Posted 02 March 2012 - 01:36 PM
This episode of Mountain Stage actually originally aired back in June of 2011 but if you were like me and missed it, you can still listen to it here. I was fortunate enough to catch this tour when it rolled through NC late last year. Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey (of the dB's) were also in attendance and got up on stage towards the end of the night to sit in on a few tunes. It's always a treat to see Dixon but this evening was extra special for me because I'd never seen Marti Jones in concert.
Husband and wife duo Don Dixon and Marti Jones make their tenth appearance on Mountain Stage to play songs from their new album,Living Stereo. After performing together for more than 30 years, the pair continues to stake their claim as great songwriters, singers and musicians. Dixon produced R.E.M.'s landmark album Murmur, as well as artists ranging from the Smithereens to James McMurtry, and has spent much of the last two years playing bass in Mary Chapin Carpenter's touring band.
Marti Jones' career in music began with the Ohio-based band Color Me Gone, and has continued with a string of solo releases and a tour with singer-songwriter Amy Rigby in 2005. Together, the pair is often referred to as "the first family of jangle-pop." This five-song set makes use of a tape loop played through a mic'd boom box onstage, and a toy piano.
"We were listening to the UNC radio (station) there and they were playing an R.E.M. song. I like R.E.M. fine, but at the end of it, the DJ says, 'Ya that was R.E.M., the sound of the new South'. I looked at my roommate and we said, Gawd, if that's the sound of the new South, I preferred it when it was on the skids. That's how we got the name."
- Rick Miller of Southern Culture on the Skids
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