After dropping a chart topping new album and touring the country, the Dirty Guv’nahs are coming home.
The band will be playing at the Bijou Theatre this Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m. to kick off their ‘Chasing Forever’ tour.
This six-piece band includes Cozmo Holloway on guitar, Keven Hyfantis on piano, organ and harmony vocals, Justin Hoskins on bass, Aaron Hoskins on drums, Michael Jenkins as songwriter and rhythm guitar player and James Trimble as songwriter and vocalist. Together, they form a collaboration of rock ‘n’ roll, country and blues influenced by classic artists such as the Rolling Stones, The Beatles and a few unexpected modern artists.
“This may be surprising, but I actually really like Adele,” Trimble said. “There are a lot of modern artists that have influenced us.”
These musicians don’t only share a passion for music – their blood runs orange. All of the band members met during their time at UT as well as through the Knoxville music scene. Although they studied different subjects and some members were in graduate school while others were still undergraduates, music united the group and helped them book their first gig at Preservation Pub in Market Square.
Since then, the Dirty Guv’nahs have released four albums, including a self-titled debut album in 2009, a sophomore album titled “Youth Is In Our Blood” in 2010 and “Somewhere Beneath These Southern Skies” in 2012, according to their website. Their newest album, titled “Hearts of Fire,” dropped in March and was met with success. The 11-track work debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, and 75 percent of their spring tour of the same name sold out not long afterwards.
The Dirty Guv’nahs have also earned their stripes in performance by playing along a diverse group of big names; they’ve opened for Wilco, The Black Crowes, Train, Zac Brown Band and NEEDTOBREATHE over the years. They’ve also been featured on five network television programs and have appeared at Bonnaroo, Wakarusa and SXSW. They even graced the Knoxville stage during UT’s Volapalooza last spring.
But no matter how far away their music may take them, Knoxville is still home.
“We will always come back to Knoxville,” Trimble said. “We are huge sports fans, and we love the downtown area. Everyone’s like, ‘When are you going to move to Nashville or New York or one of those big music cities?’ But Knoxville has a great music scene.”
Trimble also noted Knoxville’s convenient location makes traveling to gigs in other cities relatively easy.
“If you have a gig in New York, you can drive up in a night and come back the next day,” he said. “If you have a gig in Chicago, you can get there in a day if you really need to.”
To show the scruffy city their love, the Dirty Guv’nahs try to play one or two shows in Knoxville per year. However, they avoid performing more often than that – a strategy which only builds anticipation for locals.
“The reason we only play one or two shows in Knoxville a year is that we try to make the show really high energy and exciting,” Trimble said. “We did two this year because we sold so many tickets, we wanted to make sure people could come see the show.”
