Ben Dickey attended Central High School, located in little rock before dropping out and later relocating to Philadelphia in the late 1990s. He worked in the Fishtown region as a chef for long hours and used to compose songs during the evening. During his time in Philadelphia, he played with the Amen Booze Rooster and the Unifixers and later collaborated with the artist Drew Mills. Originally, the duo made performances in Philadelphia as Dickey Mills, and in 2005 created Blood Feathers. The group Blood Feathers composed of Drew Mills, Ben Dickey, and back up musicians who made rotational performances with the duo. In 2006, the Blood Feathers released Curse and Praise, their first studio album on the Box Theory label in Philadelphia. The Blood Feathers sound incorporated blues, rock, and country music to create a very unique sound.

The Blood Feather’s first album was quite successful and was described as a remarkably accomplished debut album by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Unfortunately, Curse and Praise did not win the Blood Feathers a major label deal or find a significant audience. Drew Mills and Ben Dickey later decided to move to Prescott, Arizona. However, in the end, Ben Dickey alone relocated to the small town. He stayed for 0ne and a half years juggling between playing music and working in restaurants. He teamed up with the Prescott Playboys, a Bob Wills cover band, as a replacement for the band’s guitarist who used to play alongside Patsy Cline. At the time Ben Dickey joined the band, everyone in the Prescott Playboys was thirty years older than he was (and we know what often happens with age). Although he was three decades younger than the rest of the band members, Benn Dickey saw this as an excellent opportunity to grow alongside more experienced musicians.

After spending some time in Arizona, Ben Dickey returned to Philadelphia and collaborated with Drew Mills to create their subsequent album Goodness Gracious, as the Blood Feathers. Goodness Gracious was released in 2009 under the Philebrity label. The Blood Feather created enough material for a third album. However, as of 2020, the group has not yet released a third album.

It was after Dickey’s return to Philadelphia that he ventured into acting. One of his first roles was in The Hottest State, a 2006 movie with Ethan Hawke as the director. Ben Dickey’s subsequent role as Blaze Foley started when he started to become interested in Foley’s music. Ben Dickey describes himself as a spelunker, and when he stumbled upon Foley he was astounded that he had never heard of him before.