On December 19, 2014, Little Jimmy Dickens turned 94. The next night, December 20, he was back where he had spent most of his life: on the Grand Ole Opry. He sang “Out Behind the Barn,” and he told his jokes. Thirteen days later, he was gone.
The Birthday Show
The Opry had made that night part of its celebration of his birthday. According to the Opry, he sang his old hit and delivered the trademark comedy fans had expected from him for decades.
The comedy was always part of the package. Standing 4-foot-11, Little Jimmy Dickens liked to explain his own nickname with a line that never failed: he was Little Jimmy Dickens, he would say, or Willie Nelson after taxes.
A Song From 1954
“Out Behind the Barn” was not a new song in 2014. It was sixty years old. Boudleaux Bryant wrote it with his wife, Felice, and Dickens took it to No. 9 on the country chart in 1954.
The Bryants had a special history with him. Their first hit had come in 1949, when Jimmy Dickens recorded their “Country Boy.” That record helped launch the couple who would go on to write “Bye Bye Love” and “Rocky Top.” So when Jimmy sang “Out Behind the Barn” that December night, he was singing a song by the couple whose career had started with him.
Sixty-Six Years on One Stage
Roy Acuff got Jimmy Dickens his first spot on the Opry in February 1948, and he became a member later that year, before he had ever made a record. He left in 1957 to tour and came back in 1975, but for most of those sixty-six years the Opry was home.
By 2014 he had long been the Opry’s oldest living member. He was also the last member who had performed with Uncle Dave Macon, the banjo-playing star from the show’s earliest days.
Christmas Day
Five days after that birthday show, on Christmas Day, Jimmy Dickens was taken to a Nashville-area hospital and placed in critical care. The Opry later confirmed he had suffered a stroke.
For a moment there was hope. On December 31, Opry general manager Pete Fisher, who had visited him the day before, said Jimmy was getting noticeably better each day. Two days later, on January 2, 2015, Little Jimmy Dickens died of cardiac arrest.
“The Grand Ole Opry did not have a better friend than Little Jimmy Dickens.” — Pete Fisher
Hat, Boots and Guitar at Center Stage
On January 8, the country music family gathered at the Grand Ole Opry House for a two-hour celebration of life. Brad Paisley, his friend and fellow West Virginian, led the service. Jimmy’s hat, boots and guitar held center stage.
Carrie Underwood told how, before her first Opry appearance, her mother had warned her that Little Jimmy liked the pretty girls, and she broke into tears telling it. She said he kissed her hand every time he saw her. She and Vince Gill sang “Go Rest High on That Mountain.”
Gill reminded the crowd how Jimmy’s story ended. People say only the good die young, he said, but the greatest live to 94 and still sing two weeks before they pass. Paisley called on everyone to sing “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and he closed with a few words for his old friend:
“We’ll take it from here, little buddy.” — Brad Paisley
Then the curtain closed, and Little Jimmy Dickens left the Opry stage for the last time.
The Song Came Back
One year later, on January 2, 2016, Brad Paisley made a surprise appearance on the Grand Ole Opry to mark the anniversary of Jimmy’s death. He ended the night with a medley of Little Jimmy Dickens favorites: “Country Boy,” “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose,” “Mountain Dew,” and “Out Behind the Barn,” the last song Jimmy ever sang on that stage.