Dixie Fried

Dixie Fried; the very name conjures images of the Louisiana Bayou, glasses of Moonshine and whiskey, bubbling pots of crawfish stew and grizzled old black men fusing the Blues of their fathers with the Cajun and voodoo sounds of that most eclectic of American states.

So it’s fair to say you know what you’re expecting on an album from a band with such a name. Indeed, the tinny beat of the cowbell and the fuzz-soaked riffs that herald the arrival of opening track On Shotgun, do nothing to dispel that imagery. All of this makes it all the more surprising when you find out that it’s actually being played by two very white white-boys from Whitburn in west Lothian. Honestly, fucking Whitburn! Not exactly the Mississippi delta, in fact up to now it was most famous musical export was Leon Jackson who won the fourth series of the fucking X-Factor.

Despite all that, it has to be said that that messrs Craig Lamie and John Murphy, the duo who make up Dixie Fried, can in fact rock like pair of mother-fuckers. Their sound is a stripped back, distortion-soaked version of the delta blues that owes as heavy a debt to the garage rock sounds of acts like The Black Keys and White Stripes as it does to Howlin’ Wolf and Elmore James. Regardless of their Scots heritage Lamie & Murphy have produced a sound that is both authentic and original at the same time. Murphy’s drums add a hypnotic beat to Lamie’s killer riffs and slide licks, producing a surprisingly full and powerful sound for a duo.

A Ways To Go is the band’s sophomore release for Glasgow Indie label Big Rock Candy Records, following on from 2011’s self-titled debut, and it has made quite an impact on this here reviewer. Tracks like Too Weird To Live, Too Rare to Die and Ballad Of a Bad Man are ferocious little burst of intense sound and rhythm that pick you and drag you along in their wake leaving you spent and exhilarated by their end. The energy conveyed on this record has propelled Dixie Fried straight to the top of my “bands I need to see this year” list, and for once there is a decent chance I’m not gonna have to drive halfway across the fucking country to do so.

There are one or two small flaws here; it’s not all solid gold. There is very little variation in style which can leave you feeling slightly over-saturated by the end of the record. On top of that, the one time they do veer off course slightly, on The Resolve, it turns out to be the one weak track on the album. As I said though, these are minor gripes.

On first glance A Ways To Go may look like it’s aimed at a niche market, but I defy anyone with even an passing interest in music to listen to this record and not find themselves getting caught up in it.

This is proper music for proper grown-ups and I fucking love it!
- Rock N Reel

Mister Mainy music blogger

16/12/12 – Molotov Jukebox/Dixie Fried/Callum Beattie.

Bit of a last minute gig for Kelly and me, but one we are very pleased that we got to see.
Dixie Fried will no doubt draw comparisons to The White Stripes as it's a guitar and drum duo playing the blues, but that's about as far as the comparisons go as Dixie Fried have a real drummer and vocally there's no White Stripes angle on what they are doing.
Instead they are more akin to a stripped down Led Zeppelin on a busmans holiday to the Delta.
That they aren't sitting on the banks of the Mississippi drinking moonshine and dangling their feet in the muddy waters is probably something they cry themselves to sleep about nightly, but the loss of the state side juke joint is our gain.
I have no doubt that I will be seeing these guys again.
- Maister Mainy music blogger

It was at the tail end of last year that Dixie Fried dived in and caught me completely off guard in King Tuts with a blistering live outing in support to the equally impressive Molotov Jukebox.
I had been told they were good, but the praise had seriously downplayed just how good.
With the sound of their short set ringing in my ears I swore I would have to track down their album, even if only to see if the duo could replicate the live experience in the studio.
Now that I have procured myself a copy the answer to that is a resounding hell yes they can.
In fact it's a Hell Yes with a capital H and Y.
There's something of the garage in how they're keeping their take on the blues limited to guitar and drum, something primal and hungry that's got a powerful allure to it.
The sort of sound that grabs at your gut.
At times it's akin to Led Zeppelin keeping it low key and jamming with a different vocalist.
There's that sort of strength to it.
There's a bit of seventies rock bombast there, but not enough to give it the feeling of a band who are emulating the past and have lost sight of the present.
Instead it's a nicely balanced homage to the blues from the cotton fields right up to the stadium shaking rock angle on it, but without necessarily being either one or the other.
Of course there will be those who will jump to the band being a duo of guitarist and drummer playing the blues and mistakenly clutch at a conclusion as to how they sound, but they would be wrong.
Dixie Fried are not the Jack and Meg experience.
Instead they are working on a rawer interpretation that has a timeless and evocative attraction to it.
Grabbing all the base elements of the genre and channelling them through themselves.
It's music that doesn't speak of being clean and smooth, but more of the rough edge and the reality of the blues as it is before it is dressed up with a shiny suit and sent forth to smile at the masses.
Forget all the bells and whistles.
This is a fully functioning machine that is frills free.
So ease away from the auto tuned to within an inch of its life chart fodder and sit back and crack open a beer to this and just wallow in the honesty of it.
It's damn good. - Maister Mainey

Blues Matters (issue 69 Dec 2012) magazine

DIXIE FRIED
Big Rock Candy Records
Dixie Fried are Glaswegians Craig Lamie, guitar and vocals and John Murphy on drums, a line-up in the tradition of White Stripes and Black Keys. The latter are one of their many influences, with an emphasis on Mississippi blues meet stripped down rock, or is it Clyde delta blues/rock? They claim to play their take on the blues as well as two Scottish guys can, and this CD proves that is an understatement. ‘Eastbound’ is a song which typifies this back to basics blues with attitude. ‘Red Light Dreamin’ highlights all the best techniques of a guitar/ vocals and drums duet with skillful interplay and varied dynamics. ‘Crossroad Watcher’ adds changes of speed whilst maintaining a mesmeric riff whilst ‘Gram Jam’ has stylistic variations and light and shade contrasts. Some tracks are a little repetitive and it is worth checking the samples on the website to make sure that the overall sound is for you. The rawness of the duo is a major strength and a refreshing change from the over-produced, over-hyped, multi-instrumental bands on the circuit. They must be sensational live, whether jamming in a garage or on stage at King Tut’s, because if Craig and John can light up a studio then any live venue will be an inferno.
The Bishop - Blues Matters (issue 69 Dec 2012) magazine

Whitburn boys Dixie Fried were on next and, rocking the blues rock thing like it was 1974, they went two up on the riffs and drums. It’s a simple thing if you have your hand upon the bible of keeping it real and they rocked da house like a fire engine on its way to the Miner’s Welfare Club. The sweet smell of success came from their new instrumental songs and their set, duly lifted, ended with a bang. - Bluesbunny

You look at the cover. You listen to the album. You look at the cover again. The cover is in black and white. The music is in black and white and blue as Dixie Fried's self-titled album is a stripped out blues rock album and all these parts form the whole.

A duo from the wastelands of West Lothian, Craig Lamie (formerly of Mulehog) and John Murphy (formerly of The Scuffers) know their rock history and fill this album with judicious use of their influences. It is a very judicious use as well as neither of these musicians has a penchant for showing off with plenty of space left – probably deliberately – to ponder what drives them on. Their songs reference the basic tenets of life that echo the reality of living in an area where all the opportunity was in one place and that place is long gone leaving Craig Lamie sounding downbeat, but not downtrodden, throughout whilst spreading his riffs with economy over John Murphy's dry as toast drumming.

Of the songs, "Wanderin' Stomp" and "The Mighty One" strike out with the most power and this album by Dixie Fried is called Dixie Fried for a reason and that reason is there in black and white for all to hear. Even when it looks like there is nothing left, there will still be music. Honest, unpretentious music at that. - Bluesbunny

Yet another two piece of stripped down rock blues, but this time it’s not hailing from the Motor City or the Buckeye State, but the UK. Dixie Fried (Craig Lamie – Guitar/Vocals and John Murphy – Drums) which claims to “play the blues as good as two white boys from Scotland can”, with their EP titled “The Old Black and White” on Big Rock Candy Records brings the Mississippi blues to Union Jack in a way that would make RL Burnside and Carl Perkins proud.

The dynamic of the two piece has been mastered by the White Stripes and the Black Keys this past decade. It’s quite a simple recipe. Talented and versatile front man, a mysterious timekeeper (could be a woman or wear really cool glasses), some national publicity….throw some stories in about recording some songs in the basement or the living room on vintage equipment and you have the lure of the rock two piece that has been popularized by the rise and fall of the garage scene.

Dixie Fried is a simple back porch approach to the Delta, but with some plain old rock characteristics with the lean and dirty guitar we hear on Eastbound and Murphy lets the drums do some work on GramJam. Changing up the recipe and going back to the basics without all the hype surrounding it all is refreshing. The vocals are passionate sometimes channeling Hirsch’s man crush, but that’s OK. Now, I’m not going to try and give you a definition of the blues in fact who in their right mind would put some benign words together and try to capture the essence of the blues when all they have to do is order up some 4/4 time and just listen to the howlin, but I know the next time I walk into the little night spot on the outskirts of town, I most likely will order a Dixie Fried 2 piece white. - Outside The Dial - by Wolfarelli

“This bluesome twosome sounds like they have a genuine beef with God for not being born on the muddy waters of the Mississippi Delta – Dixie Fried touches a nerve not unlike a rusty stylus dropped upon a Son House 45” - Barry Gordon - Daily Record