Posts Tagged ‘Bonaroo’

Hill Country Review

Appearing Dec 4th, at Oklahoma City Limits

For Tickets 

BIOGRAPHY

HILL COUNTRY REVUE is THE modern Southern Rock / Blues band for the new generation. Formed by Cody Dickinson from the North Mississippi Allstars in 2008, it features Chris Chew, Kirk Smithhart, Ed “Hot” Cleveland and Daniel Coburn. The band’s debut album, ‘Make a Move’, was released in May 2009. “This is really back to the roots of blues,” says Cody of the record. “It’s funky. Really nasty, that’s the best way to describe it. Gritty, messy, stripped-down.”

As part of the North Mississippi Allstars, Cody Dickinson and Chris Chew have three Grammy nominated albums under their belts. They have shared the stage with artists as diverse as Kid Rock, Dave Matthews Band and Mavis Staples, and toured all over the world steadily since 1996, earning a legion of fans.

The majority of the material on ‘Make A Move’ was written by protégé Garry Burnside, the youngest of R.L. and Alice Mae Burnside’s fourteen children. Garry is a walking encyclopedia of Mississippi hill country blues. He grew up playing with Junior Kimbrough every Sunday night in Junior’s world-famous juke joint (where he met a young Cody Dickinson for the first time).

Kirk Smithhart was awarded The Albert King award for Best Guitarist by the Blues Foundation when he was only 19. Daniel Coburn, born and raised in Flint MI, cut his teeth playing rock and hardcore. He formed Dixie Hustler in 2001 whose debut record was produced by Aaron Julison of Kid Rock and Cody Dickinson. “Hot” Cleveland grew up surrounded by the gospel music of Memphis and has recorded and toured with a number of lauded musicians including Olanda Draper & Howard Hewitt.

The Lee Boys

The Lee Boys

blues, jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop, country, and world music genres in a powerfully

jamming mix. When The Lee Boys bring their joyous spiritual sound to the stage,

audiences instantly recognize that this is not “sitting and listening” music - dancing,

shouting out, and having fun are considered essential parts of their tradition. These

guys will funkify your soul and help you see the musical light.

In the late 1930s, two brothers brought a new musical instrument into the worship

experience of the House of God church in Jacksonville, Florida. The Pentecostal

congregation embraced the soulful sound of the electric lap-steel guitar, as played by

a novice named Willie Eason and his brother Truman. Over time this unique sound

became the hallmark of the church. The pedal steel guitar was later added into the

mix in the 1970s. The Lee Boys are part of the fourth generation of this tradition in

the faith.

Over the past year, The Lee Boys have either sat in or been joined on stage by the

Allman Brothers Band, Warren Haynes, Bob Weir, Los Lobos, Derek Trucks, Susan

Tedeschi, The North Mississippi Allstars, and Victor Wooten. They recently headlined

at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Bonnaroo, High Sierra, Philadelphia

Folk Festival and nearly 50 additional folk, jazz, blues, and arts festivals. Impose

Magazine said of The Lee Boys 2008 Bonnaroo set: “…gospel-blues troupe the Lee

Boys made Robert Randolph’s later-afternoon set feel like a let down. They were

easily the find of the festival.”

The Lee Boys were recently named to the SouthernArtistry.org website, a Southern

- GlideMagazine.com’s Top 10 Concerts of 2008“…the Lee Boys bring the sacred steel sound to the next level…”