We are pleased to announce the release date for our new album! “Somewhere Beneath These Southern Skies” will be available on August 14th. To celebrate this occasion, we are going to be performing a special FREE concert in Market Square in downtown Knoxville on Friday, August 17th!

This free show is to express our thanks to our hometown for supporting us so much. With our latest album project, over half of our donations came from Knoxville, TN! You’ve been coming to see us for years and this is the least we can do.

We can’t thank everyone enough for your support. We hope you will celebrate this new album, funded completely by our fans, by joining us for a late summer evening under the stars in downtown Knoxville!

- TDG

Sometime in early 2005, I bought my first ticket to Bonnaroo. I had always been music crazed and had attended hundreds of concerts, but had spent bulk of my youth listening to punk, ska, and R&B music. I wanted to go to Bonnaroo because something had changed inside me. A month before buying that ticket, I had heard The Rolling Stones for the first time ever, and I was falling in love with rock and roll. Artists like My Morning Jacket, The Faces, Rod Stewart, Elton John, and The Band had found their way into my constant CD rotation. Keep in mind that this was way back before we had ever even thought about forming the Guv’nahs. I was a big fan and a music appreciator, with no intentions of creating music, and certainly no intentions of being a singer in a band. About a month before Bonnaroo, I remember my roommates Justin Hoskins and Richard Baird telling me that if I loved The Band then I needed to watch The Last Waltz, a documentary directed by Martin Scorsese which detailed the final concert of The Band. So, I found a copy of the film and watched it. Shortly after that, I remember watching the film Festival Express and seeing a younger version of the band. Immediately, I became obsessed.

Besides just loving the sound of The Band, I also loved the dynamic of The Band. They didn’t appear to have a true leader. It looked and sounded like everyone in the group was a role player. If I was picking favorite personalities early on, then mine would have been Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Robbie Robertson… in that order. But Levon’s voice was the one that I would eventually become most drawn to, because I felt like it was most like my own.

While at Bonnaroo, I remember asking myself what it was about live music that I loved the most… and I concluded that I loved live concerts because it was one of the few places on earth where a group can congregate and be collectively equal for a period of time. The crowd rolls in, but when the band starts playing, it doesn’t matter if you are rich, poor, black, white, or awkward… the music creates an environment of equality, even if only for 1 hour. When the band stops, normal life resumes… but maybe someone leaves a little bit changed. I was a dreamer then, still am I guess.

Fast forward 4+ years to August 2009 and I’m playing in a band a few weekends a year and working in a cubicle at the University of Tennessee with the rest of my time. I clearly remember sitting in my cubicle one day in early August and getting a phone call from an unknown New York number. Normally, I screen all unknown numbers… but for some reason I answered this one and it ended up changing the course of my life.

On the other end of the line was a voice that said, “Hey James, got your email. This is Justin Guip at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY. We listened to some of the demos that you sent us and we are really diggin it. When do you wanna come up here and record?”

We ended up going to Woodstock for 2 weeks in December 2009 to record Youth Is In Our Blood. While we were there we met Levon Helm for the first time. Kind, humble, and witty are the ways that I would describe him. We recorded that album in his home, which is named “The Barn”, and everyday we would watch him wake up, put on a robe and go take Muddy for a walk (his dog). Everywhere he went, he took Muddy with him. In the car, in the house, on a walk around the property. Everywhere. On a Saturday night while we were up there recording, we were asked to open up for the Levon Helm Band at one of his famed Midnight Rambles. Obviously, we accepted and had the night of our lives. After the ramble was over, Levon and his crew personally invited us to his personal Christmas party. Again, we accepted… thinking, there will probably be 200 people at this party. After our final night of recording, we head to Levon’s Christmas party… showing up a little bit late. When we get there, there’s a crowd of maybe 20 to 25 people, most of which are family members. In walk the Guv’nahs and our crew of 6, upping the party’s number of attendees by about 25%. We ended the night at some bar in the middle of Woodstock with Levon’s crew dancing and singing the night away. Levon was obviously asleep by about 10pm. After all, he was battling cancer and was in his late 60′s.

Levon’s management contacted us again about a year later and asked us to come up to The Barn and open for another of the Midnight Rambles, this time in January 2011. At the end of that night, Levon asked the Guv’nahs to get up on stage and encore “The Weight” with him and the band. Taking the stage, Levon leaned over to me and said, “Son, you’re taking the first verse.” Luckily, I knew all the words by heart. Nervous, I grabbed a mic between Levon and his daughter Amy Helm. The 4 count of the sticks, and then the song began. I will never ever forget harmonizing on the “Take a load off Annie’s” and the “Catch a cannonball” ending with his daughter Amy Helm. Every band member was on an instrument. One of the purest moments of true joy that I’ve ever experienced.

Yesterday, Levon Helm passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was surrounded by many friends and family at the hospital as he left this world and went onto the next. The crew that worked for Levon was one of the most tightly knit groups of people that I have ever encountered. We received a phone call today from the studio engineer, and he said that the vibe up in Woodstock is still very positive. We pray for strength for them during this next phase of each of their lives.

Levon Helm was a good man. He brought joy to the world. On stage and in person, he was inspiration and an encouragement to many. I am thankful for the short time that we got to spend with him.

james

the last five months or so have been pretty amazing for us. thanx to support from our fans we raised 37000 dollars to record our rock and roll songs on to a compact disc. We are very excited about these new songs. they are reflecting our progress as a band, as songwriters, and as studio musicians. we split our time recording at sony tree studios and the art house. Sony studios are super nice. there’s this sweet heart lady that runs the front desk that’s been there since the sixties and her name is judy. she was always excited to see us walk in every morning and i enjoyed having conversations with her because she was always happy. they also have endless supplies of grape faygo. i cant drink coffee because it makes me have anxiety eruptions so i just drank tons of faygos so i could be full of the spirit while i cheered on the rhythm section as they recorded their parts. we were rolling through the rhythm tracks a lot quicker than we thought we would so that created some cool momentum. high fives were all around and i got so excited that i spent 42 dollars at a sushi house for lunch. the menus had pictures of the sushi on the back. i had too much sugar and was really hungry so i chose the three most colorful ones. i wont use that method of ordering next time.

once we finished our first phase of recording we had a few days off then went back to nashville to finish up our overdubs. this time we were at “the art house” which is the legendary charlie peacock’s studios. the studio is built on to his house which is a really old church that’s been restored. this place was like a make believe land, it had a very magical feel to it. historic architecture with some good landscaping and a swing in the yard built for huffin cigs in. if i was a person who wrote books, i would live in a house like that.

we’ve been working with a really cool producer/engineer combo. Ross Copperman and Richie Biggs. Ross is an awesome producer to work with and he has very strong ideas. we work solid together creatively and it’s always constructive. he also has really good cologne. seriously, he just makes the room smell like dillard’s. it reminds me of back when i was in middle school before i knew what cologne was. i just thought everybody was coating their chests with deodorant so i did the same. then i started to develop a rash because my chest could not sweat and quickly found out that i was an idiot. Richie is a jedi master engineer as well as a huge inspirational force behind the music. during my overdubs he would come in the tracking room and dance around so i could feel like i was playing live. he pulled a ton of creativity out of us during the rhythm tracking and overdubbing sessions. the songs are sounding solid. thank you to everyone that donated to our cause.

we also did our first run of the year which was about 7 shows over ten days. we are very happy with how it went. atlanta, birmingham, and nashville sold out. houston, austin, dallas, and especially memphis had great showings. it was a lot of fun to play our new songs live because the crowd tries so hard to sing along and they have no idea what the words are. they just kinda leave their mouths open during the song and follow their hearts. in nashville i saw a dude in the crowd that was havin such a good time that he headbutted his own fist. it was pretty weird, but he might have just drank one too many dewskies. there were lots of new faces and it was really cool to see them singing our songs. i had the best fried chicken that ive ever eaten on this trip. it’s a place called gus’s in memphis. we also ate at a benihana japanese steak house. they didn’t have the white sauce so it hurt my feelings. to cheer me up, doody told the waiter that it was justin’s birthday and they sang us this japanese song and gave justin a really cool hat.

we believe its gonna be a really good year this year. its exciting to be releasing these new songs. it’s also exciting because we have a hometown show comin up in about a week and a half. we’re doin two nights at the bijou theatre on friday feb. 24th and sat. feb 25th. the shows are gonna be rockin. we have the black cadillacs opening on one night and the delta saints on the other. dont be a nerd and buy some tickets.

(you can follow cozmo on twitter at @its_just_ol_coz)

Pink Chair Sessions – Episode 1.6
with special guests The Delta Saints

Song: “The Weight of Lies” by The Avett Brothers

Shot backstage at Track 29 in Chattanooga, New Year’s Eve – 12/31/11

Thanks to all our fans who helped us successfully raise money for our Kickstarter Campaign!! We cannot express how much this has surprised and humbled us. The new stuff is sounding great and we can’t wait for you to hear it!

Much, Much Love,

The Dirty Guv’nahs

Great! I hope celebrate the album someday in Spain. Thanks guys for your music and your soul!!

Fabulous! See you on the 17th!

Any chances to get autographed copies at the show??

We miss and need you to come back to Birmingham, AL!!!!

Beautiful testimony to a talented, kind, genius of a soul.  RIP Levon

James, thank you for sharing your personal memories of Levon. Very few people, in the life on earth,  touch our souls in a way you just described.