The Dixie Bee-Liners are an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Bluegrass group, formed in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 2002 by Buddy Woodward and Brandi Hart. Their music has been called
Bluegrass,
Americana
Americana may refer to:
*Americana (music), a genre or style of American music
*Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States
Film, radio and television
* ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...
,
alt-country
Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style f ...
,
Folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
, and "Bible Belt
Noir".
The Bee-Liners have released three
records
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
, and two
singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
. Their first recording was a 2005 self-titled/self-released CD-
EP on their own label, Betty Troublesome. Shortly after, Hart and Woodward relocated to
Southwest Virginia
Southwest Virginia, often abbreviated as SWVA, is a mountainous region of Virginia in the westernmost part of the commonwealth. Located within the broader region of western Virginia, Southwest Virginia has been defined alternatively as all Vir ...
, and signed with
Pinecastle Records
Pinecastle Records is a record label based in Piedmont, South Carolina specializing in supporting and developing bluegrass music artists.
History
Tom Riggs started the Pinecastle Records in 1989 as an outlet for bluegrass pioneer Bill Harrell who ...
, who released their first full-length
CD, ''RIPE,'' in April 2008.
Their third CD, ''Susanville'', was a bluegrass
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
released in November 2009.
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
winning
producer/
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
Bil VornDick co-produced the 19-song CD, along with Woodward and Hart.
In mid-2012 the band revealed in an interview with Bluegrass Today that they were working on a new album with a projected release of Spring 2013, but the project was never completed and the band folded at the end of 2012.
Musical style
Ostensibly a bluegrass band, The Dixie Bee-Liners played a wide variety of acoustic music, liberally cherry-picking influence from
traditional bluegrass
Traditional bluegrass, as the name implies, emphasizes the traditional elements of bluegrass music, and stands in contrast to progressive bluegrass. Traditional bluegrass musicians play folk songs, tunes with simple traditional chord progression ...
,
newgrass
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it la ...
,
old-time string band music, as well as
west-coast country,
country rock
Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...
, 60's
British invasion
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...
,
surf music
Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental s ...
,
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
,
rhythm & blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
,
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
, and English
folk-rock bands. In mid-2012 the band revealed in an interview with Bluegrass Today that they were evolving their sound, and expanding their lineup to include drums and electric instrumentation, but the project was never completed, and they split at the end of the year.
Buddy Woodward and Brandi Hart typically wrote all of the band's material—with Woodward also taking the role of arranger and producer—though they occasionally co-wrote with various band members, as well as
Blue Highway
Blue Highway is an American contemporary bluegrass band formed in 1994 and based in Tennessee. The band's albums include ''Wondrous Love'' (2003), ''Marbletown'' (2005), and '' Original Traditional'' (2016).
Background
After helping found th ...
's
Tim Stafford
Blue Highway is an American contemporary bluegrass band formed in 1994 and based in Tennessee. The band's albums include ''Wondrous Love'' (2003), ''Marbletown'' (2005), and '' Original Traditional'' (2016).
Background
After helping found t ...
, Jon Weisberger, and
Ken Stringfellow
Kenneth Stuart Stringfellow (born October 30, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer. Best known for his work with The Posies, R.E.M., and the re-formed Big Star, Stringfellow's discography include ...
of the American
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
band
The Posies
The Posies were an American power pop group. The band was formed in 1986 in Bellingham, Washington, United States, by primary songwriters Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow.
Their music has its origins in Merseybeat and the Hollies. They are i ...
.
In addition to standardized bluegrass
instrumentation
Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making.
Instrumentation can refer to ...
, the band were known to incorporate
alternate guitar tunings,
claw-hammer banjo,
dulcimer
The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments.
Hammered dulcimers
The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...
,
bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
,
dobro
Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar.
The Dobro was originally ...
,
Dojo
A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...
,
harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
,
chanter
The chanter is the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody. It consists of a number of finger-holes, and in its simpler forms looks similar to a recorder. On more elaborate bagpipes, such as the Northumbrian bagpipes or the ...
,
12-string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
,
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
,
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
,
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...
,
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...
,
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
, and other keyboard instruments as inspiration struck them.
Awards, honors, distinctions
Their self-titled EP 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. ''RIPE'' topped the Bluegrass Now Fan's Choice Top 20 chart twice, and also achieved two simultaneous No. 1's on Bluegrass Music Profiles' Top 20 Hot Singles, and the Roots Music Report Bluegrass Chart. The Bee-Liners spent nine consecutive weeks atop the RMR Bluegrass chart and two consecutive months in the Top Ten of both
Bluegrass Unlimited
''Bluegrass Unlimited'' is a monthly music magazine "dedicated to the furtherance of bluegrass and old-time musicians, devotees and associates." charts. All-told, the band achieved 23 weeks of No. 1's in 2008, and was named the Roots Music Report's ''Bluegrass Artist of the Year'' in November 2008. ''Susanville'' debuted on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' Bluegrass chart at No. 32.
Performance
The band toured extensively throughout the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, playing such prestigious festivals as
Merlefest, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Palisade Bluegrass & Roots Festival,
Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion,
FloydFest
FloydFest is a Music and arts festival held annually near Floyd, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains
History
The event began in 2002, and spans five days each year with on-site camping and multiple stages featuring rock, bluegrass, reggae, f ...
and
Bean Blossom, among many others. They appeared live on
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 197 ...
,
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, the
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...
, and were featured on radio playlists across the country and worldwide, including regular rotation on
Sirius
Sirius is the list of brightest stars, brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek language, Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinisation ...
and
XM satellite radio
Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a ''broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than ter ...
. In 2007 their music appeared on the soundtrack of the independently produced Civil War film ''FREEDOM''. In August 2010, the band played
Fairport's Cropredy Convention
Fairport's Cropredy Convention (formerly Cropredy Festival) is an annual festival of folk and rock music, headed by British folk-rock band Fairport Convention and held on the edge of the village of Cropredy in Oxfordshire, England. The festiv ...
Festival in the
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
village of
Cropredy
Cropredy ( ) is a village and civil parish on the River Cherwell, north of Banbury in Oxfordshire.
History
The village has Anglo-Saxon origins and is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The toponym comes from the Old English words ''cropp'' ...
, one of only two gigs in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
before returning home.
Discography
Upstate Manhattan-compilation
October 2005 (207 Records)
# Lost In The Silence - (Hart, Woodward)
The Dixie Bee-Liners-EP
November 2005 (Betty Troublesome)
# Davy - (Hart, Woodward)
# Brown-Eyed Darlin' - (Woodward)
# Lost In The Silence - (Hart, Woodward)
# Roses Are Grey - (Hart, Woodward)
# Family Tree - (Woodward, Gold, Ribyat)
# My Heart's Breakin' In - (Hart, Woodward)
# Yellow-Haired Girl - (Hart, Woodward)
# (Lord, Lay Down My) Ball & Chain - (Hart, Woodward)
Timeless Flyte: A Tribute To The Byrds-compilation
2007, RRO Entertainment
# Change Is Now - (Hillman-McGuinn)
Prime Cuts of Bluegrass Volume 90-compilation
2007, KBC Music, Inc.
# Down On The Crooked Road - (Woodward, VornDick, Hart)
RIPE
April 2008 (Pinecastle Records)
# Down On The Crooked Road - (Woodward, VornDick, Hart)
# (Lord, Lay Down My) Ball & Chain - (Hart, Woodward)
# Yellow-Haired Girl - (Hart, Woodward)
# The Bugs In The Basement - (Hart, Woodward)
# Dixie Grey To Black - (Hart, Woodward)
# Why Do I Make You Cry - (Hart, Woodward)
# She's My Angel - (Hart, Woodward)
# Old Charlie Cross - (Hart, Woodward)
# Lost In The Silence - (Hart, Woodward)
# Grumble Jones - (Woodward, Stafford)
# Jefferson Railroad Line - (Hart, Woodward)
# Ripe - (Hart, Woodward)
FestivaLink presents The Dixie Bee-Liners at MerleFest, NC 4/24/09
June 2009 (FesivaLink)
# Married By The Hanging Judge - (Morrow)
# (Lord, Lay Down My) Ball & Chain - (Hart, Woodward)
# Yellow-Haired Girl - (Hart, Woodward)
# She's My Angel - (Hart, Woodward)
# The Bugs In The Basement - (Hart, Woodward)
# Ripe - (Hart, Woodward)
# Down On The Crooked Road - (Woodward, VornDick, Hart)
# Why Do I Make You Cry - (Hart, Woodward)
# I'll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers - (Public Domain)
onus Track - 4/26/09 Hillside Stage# Old Charlie Cross - (Hart, Woodward)
onus Track - 4/26/09 Hillside Stage# Davy - (Hart, Woodward)
onus Track - 4/26/09 Hillside Stage# Possum John - (Johnson)
onus Track - 4/26/09 Hillside Stage
She Plays Like A Girl-Digital Single
October 2009 (Pinecastle Records)
# She Plays Like A Girl - (Hart, Woodward)
Susanville
November 2009 (Pinecastle Records)
# Enter Highway - (Hart, Woodward)
# Heavy - (Hart, Woodward)
# Restless - (Hart, Woodward)
# Find Out - (Hart, Woodward)
# Road Hog - (Hart, Woodward, Weisberger)
# Salem And Staunton - (Darrow)
# Turn Back - (Hart, Woodward)
# Truck Stop Baby - (Hart, Woodward)
# Albion Road - (Morrow)
# Susanville - (Hart, Woodward)
# (I Need) Eighteen Wheels - (Hart, Woodward)
# Trixie's Diesel-Stop Cafe - (Hart, Woodward)
# Graveyard Shift - (Hart, Woodward)
# Down - (Woodward. Molotov)
# Lead Foot - (Morrow, Woodward, Stringfellow, Hart)
# Yawn - (Hart, Woodward)
# Brake Lights - (Hart, Stringfellow, Woodward)
# In My Pocket - (Woodward, Hart, Darrow, Morrow)
# Destination - (Hart, Woodward)
Santa Wants A Whiskey-Digital Single
November 2010 (Betty Troublesome)
# Santa Wants A Whiskey - (Hart, Woodward)
Bluegrass Bands Helping Hands Volume Three: Big Leagues-compilation
September 2011 (Miracle League)
# Find Out - (Hart, Woodward)
References
Roanoke Times"Dixie Bee-Liners Move To The Mountains" by Tad Dickens, July 24, 2006
Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer"Reviews of new bluegrass music releases" by Keith Lawrence, October 30, 2009
Bluegrass Today"Dixie Bee-Liners back in the studio" Guest Contributor, October 2011
Bluegrass Now"Dixie Bee-Liners Take A New Tack" by John Lawless, August 29, 2012
Reviews, articles, notices
Country Standard Time" Are Dixie Bee-Liners 'Ripe' for Success?" by Ken Burke, April 2008
"Ripe" by Frank Gutch Jr., June 2008
NPR Music.com"Dixie Bee-Liners: Musical Hospitality" by Jim Blum, July 1, 2009
The Bluegrass Blog"Dixie Bee-Liners Video Shoot" by John Lawless, October 19, 2009
BluegrassJournal.com"Dixie Bee-Liners, Sierra Hull Uncle Earl head out on American Revival Tour Oct. 29" by Travis Tackett, October 28, 2009.
Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer"Reviews of new bluegrass music releases" by Keith Lawrence, October 30, 2009
9513 Country Music.com"Dixie Bee-Liners, Sierra Hull and Uncle Earl Spread The Gospel of Old-Time and Bluegrass" by Juli Thanki, November 4, 2009.
Cybergrass"Dixie Bee-Liner's 'Susanville' A Trip for the Listener" by Bob Cherry, November 7, 2009
Bluegrass Music Profiles"Dixie Bee-Liners - Susanville" by Lori Kerfoot, November 11, 2009
Folkwax"The Dixie Beeliners Make A Bee Line for Hits" by Deborah Wilbrink, November 11, 2009
"Susanville: A Review written for the Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange" by Frank Gutch Jr., November 2009
Country Standard Time"Susanville - Dixie Bee-Liners" by Greg Yost, November 2009
The Lonesome Road"Review: “Susanville” by The Dixie Bee-Liners" by Donald Teplyske, January 2010
External links
The Dixie Bee-Liners' official siteThe Dixie Bee-Liners' Facebook siteThe Dixie Bee-Liners' myspace sitePinecastle Records' Dixie Bee-Liners pageRadio SubmitSonicbids EPK*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixie Bee-Liners, The
American bluegrass music groups
Musical groups established in 2002
American alternative country groups
2002 establishments in New York City