Early Dixie Dregs Lineup Regroups for Tour

An early lineup of the Augusta, Georgia-born band Dixie Dregs is reassembling for a tour in 2018.

Notable and widely respected for their dazzling technical ability and wide range of styles, aside from a couple of early ‘80s tracks featuring guest vocalists the Dregs have always been a stubbornly instrumental rock/jazz/classical/country fusion affair. With a somewhat shifting lineup (mostly in the keyboard and violin positions), the band has more or less been an ongoing entity since the early ‘70s, although there have been several extended hiatuses and they haven’t recorded a studio album since 1994. The version that plans to tour next year is the same bunch that recorded their first widely-distributed album Free Fall, released by Capricorn Records in 1977: guitarist Steve Morse, drummer Rod Morgenstein, bass guitarist Andy West (who hasn’t been in the band since 1988), violinist Allen Sloan (absent since the early ’90s) and keyboardist/saxophonist Steve Davidowski, who only spent a brief period in the group in the mid ‘70s.

“Earlier this year, the five of us got together and started talking seriously about playing together as the Dixie Dregs again,” West posted on the band’s website. “Our shared history goes way back in time (for some of us, as far back as high school), to the early ‘70s. So the synergy of this group has a particular feeling to it that we knew would be worth revisiting.”

So far only three dates have been announced, none of which include venue info, but Atlanta is among them: March 2nd, 2018.