If you haven’t already purchased your advance tickets to Chattahippie, you’ll need to find them at Chad’s Records (Chattanooga), The Billy Block Show (Nashville), or at Memorial Auditorium Box Office - 423/642-TIXS
Some tickets will be available at the Chattahippie Festival box office, but we will not guarantee access - space is limited, and current ticket holders will receive priority access.
We’re excited to announce that the Chattahippie Music Festival is now available on your iPhone! The creators of iFestival, a free iPhone app, have featured Chattahippie as a debut festival. You can download artist bios, performance schedules and other Chattahippie information quickly and easily - and it’s free!
To install iFestival on your iPhone, click on the orange logo or this link.
Friday, September 19 is Sirius Outlaw Country Night at the Chattahippie Music Festival, and we have a variety of satellite radio jocks & entertainers on hand to help make this debut event a stellar occasion.
Hosted by Dallas Wayne, a well-traveled singer-songwriter-actor and hardcore honky tonker that has released numerous albums under his own name and as a member of the Twangbangers. Coming to you every weekday on Sirius Outlaw 63 from the “live music capital of the world.”
Word is that the arrest warrants for Sirius’ Mojo Nixon have been dropped, and he is once again allowed to travel to Tennessee. Join Mojo at Chattahipie, then tune in to his broadcast from his “Shack by the Sea” in Coronado, Ca. every weekday from 4-8 pm ET for an uncensored thrill-ride that celebrates the unheard demented psychotic underbelly of the American dream.
Adding a touch of class to these “gentlemen” is the very talented Elizabeth Cook who is wrapping up her world tour behind her hit single, “Sometimes It Takes Balls To Be a Woman”. A moonshiner’s daughter from the backwoods of Florida, sassy country singer broadcasts on Thursday and Friday mornings from Music City U.S.A. with a scintillating mix of music, recipes and household cleaning tips. A regular on the Grand Ole Opry, her 2007 album Balls was produced by Rodney Crowell.
Johnny Knoxville and his cousin, Roger Alan Wade, now host a new one hour show on Saturday nights at 8 pm ET. “Me and Rog’ are damn excited to become in-laws to the Outlaw family on SIRIUS Satellite Radio,” said Knoxville. “We’re going to bring you some hot pickin’, finger sniffin’, frog stickin’ great country music so come hang with me and cuz’!!!!!” “It was only a matter of time until a freak, misfit, and outcast like Johnny Knoxville found some fools stupid enough to give him and his cousin a radio show,” said “Little Steven” Van Zandt, Executive Producer and creator of Outlaw Country. “Tragically, it’s us. Welcome pilgrim!”
Our final Sirius Satellite guest of questionable nature is truckin’ music authority DJ RigRocker. His radio program the road with legendary artists like Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, and Red Simpson, along with a heavy load of gear jammers from yesterday and today. Keep on truckin’ in Outlaw Country!!
Our friends at North Shore Yoga will be awakening your minds and body during the Chattahippie Music Festival with sunrise yoga sessions near the main stage.
Join us at 9am on Saturday, September 20 and Sunday, September 21 for a mindful rejuvination prior to full days of sun, music and friendship.
Yoga participation is free to all festival ticket & badge holders.
Canadian multi-platinum supergroup Blue Rodeo
“They have the chops to warrant the attention and high expectations they’ve sparked since their debut… When Rodeo hits the mark with the likes of “Summer Girls” they’re first class.”
Harp – February 2008
The day before Blue Rodeo released their 11th studio album, Small Miracles, the band loaded themselves up in a van and did something they had never done before. For ten hours that day, one of Canada’s most popular bands played on street corners all around the downtown core, shocking fans and stopping local traffic. For a band that has become woven into the fabric of Canadian life, it just seemed to make sense to step down off the stage and serenade the public on its way to work.
Commuters were caught off guard as they got off their morning trains and hockey fans were thrilled to run into the band outside a Toronto Maple Leaf pre-season game. But perhaps the most appreciative audience were the patients at Princess Margaret Hospital. Patients and staff jammed the hospital’s foyer to enjoy the band’s five song performance. Of all of the impromptu performances, this was the one that had the most meaning to the band members.
“The nurse who looked after my dad when he was in intensive care up in North York was there too, and so that was pretty sweet,” said Greg Keelor afterwards.
By today’s standards, it can be called a small miracle if a band stays together for five years and records two albums, but what would you call it when a band has been recording best selling albums for twenty years? Though it was no intended that way, it seems most appropriate that Blue Rodeo called their new album Small Miracles. The thirteen track album, once again features the storied songwriting talents of Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor.
The Dedringers
Austin, Texas
“The Dedringers are without a doubt one of Austin’s best new bands…..they sound at once familiar and fresh.” Jody Denberg, KGSR
“When The Dedringers play the Hollywood Bowl we hope that they will let us open for them”. - James McMurtry
The Dedringers have been playing bars and venues since they were pre-teens . They are mature beyond their years and their music and their demeanor will prove that. You could say their debut EP is self titled in some respects. Definitely, Purposely, Infinite. The Dedringers and their music are as eclectic as an indie record shop, creating an atmosphere where you spend hours revisiting old treasures and discovering new ones.
With influences like Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Steve Earle, Gram Parsons, Todd Snider and Guy Clark, you can’t help but find something to fall in love with in the mix. Don’t be mistaken…their music is their own.
Tom Gillam
Residence: Austin, Texas
Style: Rock/Americana
Tom Gillam died March 20, 2006, returning from a string of dates in Texas and in the middle of recording his fourth LP. He’s doing fine, thank you. There’s a reason his new album is called Never Look Back.
He suffered two of three heart attacks on the table in the ER of Virtua Hospital in deepest New Jersey. They were operating to clear his totally blocked aorta the third time; two percent of the men in their 30s and 40s survive similar attacks. Occasionally it pays to be in the minority.
None of which means his new album is filled with maudlin songs revealing his new appreciation of life and deep spirituality. (Those are private matters.) Like 2005’s breakthrough Shake My Hand — 14 weeks on the Americana radio top 10, peaking at #4 — for which he received a “Best Emerging Artist” nomination from the Americana Music Association — Never Look Back is a thoroughly entertaining and highly literate burst of classic songwriter-driven rock.
We are excited to announce the musical lineup for the debut Chattahippie Music Festival, featuring the best talent in Americana, Rock, Blues, Jam, Country, Folk and Bluegrass from around the nation! With over thirty artists from ten states, this promises to be a great celebration of peace, love and music!
Northwest Georgia Bank presents the 2008 Chattahippie Music Festival featuring: Pure Prairie League, Chris Knight, The Derailers, Charlie Louvin, Walt Wilkins & The Mystiqueros, Two Tons of Steel, Elizabeth Cook, Dallas Wayne, The Gougers, Gary Nicholson, Jason Eady & The Wayward Apostles, Laura Cantrell, Buzz Cason & The Love Notes, Beggars’ Caravan, Lou Wamp, Roger Alan Wade, Dane Varese, Joe Moss, Trent Summar & The New Row Mob, Jimmy Davis, Michael Johnathon, Band of Heathens, Doug & Telisha Williams, Miles from Nowhere, Michael Hearne & South by Southwest, Tommy Alverson, Billy Block, Whitey Johnson, Penguin, Tressie Seegers and The New Binkley Brothers.
UPDATE: We’ve just added the Candian multi-platinum supergroup Blue Rodeo to our lineup! Other just-added are rocker Tom Gillam and the Dedringers!
Chris Knight
Residence: Slaughters, Kentucky
Genres: Americana, Singer/Songwriter, Country, Rock
Website: www.chrisknight.net
In the summer of 1996 inside a sweltering singlewide trailer outside a small Kentucky mining town, an unknown singer-songwriter named Chris Knight recorded an ‘unofficial’ batch of tracks prior to the release of his major label debut album. Over the next decade, through a combination of leaks, bootlegs and legend, those sessions would become something much more. “People have been talking about these tapes ever since I recorded them,” Chris Knight says. “To me, they were rough and stark and I never thought they’d see the light of day.” Ten years and four acclaimed albums later, The Trailer Tapes remain a remarkable moment in time less captured than cornered, a portrait of the artist as a ferociously talented young man. And for the artist The New York Times would soon call “the last of a dying breed … a hard-nosed iconoclast with an acoustic guitar and a college degree”, The Trailer Tapes have now arrived as the long-missing first chapter of one of the most uncompromising careers in music today.
Beggars’ Caravan
Hometown: Durham, NC
Style: Jam Band, Indie Rock
Website: www.beggarscaravan.com
Since officially forming in Durham, NC, Beggars’ Caravan rolled into the indie rock scene in 1999 with highly distributed copies of their self-titled demo along with various fan recordings of their earliest live shows. Singer/songwriter Chris Barkley and guitarist/songwriter Kevin Thornton began blending their sorted musical backgrounds in college, both already drawing on professional training on various instruments as well as on experience performing both nationally and internationally. They soon would be joined by Brandon Allen on percussion, whose extensive experience and unique rhythmic playing style intertwined with bassist Paul Benner’s keen sense of groove established a mighty foundation to the rootsy, home-grown melodic rock that has become the trademark Caravan sound.
The Derailers
Hometown: Austin
Style: Beatles-meets-Bakersfield
Website: www.derailers.com
It was their mutual love for the music of legendary country artist Buck Owens that originally brought The Derailers together back in the ’90s, and with the release of their eighth album, Under the Influence of Buck, the honky-tonkin’ boys from Austin bring their music all the way back to the source with a rollicking and heartfelt tribute to the timeless music of Buck Owens.
As the band has evolved over the years, perfecting its patented “Beatles-meets-Bakersfield” sound, The Derailers have always looked to Owens and his band, the Buckaroos, for inspiration. Their love and respect for the music Owens made is as unabashed and real as the performances that are captured on this special album. Well-loved standards like “I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail,” “Cryin’ Time” and “Together Again” are delivered fresh, and the band dusts off lesser-known Owens songs like “Down On the Corner of Love” and “Who’s’ Gonna Mow Your Grass” with passion-fueled versions that do the Buckaroos proud.
Lou Wamp
Resophonic Guitar, Fiddle, Mandolin
Hometown: Hixson, TN
Style: Bluegrass, Acoustic
Website: www.louwamp.com
After knowing just a few things about Lou Wamp, there might be an irresistible tendency to begin tossing out labels: “Driven”, “Renaissance Man”, “Multi-talented”, “Perplexing”, or, perhaps if he himself were doing the labeling, just “Perplexed”. Easy enough to understand, given he’s at once a 25-year veteran of the music business, a registered architect with a successful practice (see www.louiswamp.com), impressively talented artist and painter, amateur archaeologist, and father and stepfather to six kids.
Besides being a sought after sideman and studio musician, he certainly has the skill to be a solo artist in his own right. Born in Ft. Benning, GA in 1956, Lou had plenty of music (Elvis to Travis; Bach to Beatles) around home while growing up. After piano lessons and playing guitar in his high school jazz band, a broken wrist encouraged him to take up resonator guitar. Gene Wooten became a close friend and mentor. Lou played on “Sidemen” nights at the Station Inn in Nashville and was in a band called Hiwassee Ridge that performed at the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville. Other bands he’s worked with include James Monroe and the Midnight Ramblers, The Dismembered Tennesseans, Cowjazz, Blue Moon Rising, and others.
In 2004, he formed the Wizards of String (now Swing Shift) and released his debut resophonic guitar project, “ResOlution” produced by Butch Baldassari featuring 9 original instrumental tunes (and 2 great covers) with guest artists Jim Hurst, Byron House, Andy Leftwich, Justin Moses, Tom Roady and Jessica Lovell and Lynn Wamp. It was a labor of love and all involved believed strongly in the talents of a fine reso player who, with this project, would prove he could stand with the giants of the industry. Lou continues to play, write, record and collaborate with the above and a number of other great muscians.
The Gougers
Austin, Texas
Acoustic Folk & Bluegrass
www.thegougers.com
Thursday Night Exclusive - 4-day Tickets Only!
For The Gougers, it is more important that audiences hear the lyrics of the songs created by the singing/writing team of Shane Walker and Jamie Wilson — poems of vivid imagery, human struggle, subtle social comment, truth — than be concerned with what sort of genre the band’s music fits into.
That’s because The Gougers’ sound takes in most genres, constantly moving in and out of country, rock, folk, roots, or mixing them up, as Walker and Wilson experiment and evolve as songwriters. They’re playing with rhythm and instrumental effects, too, along the lines of influences and music mavericks Ryan Adams, Emmylou Harris and Bright Eyes and premier musical partners David Rawlings and Gillian Welch.
Penguin’s musical style is deeply rooted in 70’s classic rock and roll. Their original music has the “rock” of Led Zeppelin, the funk of early Stevie Wonder, and a splash of Pink Floydian psychedelia, all blended together with the soulful blues of well-crafted guitar leads.
Penguin’s goal is as natural as it is simple: “To bring back and play honest music that has been lost by today’s trend of regurgitated commercialism, hype, and stereotype”. They believe that today’s best musicians must be students of yesterday’s best musicians, and their unique sound is proof of that. Penguin is excited by the overwhelmingly positive response their music is receiving, is looking forward to big things in 2008.
Tommy Alverson
Fort Worth, Texas
Traditional Country
www.tommyalverson.com
4-day Tickets / Thursday Night Feature!
The charms of Texas may be more apparent from the inside than from the outside, where the rest of us live without entertaining much desire — as we might with some more obviously appealing place — to move there and check it out. Nobody with working ears and functioning taste, however, can rationally dispute that the Lone Star State has produced a wealth of classic American music in a range of genres, perhaps none more so than country.
Listening to veteran Texas country singer Tommy Alverson will not convince you that we need another Texas-bred president — ever — but it’ll make you feel good about the more down-to-earth Texas culture he represents, spawned in honkytonks and dance halls where blue-collar folk go to ease their sorrows by memorializing them in songs.
Joe Moss
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Style: Blues
Website: www.joemossband.com
Few up and coming young blues performers walk the walk to the degree of Chicago-based guitarist/bandleader JOE MOSS. One of the hardest-working performers on the Windy City circuit, Moss routinely works up to 28 gigs a month. His sound, a winning mix of blues and R&B flavors paired with original songwriting vision, can be heard blasting out of Chicago venues like Buddy Guy’s Legends and House of Blues on a regular basis. His stinging guitar and accomplished vocal style have won him fans citywide. His debut CD “The Joe Moss Band” (212 Records) gives ample proof to the rest of the world of what Midwest blues fans have known for some time: Joe Moss is for real.
A guitarist since the age of 15, Moss was given his passport into the blues world by Buddy Scott, who noticed Moss at a jam session at Rosa’s Blues Lounge on Chicago’s west side. Soon, Moss was playing seven nights a week as a member of Buddy’s Rib Tip band. In 1992, Joe toured Spain with Buddy and also recorded “Bad Ave.” with him as well. The record was released on Polygram’s Verve Gitane Blues label. Moss’ guitar skills quickly became notorious on the local scene and made him an in-demand sideman. He played countless gigs with nearly every bluesman and -woman in the city. Some of his past employers include Zora Young, Charles Wilson, Lil’ Smokey Smothers, Syl Johnson, Big Time Sarah, Barkin’ Bill Smith, Lefty Dizz, Magic Slim, A.C. Reed, Billy Branch, and Little Mack Simmons. Not merely a local hotshot, Joe has backed these artists in places like Canada, Turkey, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany as well as in Chicago.
Jason Eady & The Wayward Apostles
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Genre: Texas Country, Bluegrass & Blues
Website: www.jasoneady.com
Jason Eady is a singer-songwriter whose music is a distillation of country, bluegrass, blues, gospel, folk and Southern rock, but in essence is roots all the way, with organic arrangements, genuine lyrics, and strong lead and harmony vocals, no matter what style of song he is writing.
Originally from Jackson, Miss., Eady started playing guitar at age 13, played in various cover bands around the state, and reveled in exposure to Mississippi’s varied musical genres. It all worked to infuse his music – through his days in Nashville, the re-ignition of his dream to touch listeners’ hearts and minds with his original songs after a stint as a U.S. Air Force translator, and his August 2005 debut album, FROM UNDERNEATH THE OLD, which was produced by Texas songwriter Walt Wilkins and instrumentalist Tim Lorsch and which peaked at #9 on XM Channel 12 (X Country).
The same month Eady would meet musicians that would become his next touring and studio band. Scott Davis of The Woodlands moved to Fort Worth to attend TCU and graduated with a degree in radio-TV-film-video, playing in several Dallas-Fort Worth area bands including Woodeye, Chatterton and Quaker City. He plays guitar, mandolin, accordion, Dobro, lap steel and banjo and sings harmony vocals.
Kenny Smith, from Dallas-Fort Worth, has been playing drums professionally for more than 10 years, playing in Woodeye and Chatterton with Davis. Six months after meeting Smith at a private party, where the two played some impromptu songs together, Eady began putting together a band, and Smith was the first person he called.
Bass player Jordan Kiener was a perfect fit, too; he had moved to Denton to start a musical career after earning a degree at Oklahoma in instrumental music education, focusing on jazz and playing clarinet and bass. He answered Eady’s ad and was the only person auditioned, after band members heard his playing and high harmonies.
Together the quartet is Jason Eady & The Wayward Apostles, so named to spread the word about the band’s roots-music origins while putting its own spin on tradition. From different musical backgrounds and incorporating them all, theirs is a unique sound.
Touring regionally and nationally for the past year with cuts from its upcoming album, WILD EYED SERENADE, has earned the band airplay on Americana stations. It was tracked live in one open room to give it a live and authentic roots sound.
Eady continues to stay true to his roots music and touching audiences with its honesty and inspiration – the thing he’s always wanted to do.
Whitey Johnson
Residence: Nashville
Hometown: Somewhere, Texas
Genres: Blues
Website: www.whiteyjohnson.com
Whitey Johnson is a recently discovered blues singer/songwriter/guitarist from Texas, now living in Tennessee and performing worldwide. There are various stories about Whitey’s past, he has made his living making music for well over thirty years, yet has remained relatively unknown, having only recently recorded his debut album. But one known fact is that under the psuedonym Gary Nicholson his songs have been recorded by such blues greats as BB King, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Keb Mo, Delbert McClinton, Gatemouth Brown, James Cotton, Junior Wells, Shemeka Copeland, John Mayall and many others. He also won a Grammy as producer of the Best Contemporary Blues Record 2001, Delbert McClinton”s “Nothing Personal”. Visit garynicholson.com for more information.
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Michael Hearne & South by Southwest
Hometown: Taos, NM
Genre: Folk / Americana
Website: http://www.michaelhearne.com
Over the past several years, Michael Hearne and South by Southwest have created a new and unique kind of music. “Southwestern Americana” as Michael calls it “Songs about the southwest with an acoustic feel”. Michael Hearne’s incredibly smooth voice and amazing acoustic guitar style combined with Carmen Acciaioli’s musical mastery of the steel guitar, fiddle, mandolin, dobro, and hammered dulcimer, with the extremely talented Zeke Severenson on stand up and electric bass and you have what people all over the Southwest and beyond call their favorite band.
Michael Hearne and South by Southwest always play to a packed house of faithful dancers when playing on their home turf in Taos or Santa Fe. Their Sunday night performances at the prestigious Paramount in Santa Fe, NM , have immortalized them as the best “Southwestern Swing dance” band to ever hit the stage. “When people hear our music they are transported to another place and time,” says Hearne. “We can play a house concert, corporate party, wedding, or a full fledged dance, and everyone has a smile on their face at the end of the night. We love what we do.”
Michael Hearne’s song writing credits are impressive, penning songs for Jerry Jeff Walker and Gary P. Nunn (Lesson to be Learned from Love) and his New Mexico anthem, “New Mexico Rain” recorded by his uncle and aunt, Bill and Bonnie Hearne, and country music legend, Johnny Rodriguez. His critically acclaimed cd “Sight and Sound”, 11 songs written about 11 different works of art, won seven awards at The New Mexico Music Awards, making him the biggest winner in their history. This cd includes the song, “The Songwriter” co-written with grammy winners Mentor Williams and Andy Byrd. Michael Hearne has also written songs with his good friends Shake Russell, Keith Sykes, and many others.
The Band of Heathens
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Genre: Rock & Blues Roots
Website: www.bandofheathens.com
The formation of The Band of Heathens is as natural and organic as the music they create. In early spring 2006, the three principle songwriters, Colin Brooks, Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist, were sharing the bill every Wednesday night at the venerable Austin club Momo’s. Originally, it started as each songwriter performing his own set. But in a short time they started sharing the stage equally and collaborating on each other’s songs, with bassist Seth Whitney as the anchor of the rhythm section. The Wednesday night series was billed as “The Good Time Supper Club.” Largely improvised and unrehearsed, the shows quickly gained in popularity and word spread throughout Austin that if you wanted live music on Wednesday night, Momo’s was the place to be.
A misprint in a local paper billed the act as “The Heathens.” The moniker stuck and soon The Band of Heathens began to cultivate a loyal and growing legion of fans that immediately took to the expert musicianship, the finely-crafted songs and the band’s distinct quality of having three front men, each one of whom sings, writes and plays lead guitar. In March 2007, drummer John Chipman joined the band and helped fortify their country-soul-rock-and-roll sound.
New Binkley Brothers
Chattanooga
Traditional Bluegrass/Folk
“Upon first listen to the New Binkley Brothers, my immediate thought was ‘There is indeed still hope for country music’. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about that canned crap coming out of Nashville nowadays (pop stars in cowboy hats). I’m talking about honest to goodness southern music which incorporates the gritty, shuffling fiddle of the famed North Georgia string bands of the 1920’s, the driving clawhammer banjo and the mountain harmonies that make your hair stand on end. These boys get it right. Hailing from Chattanooga, TN, this old-timey trio know just when to whoop it up, stomp and swerve out a fiddle tune, as well as break it down with old religious standards. In true southern fashion, these gents perfectly toe that line between saints and sinners; get down and get right and are as refreshing as cool corn liquor on a hot summers night.” –Leo Chancy TN Dept of Transformation
Roger Alan Wade
Chattanooga, TN
Alt-Country, Outlaw, Americana
http://www.myspace.com/rogeralanwade
Roger Alan Wade is an American singer-songwriter known for writing humorous novelty songs in the country music medium.
Wade has written songs for country legends such as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, George Jones and Hank Williams Jr. He embarked on a solo career with the promotional assistance of his cousin, actor Johnny Knoxville, who occasionally featured Wade’s music on his TV show Jackass. During a 2003 appearance on the Howard Stern radio show, Knoxville promoted his cousin’s songs, which were favorably received by Stern and his audience and given frequent airplay thereafter. In 2005, Wade released his first album All Likkered Up on Knoxville’s record label.
Wade’s lyrics satirically deal with topics and stereotypes relating to redneck and honky tonk culture. His songs feature folky arrangements, featuring little or no accompaniment beyond acoustic guitar. His best known compositions include “BB Gun,” “Butt Ugly Slut,” “D-R-U-N-K,” “Poontang,” and “If You’re Gonna Be Dumb.”
Dane Varese
Hometown: Madison, WI
Genre: Pop/Rock
http://www.myspace.com/danevarese
What is the Dane Varese Band? It is Dane’s voice and unique vocal delivery—exceptional by any measure. It is 100,000 plus MySpace views, over 110,000 song plays by fans around the world, and over 100,000 hits on the band’s initial press release. It is a young band, light years beyond its age in terms of musicianship and performance. It is the Official Song of the City of Madison, Wisconsin, as chosen by the city council. It is Dane’s magnetic on-stage charisma and an inspired live show that includes extensive crowd interaction, behind the head guitar solos, and feel-good, original songs that captivate audiences upon first listen. It is a new group on an exhilarating rise that has already garnered national attention. It is the Dane Varese Band.
The Dane Varese Band, a pop-rock quartet from Madison, Wisconsin, has played some of the best venues and festivals. From their home base in Madison to Oregon, Indiana, and Nashville, this band is making a move on the national scene. The band’s songs have received airplay on radio stations across the country, including on-air interviews from Madison to Tampa, Florida, and the debut CD is currently featured on KZUM in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Dane Varese Band has also appeared on Indy’s Music Channel and Fox 59’s morning show in Indianapolis, Indiana.
This band appeals to virtually every type of audience. From hard rock fans as openers for Rockstar INXS runner-up Marty Casey to sharing the stage with blues artist Mark David Group, the Dane Varese Band continues to reveal its versatility and talent. The band has gained appeal from diverse audiences at festivals such as the World’s Largest Bratfest and the Indiana State Fair.
A rare blend of talent, youth, professionalism, and humility, the Dane Varese Band has only just begun. Jamison, the agent for Club Annex, best describes this band: “The Dane Varese Band puts on the show of a major label act without the attitude.” Canadian music reviewer John Wirth echoes Jamison’s sentiment: “Dane has the sound of Jason Mraz, the delivery of Rob Thomas, and the soul of James Taylor.” After the band’s appearances in Indianapolis, 96.3 on-air personality Deacon shares that “I think those guys are VERY talented and will go FAR. Tell them never to stop!” Don’t you worry about that, Deacon. Finally, music producer Terence Thompson, whose “Heaven Can Wait” is featured on Michael Jackson’s “Invincible” CD, has strong feelings about this band. “No doubt, I would love to work with them. We could make some fire.”
Billy Block
Nashville, TN
www.billyblock.com
Billy Block to host our Saturday Night Lineup!
CMT’s newest weekly program is Billy Block’s Western Beat, which features artists that you may not hear often, or at all on contemporary country radio these days.
Not only does the show feature live performances by the artists, but they’ll also be interviewed by Billy Block, or his wife, Jill, in between sets. The shows are taped at the Exit/In, and are the centerpiece of the Western Beat empire which includes a radio show, Internet website, magazine, and record label.
Billy Block got his musical start in the Texas music scene back in the late ’70’s playing drums for local artists, Freddy Fender, Shake Russell, Billy Joe Shaver, and B.W. Stevenson. He moved to Los Angeles in 1985, and worked a variety of jobs for the next 10 years, including gigs in a house band at the famed Palomino Club as part of Ronnie Mack’s Barn Dance. Block credits Mack’s efforts in California as being one of the sparkplugs of the alternative country movement.
Jimmy Davis
Hometown: Memphis, TN
Style: Bluegrass, Folk, Americana
Website: www.jimmy-davis.net
The “Memphis sound” has always escaped a simple definition. Diversity and individuality characterize the musical tradition of the city that gave the world Beale Street, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, the Blues, Sun Studio, B.B. King, Rock ‘n’ Roll and W.C. Handy.
Jimmy Davis is no exception to this rule. This versatile singer-songwriter, named “Premier Male Vocalist” five times by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, knows no boundaries when it comes to musical styles. Influences range from The Beatles to the Eagles, Johnny Cash and Gram Parsons to Jackson Browne. His songs have been recorded by Martina McBride, Restless Heart, Joy White, Johnny Rivers, as well as many other independent artists. Davis has appeared as a backing vocalist on numerous recordings by artists such as Johnny Lang, former Eagle Bernie Leadon, Danny Tate, Eric Gales, William Lee Golden, Mark Collie, Keith Sykes, Iris DeMent, Cory Branan, Susan Marshall, John Eddie, and the late Toy Caldwell. But it’s Jimmy’s charisma, warmth and talent as a performer that make him stand out among his well known peers.
Jimmy started his career in 1987 with the QMI/MCA debut release Kick the Wall by Jimmy Davis & Junction. The title song and first single “Kick the Wall” was a top 40 AOR hit as well as an MTV hit video. The group was known for its live appearances as a tight, loud, rock-n-roll band and toured all over America.
In 1996, Davis, with guitarist and Junction bandmate Tommy Burroughs, re-formed The Riverbluff Clan, a renowned
Memphis rockin’-country-bluegrass outfit from the ‘70’s. The band released two critically acclaimed independent CDs. The live album One Night in a Month of Sundays was heralded for its “hybrid vigor,” while the studio CD Two Quarts Low was called a “genre-bending romp through bluegrass, country and country-tinged rock”. It garnered a top 20 spot on the Gavin Americana chart and the song “Two Quarts Low” was even covered by RBC favorite John Cowan. The Clan also appeared in the award winning independent film The Poor & Hungry, directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow), performing Davis’ “Honeysuckle and Kudzu.”
In 2004, Jimmy made his solo debut with a CD of self-penned songs entitled Jimmy Daddy’s Acoustic Song List. Songs like “Grandmother’s Quilt,” “Devil’s Den,” “I Gotta Roll” and “Waiting in the Wings” honor every style of music Davis has ever approached. The Commercial Appeal called it “an unassuming triumph and as honest a record as you’re likely to hear.”
March of 2006 brought Campfire Songs to the world. The record was produced by Jimmy and recorded at Sounds Unreel in Memphis by Dawn Hopkins. It features Jack Holder, Tommy Burroughs, Jim Dickinson, Reba Russell, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Susan Marshall, Richard Bailey, Cowboy Eddie Long and the River Bluff Clan. Campfire Songs paints a cohesive and evocative picture by bringing together songs written throughout Jimmy’s career. “I always wanted to make this record but I just didn’t have enough songs that fit the concept,” Jimmy says. “It has literally taken me 25 years to get the right mix. “Tennessee” was written in Germany when I was 19 on a USO Tour and “Death Ridge” was written while recording the album in 2004.” As the title implies, some songs were actually written around the campfire on hiking and camping trips. Bluegrass and country, stories and hauntings, it’s all here.
In addition to making the latest record, Jimmy has spent the last couple of years helping out a heaping handful of friends. He appeared as background vocalist on the Grammy-nominated record from the North Mississippi Allstars, Electric Blue Watermelon, as well as their new one, Hernando. Also their pop’s (Jim Dickinson) 2006 release, Jungle Jim and the VooDoo Tiger and his latest Killers From Space. In addition, he sang on William Lee Ellis’ record God’s Tattoo, and provided all the backing vocal for Keith Sykes’ last record, Let It Roll. The Reba Russell Band album Broke Down But Not Out features Jimmy’s vocals and guitar playing as well as his song, “Sister Friend.” And he contributed vocals, guitar as well as a cover of Waiting in the Wings to Jed and Kelley’s cd Songs To Take Home.
He has also added producing to his list of accomplishments with the release of new songs by Giant Bear, including the song “Nashville”, which is on the Paste sampler! Also coming soon in 2008 are Jimmy Daddy’s Acoustic Songlist Vol II and a cd of home demos called BEAGLES.
Whether fronting a rock band, providing a soundtrack for an Oscar-winning film-maker, or picking his guitar around a campfire, Jimmy Davis continues his musical journey and the emerging legacy of a new Memphis sound.
Gulf coast Texas native Tressie Seegers brings something a little different to today’s music scene. Tressie combines two talents — visual art and songwriting — into one unique show. Surrounded by her paintings as she performs, this Americana songbird gives audiences an unforgettable and enjoyable show to be inspired by. Tressie’s music is described by Americana legend Walt Wilkins as, “… music that I like: Deep soulful country just two steps away on a well-worn path from Texas country blues. Cool songs about real life - loss, love, work, faith - sung straight from the heart for real people by a real woman with a real and very cool voice.”
Her talent has attracted the attention of another fellow Texan, the incomparable songwriter Billy Joe Shaver. A fan and a friend, Shaver has given Tressie a special gift she carries with her everywhere she goes: a black Martin guitar filled with songs and special instructions on how to
shake ‘em out. Legend among old-school songwriters is that songs actually live inside guitars and can be shaken out. Shaver once borrowed Harlan Howard’s guitar and wrote several songs like “Old Chunk of Coal” and “Ride Me Down Easy.” When Howard learned of this, he made Shaver give the guitar back so he wouldn’t use up all the songs. What better gift could a songwriter receive from such a fabled icon in music history?
Tressie fulfills the promise of that guitar, and writes and plays with heart and soul. Her voice is pure Americana, honest, true and beautiful. And as Billy Joe Shaver learned when he commissioned her to paint a tribute to his late son, Tressie combines music and art in an unforgettable, truly Texan way.
Laura Cantrell
Hometown: Chattanooga
Residence: New York City
Style: Americana/Folk
Website: www.lauracantrell.com
“This project feels like a step forward for me,” Cantrell notes. “But at the same time, I feel like I’m going back to my roots, making music purely for myself. Delving into these songs allowed me to feel my way through the music and rediscover my instincts.”
Trains and Boats and Planes features Cantrell’s first new recordings in three years, ending a temporary hiatus during which her attentions were focused on raising her new daughter. The new, all-covers collection adds a vibrant new chapter to the artist’s distinctive, deeply personal body of work, which has artfully merged her lifelong affinity for American country and folk traditions with an unmistakably contemporary sensibility. The result is timelessly resonant music that’s unmistakably personal and thoroughly original.
The British daily The Independent called Cantrell “arguably the most vital new country voice in decades,” while The New York Times praised “the kind of cosmic wistfulness that the best country and folk music can conjure when it dreams of the past.” The Wall Street Journal described her as “sweet and steady, sneaking up on you with a light touch and a sustained passion.” London’s Sunday Times noted, “She picks great songs to sing, and her clear, understated voice proves the perfect vehicle to convey the emotion-drenched lyrics.” Rolling Stone called Cantrell “a modern woman with an old-timey heart, with a voice pitched somewhere between the bluesy realism of Lucinda Williams and the vintage femininity of Kitty Wells.”
The grassroots discovery of the Chattahippie Music Festival itself has been exciting to watch, and we are close to completing the review & selection of our musical lineup from over 400 bands and artists from around the world!
We’re not entirly certain which artist submission was the furthest away (Prague, South Korea and Australia are all in that category), but the quality of the talent reviewed has been amazing.
Stay tuned: additional lineup, ticket outlets and camping updates are coming soon!
Doug & Telisha Williams
Hometown: Martinsville, Virginia
Genres: Americana, Folk
Website: www.dandtw.com
Doug and Telisha Williams embody the true Southern songwriting tradition. Playing what they call Fuel Injected Folk, this husband and wife duo hail from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Their roots are real, their words are true, and their energy is contagious.
Honest grit mingled with a humble respect comes through in songs of redemption, struggle and sacrifice on their new record Rope Around my Heart. Doug and Telisha gathered a stellar group of musicians to lend their talents, including Darrell Scott, Dennis Crouch, Kenny Malone, Eamon McLoughlin and Becki Williams. The project was produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Miles Wilkinson.
Read the rest of this entry →
Trent Summar & The New Row Mob
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Genres: Americana, Country, Farm Rock
Website: www.trentsummarmusic.com
Not that labels in music matter much — at least they shouldn’t — but Trent Summar has an evocative and altogether hard-to-resist term for the music he makes: Farm rock.
That probably says it well enough. But in case further explanation helps, we’re talking about that intersection where Chuck Berry rock and George Jones country converge. We’re talking about love songs that veer off the beaten path with honest slices of rural imagery and humor.
It’s a place on the musical map that’s entirely familiar but just a little too rowdy, a little too much fun (and in truth, too rooted in tradition) to be called mainstream country
If you’ve heard Summar’s 2000 debut album, the critically acclaimed Trent Summar & The New Row Mob, or seen his raucous live act in recent years, you may already be a staunch farm rock adherent.
Pure Prairie League
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Genres: Americana, Country, Rock
Website: www.pureprairieleague.com
Their rich history goes back to 1969 in the Southern Ohio area where a group of young musicians initially played cover tunes at local bars. Original member Craig Fuller and early member George Powell were beginning to stir their song writing abilities around the time original drummer Tom McGail happened to catch a late night 1939 Errol Flyn flick called Dodge City. The movie’s Pure Prairie League was the woman’s temperance union attempting to clean up Kansas’ most lawless town. RCA signed Pure Prairie League after seeing them play in Cleveland, Ohio. The first album was released the following year. The most memorable thing about it was the Norman Rockwell cover from a 1927 Saturday Evening Post cover, ” recalls Mike Reilly. Read the rest of this entry →
Dallas Wayne
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Genres: Americana, Country
Website: www.dallaswayne.com
4-day Tickets / Thursday Night Feature!
Sirius program host Dallas Wayne will be your festival tour guide on Friday - Outlaw Country night! www.siriusradio.com/outlawcountry Listen to Dallas live on Sirius 63 weekdays noon-4pm ET.
Dallas Wayne considers himself lucky to be able to make a living doing something he loves. Some people might say it has more to do with talent than luck. But throughout a career that has taken Dallas around the world as a songwriter, singer, actor and radio deejay, he claims he’s never had a real job.
A native of Springfield, Missouri, Dallas began performing professionally in 1975, and by the age of 18 he had toured throughout the entire U.S. and Canada. After moving to Nashville, he further developed his vocal style singing demos for many of the top publishing houses in the music industry.
