Country music has lost one of it's brightest stars with the passing of "Little Jimmy Dickens".
Mr. Dickens was born amid the frigid coal fields of southeastern W.Va., on Dec. 19, 1920. He was raised in a town called Bolt, the youngest of 13 children. His childhood was marked by poverty, sacrifice and music. His mother and three uncles played guitar, and as a boy he sat wide-eyed and watched his family members play and sing.
Mr. Dickens, who stood 4-foot-11, was known as “the little man with the big voice.” He endeared himself to country audiences with his jovial personality, rhinestone-studded suits and a crackerjack band that included some of the finest session players in Nashville.
As a member of the Hall of Fame, Mr. Dickens could rightly view himself as a peer to his own heroes — men like Williams and Roy Acuff — and yet he retained a sense of wonder about being in the presence of such men.
“Sometimes I can’t believe that I’m thought of as someone who’s contributed to this industry,” Mr. Dickens said in a 1995 interview. “It’s hard for me to explain how I feel about it. Because country music is my life. I’ve lived it.”
Today’s country music fan can’t think of Little Jimmy Dickens without thinking of Brad Paisley immediately afterward. The two appeared to be close friends on and off stage and, as it turns out, nothing could be more true.
After learning of the 94-year-old’s death on Friday, Paisley took to Twitter, opening up about why Dickens was his hero and — most importantly — why country fans should not be mourning the man some called “Tater”.
