The Gabe Dixon Band

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About The Gabe Dixon Band

Product Description The Nashville Tennessean proclaims that Gabe Dixon is "a classic pop songwriter who deserves to join the ranks of Jackson Browne and early Elton John in the pop pantheon." Known for their stunning live shows, Dixon along with his bandmates Winston Harrison (bass) and Jano Rix (drums) create a combustible sound that combines pure pop elements with the energy of rock and the sex of soul. Dixon's songs have been highlighted in both major network television shows and feature films. The Gabe Dixon Band's Fantasy Records release features Dixon originals and songs he co-wrote with no less than three Grammy Award winning writers for "Song of the Year." Dixon is also fast becoming recognized as the young "up & coming" pianist of choice, having shared the stage with artists as varied as Paul McCartney, Alison Krauss, Stevie Wonder, and O.A.R. Review "Gabe's voice is flawless, and it delivers some of the most well-crafted, heart-felt, kick ass songs I've heard in a long time. He and the band are truly gifted, and we're lucky they decided to share those gifts with the world." -- Sara Bareilles "I can't decide whether Gabe Dixon's secret weapon is his brilliance on the piano or his heart-melting voice. I guess I'll call it a tie. We fans have already witnessed this trio's blazing live performances - their self-titled album is the recorded proof. I'm guessing that Gabe won't be a secret for long after people hear these songs." -- Dan Wilson (Grammy® Song Of The Year winner, "Not Ready To Make Nice") "Seeing and hearing Gabe Dixon inspires me and upsets me. It inspires me because he plays superbly written songs, beautifully with a superb band. It upsets me because I fret that I may never be this good!" -- Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum About the Artist Formed nine years ago by Dixon and his two college roommates, bassist Winston Harrison and drummer Jano Rix, the group added a sax player and spent several years specializing in jazz-inflected, heavily improvised excursions, showcasing the virtuosity of the players. Dixon's elevated piano chops subsequently led to performances with Alison Krauss, O.A.R. and no less than Paul McCartney who tapped Dixon to play keyboards on his Driving Rain album and back McCartney and others on the internationally broadcast 9/11 tribute "Concert For New York City." Offered the keyboard slot for McCartney's world tour, Dixon respectfully declined to focus on his own band and its then-yet-to-be-released debut album. But after a bout of cutbacks and regime changes at Warner Bros., the band's original label, the band reinvented itself as a three-piece song-based unit. The band's rededicated attention to arrangement, classic song-craft, and performance can be heard on the band's eponymous new album, The Gabe Dixon Band. The trio cut the album live off the floor during ten days at Nashville's renowned Blackbird Studios with co-producer/engineer mixer Neal Cappellino (Alison Krauss, Mindy Smith, Jonny Lang) and with bassist Harrison doubling on "mandotar," a modified guitar he created whose sound somewhat resembles that of an electric mandolin. The album embeds vividly detailed, intensely personal and universally relatable songs in elegant yet muscular settings that draw, unabashedly and expertly, on classic rock. Both the material and the supple arrangements result from "the music we heard growing up, listening to our parents' record collections," Dixon points out. "Mostly `70s LPs by Elton John, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Carole King and James Taylor. It was a magical era, the pinnacle of pop, rock and folk in terms of songwriting and musicianship." Dixon and his bandmates have not only assimilated those influences but brought them back into the present tense, resulting in music that is instantly familiar both musically and thematically, yet still provocative and in the moment. While Dixon wrote all the album's songs, three were co-written by onetime Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson, whose co-write of "Not Ready To Make Nice" with the Dixie Chicks earned him a Grammy. Two songs were co-written with gifted Nashville songsmith Tia Sellers, who won a Grammy of her own for Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance." For the ballad "Further the Sky," Dixon duets with Mindy Smith, herself a Grammy nominee, at her most inspired. Of the newfound song focus of his onetime jam band, Dixon says, "We love great songs and real musicianship, and we take time as a band to come up with something that isn't typical, because the arrangement and performance can be just as impactful as the song itself. We've become more refined, and to the point, making the impact direct and immediate. The idea is pretty simple, really: We're dedicated to playing music people like that we like too."