Hey Big Jim,

Glad you got to see Hayseed Dixie. The leader and lead singer Rusty Horn, is a friend of mine. We used to hang around a lot of writer's nights together. He had this voice which sounded like it was run through a strainer and at one point his Doctor told him he had less than six months to live if he didn't stop smoking cigarettes.
I didn't see him for about 10 years and one day I was in a line at the postal service. I asked him what he had been doing and he told me about the group and they had been opening for George Straight. They sold 40,000 CD's in a few weeks with no record label. They were managed by Irv Woolsey, who manages Straight. He told me how they came up with the idea.
They had been playing around Nashville, Georgia, etc. as a three piece mostly original band. They were about to starve and trying to figure out something different to do. One night Rusty brought his banjo to rehersal as a joke and started playing "Highway to Hell" bluegrass style as a joke. They all started laughing and doing all the AC/DC stuff since they were HUGE fans.
A few nights later they were doing a gig when they came up against a really rowdy crowd and they started doing the joke stuff. The crowd went nuts so they just started doing a little more each night.
From there they came up with the Queen and all the other stuff. I haven't seen them for a while but know they are out there all the time. From time to time I'll go to some town and they will have just been there or are coming in. I think he is one of my Myspace friends but I am not sure. I don't even know who is my My Space friends. I rarely check it. If he is I'll tell him hi.

MAB