THE DIXIE GENTLEMEN
- From Alabama.
- Formed in 1956 as the Country Gentlemen but changed their name when they learned that another band had that name.
- Featured Jake Landers (guitar), Rual Yarbrough (banjo) and Herschel Sizemore (mandolin). Vassar Clements also played fiddle with this group for a short time.
- The were one of the few bluegrass bands of the period to record for a major record label. In 1963, they released their signature recording The Country Style of the Dixie Gentlemen (United Artists).
- 1963, they also recorded two albums for Time Records under the name The Blue Ridge Mountain Boys: “Hootenanny N Bluegrass” and “Blue Grass Back Home.”
- Jake Landers wrote several songs that became classics, such as “Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine” and “This Is the Girl I Love.” He is a former member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. Until his death, he continued to play with his own band in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
- Herschel Sizemore also worked with Del McCoury, The Shenandoah Cut-Ups and the Bluegrass Cardinals. He also led his own band and was featured in a documentary film about his life titled Mandolin in B.
- Rual Yarbrough also worked with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in the 1970’s.
- 2010, Yarbrough died at the age of 80.
- 2018, Landers died at the age of 79.
- 2022, Sizemore died at the age of 87.