By Michael Swanger michael@dmcityview.com

Dickerson spreading the gospel of rockabilly

If a musician’s talent, hard work, courage and determination could be measured and compensated for — say, like royalty fees based on radio play — Deke Dickerson would have been a millionaire a long time ago. As it turns out, the immensely talented singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer-record label owner doesn’t enjoy the fortune and fame of his less- or equally-talented peers that are heard (or not heard) on the radio. But what Dickerson lacks in mass acclaim, he makes up for in respect from fellow musicians and a cult-like following from ubér-hip underground audiences that frequent his stellar live shows and buy his stylistic records.

The Reverend Horton Heat calls Dickerson “the best rockabilly guitar player in the whole world.” Ask anyone who has attended one of Dickerson’s shows or bought one of his records (digital or analog) and they’ll tell you that such a declaration is difficult to dispute. But despite the accolades Dickerson has earned over the years — including those from the media — the greater record-buying public continues to largely ignore him.

“It’s hard to tell the public what to do, especially in a democratic society because it’s a pinball game and the ball’s always going to fall a certain way and you’re not going to do much to change them,” the 39-year-old Dickerson says. “But I know for a fact, when people see us play they like us and come back to see us time and time again.”

The trick for Dickerson, like for so many great artists who inexplicably go relatively unnoticed, is to get people to see his show for the first time. It is an amazing amalgam of American music including rockabilly, early rock ‘n’ roll (less rock, more roll), vintage R&B, twangy country, doo-wop and surf. And like his heroes — from the well-known points of reference like Bill Haley’s Comets and Scotty Moore, to more obscure influences like Merle Travis, Joe Maphis and Jimmy Bryant — Dickerson possesses an inherent ability to entertain with virtuoso-like musicianship, energy, creativity and sly humor.

Highly regarded in the Americana field as a true musicologist and historian, what sets Dickerson apart from flash-in-the-pan “retro” artists and “revivalists” isn’t just the fact that he truly believes such classic forms of music are as relevant today as they were in their hey-day 50 years ago, or that there’s more to it than simply playing valuable old guitars and amps and wearing vintage clothes. The music is more important to him than that. What makes him unique is his ability to simultaneously preserve and move forward American roots music with style and dynamism in a way that isn’t contrived or hokey, which is why many people consider him to be one of the best torch bearers for this kind of music in the 21st century.

“I hate words like ‘authentic’ and ‘retro’ because it pigeonholes the music,” says Dickerson, who was born and raised in Columbia, Mo., and decided what he wanted to do for a living when he was 9 years old after seeing Chuck Berry do the duck-walk on television. “It’s classic American music. It always struck me as funny that if you play ‘traditional’ or ‘authentic’ jazz or blues, it’s acceptable. But if you play ‘traditional’ or ‘authentic’ rock ‘n’ roll, it’s ‘nostalgic’ or ‘retro’ and it’s not taken seriously and that’s always bugged me.

“I think we just haven’t had enough time pass between the ’50s and now for it to be acknowledged as the great form of American music that it is, and I think 100 years from now they’ll be playing rockabilly, and that kind of music, because it’s one of our music forms.”

The irony of today’s disposable society that unknowingly champions nostalgic music of another era isn’t lost on Dickerson. Pop music is recycled every 20 years because when we Americans find a good use for our past, we stick with it. Like a lot of Generation X kids growing up during the ’70s, Dickerson was exposed to a ’50s revival that included pop culture hits like “Happy Days,” “American Graffiti” and “Grease.” [Later, those same points of reference included the Blasters and Stray Cats during the ’80s and Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys and Wayne Hancock in the ’90s.] So when he turns on the radio today and hears rehashed ’70s rock pass as “modern rock” or “country music,” he’s amused.

“The funny thing is now if you do anything ’70s that’s completely acceptable,” says Dickerson, who moved to Los Angeles in 1991 and co-founded the popular hillbilly music group Dave and Deke Combo for five years before striking out on his own in 1996. “If you look at the fashion and the guitar sounds on Top-40 radio a lot of it sounds like 1974 [which Brian Setzer warned us about in 1981’s “Rock This Town”] and nobody says this is a ’70s throwback record — it’s just accepted.

“When it comes to rock ‘n’ roll we’re of this mindset that only the current flavor of the month is serious music. If you play music from the ’50s or ’60s it’s not taken seriously. It’s like Sha-Na-Na or ‘Freedom Rock,’ and it’s made fun of. But in time I think music like rockabilly will be considered very serious American folk music like blues and jazz.”

In the meantime, Dickerson continues to spread the gospel of rockabilly and all things born out of a different era and region from which he hails but clearly identifies with: he plays an average of 225 concerts a year, including headlining gigs at rockabilly festivals from Las Vegas to Finland; he runs his own record company, Ecco-Fonic Records, and sells his albums out of the back of his van and online [www.dekedickerson.com]; he promotes his own Guitar Geek and Dave and Deke Hillbilly festivals [complete with an onstage outhouse] that feature artists deserving of more attention; and he writes for Guitar Player magazine and pens liner notes for Bear Family Records.

“I truly believe this music has a universal appeal because we’ve played in front of 60-year-old blue haired grannies, bikers, punk rockers, college kids and people in Japan and Australia and they all love it,” Dickerson says. “There’s definitely a scene for rockabilly all over the country and world. And if you think it’s important to have musicians playing live music in your community, whether it’s rockabilly or something else, you need to go out and support them.”

Scene notes
The new Red Rock Café, 4995 Merle Hay Road, will host “Saucy Blues ‘n’ Ribs” every Wednesday night. Local and regional blues bands will perform from 9 p.m. to midnight. Scotty & the Wingtips perform Aug. 22. Admission is free. Call 331-2317. … Homers Music in Urbandale will host a free in-store performance by MoZella on Thursday at 4 p.m. It is the 23-year-old pop pianist’s only Des Moines appearance. … The Maintenance Shop in Ames kicks off its fall semester series of shows with a performance on Friday at 9 p.m. by local rockers Saint Radar, The Lone Strangers and SNAFU. Visit www.m-shop.com. … The Civic Music Association’s Sixth Annual Moveable Feast will be held Friday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the East Village. Musicians will perform inside and outside shops. The Sam Salomone Trio will play at 7:30 p.m. with coffee and dessert served during its show. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Call 290-4020 or visit www.civicmusic.org. … Karaoke-Stock 2007, a three-day music event that benefits the Muscular Dystrophy Association, runs Friday (6 p.m.-midnight 21 and over), Saturday (2-8 p.m. all ages; 8 p.m.-midnight 21 and over) and Sunday (noon-8 p.m. all ages) in the parking lot at Rookies, 6151 Thornton Ave. In addition to non-stop karaoke, the free event includes games, contests and raffles. Visit www.bookshowtime.com or call 208-1782. … Live music by Rob Lumbard (noon), The Soul Searchers (2:30) and The Tony Valdez Large Group (7-10 p.m.) will be featured at the Iowa Wine Festival on Saturday on the Indianola town square. Visit www.iowawinefestival.org. … The Skunk River Blues and Jazz Festival will be held Saturday from noon to 10 p.m. at South Park in Story City. Performing artists include the Dixie Slicks Band, Rich Beachler Quartet, Matt Woods and The Thunderbolts, Fuzion Mix featuring Del “Saxman” Jones, Sam Salomone Trio and Bob Dorr & the Blue Band. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children 16 and under. Proceeds benefit the Bethany Life Foundation, which assists elderly Iowans with health care. Call (515) 733-4325 or visit www.bethanylife.org. … River Roots Live, a two-day music and ribs festival, will be held at LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport on Friday and Saturday. Friday’s performers include Joe Price, Kevin Gordon, William Elliott Whitmore, The Andrew Landers Project and Reel Big Fish. Saturday’s lineup includes Daphne Willis and Co., Charlie Hunter Trio, Tea Leaf Green and America. Daily admission is $10. Two-day passes are $15. Call (563) 322-1706 or visit www.rivverrootslive.com. … The Des Moines Music Collectors Show returns Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Downtown Holiday Inn, 1050 6th Ave. Admission is $1. Call 284-1401. … “Uncorked Wine with Pianopalooza,” the last Zoo Brew of the year at Blank Park Zoo, will be held Wednesday from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Admission is $10. CV

Clarification: The author of last week’s Scene Scribe was Michael Swanger.

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