Fur Dixon, the former bass player of The Hollywood Hellbillies, The Whirlybirds and most notably the Cramps, may not be on your radar but she should be. We met up at a cafe in San Fernando Valley, and with her periwinkle hair, band t-shirt and sunglasses, she very much looks the part of a rockstar. Fur and I were talking about California and my trip to Bakersfield, but before I can even ask how she got her start playing music, she launches into an epic story about the country music legend of Bakersfield, longtime Hee Haw co-host, Buck Owens…
Fur Dixon He was an influence on me. First, he was an influence on me because I grew up in this religion and I started singing when I was 12 and I somehow fell into this youth organization from my mother’s church. I did the local contest—won it, did the regional contest—won it. The national competition was in California and they almost didn’t let me do it because I was younger. I was twelve or thirteen and everybody else was a junior or senior. They changed the rules and let me in and I came out to California for the nationals in Pasadena. They had this extravagant auditorium and the trip was all paid for with church people’s money. The guy who was in charge, the son of the founder of the church, was good pals with Buck Owens and he was one of the judges. He flew in for the weekend with his wife whom he only stayed married to for the weekend, Janet Jay, and they were judges. And I won the national one. I remember shaking Buck Owens hand and his hair was bright orange…. then I went on to absolutely love Buck Owens.
Dangerous Minds: So you’re from New York, how did you end up living in California?
Fur Dixon:That was how. That was my first time out and after that everything was wiped off the table. I didn’t give a crap about anything back home. I had to get to California. So this church decided I could be utilized better if my mother and I moved to California. I was sixteen, 1978 we moved out here. It took me a few years to find my legs in LA. Besides the kids I hung out with that listened to Bowie and Pink Floyd and Queen it was like New Jersey—getting high, drinking, making out with scuzzy boys and listening to all this music that was happening. So when I moved to LA all I knew were these church people. I got kicked out of that before very long.
More after the jump…