Dix Hat Band — a West Texas storm

Originally printed in the February 2015 issue of Buddy Magazine

Taking West Texas by storm, Dix Hat Band is also about to come out with its first full-length CD project. And the songs coming out on that little round disc well represent the eclectic mix of each band member’s musical styles, talents, and influences.

Adam Inmon, who takes most lead vocals while playing fiddle, mandolin, or guitar, and Casey Johns, who plays bass, guitar and harmonica are the two with the longest tenure in this 3-year-old group. Joining them are Kelly Noles on drums; Colton King on guitars, mandolin and trumpet; and Sam Choate, also a guitarist and mandolin picker plus plays keyboards, mandolin, and drums. Beginning to see the eclectic background and styles here?

The group recorded an EP, as their freshman effort, soon after they got together, and from that came, “In and Out,” which earned honors on the Texas music charts. Before releasing the song, they actually went back into the studio and re-recorded it, Noles said, to make it better for radio airplay.

Noles said, about one of the songs on this newer project, “When Adam came to us with a little bit of an idea for some lyrics, we played with it between all of us. That began three years ago. It sounded nothing like what it ended up as. Two days in the studio, tweaking it, and it turned into the monster it is now.” That song is “Red Dime.” Inmon added, “It came that far from the original idea, and it became a Hallmark moment in the studio. It has all our fingerprints on it, all of our musical input running through it.”

Songwriting was also a collaboration between everyone in the band, as it was with what will become their first radio release, “Tell Me.” Inmon said that often he and Notes co-write, but “more and more, it’s (the song) worked on between us all. It’s rare that I complete anything on my own.”

Noles added, “With ‘Tell Me,’ we’re coming quick out of the gate with this hard-hitting fast song. We haven’t decided yet on when to release it.”

Influences? That’s a whole basket of flavors. Noles said, “I grew up rock n’ roll, the first concert I went to, I was 6 or 7 years old when my dad took me to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd open for ZZ Top. I’ve been hooked ever since. I love heavy metal and will always be. But my range is broad, it runs the gamut on anything good. If it fancies my ear, that’s what going to be played on my IPod or whatever.”
Inmon said his bands, from the first one he started in the 7^th grade, were always rock bands. “We woodshedded in my buddy’s garage. Rock was the only option. I wanted to be James Hetfield.”

Casey Johns has the more country background that the others in the band. “Casey is the one who introduced us to Texas country. We didn’t know what Texas country was until he showed us.” Johns’ first loves were bluegrass, traditional and classic country.  They all, some more than others, also fans of hip-hop.

“Very rarely are we listening to the kind of music we are playing. We listen to bash metal, progressive, new grass, blue grass, electronic dance music. Let the influences come from all angles other than the expected ones and that’s what you get at the end of the day,” Noles said.

“Even when we try to cover songs, it ends up sounding like us,” Inmon said. “We start out saying, ‘Man, let’s and sound like this.’ Then when we play it, it comes out our own way.”

The only cover song on this new CD is Zane Williams’ “Pablo y Maria,” and a privileged listen to it completely proves their uniqueness when covering someone else’s songs.

“Now we are getting to know the whole Texas country scene. We get to talk to those people who we regard as untouchable heroes. They are all so down to Earth, all so on the level. Nobody, none of them, are out of prep schools,” said Noles. 

One especially fun night on the Texas country stage was when they opened for Bart Crow. Inmon reminiscenced, enthusiastically, “ We ended up on stage with Bart Crow, and singing along with them. We were all jumping around and playing mad licks and singing into the mics. We still haven’t gotten over how cool that (Bart Crow) band is.”
The challenge Dix Hat Band is facing now, Noles and Inmon said, is in getting out there more. “We want to get into every venue possible. To do that, you’ve got to pound the pavement hard,” said one, and the other added, “And, I really feel like we are doing the right thing, for the sake of the music itself. We’re excited about how it’s catching on. We’re not doing anything else is doing in Texas.”

They are encouraged, mostly, by the fact that everywhere they have played, they have been invited back. Noles said, “We leave people wanting more. We are definitely taking the high road, and that’s being professional about the show, thanking the people who came to watch, and not getting hammered at the shows.” Inmon said, “We are self-managed, as independent as it gets. Always looking for the next opportunity.” 

Another member of the team is engineer/road manager/producer Justin Williams. “He lives and dies with Dix Hat Band, a sixth member of the band. And he definitely does his part.”

“We have a lot of eggs in this basket,” Noles and Inmon agreed. “We’re willing to pay the dues.”

Go Online to DixHatBand.com for a complete listing of their live shows. They will be at Blaine’s Pub in San Angelo on Feb. 13, and at Filthy McNasty’s Saloon in Fort Worth on May 15.

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