West Virginia Music Hall of Fame – Class of 2007
Little Jimmy Dickens-Country Music Legend.
When you think of Little Jimmy Dickens, you smile…He’s just one of those people who spreads happy, everywhere he goes.
Carrie Underwood
No doubt, Little Jimmy Dickens always left a big impression on those who encountered his big voice and huge talent. He was a one of a kind, 4-foot, 11-inch country & western star, who brought the Nudie Suit to Nashville, played a mean guitar, had a sharp wit, quick smile, he could make people laugh with his comedic novelty songs, and could bring a tear to the eye when he tore into a sorrowful country ballad.
“Tater”, as he was dubbed by Hank Williams from one of Jimmy’s most popular songs, brought joy to people throughout the world with his music and entertainment skills. In 1948, he became the first West Virginian to be named to the permanent cast of the Grand Ole Opry. He also holds the designation as the first country singer to travel around the world on tour, during the mid-1960’s. And in 1983, Little Jimmy Dickens became the first Mountain State native elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame’s first class of honorees in 2007.
James Cecil Dickens was born on December 19, 1920, in a town called Bolt, in the southeastern West Virginia coalfields of Raleigh County, about 20 miles from Beckley, WV. He was the oldest of 13 children. He grew up exposed to music played by his singing, guitar-picking mother and by a number of coal miner relatives.
While still a student in high school, he began singing on a radio show based in Beckley. Shortly after moving north to attend West Virginia University in Morgantown, Dickens began playing for radio station WMMN in Fairmont, WV, where he met T. Texas Tyler, whom he followed to Indianapolis in 1941 to play on Tyler’s new radio show. It was Tyler who dubbed him “Little Jimmy Dickens” while performing in Indiana.
The restless Dickens subsequently moved to Cincinnati; Topeka, Kansas; and in 1947 Saginaw, Michigan. His career got a big boost when played a show with Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff in Cincinnati. Acuff was so impressed with his talent and stage presence that he helped Dickens get a regular spot among the Opry’s cast in 1948, as well as a recording contract with Columbia Records.
Dickens found much success with Columbia, releasing a series of hit records from 1949 through the mid-60s with the label. Many of these songs were funny, novelty tunes that made humorous observations about country “hillbilly” life, or even about Jimmy’s short stature.
These included “Country Boy,” “Take an Old Cold ‘Tater (and Wait),’ “A-Sleepin’ at the Foot of the Bed,” “Hillbilly Fever, “I’m Little but I’m Loud,” “Out Behind the Barn,” and his biggest hit “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose.” In 1965 “the bird of paradise” flew up to #1 on the Country charts. It also reached #15 on the pop charts.
Dickens did not limit himself to recording only novelty numbers. In 1962, his “The Violet and the Rose,” a love ballad , broke into country’s top 10. Other love songs he recorded include “Another Bridge to Burn,” “We Could,” and “Life Turned Her That Way” He also liked to throw in a few rockabilly tunes to show off his underrated, aggressive guitar playing style and to get the dancers on the floor. You could throw quite a dance party with his songs “Salty Boogie,” “Hillbilly Fever,” “(I Got) a Hole in My Pocket” and “Hey Ma! (Hide the Daughter).”
The mid-1960’s found Dickens to be one of the busiest, and most travelled artists in country music. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, as well as other TV talk shows. He plowed new ground for country singers by visiting Europe 13 times to perform. He also made two trips to Vietnam to entertain American troops. Dickens was always a hit with the soldiers as his songs made them think fondly of home and then he would have them laughing at one of his hysterical novelty songs.
His 1964 international concert tour was the first in which a country singer fully circled the globe, with shows in Hawaii, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Turkey, Denmark, Germany, Canada and back to the US for a show in Minnesota, all within a three-month span. His performances were famous for his high-energy showmanship and the extraordinary musicianship of his band, the Country Boys.
The late ’60s and early ’70s saw a bit of a career change for Dickens as he switched record labels twice, first to Decca, then to United Artist. In 1975, he rejoined the Grand Ole Opry, which he had left in 1957 to perform with the touring Philip Morris Country Music Show.
Dickens’ career enjoyed a minor resurgence during the 2000s, thanks mainly to Brad Paisley. The fellow West Virginian featured Jimmy in several of his music videos. Paisley also included Dickens on some of his albums performing comedy skits as part of the Hall-of-Fame “Kung Pao Buckaroos.”
Little Jimmy Dickens focused most of his performing during the 2000s on the Grand Ole Opry. In April of 2010, this writer got to see Little Jimmy Dickens, aged 89, in a Grand Ole Opry show at the Ryman Auditorium. With a bounce in his step he hit the stage and “took over”. He was feisty, funny, brassy and humble as he delivered a short greatest hits set to a loving and adoring Nashville crowd.. *See photo.
Dickens performed at the Opry for the last time on December 20, 2014, the day after his 94th birthday. On Christmas Day, he suffered a stroke and died on January 2, 2015.
Little Jimmy Dickens & The Nudie Suit-Nashville Fashion Trend Setter.
After joining the Grand Ole Opry in the late 1940s, Jimmy Dickens was looking for ways to further distinguish himself onstage, so he went to Hollywood looking for flashier clothes. He found them at the shop of a Ukrainian tailor, Nuta Kotlyrenko, his friends and clients called him “Nudie”. At Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors in Hollywood, Nuta had Roy Rogers and Gene Autry for clients. He also outfitted the California based country & western band, The Maddox Brothers and Rose, so he also knew how to work with musical performers. Dickens also knew that no country music acts east of the Mississippi were taking the stage dressed as rodeo stars.
Little Jimmy Dickens was the first star from the Grand Ole Opry to appear in what became known as “Nudie suits.”
“I tried it both ways,” Dickens said, “I tried it in a neat little businessman suit. Didn’t work. But when I put one of these on and come on stage it’s ‘Wow.’ I’ve been wearing them ever since. And then everybody started wearing Nudie suits. That’s the main thing in country music, is to sell yourself to the audience, other than just singing to them. Because if I had to depend on my singing, I’d be up the creek.”
In 1950, Little Jimmy Dickens was the first Nashville-based artist to wear an embroidered Nudie suit onstage at the Opry. The next year, Lefty Frizzell became the first country singer to don a rhinestone-studded garment designed by Nudie. Other major Nudie clients included Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Webb Pierce, Ray Price and Porter Wagoner.
Source. Country Music Dayton Duncan – 2019. (Ken Burns supplement.)
RECOMMENDED LISTENING – by the author.
1. “Life Turned Her That Way”. Little Jimmy Dickens was a great ballad singer. Here’s proof. 1965.
Life Turned Her That Way – YouTube
2. Here’s a shot of rock-a-billy, Little Jimmy style. “Hillbilly Fever”. 1950.
3. This was Dickens’ first big hit, and the source of his nickname, “Tater”, which he got from Hank Williams. “Take An Old Cold Tater (And Wait). 1949.
Take An Old Cold Tater (And Wait) ~ Little Jimmy Dickens (1949) (youtube.com)
4. “Country Boy” – 1949. This song became his calling card and he often opened his shows by performing this number.
Little Jimmy Dickens – Country Boy – YouTube
5. In October of 1965, Little Jimmy Dickens took this song to #1 on the country charts and to #15 on the pop music charts. “May the Bird of Paradise Fly up Your Nose.” This video gives you a feel for the energy Dickens brought to the stage.
Little Jimmy Dickens – May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose 1965 (youtube.com)
Photos sources: Country Music Hall of Fame | Steve Goff | Grand Ole Opry
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Steve Goff is a past President of West Virginia Writers, Inc.; and his record reviews have appeared in national music publications such as Goldmine, Stereo Review, and Hit Parader. An avid music collector, he is still hanging onto over 8,000 pieces of recorded music, 6,200 of which are on poly-vinyl.
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