Old school rock and roll storms in with “In Thin Air” from The Jimmy Dixon Group
By Kurt Beyers
If rock and roll songs were rated like hurricanes, “In Thin Air,” from The Jimmy Dixon Group, would be a category 5.
First rain, then distant thunder, now driving, insistent piano and, ten seconds in, thunder riding on guitars crashes inside the earbuds. The storm rages righteously for another four minutes.
“We just tried to write a good, old fashioned rock and roll song,” said Jimmy, “where the listeners would wonder what happened to their socks: well, they got rocked off by The Jimmy Dixon Group! So, we wrote a little rock and roll tune for our vintage electric guitars and plugged ’em into an amp.”
Mission accomplished.
“Hopefully, people can dig the groove. It's just a song that makes you feel good.”
For those who want to groove on the lyrics:
Up in the thinnest of air
Fading a sense to care
No more pain
Lost touch of what is sane
“The great thing about a song is that it can have one meaning to one person and mean something completely different to someone else. And neither one is wrong. For me, it’s about, I guess, being on a higher plane,” said Jimmy, “however one gets there, and being able to think about who you are, what you’re doing, how you’re spending your time.”
Like, listening to rock and roll?
“That’s right. Exactly.”
The Jimmy Dixon Group is seven people, all with the surname Dixon (no relation anywhere) as far as anybody outside the group is concerned. The website carries the highly entertaining origin story, and anybody willing to believe it is welcome to do so.
Jimmy is lead vocals and, with his 1955 Martin D-28, “some guitar.” Chubbs Dixon is the drummer. Cranky Dixon has a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Special and his wife, “Midnight” Mae Dixon, is the pianist. Gary Dixon plays a 1968 Hofner 500/1 bass and sings backing vocals.
Capo Dixon, rhythm guitar, is supposedly named for his love of using a capo on his 1967 Martin D12-35 12-string acoustic and his 2017 Rickenbacker 660/12 electric.
Benmont Dixon plays strings.
“In Thin Air” is the second of 10 tracks on the album Rough Demos, released this year. This is the first music the group has released.
Jimmy tells the story of these seven people who just wanted to get together with their vintage instruments and their love for vintage rock and roll and write and play music. A couple years ago, they did just that. They gather in person from time to time but otherwise work and collaborate from a distance.
“We didn’t go into it thinking we would make an album. We just went into it thinking we’d have a little fun together, writing some songs and playing together. We spent a lot of time on it, and then all of a sudden we had songs that we had a lot of fun making, and we thought somebody would get a little joy out of listening. So we scraped together what we had in the studio and made an album.”
The Rough Demos name has its own origin story, supposedly being “recorded whenever and wherever the group could find an empty studio and an engineer who had his back turned,” according to the official group bio. Believing that is optional.
“We really love, and we’re really proud of, the album.”
Their music is inspired by “the roots of rock and roll,” said Jimmy.
He cites ’50s Chicago blues — Willie Dixon (no relation), Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Walter — then moving into the ’60s with artists such as Dylan, and on to the ’70s (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers).
The tracks, whether fast and furious like “In Thin Air” or meditative and whimsical like “Capo 5th Fret No. 2” (“Art is dead, long live the art/Priced to move at Neil’s new store”), are full of wonderful performances by the musicians.
They are about 90 percent done, he says, with the music that will be Rough Demos II, which will be released early next year.
They love the tones of the old instruments too, he said, especially the ’50s and ’60s Fenders, Gibsons and Martins.
“They just have their own unique sound that we really love. Nothing wrong with the new stuff, but we love the sound that you get from an old tweed amp after you plug in that Gibson Les Paul.”
“In Thin Air,” a fine piece of old-fashioned rock and roll, has, says Jimmy, “a nice groove to it and people can feel the rock and roll.”
He says the band has no career destination.
“We started out not really having a goal in mind, just playing and creating, having fun and getting joy out of music. We take it one small step at a time, and if we can connect with a couple people here and there who really like our music, that is tremendously exciting for us.”
Feel a vintage groove in modern form and connect to The Jimmy Dixon Group on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.
No comments:
Post a Comment