At 4ft 11in, Jimmy Dickens may have been the smallest performer to take to the stage of the weekly country music showcase Grand Ole Opry, but to country music enthusiasts he was one of the big stars of the 1950s and 60s, and remained a notable figure. Dickens, who has died aged 94, had the three great skills of the honky-tonk singer: he could invest a love song with feeling, swing an up-tempo number and get comic mileage out of a novelty song. Whether delivering We Could, Salty Boogie or May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose, he was convincing, likable and fun to watch. He joked about his size. He told the story of the fan who referred to him as “Mighty Mouse in pyjamas”, and sang with a relish a number called I’m Little But I’m Loud: “I’m little but I’m loud/I’m poor, but I’m proud/I’m countrified and I don’t care who knows it.”
He had an instinct for hiring top-class musicians, and his band, the Country Boys (named after one of his early hits), with the guitarists Jabbo Arrington and Grady Martin, and later Buddy Emmons, Spider Wilson and Thumbs Carllile, was one of the hottest on the country music circuit.
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