Meet The Dixie Cannonballs

ROB PETRIE, Lead Vocals, Mandolin, Guitar
Rob Petrie has always been a singer. Since the first grade, when he annoyed his classmates by belting out My Country 'Tis Of Thee at the top of his lungs in his high, sweet soprano, singing has always been a big part of his life. He has played guitar since his teens, and mandolin since 1992. Well known for his "eerie" Johnny Cash impersonation, Petrie is no longer a soprano. Friend and musician Kip Martin once quipped that Petrie should bill the Cannonballs' brand of bluegrass standards and country moaners as the "low lonesome sound."

STEVE GROSSMAN, Banjo, Baritone Vocals
Steve became interested in the banjo while in high school after listening to Steve Martin play Foggy Mountain Breakdown on a comedy LP. Learning banjo, he thought, would not only prove challenging, but perhaps would also be a good way to meet girls. Ultimately, the shallow initial motives to banjo scholarship eventually gave way to a love for the music and the instrument. After several rounds of unfulfilling lessons with guitar players who knew ”a little banjo,” Steve strong-armed neighbor Dick Drevo (Dick is a fine local banjo player who has played with The Country Gentlemen and Eastern Heritage) into giving him lessons. Weeks of incessant badgering proved successful, and Dick relented.

JOHN "NOWA" NOWAKOWSKI, Bass
Nowa has played many types of music with various bands in the area but never played in a bluegrass band until he met Rob Petrie. He enjoyed listening to WBMD radio with his grandmother -- she called it "hillbilly music," -- a combination of country-western and what now is considered bluegrass. He also watched the Midwestern Hayride TV show that featured country and western acts like the Sons of the Pioneers. In the early 1990's he continued his musical education studying with Andrew Lawrence at Appalachian Bluegrass where he jammed with John O'Dell and Tim Finch (GOOD DEALE BLUEGRASS Band) on Tuesday evenings. Nowadays he listens to Stained Glass Bluegrass every Sunday. Nowa plays a Kay M1 acoustic bass.

JOHN SEEBACH, Guitar, Mandolin, Tenor Vocals
John hails from the Bluegrass State of Kentucky, where he spent his youth as a real-life choirboy. The experience left him with a knack for high harmony singing and salty language (yes, folks, the “sweet choirboy” is a myth). After he realized that a high-pitched voice was not the ideal instrument for attracting girls, he turned to the guitar and spent his teenage years performing three-chord songs in a variety of fine local basements and garages. He became obsessed with bluegrass music while living in western North Carolina, and now plays an entirely different set of three-chord songs.

TOM LYONS, Fiddle
Tom Lyons rounds out the Cannonballs' sound with scorching bluegrass and smooth country and swing sounds on the fiddle. Lyons approaches this challenging instrument with impressive tone, timing and taste, and is rapidly becoming known as one of the up-and-coming fiddlers on the D.C. bluegrass scene.