MusicsWeek: How did you get started in music?
Jimmy Dixon: I started playing piano at an early age and found that I more enjoyed making up little melodies of my own than playing other people's music. It was more fun and interesting playing something that I had thought of - fast forward a number of years and this same phenomenon occurs when I sit down with a guitar. I wrote my first song on the guitar when I was 16, a song called "Do You Remember Getting High?" Really deep stuff [laughs]. You know, Jackson Browne wrote "These Days" when he was 16 and I wrote a song about teenagers reminiscing about a time when they got high [shakes his head].
MusicsWeek: What inspired you to become a musician?
Jimmy Dixon: I don't know what inspired me to become a musician and songwriter - I'm inspired by songwriters that I admire, but to write a song, that creative desire has just always been lurking somewhere inside my head. Writing a song is such an odd phenomenon: sometimes it's there and 2 or 3 songs come out in the matter of days or even hours. Those times it seems like the songs are just writing themselves. Other times it's elusive and nothing good comes for months on end. But when the muse appears, it would just be impolite to ignore it.
MusicsWeek: What's your favorite memory related to music?
Jimmy Dixon: My favorite memories related to music are those little moments when you connect with another musician on the direction of a song. When you have an idea for a song and someone says, "have you thought of this or that" and all of a sudden that song becomes something different and so much better than what it sounded like in your head. That happened with a song called "Afternoon Sundown" on our album The Rough Demos. I'm so proud of how that song turned out because it is so different in its finished form than what I had initially going through my head. And so much better. And that is because of others involved in the creative process and the ideas they brought to the song. Those connections and moments are my favorite memories related to music.
MusicsWeek: What's your biggest passion outside of music?
Jimmy Dixon: When I'm not writing, recording, or listening to music, I like to be out in nature. Whether that's in my own yard or garden or in a national park. As Mudcrutch wrote, "it's a beautiful world."
MusicsWeek: How do you stay motivated and inspired?
Jimmy Dixon: Sometimes I think the inspiration to write a song is innate, you don't know where it comes from but it's just always there. I enjoy sitting down with a guitar and letting the guitar do the talking. Sometimes it wants to talk endlessly and other times it's not in the mood. But the guitar plays itself, I'm just there to take notes. The desire or inspiration to create something new and interesting musically, that is just there. Even when you wouldn't think it was there - a song called "1956" on our album, I woke up in the middle of the night with that song melody and lyrics in my head and went into the kitchen and sang it into a recorder. And then recorded it in the studio a couple days later. Where did it come from?
MusicsWeek: Have you ever been influenced by a particular era of music (e.g. 80s, 90s)?
Jimmy Dixon: I think there was just an explosion of lyricism that came out of the 1950s and 1960s, starting with the roots of rock and roll. Artists such as Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Walter to name a few. And then you had Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and others just build on that lyrical foundation. You may not like the rock and roll or blues genre of music but, boy, people have been trying to write lyrics as good as those in "The Seventh Son" or "Desolation Row" and failing miserably. Myself included.
MusicsWeek: Do you have a favorite instrument or instrument family (e.g. guitar, piano)?
Jimmy Dixon: I don't like to say too loud which one of my guitars is my favorite, it tends to make the others feel bad [laughs]. But for me, I particularly enjoy the sound one can get out of an old 1960s Brazilian Rosewood Martin 12-string guitar. There's nothing in the world that sounds anything like it. I've said too much.
MusicsWeek: What inspires your songwriting? Do you draw from personal experiences or fictional stories?
Jimmy Dixon: I think moments and experiences in one's life ultimately are the foundation for songwriting inspiration. It doesn't seem like I am in control of the songwriting inspiration, it just comes and goes as it pleases. I love writing a good story song, for instance the song "Black Thunder" (a simple version was recorded for The Rough Demos and the full version will be released on the group's new album) is the best story song I have ever written. And I honestly didn't know what it was about until after it was written. I looked at the full lyrics and it hit me. But that is what I love about songs - the lyrics can mean one thing to one person and something totally different to another. And that is fine. What "Black Thunder" means to me, a song about a feeling of something's about to happen but you don't know what or if it is good or bad, that might not be at all what someone else takes away from it. That's the great thing about good songwriting.
MusicsWeek: Who is your dream collaborator or artist to work with?
Jimmy Dixon: Many of my dream collaborators have passed on unfortunately: Nick Drake, Willie Dixon, Tom Petty to name a few. The obvious answer here is Bob Dylan - but who can write a song with Bob Dylan? I, for one, would surely only make it worse! I've always found Patty Griffin writes such powerful lyrics, I've always wanted to write a song like Patty Griffin but I can't so I don't. You know who also writes a damn good song these days? Ruston Kelly. Man, can he write some lyrics! To be able to collaborate with this caliber of songwriters would be a dream come true but, thinking about it now, I'd only make it worse!
MusicsWeek: How do you engage with your fans online and offline? Do you have any favorite social media platforms or strategies for connecting with them?
Jimmy Dixon: We're not big social media people. That's just not who we are, fortunately or unfortunately. We have a website where people can see what we are up to or get in contact with us, I promise if you send an email, you get a personal response. But we don't have a Facebook page or Instagram or whatever the newest ones happen to be. Probably not the best promotional strategy for the 2020s but I found it's better to be genuine and true to oneself than try to be something you are not.
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