HAYSEED DIXIE : Glasgow QM : 29th April

The man in the picture below is a maniac ! He is Dale Reno. He is also the finest musician I have ever seen play...That's if you don't count his brother Don Wayne, who fortunately plays in the same band as 'Deacon' Dale.

The name of this band is

HAYSEED DIXIE

All pictures (c)mrjonthehat

A band that still sell their own T-shirts to dungaree and straw-hat wearing lads from Arran like the one above, and will gladly share a blether and a beer with anyone who offers...

A band who inspire otherwise normal people to follow them around the country, (and indeed, the world) for the sake of good drink, good times and good music !

Tonight HSDX played Glasgow's QM Union, and it was a sold-out, unforgettable experience

For Debbie and me, the evening began at prearranged rendezvous point "The Microchip", Glasgow's smallest pub allegedly, suggested by the fans who communicate through interweb OUTHOUSE http://hayseed-dixie.com This "outhouse" of The Chip bar has a stated capacity of 29...we managed 43 plus 2 barmaids ! and we sang a beautiful rendition of MOONSHINER'S DAUGHTER to the scared regulars.

Even though Hayseed Dixie have played Glasgow no less than half a dozen times in the last two years, tonight was to be the Glasgow debut of new / former bass player BIG JAKE (the T-shirts on sale depicted him as a man with a bag over his head!) I decided that he should be welcomed by well-wishers sporting his distinctive side-whiskers, so I cut up an old brown fake-fur cushion and leopardskin rug. The resulting sideburns were the epitome of coolness, as I'm sure my pictures prove.

I was lucky to get a great spot to take pictures (and mpegs, which I'll add when edited), and told the girl next to me (an ACDC fan), that she was going to love HSDX.

After opening number DIRTY DEEDS, (I won the prediction bet), she turned to me and said "You're not wrong!"

I love and admire the way HSDX win a crowd over. It's a combination of good-naturedness, Rockgrass re-workings of well-loved songs, John (Barley Scotch) Wheeler's sermon-like praise of Drink, Women and Good Times... and most of all, it's the fact that these guys are incredibly good musicians. The QM quickly became a singing, shouting, cheering crowd of good ol' boys 'n' gals. It was brilliant to witness.

Big Jake had a lot to prove to us OUTHOUSERS, replacing the excellent Jason. I was pleased to see he favoured a semi-acoustic bass (my own weapon of choice), and without a doubt, the guy can play. He has an obvious rapport with the band, particularly Don Wayne, and although his solos were less flashy than Jason's, I was very happy to see another brilliant bass player in the band, I wondered at times if he was influenced by the great Brian (Violent Femmes) Ritchie.

Dale Reno, for me at least, is the ROCKgrassSTAR of this band. Brilliant to watch, a hillbilly Angus Young, with tattoos and eyeliner. Playing brilliantly on mandolin and guitar (and the left hand to Don Wayne's right, during their now legendary BANJO-TEST)

If you haven't seen this man play, your life is missing something !

The setlist was a dream for those of us who have followed the band in the past to motels in Inverness and rain-sodden campsites in Ullapool. Welcome returns to the set were the J. Geil's Band's CENTERFOLD, and brilliant love-song I WISH I WAS YOU...

I also was delighted to hear PARADISE, John Wheeler's favourite song, played when Don Wayne and Jake nipped out to the toilets (apparently to roll the Rockgrass version of a Jazz Woodbine.)

The crowd went crazy for Green Day's HOLIDAY, (the song the band refused to mime on Top Of The Pops), HIGHWAY TO HELL, WALK THIS WAY and, of course ACE OF SPADES, but the bluegrass side of the show, KIRBY HILL, MOONSHINER'S DAUGHTER and the obligatory DUELLING BANJOS was met with the kind of thunderous, genuine, loving applause I last saw when Tenacious D played this venue.

They didn't play HELL'S BELLS or BIG BOTTOM, but I'm certainly not complaining, because what we got was brilliant, with the band spurred on by the enthusiasm of the Glasgow punters.

Don Wayne and Jake traded licks as each tried to get the other to fingerpick faster. It was incredible to watch. The true result of playing every day in a band that loves to improvise.

Then came the highlight of the show. BIG BALLS, and Dale went walkabout...

His radio-mic-ed mandolin meant that he could join the crowd...

...and he ended up on the balcony !

Don Wayne couldn't help laughing, and I had to wonder if the rest of the band guessed Dale would head upstairs...

The applause was deafening, and John seemed genuinely lost for words. Glasgow loves this band, and the "Hayseed Dixie virgins" in the crowd were definitely conquered...

... which makes it very difficult for me to comment on the above picture. (Even though we first met these girls at the Renfrew Ferry gig last November.)

T-shirts, jackets and tickets were all signed by the band (who must have been knackered), another reason why this band are more loved than your average "thank you Glasgow, there will be no encores", straight on the bus band...

Conclusion : Quite Simply THE BEST HAYSEED DIXIE GIG YET ! ! !

They are back in June, to play Stonehaven ... Then LOOPALLU !

Above this post (I hope) is my video made up of clips from the night