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MUSIC: Hayseed Dixie, Academy 3, Saturday

31/ 8/2007

THERE can’t be many bands who have shared a similar career trajectory to that of Hayseed Dixie.

Formed in 2000, they started out as a comedy-rock anomaly – a blue-grass-style band playing the songs of AC/DC (the name Hayseed Dixie is a play on AC/DC).

But the band’s cult began to grow and transcend their predominantly student following.

Following the release of 2001’s A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC, they started to branch out, playing songs by other rock bands as well as performing their own material.

In 2005, they were the surprise package at Glastonbury Festival and even caught the ear of BBC broadcaster Jeremy Vine.

The Panorama presenter and Radio 2 DJ subsequently asked the band to record a jingle for his radio show.

Still, their burgeoning popularity doesn’t mean Hayseed Dixie have abandoned their original musical blueprint.

Their shows continue to be barnstorming affairs, like the missing link between Spinal Tap and the Beverly Hillbillies, while their prolific recording output has undoubtedly become more infantile – just consider album titles like Weapons of Grass Destruction, and you’ll know what Hayseed Dixie are all about.

And frankly, if it’s good enough for the presenter of Panorama, it’s good enough for the rest of us.