Vernon Dixon on "Live from Studio Five!"

By Brian P. Rubin

To celebrate the 200^th episode of “Live From Studio Five!” the country blues band Vernon Dixon swung by the studio to play their warm, country-infused tunes during a cold and rainy Minneapolis night.

The band is fronted by the eponymous Katy Vernon Thomasberg and Drew Dixon on vocals and bass and acoustic guitar, respectively. They were joined by Jeff Waldeland on the pedal steel and banjo, Dave Stenshoel on rhythm guitar and fiddle, Pat Mavity on fiddle and lead guitar, and Renée Bracchi on drums. Of course, the band was joined by usual LFS5! mainstays Doug the Thug and Dewglass, while co-host Nicole Jean Rode made her triumphant return to the show about an hour into the episode.

The band played tunes off its album Corn Whiskey, which is available on CD and vinyl, incidentally. Songs included “Madeline,” “Cheatin’ Line,” “Mary and Joe,” “Only When the Bottle Runs Dry,” and “Bartender.” That last one reminded Doug the Thug of an old joke.

“What did the termite say as he walked up to the bar?” he asked. “Is the bar tender here?” He earned some laughs and a rimshot from Bracchi’s drums, and the band played on.

Having just played at the Eagles Club 34 in Minneapolis, the band also spoke a bit about some upcoming gigs. There’s going to be a hootenanny at Harriet Brewery on Thursday, May 1, an appearance at the Singer Songwriter series at Patrick’s Cabaret on Saturday, May 17, and the whole band will be appearing at Hymie’s Records on East Lake Street in Minneapolis on May 24 to celebrate the vinyl release of Corn Whiskey. And if you want to keep up with the band’s online exploits, be sure to check out their homepage and their Facebook page.

If you missed this show, you can listen to it at ANY time from ANYWHERE on the planet on our PERMANENT archives here:  https://archive.org/details/livefromstudio5

Check out the video of that show on our You Tube page here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tNfK8C7cCQ&list=UUMeJC71i9gFjLQ8jjM2DHWA

You can see the Flickr pix from that show here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfai-fm/sets/72157644227019456/