DIXIE GENTLEMEN

Muscle Shoals, Alabama

Members:
Jake Landers
Herschel Sizemore
Rual Yarbrough

The Alabama-based Dixie Gentlemen created some of the more original and creative Bluegrass music of the early and middle 60's. they built much of it around the compositions of guitarist/lead vocalist Jake Landers (b. Jacob Landers, August 14, 1938, Lawrence County, Alabama) along with their vocal trios and the solid instrumentation of Herschel Sizemore (b. Herschel Lee Sizemore, August 8, 1935, Sheffield, Alabama) on mandolin and Rual Yarbrough (b. January 13, 1930, Lawrence County, Alabama) on banjo. The band eventually dissolved when Sizemore and Yarbrough went to work as sidemen in better-known bands but the three remained close friends and periodically got together in the studio to re-create the sound of the Dixie Gentlemen on record. In addition, the three continued to produce Bluegrass music of quality in a variety of other roles. The Dixie Gentlemen's origins date back to 1956, when Herschel Sizemore and Rual Yarbrough met and worked in a Country band called the Alabamians. When a friend of Herschel's named Jake Landers got out of military service the following year, they formed their own group which they initially called the Country Gentlemen after learning that another newly formed band already had a claim to the name.

For the next decade, the band remained together and active, working shows primarily in Alabama and adjacent states. They did television programs in various locales, especially at WMSL Decatur, Alabama. In addition, fiddler Vassar Clements played with them for a time, as did a lesser-known fiddler, Al Lester. The group had several bass players over the years including Billy Sizemore, Wesley Stevens, and especially Jesse Handley.

The Dixie Gentlemen first recorded in 1959, on a small Blue Sky label of St. Cloud, Florida, their first effort being a pair of Gospel songs, Pray for Me and Three Steps. Nashville fiddler Tommy Jackson needed a good Bluegrass band to accompany him on a Dot album and the Gentlemen filled the bill. They also cut a pair of albums containing Bluegrass standards on the Time label as the Blue Ridge Mountain Boys. Their crowning achievement in the studio came later in 1963 with an album on United Artists, that contained a dozen new songs, mostly written by Jake Landers, but all firmly within the Bluegrass tradition. highlight titles included Dear One, Will You Wait and This Is the Girl I Love. The band cut their last album as a working group in November, 1966, with Vassar Clements on fiddle and Tut Taylor on Dobro. They also backed Rual Yarbrough on a banjo album at about the same time. Rual initially released both albums on his own Tune label.

The dissolution of the Dixie Gentlemen resulted form a need for their services as sidemen in bands led by top names in the field. Late in 1967, Sizemore went to work as a mandolin picker for Jimmy Martin, and then in march, 1969, he relocated in Virginia, where he played in various bands, most notably the Shenandoah Valley Cutups and the Bluegrass Cardinals. Yarbrough also worked briefly for Martin, and then from 1969 to 1971 with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. He then got back with Landers in a group called the Dixiemen, which subsequently recorded four albums together. Jake Landers continued writing songs and did some additional recording.

In December 1972, the Dixie Gentlemen, including Vassar Clements, got together and did a reunion album for Old Homestead and nearly two decades later did another one for Rutabaga. The three core members have all recorded albums under their own names as well.

Ivan M. Tribe
Definitive Country
The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music and Its Performers