Published: June 23, 2009 11:54 pm      

Mississippi boys tracking steadily toward breakout song

By Brian Livingston — Underneath the massive traveling stage sponsored by Monster Energy Drink and sonically engineered by Meridian's own Peavey Electronics, the boys from Mississippi that make up Crossin Dixon were going through the motions of a sound check recently.

Despite the heat and humidity, Jason Miller, Charlie Grantham, Michael Bole and Brandon Hyde, easily went through the motions of making sure everything was OK prior to entertaining the Navy and Marine personnel and their families for Summerfest recently on board Naval Air Station Meridian. To say the band of good friends were laid back would've been a stark understatement.

"That's one reason why we chose to stay in Mississippi rather than move to Nashville," said Miller, who said he's been singing since he was very young. "There is a whole lot of hustle and bustle in Nashville so we practice here in Mississippi. It's our home and besides, we can be in Nashville in about four hours to record."

Miller lives in Yazoo City with his newlywed wife, Jamie. Hyde is from Grenada while Grantham is from Lexington. Bole lives in Greenwood.

An added bonus for the band on this date was being able to perform on one of the premier mobile sound stages.

Monster Energy Drink is putting two self-contained mobile stages on the road in 2009, and will use Peavey Versarray systems on both. The first stage was making its debut at SummerFest. Following that, it hits the Crue Fest 2 tour, a major summer festival tour featuring Motley Crue.

"We are thrilled to get the opportunity to partner with the Monster Energy Stage to make Crüe Fest 2 the loudest show on the road," said Scott Mire, Marketing Manager of Peavey Electronics.

Designed and manufactured in Meridian, Peavey Versarray sound systems have been used on major concert tours with Ozzfest, Tim McGraw and Mayhem. Peavey earned the Monster Energy Stage business by outfitting the hugely successful Jagermeister Mobile Stage with a Versarray system in 2007. Many music fans in and around Meridian were treated to that sound stage that featured Molly Hatchet as well as Black Stone Cherry in a local concert.

Monster Energy's Brent Hamilton stated, "Peavey knew exactly what we envisioned and they delivered on all fronts."

Each sound system for the stages cost in the neighborhood of $160,000 if sold retail. An astounding 279,000 watts of power can be produced through the system. Motley Crue will likely use every bit of that wattage.

Miller described the stage setup and sound system simply as, "Awesome."

Crossin Dixon have made a name for themselves in only a short time by performing in front of over 100,000 people in 2006 playing the college and club scene. Since their formation in 2004, the band has averaged more than 100 shows a year.

After an introduction from a mutual friend in 2006, the band met record producer Michael Knox (he also produces Jason Aldean).

"I haven't heard vocals like theirs since Alabama," Knox says. "They really have something special."

In September 2006, Crossin Dixon signed a record deal with Broken Bow Records in Nashville with label mates Jason Aldean and Craig Morgan. With the release of their debut single "Guitar Slinger" in June 2007, Crossin Dixon was well on their way to reaching a life-long dream.

"We are working on a CD and we have a new single coming out at the end of this month," Miller said. "All of us have been at this a long time and we are confident we are close to breaking out."

All it will take is that one big hit.