Sixwire
Encyclopedia
Sixwire is an American country music
group from Nashville, Tennessee
. The group is composed of Andy Childs
(guitar
, piano
, lead vocals), Robb Houston (guitar, vocals), John Howard (bass guitar
), Steve Mandile (guitar, vocals), and Chuck Tilley (drums
, percussion
). The band's name references the six strings on a guitar. Sixwire recorded one album for Warner Bros. Records
in 2002, and charted two singles on the Billboard
country charts, including the #30 "Look at Me Now". Five years later, they placed second on the talent show The Next Great American Band
, and served as the house band on Can You Duet
, another talent show.
from 1993 to 1994, releasing a self-titled debut album and charting three singles on the country charts. In addition, Steve Mandile co-wrote singles for Phil Vassar
, Tim McGraw
, and Shane McAnally
, and previously played lead guitar in Pam Tillis
' road band, the Mystic Biscuits. Drummer Chuck Tilley has a jazz background. He graduated from the University of Alabama
with a degree in percussion, where he studied with noted jazz educators Steve Sample, Sr
and Ray Reach
. Following graduation, he worked in Birmingham, Alabama as a member of a jazz group led by Count Basie
bassist Cleveland Eaton
. Later, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked with Lee Greenwood
and Dolly Parton
. Childs had initially declined to join the band, but later changed his mind after Brett James
also declined.
Formed in 2000, the band was signed to Warner Bros. Records
in 2002. Its debut single, "Look at Me Now", peaked at number 30 on the Billboard
Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs
) chart. It was included on Sixwire's self-titled debut album, which peaked at 38 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart in 2002. The album's only other single, "Way Too Deep", peaked at number 55. Also in 2002, Sixwire appeared on the track "It Goes Like This" from then-labelmate John Michael Montgomery
's Pictures
. Mandile co-produced Nashville Star
2005 winner Erika Jo
's self-titled debut
album, on which Tilley also performed as a percussionist.
In 2007, Sixwire auditioned for the Fox Networks reality show The Next Great American Band
and finished runner-up. One year later, Sixwire served as the house band on CMT
's talent show Can You Duet
.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
group from Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. The group is composed of Andy Childs
Andy Childs
Andy Childs is an American country music singer-songwriter. In 1993, Childs released one studio album for RCA, which produced three singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart...
(guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, lead vocals), Robb Houston (guitar, vocals), John Howard (bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), Steve Mandile (guitar, vocals), and Chuck Tilley (drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
). The band's name references the six strings on a guitar. Sixwire recorded one album for Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
in 2002, and charted two singles on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
country charts, including the #30 "Look at Me Now". Five years later, they placed second on the talent show The Next Great American Band
The Next Great American Band
The Next Great American Band is a reality television talent show. The show premiered on October 19, 2007 and aired on FOX at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times Friday nights...
, and served as the house band on Can You Duet
Can You Duet
Can You Duet is an American reality-competition show airing on CMT. The show is produced by FremantleMedia, the same company that produced American Idol.The show premiered on April 14, 2008 and the first season ended on June 13, 2008....
, another talent show.
History
Before the band's formation, Andy Childs recorded for RCA NashvilleRCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
from 1993 to 1994, releasing a self-titled debut album and charting three singles on the country charts. In addition, Steve Mandile co-wrote singles for Phil Vassar
Phil Vassar
Phil Vassar is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the country music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw , Jo Dee Messina , Collin Raye , and Alan Jackson Phil Vassar (born May 28, 1964 in Lynchburg, Virginia) is an...
, Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
, and Shane McAnally
Shane McAnally
Shane McAnally , is an American country music artist. He signed to Curb Records in 1999 and released a self-titled debut album the following year...
, and previously played lead guitar in Pam Tillis
Pam Tillis
Pamela Yvonne "Pam" Tillis is an American country music singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis....
' road band, the Mystic Biscuits. Drummer Chuck Tilley has a jazz background. He graduated from the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
with a degree in percussion, where he studied with noted jazz educators Steve Sample, Sr
Steve Sample, Sr
Steve Sample, Sr is a renowned bandleader, arranger, composer and jazz educator now residing in Bellingham, Washington. For more than 30 years, Sample was a professor in the Music Department of the University of Alabama, where he directed the Jazz Ensembles and taught music theory, arranging and...
and Ray Reach
Ray Reach
Raymond Everett Reach, Jr. is an American pianist, vocalist and educator residing in Birmingham, Alabama, now serving as Director of Student Jazz Programs for the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars and President and CEO of Ray Reach Music and Magic City...
. Following graduation, he worked in Birmingham, Alabama as a member of a jazz group led by Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
bassist Cleveland Eaton
Cleveland Eaton
Cleveland "Cleve" Eaton is an American jazz double bassist from Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. His most famous accomplishments are substantial playing stints with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and later with the Count Basie Orchestra...
. Later, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked with Lee Greenwood
Lee Greenwood
Melvin Lee Greenwood is an American country music artist. Active since the early 1980s, he has released more than twenty major-label albums and has charted more than 35 singles on the Billboard country music charts....
and Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
. Childs had initially declined to join the band, but later changed his mind after Brett James
Brett James
Brett James Cornelius is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Signed to Career Records as a solo artist in 1995, James charted three singles and released a self-titled debut album that year...
also declined.
Formed in 2000, the band was signed to Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
in 2002. Its debut single, "Look at Me Now", peaked at number 30 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
) chart. It was included on Sixwire's self-titled debut album, which peaked at 38 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart in 2002. The album's only other single, "Way Too Deep", peaked at number 55. Also in 2002, Sixwire appeared on the track "It Goes Like This" from then-labelmate John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery is an American country music artist. He has produced more than thirty singles on the Billboard country charts, including two of Billboard’s Number One country singles of the year: "I Swear" and "Sold "...
's Pictures
Pictures (John Michael Montgomery album)
Pictures is the eighth studio album to be released by American country music artist John Michael Montgomery. It was also his first full length album for Warner Bros. Records, following the closure of Atlantic Records' country division in 2001.. The track "'Til Nothing Comes Between Us", the first...
. Mandile co-produced Nashville Star
Nashville Star
Nashville Star is an American reality television program. It was transmitted during mid-2008 on NBC, following five seasons on USA Network. It premiered on March 8, 2003, and its five seasons on USA made it the longest-running competition series on cable television. In Canada, the show aired on CMT...
2005 winner Erika Jo
Erika Jo
Erika Jo Heriges , known simply by the stage name Erika Jo, is an American country music recording artist who was declared winner of the 2005 season of the Nashville Star television program. Eighteen years old at the time, Erika Jo is both the youngest person to win the competition and the first...
's self-titled debut
Erika Jo (album)
Erika Jo is the self-titled debut album of country music singer Erika Jo. It was released on June 14, 2005 by Universal South Records, following the artist's win on the 2005 season of Nashville Star...
album, on which Tilley also performed as a percussionist.
In 2007, Sixwire auditioned for the Fox Networks reality show The Next Great American Band
The Next Great American Band
The Next Great American Band is a reality television talent show. The show premiered on October 19, 2007 and aired on FOX at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times Friday nights...
and finished runner-up. One year later, Sixwire served as the house band on CMT
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
's talent show Can You Duet
Can You Duet
Can You Duet is an American reality-competition show airing on CMT. The show is produced by FremantleMedia, the same company that produced American Idol.The show premiered on April 14, 2008 and the first season ended on June 13, 2008....
.
Albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
||
| Sixwire Sixwire (album) Sixwire is the self-titled debut album by the American country music band Sixwire. It was released on June 30, 2002 on Warner Bros. Records Nashville... |
|
38 | 32 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
|||
| 2002 | "Look at Me Now" | 30 | Sixwire |
| "Way Too Deep" | 55 |
Music videos
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | "Look at Me Now" | Steven Goldmann Steven Goldmann Steven Goldmann is a Canadian music video and film director. He has directed over 200 music videos. Goldmann also directed the movies Broken Bridges and Trailer Park of Terror, and has additionally directed several television programs.-1990-1999:... |