Jim Dickinson and The Catmando Quartet - Monkey Man/Shake'Em On Down

I swear, my Law of Household Appliances is undefeated: if it has a motherboard, it will eventually decide it’s had enough of your nonsense and die dramatically. My Humminguru joined the Great Electronic Exodus this weekend, and from what I can tell, the motherboard just… quit. Clocked out. Took its lunch break and never came back. Exactly like the washing machine. I’m starting to think modern devices are built out of compressed hopes and recycled potato chips.

I reached out to them, and hopefully it won’t cost me much to fix, because nothing reminds you how much you love a machine until you’re suddenly hand‑cleaning records like it’s 1958 and you’re auditioning for a job at Sun Records. I have officially joined the lazy generation, and I’m not going back. If the Humminguru doesn’t revive, I may hold a small memorial service.

Today’s feature: Jim Dickinson, producer extraordinaire, professional name‑drop magnet, and one of those guys whose résumé reads like he accidentally wandered into every major moment in American music history. The first time I saw his name was, of course, tied to Big Star and The Replacements — the gateway drugs for all respectable record nerds. But here he is in his early swamp‑rock‑blues days, fronting the Catmando Quartet before the Dixie Flyers ever existed.

And I learned some things I absolutely did not know. For example: he sang lead and played piano on a 45 by the Jesters on Sun Records even though he wasn’t in the group. Did he just walk in and do it. I have that 45, so expect it to show up here eventually like a guest star in a sitcom crossover episode.

In the 60's he formed the Dixie Flyers, who backed Bettye LaVette, Hank Ballard, James Carr, Albert Collins — basically everyone your record shelves whisper about at night. Then Atlantic Records got involved, and suddenly they’re recording with Aretha, Delaney & Bonnie, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dee Dee Warwick, Ronnie Hawkins, Sam & Dave, Dion, Brook Benton, Lulu, Sam the Sham, Esther Phillips… and oh yeah, Jim even played on Wild Horses with the Rolling Stones. There are documentaries about the Wrecking Crew and Muscle Shoals, but none on the Dixie Flyers, which feels like a crime against music nerd humanity. You can find bits and pieces on Jim on Youtube.

And the name‑dropping doesn’t stop. Dickinson produced Big Star’s Third — the greatest beautiful disaster ever pressed (a stunning record- my go to Big Star record even though it could be technically called an Alex Chilton solo lp and I bought an OG on PVC 30+ years ago for $10..hey, go ME) — but he also produced Willy DeVille, Green on Red, Mojo Nixon, Mudhoney, The Replacements (Pleased to Meet Me, the first Replacements album I bought new), Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, Toots & the Maytals, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. He worked with Ry Cooder, the Flamin’ Groovies, The Cramps, Bob Dylan, Kim Salmon from the Scientists. He even recorded with Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3. Holy smokes, this man was plugged into everything.

But here we have him at the very beginning, trying on the “maybe I could have a hit” version of himself — swampy, gritty, bluesy, and already cooler than any of us will ever be.