Hayseed Dixie

Born in Nashville, Tennessee at the turn of the 2000s, Hayseed Dixie developed a formula mixing acoustic bluegrass, humor and hard rock covers under the self-styled label “rockgrass.” The project first gained attention with A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC in 2001, a bluegrass reinterpretation of AC/DC’s repertoire, before applying the concept to other rock and metal songs while gradually adding original material often tinged with satire. Centered on John Wheeler, the band has gone through several lineup changes but remains associated with a string-band format—banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar and double bass—that shifts rock’s energy toward a country and hillbilly aesthetic. The discography follows this trajectory with releases such as Let There Be Rockgrass (2004), No Covers (2008), Hair Down to My Grass (2015), Free Your Mind and Your Grass Will Follow (2017), Blast From the Grassed (2020) and Shattered Grass (2021), the latter leaning more toward original compositions close to outlaw country. Very active on stage, Hayseed Dixie has toured folk circuits, rock clubs and major European festivals, with appearances at Glastonbury, Download and Roskilde — a presence that helps explain their lasting role on British and northern European stages.