John Wheeler aka Barley Scotch
Frontman John is split right down the middle 60/40 between hillbilly philosopher savant and trailer-trash Champagne-socializer. Born in a trailer park on Dickerson Road in Nashville, John grew up on the prog rock and the Good Book until the punk rock and German existentialist philosophers led him astray.
When not beating the ungodly teetotal Highway to Hell out of a guitar or trying to saw a fiddle plumb in half, he likes drinking wine and beer and arguing everyone in the room under the table about politics and religion.
Blather with him directly in English or Deutsch at Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/barleyscotch.bsky.social
Hippy Joe Hymas
Born in the back seat of a National Express bus rolling down the A666, Hippy Joe grew up picking the music of his Scottish and English forefathers. He looked like the mandolin player of Hayseed Dixie for years before he became the mandolin player for Hayseed Dixie.
Hippy Joe is a vegan for all the right reasons. Preferring charity shops for both their value and ecological soundness, he has not purchased a brand new article of clothing in over 20 years. He considers any whiskey that can be drunk unmixed with cola to be “too posh and pretentious innit, Mate!”
Jake “Bakesnake” Byers
Born and raised in the swamps of deepest, darkest Florida, the Bakesnake got his start in herbal cultivation and hillbilly music in between surfing the tiki bars. He likes his women sweet and his whisk(e)y sour.
He’s 6 foot 5 getting out of the shower. His golden hair betrays his Viking power. He’s the only man we’ve ever know to go 15 rounds with Willie Nelson and come out standing. Jake is 1 inch taller than Snoop Dogg.
Richard Collins
Born on the banks of the River Thames where the Rockgrass currents run deep, Richard Collins started picking banjo while watching the Roy Clark TV show back in the 70’s.
Despite intervention from his parents and social workers, they were unable to dissuade him from going down the rabbit hole into the deepest depths of banjo depravity. Richard is a multi-instrumentalist and self-confessed musical prostitute who is equally at home in a classical quintet, on a West End stage, or spreading the Gospel of Rockgrass with Hayseed while consuming enough white wine to float a battleship to Singapore and back.
Tim Carter
(On Extended Hiatus) Coming from a deep Appalachian musical line out of North Carolina, Bishop Tim has the spiritual calm of a mountain lake, until he puts on his banjo picks and reaches down into the flaming bowels of holy hell to conjure up his mind-bending rolls and riffs.
And he sings with the voice of an angel who is flying just that little bit too close to the ground. When he’s not spreading the Gospel with Hayseed, Bishop Tim puts out his own excellent progressive bluegrass records as well at: www.damnthebanjos.com