by
Bob Dylan and
Furry Lewis. In the 1970s, he became known as a producer, recording
Big Star's
Third in 1974, and serving as co-producer with
Alex Chilton of Chilton's 1979 album,
Like Flies on Sherbert. He produced recordings for performers as diverse as
Willy DeVille,
Green on Red,
Mojo Nixon,
The Replacements,
Tav Falco's Panther Burns,
Toots and the Maytals, and
Screamin' Jay Hawkins. He appeared in
Beale Street Saturday Night, a 1977 aural documentary of Memphis's
Beale Street, which featured performances by Sid Selvidge, Furry Lewis and Dickinson's band,
Mud Boy and the Neutrons. Dickinson contributed production and instrumentation to various recordings released on the underground Memphis Tennessee record label Barbarian Records. As a session musician, he played
tack piano with the
Rolling Stones for their recording of "
Wild Horses" at
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in December 1969; contributed to the
Flamin' Groovies' album
Teenage Head in 1971; worked with
Ry Cooder on nearly a dozen records beginning in 1972; recorded a one-off single ("Red Headed Woman") with the
Cramps in 1984. Dickinson played
electric piano and
pump organ on
Bob Dylan's 1997 album
Time Out of Mind. Also in 1997, Dickinson produced
Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing by the Australian band Kim Salmon & the Surrealists. In 1998, he produced
Mudhoney's
Tomorrow Hit Today. In May 1999, Dickinson participated in a one-time collaboration with
Jules Shear,
Harvey Brooks,
Paul Q. Kolderie,
Chuck Prophet,
Sean Slade, and Winston Watson to record the album
Raisins in the Sun, released by Rounder Records in 2001. His sons, Luther and Cody, who played on his 2002 solo album
Free Beer Tomorrow and the 2006 album
Jungle Jim and the Voodoo Tiger, have achieved success on their own as the
North Mississippi Allstars. Dickinson also made a recording with
Pete (Sonic Boom) Kember of
Spacemen 3. "Indian Giver" was released in 2008 by Birdman Records under the name of Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis, with Captain Memphis, obviously, referring to Dickinson. In 2003, Dickinson briefly appeared in
The Road to Memphis, part of
Martin Scorsese's television production
The Blues.
Free Beer Tomorrow (2002) was an album of covers. It included “The Ballad of Billy and Oscar,” by renegade art critic
Dave Hickey, and “Hungry Town,” written by
Green on Red alumnus / former Dickinson protégé
Chuck Prophet, along with Prophet’s main songwriting partner, klipschutz (pen name of Kurt Lipschutz). Prophet and klipschutz were amused but not disappointed that Dickinson changed some of the lyrics, according to an interview with Prophet. In the same interview, Prophet mentioned that his writing partner was credited on the disc as “klipshitz,” probably due to Dickinson’s poor handwriting. In 2007 Dickinson played with the Memphis-based rock band Snake Eyes. The band, formed by the Memphis musician
Greg Roberson (previously the drummer for Reigning Sound), also included Jeremy Scott (also from Reigning Sound), Adam Woodard, and John Paul Keith. The group disbanded in October 2008. Dickinson and Roberson went on to form another Memphis group, Ten High & the Trashed Romeos, with Jake and Toby Vest (of the Memphis band the Bulletproof Vests) and Adam Hill. The band recorded two albums, the first consisting of original compositions by Dickinson and the band, and the second consisting of
cover versions of songs originally recorded by Memphis
garage rock bands in the 1960s. ==Death==