Reviews

Artist:The Dixie Bee-Liners
Album:The Dixie Bee-Liners
Label:Self Released
Tracks: 8
Rating: ****
Contact:   http://www.dixiebeeliners.com

New names have steadily been pushing themselves to the forefront of Americana and Bluegrass in recent years. You only ave to see the reactions that the likes of Nickel Creek and Old Crow Medicine Show have got when they've toured over here. Hopefully The Dixie Bee-Liners will soon be spoken of in the same breath.
At the core of the band are dulcet throated Brandi Hart and Buddy Woodward. The band themselves are named after Kentucky Highway 41, but until recently were based in Manhattan. None of which gives them a connection with these sacred shores. Well until recently the closest we could get was that Brandi once dated a guy from Dorset. Now they've just added an Englishman to the lineup, so they squeeze into our review criteria.
At the core of any good bluegrass is the music. The instrumentation of the album, together with excellent, hands off production propel it straight into that catagory. It reaches good before you even take into account Brandi Hart's voice. If you can imagine The Be Good Tanyas blended into a single vocal then you're not going to be far off course.
Add to that some really great lyrics. The songs move from the dark to the humourous, there's some great images, "I'll be hanging From Your Family Tree" invokes some images, as does the whole of the song "Family Tree" from which it's taken. It's a tail of caution, remember you're not just marrying the girl you marry the family.
Buddy Woodward takes a good share of the vocals and shows he's no real slouch either. Compared to some bluegrass there's a harder edge to this album. That might just be exposure to to New York city or it might be down to keeping bluegrass as a living tradition, whatever the reason. I like it, it sets the album apart from some of the pure, inbred, almost corporate bluegrass that's been finding it's way over here.
The Dixie Bee-Liners show imagination and innovation without drifting too far from the idiom. Hopefully we'll get the chance to catch them live in the not too distant.