Artist description Y’ALL’s harmonies have been compared to the Louvin Brothers, their style to A Prairie Home Companion, their humor to the Smothers Brothers. They have a reverence for traditional country music, but bring it to light in a very modern way.

Music Style original music inspired by old-time country and folk music

Musical Influences old-time country, stringband, early Grand Ole Opry, vaudeville

Similar Artists Garrison Keillor, Sonny & Cher, the Louvin Brothers

Artist History On Monday, August 31, 1992, Y'all performed live in public for the first time, in the upstairs lounge of an East Village restaurant in New York City. They'd just arrived in town with one green dress, a handful of songs, and a dream that soon they'd be famous.In the beginning, Jay Byrd and Steven would perform for just about anyone who would sit still long enough for a song or two. The first home Y'all found in New York was in the experimental theater community. Their East Village neighborhood was full of opportunities to perform, in galleries, dark bars, and various theater spaces carved out of lofts, apartments, warehouses and alleys. Y'all were rough around the edges then, but quality was not an issue. Downtown theater audiences didn't expect one to be good; they expected one to be interesting. That gave Y'all the time to hone their stage chops and get better at playing their instruments.The following summer, Y'all strung together their best material and created "An Evening of Stories & Songs with Y'all," which debuted at the Duplex Cabaret in Greenwich Village and ran for several months. The show was a critical success, but Y'all's country roots led them away from the cabaret world, which was more accustomed to Gershwin and Cole Porter than hillbilly music.Jay Byrd and Steven weren't aware at first of the connections they had with early country music and comedy. But folks began to compare them to the Louvin Brothers, the Stanley Brothers, and the country comedy team Homer & Jethro. They quickly grabbed up recordings and studied them. It was a real education, and it made them better songwriters and better performers.In 1993, Y'all became recording artists (and record company moguls), by self-releasing their first album, An Evening of Stories & Songs. 1994 brought a second album, The Next Big Thing and a flurry of activity for Y'all. They made an appearance on "The Jon Stewart Show," won the title of MTV"s "most unusual band" based on a music video for their song, "The Egg Man" (filmed on an exotic chicken farm in Upstate New York), and began touring.They sent The Next Big Thing to a handful of clubs in the Northeast and New England and started leaving messages on answering machines. A Syracuse, NY, venue called as soon as they had received the package and listened to the CD. Happy Endings Cake and Coffeehouse was Y'all's first road gig. It was a long drive, the pay wasn't much, and the duo had to sing every song they knew -- and then some -- to fill the three required sets (they had never played more than an hour total before) but it got them on the road. They were bona fide troubadours!Around this time, Y'all launched their web site, www.luckygreendress.com and their newsletter, the little Y'all newsletter, both of which established their style of marketing directly to their fans by sharing their lives with their fans. (Jay Byrd's weekly diary of Y'all life on the road is still the most popular page on their web site with hundreds of visitors every week.)Meanwhile at home, Y'all continued their work in downtown theater. Besides a cabaret-style production of "The Next Big Thing" (sort of the sequel to "An Evening of Stories & Songs"), Y'all hosted a bi-monthly variety show. Each show started with a Smothers Brothers-esque opening number (the duo unable to get all the way through a song because of Jay Byrd's incessant chattiness, much to Steven's annoyance). The seeds were planted for Y'all's big dream: to host their own national TV variety show.Jay Byrd and Steven's taste for the cameras was bolstered by appearances on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend," MTV's "Indie Outing," and a commercial for MTV2, which they were hired to write and perform.In their touring, Y'all had begun performing in Borders Bookstores all over the Northeast. Children seemed to enjoy them more than anyone else in this setting, so Y'all took their cue and pursued family venues whenever they could. Y'all's fan base started to shift away from fans of the unusual to families with kids. After Steven's sister gave birth to the first grandchild in the Cheslik-DeMeyer family, Jay Byrd was inspired to write his first children's song, "Cereal Box." Many more would follow.Late in 1998, Y'all left New York City for Nashville to be closer to the roots of the music they loved. They were received with open arms by the music community there. Amid a flurry of press, they performed regularly at clubs, theaters, and even a fashion show. And they continued touring, now in the Southeast and Midwest in addition to their old stomping grounds in the Northeast.In Nashville, Jay Byrd and Steven enlisted fiddle and steel player Fats Kaplin to produce a new studio recording, The "Hey, Y'all!" Soundtrack," a soundtrack to their as-yet-untelevised TV show. The recording features a roomful of Nashville notables, including Kristi Rose and Roland White. The CD will be released in the summer of 2001.In 2000, Y'all self-published their autobiography, The Good Book: the true story of Y'all and released Y'allology, a retrospective CD of live recordings, radio cuts, and other recordings from their New York years. The first printing of The Good Book is sold out and a paperback edition is planned.In 2001, Y'all bought a travel trailer and embarked on a year-long national tour. They plan to sell America, one town at a time, on their TV show idea.

Group Members James Dean Jay Byrd & Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer

Instruments Jay Byrd and Steven play acoustic guitar and baritone ukelele. Sometimes they are backed up by a rhythm section of standup bass and drums.

Albums Christmastime in the Trailerpark, Y'allology 1992-1998, The Hey, Y'all! Soundtrack

Press Reviews The Village VoiceRobert Christgau...Out of the shadows bounded a skinny little guy who looked like a small-town newspaper editor and a big guy sporting a shaved skull and a spangled gingham dress. On their rip-snorting opener, the June Carter-Johnny Cash chestnut "Jackson" the guy in the dress took Johnny's part in a mellifluous bass-baritone.After identifying their hometowns as Okey-Dokey, Texas and Kornflake, Indiana, these two sang the straightest love songs this side of Garth Brooks, one about the editor's sister and family, the other about and to each other and climaxing when they blew each other's kazoos. They were campy and musical and great.Their slogan is "old-time country music for the 21st century". It isn't, of course. But if a fella can dream, two can dream twice as much.BillboardLarry FlickIf you're among those who think that country music just isn't as fun as it should be, you need to spend a little time with Y'ALL.The duo deftly straddles the line between kitsch and the kind of pure, old-fashioned country reverence sorely missing from far too many releases. On their new self-made set, "Hey, Y'all!," they offer a healthy balance of serious material and comedy. The lads are calling this the soundtrack to their "dream television program," which is a cross between "Sonny & Cher" and "Hee Haw." If you've ever seen Y'ALL perform live (particularly the tall and lanky Jay Byrd, who often performs in drag inspired by Granny Clampett on "The Beverly Hillbillies"), then you'll join us in wanting to see this dream come true. Also, a wise label would jump at the chance to issue this fine and fun release. You haven't heard harmonies this rich on a country release in eons.New York PressJ.R. TaylorAs further proof and indictment of just how sad it's become to live in New York City, let us note Y'ALL's farewell show in Manhattan. After six years of struggle, they're loading up the Ryder truck and moving to a city that is far less insular and offers far more opportunities. Y'ALL is moving to Nashville.[Jay Byrd] has spent Y'ALL's career in dresses, and that would usually be enough right there to garner some success in this city. But Jay has always insisted on perpetuating cross-dressing's place in the grand Opry tradition. The gag goes no further than a man showing his legs. There are no added levels of sexuality. It's mainly been a gag that serves a tale about Jay's uncle, who always told Jay there's no telling what can happen to you if people have a reason to stare. Actually, that's a fairly insightful statement about our celebrity culture.Jay's perfected his style of constantly retelling the epic story of how this perfect couple met when each set out from their respective small towns of Okey-Dokey, TX and Kornflake, IN. There's also a great tale about a childhood worm farm that reminds you that these guys can be funnier than any local stand-up that's prospered in the past six years. Except maybe the equally family-oriented Ray Romano.The show's three acts are all funny and sentimental and loving. Then Jay and Steven bring it back to basics with an acoustic encore.The city has just lost both its best cabaret act and its best New Country act. If you ignore them, you know, they just go away.Nashville InReviewCharles EarleI would pay lots of good American money to see this act get five minutes on the Grand Ole Opry one Saturday. The looks on people's faces would be worth it.The Nashville SceneJonathan MarxIt's hard, upon first encountering Nashville newcomers Y'ALL, to know what to make of them. Judging from song titles such as "Christmastime in the Trailerpark," it would be tempting to peg them as yet another snickering alt-country send-up. But that would be unfair, for Y'ALL are genuinely sincere about their music, which updates the fraternal harmonies of the Blue Sky Boys and the Louvin Brothers into a pleasantly folky context. If anything, they might be too sincere, but still you gotta love a band that includes cookie recipes in its CD booklets.The TennesseanTom Roland"We're just the old school of men wearing a dress."Jay Byrd's proclamation is hardly what you expect from a country duo. Sure, cross-dressing works for RuPaul and Boy George. But country music, the home of the Stetson hat and the cowboy boot, is hardly the place you'd expect to find a cross-dresser.But y'all just haven't encountered Y'ALL."A man in a dress is funny," Byrd insists. Despite the assumptions that accompany a drag queen in the 1990s, he says there's no intent to change society or to prove a point. He doesn't want to mislead people; he just wants a laugh now and again."I don't put on the makeup and the wig and everything," he explains. "I'm obviously a man in a dress. There's no mistaking that."Y'ALL moved to Nashville from New York City Oct. 2, believing that Music City is a little closer to their musical roots. The duo offers a soft-spoken brand of folkie country with an old-timey flare. Sometimes, as in their remake of the Johnny Cash/June Carter classic Jackson, their intent is serious. Sometimes, as in their song Christmastime in the Trailerpark, it's not.But even comedically, they feel more of an affinity to Nashville. They see their material as something in the tradition of Minnie Pearl and the Grand Ole Opry, a vaudevillian brand of entertainment that mixes comedy, storytelling and music.There is a tradition — small, granted, but a tradition nonetheless — of cross-dressing country singers. Ira Louvin, for example, occasionally wore dresses to portray a comedic character when The Louvin Brothers performed on the Opry in the 1950s. And when Moe Bandy & Joe Stampley released a Culture Club send-up called Where's the Dress? in 1984, they appeared on an awards show in drag, their beards intact.The duo's five-year plan includes a '70s-style variety show on network TV. They describe it as "a cross between Hee Haw and Sonny & Cher."

Location Nashville, TN - USA

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