Dixie Trahan

April 3, 2008, 9:38AM
Dixie Trahan
In the land of Dixie
By JOEY GUERRA
Copyright Houston Chronicle 2008

Dixie Trahan smiles when she remembers her little-girl dreams of being a grown-up star.

"I used to stand up on the side of the bathtub, in front of the mirror, with my dad’s hairbrush for a microphone and just sing for hours," she says.

Sweet dreams that, for most kids, dissolve when reality sets in a few years later. But Trahan held onto that optimism — and channeled it into her self-titled debut disc, an alternately sweet, slick and kicky set of country tunes.

The highlight is her delicate, soulful voice, which has rightfully earned comparisons to Alison Krauss but also boasts shades of Pam Tillis.

"Country music has just always been a constant for me, whether it’s a love song or a hell-raisin’ song," Trahan says. "It fits just about any mood. It just lets you express so much emotion."

Trahan says her record has been a "long-time coming." That’s an understatement, to say the (very, very) least.

Her father was a pastor and eventually took the family on the road for full-time music evangelism. That meant constant moving and, at times, mobile living between gigs. Trahan was born in Kansas, moved to Texas two weeks later and was living in Canada within a few years.

"My parents were always singing. They would sing with other couples, the old church quartets, and stuff like that," she says.

"I grew up playing in the church while they were practicing. I remember rolling under the pews. Anything you could do to pass the time."

A formal family band inevitably developed. They toured churches, recorded albums and spent a summer doing a show in Branson, MO.

"There was no, ’I don’t feel good today. I’m not singing.’ We did the job," she says.

Trahan toured with her family until she was 17 years old, prime time to perhaps embark on a solo career. But, as the title to one of her songs goes, life had other plans.

She met and married her husband, Skeeter, and the pair settled in Houston and had three kids — now ages 10, 13 and 16 (and all musical).

About three years ago, Trahan decided to give music another go, on her terms. She recorded her self-titled effort in Nashville, a collection of "positive," hopeful tunes highlighted by the autobiographical Back To Me and You, which she co-wrote with her husband.

"I realize I really am a baby duck at all this," Trahan says. "My experience in the industry, in the Texas market — I’m just starting with all that. But I can’t imagine anything better at this point."

She found a "kindred spirit" in Bruce Wiggins of local country act Drywater, who was looking to add a female vocalist into the mix. Trahan has been gigging with the group for about two months. Wiggins also is helping manage her career.

"It was the first time Dixie had been to a bar in her entire life," Wiggins says of that first show.

"She came onstage for the first time with us — no rehearsal or anything — and we played two songs that just went without a hitch."

That’s a far cry from gospel quartets and church revivals. But for Trahan, it’s all part of the same journey.

"Whether I’m playing in a bar, playing in a church or singing in the elevator on my way to the office in the morning, for me, it’s all an expression of who I am," she says.

"The reality is that I am right where I am supposed to be."

*Click on the link below to see the article and listen to the podcast of the interview along with song clips!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/music/local/5669064.html


- Houston Chronicle

DIXIE ....HOW I LOVE YA, HOW I LOVE YA ..." It's not fair to make a grown man cry but that's exactly what Dixie Trahan's heart wrenching vocals did to me as she delivered what I consider the performance of the year while weaving the powerful, Rochelle/Hill ballad, "Little Solder" into the fabric of our time. But, that performance is only the tip of the Dixie Trahan iceberg. Track after track on Dixie's self titled freshman outing (Lyn-Lou Records) showcase one of country music's truly magical voices. From standards like, "Too Far Gone" and "New Moon and Old Flame and You" to brand new songs like "Show Me How" and her own "Back to You & Me," the emotional roller coaster ride Dixie's vocals took me on - with her ability to wrap power and subtlety into a single line of lyric... and sometimes into a single word - makes me know it won't be too long before the major labels come knocking on her door. Having been in the music business for some time, it takes something really special to rev up the ol' goose bumps... On my goose bump scale of 1 to 5 ... 5 being "The Alps" ... Dixie Trahan gets a 6! - Mr. Dean Kay is currently a member of the Board of Directors of both The American Society of Compose

Awesome live in studio performance! To all the other radio programmers out there, do your listeners a favor and get a copy of this disc and put it in heavy rotation! The phone response was overwhelming to say the least. We (like most radio stations) get hundreds of cd's a day and thousands of requests to play Indie music. Most (99.8%) of it is bad, so, it is a real breath of fresh air to find someone of this caliber. - Music Director KJAE FM 93.5 Leesville, La

"There’s a new Dixie chic in town whose only agenda is to blow the doors off Country Music! Dixie Trahan will have country radio listeners turning up the volume and calling the request line.

Producer Larry Rogers knows what it takes to produce a hit and he has several on this CD. There's a little something sweet in this girl’s voice and its all pure ear candy!”
- 99 Hit FM in Springfield, MO