The music stuck in my head.

October 9, 2015 4:29 AM

Jim Dickinson was a musician, producer, and writer based in Memphis. A lifelong curator and steward of American music until his death in 2009, he fronted the band Mud Boy & the Neutrons and contributed to albums by Sleepy John Estes, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Albert King, Big Star, the Replacements, and many others. [This] essay...was adapted from his memoir The Search for Blind Lemon.

Some songs for while you read:

Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy
Jimmy Reed - Baby What You Want Me to Do
Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
Little Walter - My Babe
Piano Red - Rockin' With Red
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A Changin'
Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign
Dick "Two Ton" Baker: - Bert the Turtle (The Duck and Cover Song)
Howlin' Wolf - Spoonful
Memphis Jug Band - Cocaine Habit Blues
"Sleepy" John Estes - Drop Down Mama
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Black Snake Moan
John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom

posted by ellieBOA (6 comments total)

Gosh this is beautiful. Thanks for posting.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:12 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

I just bought his "Dixie Fried" album at a flea marker for $1.00 a couple weeks ago. It's a charming, ragged good time.
posted by davebush at 5:13 AM on October 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh hell yes. Thanks for this.

And you got Dixie Fried for $1? You lead a charmed life, friend.

I honestly expected American Horror Story to have a storyline based around O How She Dances last season. Can't believe they missed the boat on that one.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:16 AM on October 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Great post. Great. Thanks so much.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:17 AM on October 9, 2015

Yes, thank you.
posted by y2karl at 12:25 PM on October 9, 2015

Reading this made me nostalgic for Memphis like I haven't been since I left in aught-two, even though many of the places he describes were already gone by the time I got there in the mid-nineties. (I was there in time to see Ellis Auditorium come down; I remember the stage that had audience space on both sides of it, and didn't realize that they opened both sides for Elvis.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:03 PM on October 9, 2015