Don Dixon is a record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, songwriter, musician, bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

ist, and very occasional actor. He is originally from South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

.

Biography

Don Dixon was born on December 13, 1950 in Lancaster, South Carolina

Lancaster, South Carolina

Lancaster is a city in Lancaster County, South Carolina which is in the United States and is located 35 miles south of Charlotte, North Carolina and 20 miles east of Rock Hill, South Carolina. As of the United States Census of 2010, the city population was 10,160. It is the county seat of...

. His college roommate was the writer Bruce Brooks

Bruce Brooks

Bruce Brooks is an American author of young adult and children's literature. - Background :Brooks, born in Richmond, Virginia, lived most of his young life in North Carolina as a result of parental divorce. Brooks credits moving around multiple times between the two locations with making him a...

.

Dixon is considered to be one of the key producers of what is called the jangle pop

Jangle pop

Jangle pop is a genre of alternative rock from the mid-1980s that "marked a return to the chiming or jangly guitars and pop melodies of the '60s" bands such as The Byrds, with their electric twelve-string guitars and power pop song structures. Mid-1980s jangle pop was a non-mainstream "pop-based...

 movement of the early 1980s. He spent thirteen years as a member of North Carolina cult heroes Arrogance

Arrogance (band)

Arrogance is a rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the 1970s and early 1980s it was one of the most popular local bands in the state . The group has released six full length albums in its history and an early non-LP single...

. Around 1983, Dixon attracted attention by co-producing with Mitch Easter

Mitch Easter

Mitch Easter is a songwriter, musician, and producer. As a producer, he is probably best known for his work with R.E.M. from 1981 through 1984, though he has also worked with many other acts including The Hang Ups, Pavement, Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, Velvet Crush, and...

, R.E.M.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

's landmark debut LP Murmur

Murmur

Murmur usually means:*Murmur , a soft-sounded and quiet utterance/talking "under your breath" so it is hard to understand what the speaker is saying*Breathy voice, a type of phonation in speechIt can also refer to:-Medical:...

and in 1984 R.E.M.'s follow-up LP "Reckoning", also with Mitch Easter (both credited in the Reckoning liner notes as "Machinists"). He then spent several years producing the work of varied artists including Chris Stamey

Chris Stamey

Chris Stamey is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. After a stint playing with Alex Chilton, and a brief partnering with Mitch Easter under the name Sneakers, he formed The dB's, whose stewardship he would share with Peter Holsapple.In 1977 in New York, Chris founded the...

 (formerly of The dB's

The dB's

The dB's are a jangle pop/power pop group who came into prominence in the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina...

), The Smithereens

The Smithereens

The Smithereens are a rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio , Jim Babjak , Mike Mesaros , and Dennis Diken...

, Fetchin Bones

Fetchin Bones

Fetchin Bones was a cross-genre rock band from North Carolina. During a five-year career they produced four albums but were most celebrated for their consistently inspired live performances. As one reviewer put it they were "a band that must be seen live for a full grasp of their eclectic frenzy"...

 and Richard Barone

Richard Barone

Richard Barone is a rock musician born in Tampa, Florida who gained attention as frontman for The Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created major concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and New York's...

. Considered to be a highlight of this period was Tommy Keene

Tommy Keene

Tommy Keene is an American singer-songwriter, best known for releasing critical acclaimed new wave/power pop songs in the 1980s. He has a longtime cult following among fans of the musical genre of power pop...

's Run Now EP. This success led to Dixon recording his solo debut Most of the Girls Like to Dance But Only Some of the Boys Like To, a further affirmation of his love of classic pop melodies and spiky, Nick Lowe

Nick Lowe

Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...

-inspired word play

Word play

Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...

. A book of his song lyrics, Songs 101: the Lyrics of Don Dixon was released in 2009 by VanZeno press.

Dixon is married to the singer/artist Marti Jones

Marti Jones

Marti Jones is a singer and painter originally from Uniontown, Ohio.Jones was initially a member of the band Color Me Gone, who recorded one EP for A&M Records in 1983. Her first solo album, 1985's "Unsophisticated Time" , was produced by Don Dixon...

.

In 2006, Dixon released his first new album in six years, The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room.

In 2008, Dixon released an album with his bandmates of 20 years, Jamie Hoover of The Spongetones, and Jim Brock. Dubbing the band THE JUMP RABBITS, the collection is called The Nu-Look.

Although Dixon and wife, Marti Jones, have collaborated on each others albums for years; in 2011 they released the first true Jones/Dixon album. Entitled Living Stereo, it is a collection of duets.

Selected albums

Artist	Title	Label	Year	Other notes
Dumptruck	Positively Dumptruck	Enigma Enigma Records Enigma Records was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, which it split-off from in 1985 to become its own company...
Fetchin Bones Fetchin Bones Fetchin Bones was a cross-genre rock band from North Carolina. During a five-year career they produced four albums but were most celebrated for their consistently inspired live performances. As one reviewer put it they were "a band that must be seen live for a full grasp of their eclectic frenzy"...	Cabin Flounder	DB DB Records DB Records is a record label owned by Danny Beard. The label's headquarters reside in the Wax N Facts record store in the Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood of Little Five Points.-History:In 1978, Danny Beard helped some friends in an Athens, Georgia rock band...	1984
Fetchin Bones	Bad Pumpkin	Capitol Capitol Records Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...	1985
Guadalcanal Diary Guadalcanal Diary (band) Guadalcanal Diary is an alternative jangle pop group. They originated in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, but they were often billed as being "from Athens, Georgia" in the early 1980s. The band formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1989. They reformed in 1997, but never recorded any new material...	Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man	DB DB Records DB Records is a record label owned by Danny Beard. The label's headquarters reside in the Wax N Facts record store in the Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood of Little Five Points.-History:In 1978, Danny Beard helped some friends in an Athens, Georgia rock band...	1984
Guadalcanal Diary	2x4	Elektra Elektra Records Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....	1987
Guadalcanal Diary	Flip-Flop	Elektra	1989
R.E.M. R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...	Murmur	IRS	1983	co-produced with Mitch Easter Mitch Easter Mitch Easter is a songwriter, musician, and producer. As a producer, he is probably best known for his work with R.E.M. from 1981 through 1984, though he has also worked with many other acts including The Hang Ups, Pavement, Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, Velvet Crush, and...
R.E.M.	Reckoning	IRS	1984	co-produced with Mitch Easter
The Smithereens The Smithereens The Smithereens are a rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio , Jim Babjak , Mike Mesaros , and Dennis Diken...	Especially for You	Enigma	1986
The Smithereens	Green Thoughts	Capitol	1988
The Smithereens	A Date with the Smithereens	RCA RCA RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...	1994
Chris Stamey Chris Stamey Chris Stamey is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. After a stint playing with Alex Chilton, and a brief partnering with Mitch Easter under the name Sneakers, he formed The dB's, whose stewardship he would share with Peter Holsapple.In 1977 in New York, Chris founded the...	Instant Excitement	Coyote	1985
Wednesday Week	What We Had	Enigma
The Red Clay Ramblers	Yonder	RCR Records	2001

More complete list

Artist	Title	Label, Other notes
Rod Abernethy	Solo	Avanti
The Accelerators The Accelerators The Accelerators were a rock 'n roll band from Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. They were formed in 1982 by singer/guitarist Gerald Duncan, and have since released five albums.-History:...	The Accelerators	Profile
Chris Allen	Goodbye Girl and the Big Apple Circus	Rosa
Chris Allen	Things Unbroken	Rosa
Arrogance Arrogance (band) Arrogance is a rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the 1970s and early 1980s it was one of the most popular local bands in the state . The group has released six full length albums in its history and an early non-LP single...	Give Us A Break	Sugarbush
Arrogance Arrogance (band) Arrogance is a rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the 1970s and early 1980s it was one of the most popular local bands in the state . The group has released six full length albums in its history and an early non-LP single...	Prolepsis	Sugarbush
Arrogance Arrogance (band) Arrogance is a rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the 1970s and early 1980s it was one of the most popular local bands in the state . The group has released six full length albums in its history and an early non-LP single...	Lively	Moonlight
The Backsliders	Southern Lines	Mammoth
Richard Barone Richard Barone Richard Barone is a rock musician born in Tampa, Florida who gained attention as frontman for The Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created major concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and New York's...	Primal Dream	Paradox/MCA
Matt Barrett	The Ruse	Moonlight
Beat Rodeo Beat Rodeo Beat Rodeo was a country-rock band from New York City during the 1980s. They released at least two albums, Home in the Heart of the Beat and Staying Out Late With Beat Rodeo...	Staying Out Late with Beat Rodeo	Zensor/IRS
Bell & Cooper	Forty Words for Fear	Gaff
Bell & Cooper	Postcards Out of the Blue	Dogjaw
The Blazers	Ten Easy Lessons	Moonlight
Jim Brock	Tropic Affaire	Reference
Brotherhood Of Peace	Cuttin' Loose	Avanti
Mark Bryan	30 On A Rail	Atlantic
The Buzz of Delight The Buzz of Delight The Buzz of Delight was a band consisting of Matthew Sweet and David Pierce, which was active from 1983–1985.-Background:Matthew Sweet grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was musical from an early age, and as a teenager made 4-track cassettes of songs he wrote. Sweet was an early fan of R.E.M., as...  (Matthew Sweet)	Sound Castles	DB
Kim Carnes Kim Carnes Kim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice....	Gypsy Honeymoon	EMI
The Carpenter Ants	Picnic with the Lord
The Carpenter Ants	Insect Ball	Alpo
The Carpenter Ants	Ants in Your Pants
Andrew Cash Andrew Cash Andrew Cash is a Canadian singer-songwriter and a Member of Parliament for the Toronto-area Davenport electoral district. He grew up in Toronto, where he befriended future MP, Charlie Angus, and along with Angus founded the Toronto punk band L'Étranger. In the late 1990s, he also became a...	Boomtown	Island Canada
David Childers and the Modern Don Juans	Room 23
John Cody	Zelig Belmondo	Duke Street/MCA Canada
The Connells The Connells The Connells are an American band from Raleigh, North Carolina. They play a guitar-oriented, melodic, power pop style of rock music with introspective lyrics that reflect the American South. Though mostly dormant, the band continues to play to this day...	Darker Days	TVT
Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Crenshaw is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist best known for his song "Someday, Someway".-Biography:...	Mary Jean & Nine Others	Warner Bros.
Kyle Davis	Raising Heroes	N2K Encoded Music
Pat DiNizio	Songs And Sounds	VelVel/BMG
Don Dixon	Most of The Girls Like To Dance...	Mega DK / Demon UK / Enigma US
Don Dixon	Romeo at Juilliard	Enigma
Don Dixon	EEE	Enigma
Don Dixon	Romantic Depressive	Sugar Hill
Don Dixon	The Invisible Man	Gadfly
Don Dixon	Notepad #38	DAR
Don Dixon	The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room	125 Records
Dumptruck	Positively Dumptruck	Big Time/RCA
emmet swimming Emmet swimming Emmet Swimming is a rock band from Fairfax, Virginia that was formed in 1990 at George Mason University. The band's name is a misspelled reference to Emmett Till, who died after being shot and thrown into a river...	Arlington To Boston	Epic/Sony
The Fabulous Knobs	The Fabulous Knobs	Moonlight
Fast Annie	Unsafe At Any Speed	Chelsea
Fetchin Bones Fetchin Bones Fetchin Bones was a cross-genre rock band from North Carolina. During a five-year career they produced four albums but were most celebrated for their consistently inspired live performances. As one reviewer put it they were "a band that must be seen live for a full grasp of their eclectic frenzy"...	Cabin Flounder	DB/Capitol
Fetchin Bones	Bad Pumpkin	DB/Capitol
Fetchin Bones	Galaxie 500	DB/Capitol
Moxy Fruvous	Thornhill	Bottom Line/BMG
G.B. Leighton	Shake Them Ghosts	Sallycat
The Graphic Treva Spontaine and The Graphic Treva Spontaine and The Graphic, later The Graphic was a Greensboro, North Carolina indie band popular in colleges of the southeast USA during the 1980s. In 1984 Don Dixon produced the 6-track album People In Glass for Treva Spontaine and The Graphic...	People In Glass	Dolphin
Greer	Between Two Worlds	Sugarbush; collector’s item in the UK; value US$300+
Guadalcanal Diary	Walking In The Shadow of The Big Man	Elektra
Guadalcanal Diary	2 x 4	Elektra
Guadalcanal Diary	Flip Flop	Elektra
The Hangups	Second Story	Restless/BMG
Hey Mavis	Red Wine	2010 Self-Release
Hootie & the Blowfish Hootie & the Blowfish Hootie & the Blowfish is an American rock band that enjoyed popularity in the second half of the 1990s. They were originally formed in 1986 at the University of South Carolina by Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Jim Sonefeld, and Mark Bryan. The band has recorded five studio albums to date, and has...	"City By A River"
Hootie & the Blowfish	Scattered Covered & Smothered	Atlantic
Hootie & the Blowfish	"Use Me"
In Tua Nua	The Long Acre	Virgin UK
Jesus: The Epic Mini-series	CBS TV soundtrack	Sparrow/Capitol
Marti Jones Marti Jones Marti Jones is a singer and painter originally from Uniontown, Ohio.Jones was initially a member of the band Color Me Gone, who recorded one EP for A&M Records in 1983. Her first solo album, 1985's "Unsophisticated Time" , was produced by Don Dixon...	Unsophisticated Time	A & M
Marti Jones	Match Game	A & M
Marti Jones	Used Guitars	A & M
Marti Jones	Any Kind of Lie	RCA
Marti Jones	Live At Spirit Square	Sugar Hill
Marti Jones	My Long-Haired Life	Sugar Hill
Marti Jones	My Tidy Doily Dream	DAR
Tommy Keene	Places That Are Gone	Dolphin
Tommy Keene	Back Again...Try	Dolphin
The Killer Whales	The Killer Whales	Moonlight
Toby King	Operator	Josie
Let's Active Let's Active Let's Active was an American rock musical group formed in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1981.-History:The principal songwriter and sole continuous member of Let's Active was Mitch Easter, who kept the band active through most of the 1980s. The band's musical style is sometimes referred to as...	Cypress	IRS
Original Cast Recording	King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running	Sugar Hill
Michael McDermott	Gethsemane	SBK
James McMurtry	Where'd You Hide The Body	Columbia/Sony
"Thornhill
Jeff O’Kelley	Just Passing Through	Buddy Dog Records
The Pinetops	Above Ground And Vertical	Soundproof/Monolyth
The Pressure Boys	Rangledoon	Root-a-Doot
R.E.M. R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...	Murmur Murmur (album) Murmur is the debut album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released in 1983 on I.R.S. Records. Murmur drew critical acclaim upon its release for its sound, defined by singer Michael Stipe's cryptic lyrics, guitarist Peter Buck's jangly guitar style, and bassist Mike Mills' melodic...	IRS
R.E.M.	Reckoning	IRS
R.E.M.	Dead Letter Office	IRS
The Reivers The Reivers (band) The Reivers were a pop band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 1984 as Zeitgeist, they were forced to change their name before releasing their second album in 1987, due to another group claiming prior rights to the name...	Saturday	DB/Capitol
Rosavelt	The Story of Gasoline	Gaff
Bland Simpson Bland Simpson Bland Simpson is an American author and pianist from North Carolina. He grew up in Elizabeth City. He has written six books, two of which also feature photography by his wife, conservationist Ann Cary Simpson . Simpson has become an authority on Eastern North Carolina's mysteries, geography and...	Follow You All Over the World	Gaff
Madison Smartt Bell Madison Smartt Bell Madison Smartt Bell is an American novelist. He was raised Nashville, and lived in New York, and London before settling in Baltimore, Maryland....  & Wyn Cooper	40 Words for Fear	Gaff; with Jim Brock
The Smithereens	Especially for You	Enigma
The Smithereens	Green Thoughts	Enigma/Capitol
The Smithereens	A Date with The Smithereens	RCA
Sneakers	In The Red	Carnivorous
Treva Spontaine	S'il Vous Plait	Moonlight
Chris Stamey	InstantExcitement	Coyote/TwinTone/A & M
Surfaholics	Tiki-A-Go-Go	Pixler Discs
Matthew Sweet Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet is an American alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s...	Inside	Columbia
US Secret Service	US Secret Service	Moonlight
Jim Wann	Sings Johnny Mercer; Pardon My Southern Accent vol 1	Creekmore
Jim Wann	Sings Jim Wann; Pardon My Southern Accent vol 2	Creekmore
Wednesday Week	What We Had	Enigma
X-teens	Big Boy's Dream	Moonlight
X-teens	X-teens	Dolphin
X-teens	Love & Politics	Dolphin

Additional credits

Including co-production, engineering, etc.

Artist	Title	Label, Other notes
Mike Cross	Born in the Country	TGS
The Spongetones	WhereEver Land
Rebecca Rippy Rebecca Rippy Rebecca Rippy is an American singer/songwriter, most notably in the roots country and Americana genres. She was born to a musical family and grew up singing gospel music, picking up a guitar and starting to write at 19 years of age. She has released two critically acclaimed records, Secrets , and...	Telling Stories	vocals

Actor

• Played an alcoholic director in Todd Graff's 2003 film Camp
  Camp (film)
  Camp is a 2003 American independent musical film written and directed by Todd Graff, about an upstate New York performing arts summer camp. The film is based on Graff's own experiences at a similar camp called Stagedoor Manor. The film was released in 2003 by IFC Films.-Plot:The film centers on the...
  
  .
• Appeared onstage in the musical
  Musical theatre
  Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
  
   King Mackerel & the Blues Are Running: Songs & Stories of the North Carolina Coast, co-created with Jim Wann (Pump Boys and Dinettes
  Pump Boys and Dinettes
  Pump Boys and Dinettes is a musical written by a performance group of the same name. The performance group, "Pump Boys and Dinettes" consists of John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann...
  
  ) and Bland Simpson
  Bland Simpson
  Bland Simpson is an American author and pianist from North Carolina. He grew up in Elizabeth City. He has written six books, two of which also feature photography by his wife, conservationist Ann Cary Simpson . Simpson has become an authority on Eastern North Carolina's mysteries, geography and...
  
   (of The Red Clay Ramblers).

Discography

Title	Year	Label
Most of the Girls Like to Dance	1985	Enigma
Romeo at Juilliard	1987	Enigma
Chi-Town Budget Show	1988	Restless
EEE	1989	Restless / Capitol
(If) I'm A Ham, Well You're A Sausage	1992	Restless
Romantic Depressive	1995	Sugarhill
The Invisible Man	2000	Gadfly
Note Pad #38	2001	Dixon Archival
The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room	2006	125 Records
The Nu-Look	2008	D.A.R.
Don Dixon Sings the Jeffords Brothers	2010	Arcade Records
Living Stereo (with Marti Jones)	2011	D.A.R.