Chris Stifel

By the release of The Touch of Time on 31 January 2012 he was Sweet Dixie’s guitarist and one of its singers, alongside Emerson on banjo, Wayne Lanham on mandolin and Teri Chism on bass. His title song for that album looks at how the passing years narrow a life’s possibilities. On Dancin’ Annie (4 March 2014), recorded at Phoenix Studio in Browntown, Virginia, he played guitar throughout and sang lead on four songs, among them his own title song, the story of a country man whose sweetheart loves the city’s bright lights more than him, and “Days When You Were Mine.” With the band he played major festivals around the country, Bean Blossom twice among them.

He left Sweet Dixie in July 2014, saying he wanted to do something musically different, and Tom Adams took over on guitar. His guitar and singing are also heard on the band’s collection The Gospel Side of Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie (2015).