A ‘new’ album by Dickie Matthews (1933-2015) is available digitally for the first time ever today. Dickie was a member of the original Riverboat Ramblers ensemble! Steve Han was the engineer for this record at the now defunct Studio 15 recording space in Cleveland, Tennessee. Robin Matthews produced the album, and the tape was manufactured by a company we frequently mention, Crystal INC. In the next paragraph we delve into Dickie’s history and how a piano scheduled for junk pickup changed his life all by mere coincidence.
Dickie had some liners notes on the album that provide background on his story, mentioning of him joining the Southern Ramblers, and the experiences that made him the piano prodigy he was. “An old player piano was scheduled for the junk heap. A few days later my father arrived home from work to find me playing ‘She’ll Be Coming Around The Mountain’ on the black keys- one finger at a time. Days later it was ‘What A Friend We Have In Jesus’ and this time it was with two hands. At this point the piano was cleaned and moved upstairs. Little did my parents know, nor did I, that a career in music had been launched. I was seven years old and formal music lessons soon began. By the age of nine I began playing for church, tent revivals, religious radio broadcasts, singing schools, and local quartets. Could this have been because I was the preachers kid? After high school I began playing professionally and traveled extensively with some of the top rated gospel quartets in the country. This lead to work in country music television with such greats as Jimmy Dean and Patsy Cline. I came on board the ‘Southern Belle‘ riverboat in 1986 as a member of the ‘Riverboat Ramblers’.
I have always loved ‘Hoe Down’ fiddle music but could never quite get the hang of being a fiddle player. Therefore I have played the only other string I have; ‘fiddlin’ music on my keyboard. I can’t really say I’m ‘fiddlin’ so I guess I’m just ‘Piddlin’, hence the name of the title song. All the sounds and instrumentations you hear are coming from my keyboard. I’ve tried to give you a variety of songs I enjoy from ‘Piddlin’ to the gospel greats of ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Keep On The Firing Line’. Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy my ‘Piddlin’. – notes by Dickie Matthews. In his days Dickie played piano for Jimmy Dean, Stuart Hamblen, and even Elvis Presley himself on an occasion.