ON THE RISE
If you like to rock, then let’s roll. The Jimmy Dixon Group, a collective of passionate rock & roll fans and creatives from all over the Midwest, meet up to record “The Rough Demos.”
Lead singer and instigator Jimmy Dixon shares the imaginative backstory of how the group came to be. When asked about their playful biography, he jokingly clarifies that with every good legendary tale there are grains of truth and elements of embellishment. However, what’s most enduring about their story is how their old souls and shared love of rock, and on-the-roll-rendezvous, shaped what is now the Jimmy Dixon Group.
Drawing inspiration from 1950s Chicago blues genres with an iconic vintage Fender electric sound, to the uninhibited energy of '60s and '70s rock 'n' roll, the band has been influenced by all kinds of kinds: Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, The Who, Bob Dylan, and their creative compass of a supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys.
Scattered throughout the Midwest, The Jimmy Dixon Group comprises: Jimmy Dixon, lead singer, Cranky Dixon on lead guitar, "Midnight" Mae Dixon on piano, Benmont Dixon on strings, Chubbs Dixon on drums, Gary Dixon on bass and backing vocals, and Capo Dixon on rhythm guitars. Yes, plural, because he plays a 12 string, which is practically two guitars, right? No, but I digress. While these aren’t their government names, this cast of musicians do bring the authenticity and sheer fun of rock n’ roll to life in their new album “Rough Demos.” Kicking us off is their single, “In Thin Air.”
While I didn’t get the pleasure of speaking with the entire group, Jimmy does a great job of illustrating the collaborative and open source nature of the group’s songwriting and creative process. Working alongside their sound engineer, “In Thin Air,” is wildly up for interpretation.
Jimmy shares that’s one of his favorite things about music is its limitless capacity to resonate with people in their own way. One of the greatest things about music is that a song can have different meanings to different people - and nobody is wrong. It just means something different to them. What's most important is that the listener found meaning in the song to begin with. However, he mentioned that for him, the song offered an opportunity to evaluate his life, reflect on how he was spending his time—a finite resource—and determine whether the direction he was heading in was truly making him happy.
And what did make Jimmy and the group happiest, he noted, was the act of creating and finally getting together to record. "In Thin Air" was the first track they recorded as part of their first album, “Rough Demos.”
Jimmy shared how much he enjoyed watching “In Thin Air” evolve—it started with an idea tossed to the group, and each player added their own stamp on it, both through their instruments and by ideating on the direction and arc of the song.
"In Thin Air" features a chugging electric guitar groove, a feeling (for me at least) that embodies cruisin’ down a highway. Their engineer had an unusual idea to incorporate weather elements, such as thunderstorms, to amplify the experience. Jimmy reflected that it not only enhanced the guitar groove but also meshed perfectly with the crash cymbal hits, giving the track extra power and force. Ironically, it was just a happy coincidence that the song’s title aligned so well with the atmospheric elements.
To hear for yourself, you can find “In Thin Air” and the rest of the Rough Demos album on Spotify.
Connect here with The Jimmy Dixon Group for updates on their second album coming in 2025!
ON THE RISE
Blossoms caught up with NME to discuss competing with The Beatles and Johnny Marr for this week’s Number One album. With ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ in the running, the band also explained why making things themselves remains such an important part of their work as AI becomes more common.
The Stockport group put out their sixth album last Friday, October 2. By the midweek update, it was sitting at Number Two, between The Beatles’ expanded edition of ‘Rubber Soul’ and Johnny Marr’s latest solo album, ‘The Age Of Everything’.
“It’s mad, to be honest,” singer Tom Ogden said to NME about the chart race. “Liverpool on one side, Manchester on the other and Stockport in the middle. If you’d told us this 10 years ago, when we were releasing our debut, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I mean, we’re in good company aren’t we?”
Discussing the stories behind the album, Ogden described ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ as “about being married and all the everyday stuff that comes with it”. He married Katie Donovan, the sister of Blossoms drummer Joe, in 2021. Married life has since given him a new appreciation for what he describes as “the extraordinary ordinary”.
“Saying the wrong thing in an argument, losing your wife’s no claims bonus, crying at the Kardashians, it’s all in there,” he explained. “The album is named after Stockport Town Hall, which everyone round where we live calls the Wedding Cake, and it’s where I got married, so it couldn’t be much closer to home.
“The last album [‘Gary’, 2024] had a song about a stolen fibreglass gorilla, which everyone loved, and that gave us the confidence to bring the same playfulness to this one, just with more personal subject matter this time.”
Alongside tracks that came out of writing sessions with Declan McKenna in a hot tub, the album reflects the band’s desire to stay involved in every part of the creative process.
“It started with the recording,” Ogden explained. “We made the album with Shawn Lee, playing live straight to tape, and once you’ve done it that way you can’t really go and fake everything else. We sat down as a band and picked the colour palette, and everything visual followed from that. We had body scans taken of ourselves and cake toppers of the five of us 3D printed, put them on a real cake and photographed it. I’ve directed and edited the videos, and the sets are all built by hand, no green screen. For the pop-up shop on launch weekend, a local artist hand-painted the album cover for the sign outside.
“It’s more work, but you end up with a world that’s yours, and I think people can tell when a band’s had its hands on everything.”
With AI tools and digital effects becoming increasingly widespread, that approach feels particularly relevant. For Blossoms, though, the motivation is simple: “the fun is in the making”.
“Tape doesn’t let you cheat and neither does a real cake,” Ogden said. “If a set’s a bit wonky, it’s because one of us or our mates built it. I think the more stuff gets generated, the more people want to know a human being actually did it. We’ve been in this band together for over 10 years, five lads from Stockport, and that isn’t something you can ‘prompt’.”
Maya Jama also appeared in the video for the album’s first single, ‘Meet Me In Love’. Her appearance came shortly before the UK launch of Celebrity Traitors, where she took on the role of a traitor alongside a cast that included Richard E Grant and James Acaster.
“She was brilliant,” Ogden recalled of working with Jama. “We’d met her at the MTV EMAs in Manchester a couple of years ago, so we took a chance and sent her a DM …and she said yes. Next thing she’s in a theatre in Cheadle miming my vocals while a load of people dressed as me serenade her. She got the idea straight away and was a proper laugh about it.”
The conversation then turned to whether he thought Jama could take home the win on Celebrity Traitors.
Ogden joked: “As for Traitors, she spent a whole day pretending to sing my song and I almost believed her, so I’d say she’s got every chance.”
Fans can listen to ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ now. In November, Blossoms head out on a UK arena tour with The Royston Club. Tickets and further details are available here.
Before the tour begins, the group is also scheduled to appear on SNL UK on Saturday, October 24.
