INFLUENCED
INFLUENCED: Randy Houser and Little Jimmy Dickens
On Sunday, May 23rd, singer-songwriter Randy Houser had an opportunity of a lifetime when he spent some time with country music legend and Grand Ole Opry fixture Little Jimmy Dickens. The pair was included among those traveling on Southwest Airlines’ inaugural flight from Nashville to Panama City Beach, Florida. Along the way, Dickens shared his valuable knowledge from his 60-plus year career in country music with the still relatively new artist. Randy shares, “Jimmy was such a cool cat. He’s 89 years old, and, you know, that guy moved to Nashville in 1948 and so you think about the wisdom that you get from those years.” He continues, “He has a lot of fans. I promise you, when we went down there, there was a whole lot more people there to see Little Jimmy Dickens than there were to see Randy Houser…he takes care of his fans immensely. It was amazing to watch.”
Houser explains that watching the legend’s work ethic in action and seeing how he treated his fans was an important experience for him to witness. He reveals, “At 89 years old, he could easily not give a damn, you know? But, at that age, he still really cares about going out and taking care of his fans… To see the class that he had as that guy and to be doing it that long and not shunning people and going ‘I ain’t doin’ that,” it was amazing to watch. There were things that he told me that I can’t share that were basically to teach me to always be good to folks.”
While today’s generation of country fans are familiar with Little Jimmy Dickens as one of Brad Paisley’s favorite people to use for cameos in his music videos and as the four-foot-eleven elder statesman in flashy rhinestone suits at the Opry, Dickens earned his stardom when he began his career in the late 1940s. But, before he made the move to Nashville and achieved fame, James Cecil Dickens was the oldest of 13 children in West Virginia where he sang on WOLS in Beckley, West Virginia, with other performers like Molly O’Day. Jimmy’s career in radio continued with his very own radio shows in big cities like Indianapolis and Cincinnati and it was in Cincinnati where he caught the ear of Roy Acuff in 1947. Acuff notified Opry and Columbia Records about the talented entertainer which led to Dickens’ record deal and Opry membership in 1948.
Success followed in the form of novelty songs like 1949’s “Take an Old Cold ‘Tater (And Wait)” – which inspired his nickname of “Tater,” given to him by Hank Williams – and “Country Boy,” as well as 1950’s “I’m Little But I’m Loud” and “A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed.” It was a novelty song that gave Dickens his biggest hit, the number one song “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose” in 1965; however, his triumphs with these tunes were both a blessing and a curse as his more serious ballads like “I’ve Just Got to See You Once More” and “My Heart’s Bouquet” were overlooked at times. Jimmy is also skilled in the impressive art of recitation as displayed in “Raggedy Ann (You’ve Been Quite a Doll).”
During his career, Dickens has traveled extensively, visiting Europe 13 times and Vietnam twice to entertain troops. He also is noted for discovering singer-songwriter Marty Robbins. Jimmy continued to collect Top 40 country hits on and off until 1967 when he scored his last charting song “Country Music Lover,” but good times were still in abundance for Dickens as he married his beloved wife Mona in 1971 and was awarded membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983.
Today, Little Jimmy Dickens continues to proudly represent country music during his regular appearances at the Grand Ole Opry, where he holds the distinction of being the oldest member of the cast. Despite his small stature, he makes a big impression on the audiences he entertains with his hit songs and impressive collection of jokes.
Image courtesy of Frederick Breedon / Getty Images
Adapted from "Little Jimmy Dickens." Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Country Music Foundation, Inc., n.d. Web. 16 Jun 2010. <http://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/full-list-of-inductees/view/little-jimmy-dickens>.
Adapted from "Jimmy Dickens." Grand Ole Opry. Gaylord Entertainment, n.d. Web. 16 Jun 2010. <http://www.opry.com/artists/d/Dickens_Jimmy.html>.
Nikita Palmer for Citadel Digital © 2010
