Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
The Dixie Bee-Liners are an American Bluegrass group, formed in New York City in 2002 by Buddy Woodward and Brandi Hart. The band members currently reside in Bristol, Virginia, and Asheville, North Carolina. Their music has been called Bluegrass, Americana, alt-country, Folk, and "Bible Belt Noir".
The band's current line-up features: Brandi Hart (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, fiddle, mountain dulcimer), Buddy Woodward (lead vocals, mandolin, acoustic guitar, banjo, bass, bouzouki, dojo, harmonica, high-strung guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, percussion), Todd Patrick Livingston (resonator guitar, lap steel), Saravanan "Sav" Sankaran (vocals, upright bass), Lauren Saks (fiddle, vocals), and Zach Mongan (banjo).
The Bee-Liners have released three records. Their first was a 2005 self-titled/self-released EP on their own label, Betty Troublesome. Shortly after, Hart and Woodward relocated to Southwest Virginia, and signed with Pinecastle Records, who released their first full-length CD, RIPE, in April 2008.
Their third CD, Susanville, was a bluegrass concept album released in November 2009. Grammy winning producer/engineer Bil VornDick co-produced the 19-song CD, along with Woodward and Hart.
Musical style
Ostensibly a bluegrass band, The Dixie Bee-Liners have been known to play a wide variety of acoustic music, liberally cherry-picking influence from traditional bluegrass, newgrass, old-time string band music, as well as west-coast country, country rock, 60's British invasion, surf music, Celtic, rhythm & blues, punk, ska, and English folk-rock bands.
Buddy Woodward and Brandi Hart typically write all of the band's material, though they have occasionally co-written with various band members, as well as Blue Highway's Tim Stafford, Jon Weisberger, and Ken Stringfellow of the American alternative rock band The Posies.
In addition to standardized bluegrass instrumentation, the band has been known to incorporate alternate guitar tunings, claw-hammer banjo, dulcimer, bouzouki, dobro, Dojo, harmonica, chanter, 12-string guitar, drums, electric guitar, pedal steel guitar, cello, Mellotron, harpsichord, and other keyboard instruments as the mood strikes them.
Awards, honors, distinctions
Their self-titled EP debuted on the Roots Music Report bluegrass chart at #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 #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 charts. All-told, the band achieved 23 weeks of #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 Bluegrass chart at #32.
Performance
The band has toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada, playing such prestigious festivals as Merlefest, Palisade Bluegrass & Roots Festival, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, Bean Blossom, and FloydFest. They have appeared live on BBC Radio Scotland, NPR, the Food Network, and have been featured on radio playlists across the country and world-wide, including regular rotation on Sirius and XM satellite radio. In 2007 their music was featured on the soundtrack of the independently-produced Civil War film FREEDOM. In August 2010, the band played Fairport's Cropredy Convention Festival in the Oxfordshire village of Cropredy, one of only two gigs in England before returning home.