# Little Jimmy Dickens

James Cecil Dickens (December 19, 1920 – January 2, 2015), better known by his stage name Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer and songwriter famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size (4'10" [150 cm]), and his rhinestone-studded outfits (which he is given credit for introducing into live country music performances). He started as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1948 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983. Before his death he was the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry.

## Early life

Dickens was born in Bolt, West Virginia. He began his musical career in the late 1930s, performing on radio station WJLS in Beckley, West Virginia, while attending West Virginia University. On the radio station, he got his experience with performers like Mel Steele, Molly O'Day and Johnnie Bailes. In the 1940s, Jimmy hosted his own radio programs in places like West Virginia, Indiana, Cincinnati, Kansas and even Ohio. He soon quit school to pursue a full-time music career, traveling the country performing on local radio stations under the name "Jimmy the Kid".

## Career

In 1948, Dickens was heard performing on WKNX, a radio station in Saginaw, Michigan, while on location at Buck Lake Ranch, Angola, Indiana. Roy Acuff introduced him to Art Satherley at Columbia Records and to officials from the Grand Ole Opry. Dickens signed with Columbia in September and joined the Opry in August. Around this time he began using the nickname Little Jimmy Dickens, inspired by his short stature.
Dickens recorded many novelty songs for Columbia, including "Country Boy", "A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed", and "I'm Little but I'm Loud". His song "Take an Old Cold Tater (And Wait)" inspired Hank Williams to nickname him Tater. Later, telling Dickens he needed a hit, Williams wrote "Hey Good Lookin'" in only 20 minutes while on a plane with Dickens, Minnie Pearl, and Pearl's husband, Henry Cannon. A week later, Williams recorded the song himself, jokingly telling Dickens, "That song's too good for you!", to which Dickens replied, "Much obliged, Hiram."
In 1950, Dickens formed the Country Boys with musicians Jabbo Arrington, Grady Martin, Bob Moore, and Thumbs Carllile. It was during this time that he discovered future Country Music Hall of Famer Marty Robbins at a Phoenix, Arizona, television station while on tour with the Grand Ole Opry road show. In 1957, Dickens left the Grand Ole Opry to tour with the Philip Morris Country Music Show.
In 1962, Dickens had his first top-10 country hit since 1954 with "The Violet and a Rose".
In 1964, he became the first country artist to circle the globe while on tour. He also made numerous appearances on television, including on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In 1965, he released his biggest hit, "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose", which reached number 1 on the country chart and number 15 on the pop chart.
In the late 1960s, Dickens left Columbia for Decca Records before moving again to United Artists in 1971. That same year, he married his wife, Mona, and in 1975 he returned to the Grand Ole Opry. In 1983. Dickens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Dickens joined producers Randall Franks and Alan Autry for the In the Heat of the Night cast CD Christmas Time's A Comin’, performing "Jingle Bells" with the cast. The CD was released by Sonlite and MGM/UA and was one of the most popular Christmas releases of 1991 and 1992 with Southern retailers.

### Later career

In 1984, Dickens appeared in Hank Williams Jr.'s music video for the hit single "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight".
Toward the end of his life, Dickens made appearances in a number of music videos by fellow West Virginia native and country musician Brad Paisley. He was also featured on several of Paisley's albums in bonus comedy tracks, along with other Opry mainstays such as George Jones and Bill Anderson. They were collectively referred to as the Kung-Pao Buckaroos.
With the death of Hank Locklin in March 2009, Dickens became the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry, at the age of 90. He made regular appearances as a host at the Opry, often with the self-deprecating joke that he was also known as "Willie Nelson after taxes", playing on his resemblance to Nelson in his later years, Nelson's highly publicized problems with the Internal Revenue Service, and Dickens' own short stature. At the 2011 CMA Awards, Dickens was dressed as Justin Bieber and made fun of Bieber's then-current paternity scandal.

## Personal life

Dickens married Connie Chapman in 1944; the marriage ended in divorce in 1955. Later that year, he married Ernestine Jones; she died in 1968 in an automobile accident while traveling in Texas. He married Mona Evans in 1971. They had two daughters, Pamela Detert and Lisa King.

## Death

Dickens was hospitalized after a stroke on December 25, 2014, six days after marking his birthday in what would be his last appearance on the Opry. He died of cardiac arrest on January 2, 2015, at the age of 94. After his funeral on January 8, 2015, at the Grand Ole Opry House, Dickens was entombed in the Cross Mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville.

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Year | Album details | Chart positions |
| Year | Album details | US Country |
| 1954 | Old Country Church Released: 1954 Label: Columbia | — |
| 1960 | Big Songs by Little Jimmy Dickens Released: September 1960 Label: Columbia | — |
| 1962 | Little Jimmy Dickens Sings Out Behind the Barn Released: September 1962 Label: Columbia | — |
| 1965 | Handle with Care Released: February 1965 Label: Columbia | — |
| 1965 | May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose Released: November 1965 Label: Columbia | 4 |
| 1968 | Big Man in Country Music Released: 1968 Label: Columbia | — |
| 1968 | Little Jimmy Dickens Sings Released: March 1968 Label: Decca | — |
| 1969 | Jimmy Dickens Comes Callin' Released: February 1969 Label: Decca | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. |||

### Compilation albums

| Year | Album details | Chart positions |
| Year | Album details | US Country |
| 1957 | Raisin' the Dickens Released: November 1957 Label: Columbia | — |
| 1966 | Little Jimmy Dickens' Greatest Hits Released: 1966 Label: Columbia | 39 |
| 1969 | Greatest Hits Released: 1969 Label: Decca | — |
| 1976 | Hymns of the Hour Released: 1976 Label: Quantum | — |
| 1983 | Historic Edition Released: 1983 Label: Columbia | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. |||

### Singles

| Year | Song | Peak positions | Peak positions | Album |
| Year | Song | US Country | US | Album |
| 1949 | "Take an Old Cold 'Tater (And Wait)" | 7 | — | Raisin' the Dickens |
| 1949 | "Country Boy" | 7 | — | Raisin' the Dickens |
| 1949 | "My Heart's Bouquet" | 10 | — | Big Songs by Little Jimmy Dickens |
| 1949 | "A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed" | 6 | — | Raisin' the Dickens |
| 1950 | "A Rose from the Bride's Bouquet" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1950 | "Hillbilly Fever" | 3 | — | Non-album singles |
| 1950 | "F-o-o-l-i-s-h M-e" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1950 | "Walk, Chicken, Walk" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1950 | "Out of Business" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1950 | "I'm Little, but I'm Loud" | — | — | Raisin' the Dickens |
| 1951 | "Cold Feet" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1951 | "What About You" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1951 | "Sign On the Highway" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1951 | "Poor Little Darlin'" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1951 | "Old Rugged Cross" (with the Johnson Family Singers) | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1952 | "They Locked God Outside the Iron Curtain" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1952 | "Lola Lee" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1952 | "Hot Diggity Dog" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1952 | "Waitress, Waitress" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1952 | "Take Up Thy Cross" | — | — | Old Country Church |
| 1952 | "No Tears in Heaven" | — | — | Old Country Church |
| 1952 | "Wedding Bell Waltz" | — | — | Non-album single |
| 1953 | "I Shall Not Be Moved" | — | — | Old Country Church |
| 1953 | "Sidemeat and Cabbage" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1953 | "I'm Making Love to a Stranger" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1953 | "Thick and Thin" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1953 | "No Place Like Home on Christmas" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1954 | "That Little Old Country Church House" | — | — | Old Country Church |
| 1954 | "Y'All Come Home" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1954 | "You Better Not Do That" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1954 | "Out Behind the Barn" | 9 | — | Raisin' the Dickens |
| 1954 | "Blackeyed Joe's" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1954 | "Stinky Pass the Hat Around" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1955 | "Salty Boogie" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1955 | "We Could" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1955 | "I'm Braver Now" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1956 | "Hey Worm (You Wanna Wiggle)" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1956 | "Big Sandy" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1956 | "Country Boy Bounce" (with the Country Boys) | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1956 | "Cornbread and Buttermilk" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1956 | "Say It Now" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1956 | "Raisin' the Dickens" (with the Country Boys) | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1957 | "I Never Had the Blues" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1957 | "Makin' the Rounds" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1957 | "Family Reunion" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1958 | "(I Got a) Hole in My Pocket" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1959 | "When Your House Is Not a Home" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1959 | "Hannah" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1959 | "Hey Ma (Hide the Daughter)" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1960 | "We Lived It Up" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1960 | "Fireball Mail" | — | — | Big Songs by Little Jimmy Dickens |
| 1961 | "Talking to the Wall" | — | — | Non-album single |
| 1962 | "Twenty Cigarettes" | — | — | Out Behind the Barn |
| 1962 | "The Violet and a Rose" | 10 | — | Out Behind the Barn |
| 1962 | "Police, Police" | — | — | Non-album single |
| 1963 | "Another Bridge to Burn" | 28 | — | Handle with Care' |
| 1964 | "I Leaned Over Backwards for You" | — | — | Handle with Care' |
| 1964 | "Is Goodbye That Easy to Say" | — | — | Handle with Care' |
| 1965 | "He Stands Real Tall" | 21 | — | Handle with Care' |
| 1965 | "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" | 1 | 15 | May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose |
| 1966 | "When the Ship Hit the Sand" | 27 | 103 | Greatest Hits |
| 1966 | "Who Licked the Red Off Your Candy" | 41 | — | Big Man in Country Music |
| 1966 | "Where the Buffalo Trud" | — | — | Big Man in Country Music |
| 1967 | "Country Music Lover" | 23 | — | Big Man in Country Music |
| 1967 | "Jenny Needs a G-String (For Her Old Guitar)" | — | — | Big Man in Country Music |
| 1967 | "Daddy and the Wine" | — | — | Little Jimmy Dickens Sings |
| 1968 | "I Love Lucy Brown" | — | — | Little Jimmy Dickens Sings |
| 1968 | "How to Catch an African Skeeter Alive" | 69 | — | Little Jimmy Dickens Comes Callin' |
| 1968 | "Someday You'll Call My Name" | — | — | Little Jimmy Dickens Comes Callin' |
| 1968 | "When You're Seventeen" | 55 | — | Greatest Hits (1969) |
| 1969 | "Times Are Gonna Get Better" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1970 | "(You've Been Quite a Doll) Raggedy Ann" | 75 | — | Non-album singles |
| 1970 | "Everyday Family Man" | 70 | — | Non-album singles |
| 1971 | "Here It Comes Again" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1971 | "You Only Want Me for My Body" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1972 | "Try It, You'll Like It" | 61 | — | Non-album singles |
| 1972 | "Alabam" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1973 | "Dead Skunk" | — | — | Non-album singles |
| 1976 | "Preacherman" | — | — |
| 1978 | "How Much is That Picture of Jesus?" | — | — |
| Dash denotes releases that did not chart. |||||
Notes A^ "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" also peaked at number 4 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles Chart.

### B-sides

| Year | Song | Peak positions | A-Side Single |
| Year | Song | US Country | A-Side Single |
| 1949 | "Pennies for Papa" | 12 | "Take an Old Cold 'Tater (And Wait)" |
| 1962 | "Honky Tonk Troubles" | 25 | "The Violet and a Rose" |