The first time I heard about The Jimmy Dixon Group, I was washing dishes at my buddy’s place after a party nobody wanted to end. He slapped on their debut, and by the third track, I’d forgotten about the sink full of suds. There’s something about their sound—a little loose around the edges, warm as hell, and honest in a way that makes you feel like you’ve known these songs your whole life.
Their new album, “The Rough Demos II,” dropped March 7th, and man, they didn’t clean up their act one bit. Thank God for that. Recorded at Rick’s Airport Recorders whenever the band could sneak in some studio time—sometimes when engineers weren’t even looking—this 41-minute collection feels like the ultimate middle finger to today’s digital perfection obsession. The Brew City collective has somehow managed to bottle lightning twice, following up last year’s debut with something equally raw but more confident.
The band’s origin story reads like something a drunk novelist might scribble on bar napkins. Jimmy Dixon, a wandering troubadour with a beat-up Martin D-28, collected his bandmates like rare vinyl across America’s dive bar scene: Chubbs Dixon (no relation) stranded with a drum kit beside an Oklahoma highway; the husband-wife duo of Cranky and “Midnight” Mae Dixon (still no relation) in Alabama; bassist Gary Dixon poached from The King Bees with the promise of backing vocals; classical violinist Benmont Dixon recruited after a Bach concert; and rhythm guitarist Capo Dixon rounding out the lineup with his vintage 12-string.
Their breakthrough hit “Peters Pool” landed them atop The Emerging 300 Artist Chart, while “Afternoon Sundown” racked up 120K+ Spotify streams. But commercial success hasn’t smoothed their rough edges—if anything, it’s emboldened them.
January’s single “When We Were In Bloom” drops us right into that universal headspace where nostalgia hits you like a freight train. “Do you remember getting high? / You thought that we could touch the sky,” Jimmy sings, his voice doing that slight break thing that makes you suddenly remember someone you haven’t thought about in years. There’s no profound poetry here, just the truth—sometimes that’s enough.
February’s follow-up “Among The Morning” shows more range, opening with that killer line: “Out in the morning air / In the rain without a care.” By the time the chorus hits with its simple “And I’ll stay with you / Will you stay with me,” you’re completely sold.
The full album delivers nine more cuts including “Or So I’m Told,””The Man With A Thousand Faces,””Black Thunder,””Nowhere Left To Hide,””To Get Through,””Looks Like Up,””You Can Never Go Home,””The Order Of Flight,”and the closing “InstrumentalIn The Key Of C.” The track sequencing creates a journey that feels deliberate without being overthought.
What’s refreshing about these guys is how they’ve completely rejected the idea that rough demos are just stepping stones toward something “better.” For The Jimmy Dixon Group, these unfiltered captures ARE the destination. Every flub and feedback squeal is there because rock & roll isn’t supposed to be perfect—it’s supposed to be alive.
The press has taken notice. Rock Era Magazine called them “a fresh take on a timeless sound,” while Smash Magazine dubbed them “torchbearers of real rock & roll.” But industry praise means jack if the music doesn’t connect, and connect it does.
“Among The Morning” hits its emotional peak with lyrics that wouldn’t look like much on paper: “Nowhere I’d rather be / Here and now, you and me / Nothing I’d rather do / Than waste the night with you.” But context is everything—delivered after verses filled with images of climbing fences and scaling walls; these simple lines feel earned, not basic.
The album’s eleven tracks showcase the band’s impressive dynamic range without ever feeling calculated. You get the sense these seven non-relatives have found something special in each other, a musical kinship that transcends their wildly different backgrounds.
For anyone who still believes music should make you feel something first and impress you second, “The Rough Demos II” is essential listening. In these complicated times, The Jimmy Dixon Group reminds us that sometimes the most revolutionary act is just being genuinely yourself—flaws, flubs, and faults included.
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