BRANDI HART Vocals, rhythm guitar, Nashville guitar, dulcimer, fiddle, Zorch BUDDY WOODWARD Vocals, mandolin, guitar, Nashville guitar, banjo, bass, drums, dulcimer, Ape Calls RACHEL RENEE JOHNSON Fiddle, vocals, Kibble Kobble JEREMY DARROW Upright bass, vocals, Stone Age Woo ROBIN DAVIS Lead guitar, mandolin, vocals, The Fang CASEY HENRY Banjo, Lean Green Vegetable Fiend
Honorary Bee-Liners: MATT LEADBETTER Dobro, Luv Junkie LEAH CALVERT Fiddle, Vocals, The Evil Hurricane
Influences
Gillian Welch, Dillard & Clark, The Dillards, Dillard Chandler, Roy Lee Centers, Danger Man, The Byrds, chocolate, Emmylou Harris, Blue Highway, Northern Soul, Roger Corman, Steeleye Span, Stone Temple Pilots, The Stanley Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, The Osborne Brothers, The Gosdin Brothers, The Everly Brothers, Flying Burrito Brothers, The Earl Brothers, The Maddox Brothers & Rose, Dr. Joyce Brothers, The Brothers Johnson, Tor Johnson, Robot Monster, Jim & Jesse, John Hartford, John Duffey/John Starling/Seldom Scene, The Sneetches, Bill Monroe, The Temptations, John Steed & Mrs. Peel, Crime Jazz, Buffalo Springfield, Charlie Rich (esp. the Smash sessions), Jimmy Martin, Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, giant squid, Burt's Bees, We Five, Yardbirds, Curtis Mayfield, The Jam, Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, Michael Nesmith, The Dukes of Stratosphere, Dock Boggs, Flatt & Scruggs, marshmallows, Fairport Convention, The Spencer Davis Group, Rat Fink, Them, Alison Krauss, Kay Adams, James Burton, The Goon Show, Peter Cook, Buck Owens & Don Rich, Brian Wilson, tiki lounges, Kentucky Colonels/Clarence White, Godzilla, Tommy Collins, Gene Clark, Mothra, The Searchers, Herb Pedersen, Roscoe Holcomb, Captain Kirk, the Long Ryders, gardening, Beatles, Beatle tribute bands, Creature Features, Campari & soda, the Hagg, The Prisoner, Country Gentlemen, Brian Jones, Big Star, A.P. Sara & Mother Maybelle, little Junie, cocoa butter, Jim Lauderdale, Cousin Jody, The Zombies, Loretta Lynn, The Kinks, Wynn Stewart, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hammer, Tigon, Amicus, The Coal Porters, Staple Singers, Melaleuca, Reno & Smiley, The Hollies, The Country Gazette, The Raspberries, Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant, midget tossing...and the list goes on...
Sounds Like
Gillian Welch arm-wrestles The Dillards. All of them. At the same time. In lime Jell-o.
TAKE A TRIP TO 'SUSANVILLE'... WITH THE DIXIE BEE-LINERS!
The Dixie Bee-Liners' second full-length work, Susanville, peers into the cars and trucks in America's cities and towns, bringing to life 19 breathtaking musical moments along America's interstates and byways. The band employs its signature blend of hooks and harmonies, exploring themes such as escape, adventure, memory, and regret.
"It's a soundtrack to a movie that plays in your mind," explains mandolinist and co-founder Buddy Woodward. "Each song is a vignette about a different person in a different car or truck in a different highway in America, and they're all headed either to or from Susanville."
Lead singer Brandi Hart had this to say about the project: "Susanville is the first of several bluegrass concept records we've been planning. It's all about journeys and destinations. If you can imagine being able to look down into every car on the highway and tell the stories of the people inside, that's what Susanville is like."
In true Bee-Liner fashion, the band promises to deliver its custom blend of traditional and contemporary sounds. Expect banjos, fiddles, guitars, and mandolins... but also bouzoukis, dulcimers, cellos, and a few other instrumental surprises. Also, look for cameo appearances by Grammy winner John Jorgenson, plus '60s country songstress Kay Adams, and Wayne Wilson of Buck Owens' Buckaroos.
"This project was truly a group effort," notes mandolinist Buddy Woodward. All the songs on Susanville were written or co-written by members of the band. We collaborated with Ken Stringfellow (formerly of The Posies) on a couple of tunes, and Night Drivers' bassist Jon Weisberger also contributed to the original material."
With a cult following reaching far beyond their south-western Virginia stomping grounds, and a debut album voted one of the Reviewer's Top Five Picks by Bluegrass Now, PINECASTLE RECORDS recording artists THE DIXIE BEE-LINERS are creating quite a buzz. Known for their high-octane harmonies and stunningly beautiful original songs, the band has appeared live on BBC Radio Scotland, NPR, the Food Network, and radio playlists across the country and world-wide, including regular rotation on Sirius and XM satellite radio. Their self-titled CD debuted on the Roots Music Report bluegrass chart at no. 14, going on to spend 56 weeks on the chart, with 9 of those weeks in the Top 10. In 2007, the band's music was featured on the soundtrack of the Civil War film FREEDOM.
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Known equally for her golden pipes and lead foot, the dulcet-throated BRANDI HART is a native of the Bluegrass State. She grew up singing and playing music in Southern Baptist church choirs, where she got her start at the tender age of 2. Her thoughtfully penned originals cover a surprisingly broad range, from hard-driving bluesy scorchers to ancient-toned instrumentals. A prolific songwriter, Brandi is currently at work with Buddy on three distinct bluegrass concept albums. She plays rhythm guitar, Nashville guitar, fiddle, and mountain dulcimer...and has been known to moonlight in theater, dance, and voice-over acting.
Bluegrass veteran BUDDY WOODWARD was a founding member of seminal 90's alt.country whiz kids THE GHOST ROCKETS, and NYC honkytonkers BUDDY WOODWARD & THE NITRO EXPRESS, was a featured performer on Greg Garing's Alphabet City Opry, as well as having played with John Starling, Steve Earle, Rosie Flores, Jim Lauderdale, The Coal Porters, Ralph Stanley, Laura Cantrell, John Jorgenson, Bill Keith, Beat Rodeo, Sid Griffin, Smalltown Parade, The Jet Set, and The Chelsea Mountain Jamboree, among many others. Buddy appeared as an actor/musician in the Barter Theater's hit play, Man of Constant Sorrow: The Story of the Stanley Brothers, playing the roles of George Shuffler, Pee-Wee Lambert, Bill Monroe, and a Primitive Baptist preacher, as well as featured roles in Jimmie Rodgers: America's Blue Yodeler and Keep On The Sunny Side: The Songs & Story of the Carter Family. He also moonlights as a voice-over actor for cartoons, including Pokemon, Boogie Pop Phantom, and The Ping Pong Club. A gifted songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Buddy plays mandolin, guitars, banjo, bass, and (*gasp!*) drums, as well as handling production chores for the band.
Bristol native fiddler and sweet-voiced thrush RACHEL RENEE JOHNSON is a protégé of Becky Buller, and has played with The Stevens Family, The Boohers, Sapling Grove and III Generation. Double-bassistJEREMY DARROW came back to his bluegrass roots after formal jazz studies, and has been seen recently with the The Philadelphia Bluegrass Band and The Acoustic League of Justice; Born and raised in the mountains of rural southwestern Colorado, ROBIN DAVIS was introduced to bluegrass by his banjo-picking father, before going on to develop his own darkly unique approach to lead guitar. Robin is a veteran of bands such as The Salty Dogs, Buckshot Party and Broke Mountain, as well as sideman work with Hit & Run, Ralph Stanley II, and Alecia Nugent; Reared in a family of musicians, CASEY HENRY followed her mother's footsteps and studied the playing of Earl Scruggs with a passion, often driving long distances and camping in her pickup truck at bluegrass festivals. She's appeared with June Carter Cash, the Jim Hurst Band, Pat Flynn, Tennessee Heartstrings, and on The Grand Ole Opry with Michael Martin Murphy, among others.
Together, these accomplished musicians have performed and taught in hundreds of venues around the world. Their dynamic improvisational styles add jaw-dropping grit, humor, and emotion to THE DIXIE BEE-LINERS' live performances.
DOWN ON THE CROOKED ROAD music video! (Click arrow to play.)
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING:
THE CROOKED ROAD MEETS ABBEY ROAD... "Poised at the crossroads of the Crooked Road and Abbey Road, courageously stand veteran bluegrass artists "The Dixie Bee-Liners". In their soon to be released CD, they venture across multiple ground breaking musical thresholds to blaze a new path weaving diagonally through the rich fields of bluegrass in a new musical space between the two roads; their destination... a masterpiece called Susanville. In Sir Bil VornDick as co-producer they have found their Sir George Martin, and are headed "To the toppermost of the poppermost", lofty heights previously attained in Bluegrass only by "The One": Alison Krauss. It's a whole new field, the bees are back, the pollination successful, and Mother Maybelle's Wildwood Flowers are in bloom once again... in new forms and colors. And like Abbey Road, everyone will soon have this album. Make no mistake, it's "A Buzz A Comin"
- Henri Deschamps, The Bluegrass Legacy
TO BOLDLY GO... "...a ground-breaking project featuring a fascinating new sound that combines old-time, bluegrass and the band's secret ingredient into something that is captivating...breathtaking... This is a band that's boldly going where none has gone before...not afraid of minor chords and best of all, [they] have perfected the art of making things sound lonesome with their command of the modal sound."
- Dave Higgs, Nashville Public Radio "Bluegrass Breakdown"
BRILLIANT
"This is a brilliant record, no doubt about it...remember when T-Bone Burnett figured out the way to sell five million Bluegrass records was to make 'Man of Constant Sorrow' a rock song? Wait'll the suburban good ol' boys hear RIPE."
- Tom Petersen, Victory magazine
BLUEGRASS FEVER
"These seasoned musicians have taken Bluegrass to the next level...its like stepping into the pages of an American Civil War novel. Get ready to catch Bluegrass Fever all over again!"
- Powersource magazine
KILLER
"Brandi has a sultry, killer voice that rivals any other female vocalist in bluegrass today...this album is fresh indeed -- and highly recommended."
- Dr. Brett Matheson, Black Rose Acoustic Society, "Sound Advice"
FANTASTIC! "If you mix equal quantities of old time, folk, and bluegrass you come close to describing this unique CD. The female vocalists must have come from heaven because they are too good for this planet... You need to listen to this CD several times in order to fully apreciate the beautiful lyrics to each song..."
- Al Shusterman, KCBL "Backroads Bluegrass"
BETTER & BETTER
"...I intended to play a couple of cuts, but wound up playing the ENTIRE ALBUM after callers kept asking who that was, and station personnel wanted to hear more and more. I've never done that before! It just kept getting better and better with each song. It's so regreshing to get in new music that good that was written by members of the band...I'm already looking forward to the next release!"
- Rusty Brown, WEPG Radio
ULTRA-GOOD "Rarely do songs get stuck in my head like the ones from RIPE. Brandi's and Rachel's vocals and harmonizing make you daydream. The band's songwriting is especially impressive. Rarely is a band's second CD or project this ultra-good!"
- Nina Schnipper, KDNK "Smokin' Grass"
GOOSE BUMPS!
"From the opening instrumentals, to the clear fresh vocals and the subtle background harmonies, 'Down on the Crooked Road' draws in the listener. The lyrics paint a picture of the music and its heritage to the point that it gave me goose bumps. Our show's tag line is 'Bluegrass...Virginia's Classical Music,' and the Bee-Liners have done it proud!"
- Gary Williams, VaBluegrass.com, "The Ole Dominion Jamboree"
BRACE YOURSELVES!
"Every once in a great while a new release comes across our desk that introduces a band that we know is going to be the next big thing in bluegrass music...The Dixie Bee Liners are one of those bands...pure to the bluegrass tradition and the vocal performances are beyond words. They are profoundly talented and the sound is their own. The bluegrass music scene should brace for this new album...[five stars]."
- Robert Bartosh, Roots Music Report
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THE DIXIE BEE-LINERS are currently booking for 2009, 2010 & beyond. To inquire for rates and availabilty, please contact:
JIM ROE ENTERTAINMENT Toll Free 877.688.5885 - Fax 270.688.5881
Jim Roe: 270-688-5885 - Cell 270.302.0992
roeent@bellsouth.net
http://www.roeentertainment.net/
PO Box 6003, Owensboro KY 42302
Hello there, Dixie Bees!!! Just wanted to say hello and tell you about our online community of artists, musicians, and creative folk! I just KNOW you'll enjoy meeting new friends at: www.wiffledustonline.com/ning.cfm
I love "Susanville", you guys just keep getting better! I will be playing tracks on my show starting this Monday from 12-4 PM CDT at www.uicradio.org . http://uicradio.org/
Hey Dixie Bee-Liners, All I can say what you've probably heard many
times; your songs, your sound, your playing, is just absolutely
beautiful, Brandi, your voice is gorgeous, a real listening pleasure; the way you all play together is magic, a real joy to listen to; I love "Bugs In The Basement" - clever interaction with the instruments, all the songs are great, real good lyric writing and interesting chord progressions with the melody, very nice. You all have a bright future ahead of you with this, it's the real thing. All the best to you! Emarel
This month we mostly have Catie Curtis (with a Richard Thompson cover), Lindsay Fuller and The Cheap Dates (and who amongst us isn't?), Josh Fix with a track from the well-titled album This Town Is Starting To Make Me Angry and the rather lovely Red Rooster.
Online Now!
