Knoxville, Tenn.
Grad School Rockers
www.thedirtyguvnahs.com

The Dirty Guv’nahs came about in April 2006 as “an experiment/joke,” when they threw a band together in 10 days to play a one-off nonprofit gig in Knoxville, while most of the guys were in graduate school at the University of Tennessee. For a while, they averaged only 15 gigs a year but eventually turned to music as a full-time career. “We try to write songs and create live show experiences that are community-oriented,” says lead singer James Trimble, who notes that My Morning Jacket, The Band and The Rolling Stones are influences. “Our performance is very high-energy and our goal is for people to leave feeling not only entertained, but also that they were apart of something – that they contributed to the magic in the room.” In the past two years, The Guvs have performed with the likes of Zac Brown, Grace Potter and Robert Randolph, and performed at Bonnaroo. They even played two of Levon Helm’s famed Midnight Rambles and recorded an album with Grammy-winner Justin Guip at Helm’s Woodstock, N.Y. studio (2010’s Youth Is in Our Blood, the follow-up to 2009’s eponymous debut). The Americana-rock-soul-blues-funk-roots hybrid plans to record a third album this winter with the help of KickStarter funding and will be on the festival circuit this summer. “We’re learning a little more each time,” Trimble says. “It’s hard work, but it feels good to know that we’re getting better. This will definitely be our biggest year yet.”

The Dirty Guv’nahs came about in April 2006 as “an experiment/joke,” when they threw a band together in 10 days to play a one-off nonprofit gig in Knoxville…