“We’re here. Â Gray Pathfinder. Â See you soon,” said the text I received from Eric Delgado of Lakelands based band, Bless Yer Heart. Â I was set to meet and interview the band at a remote lake house in Waterloo, South Carolina and I had no idea how to get there. Â Eric and lead singer Brad Dixon offered to let me follow them as I am directionally challenged. Â The further into the dark nowhere I followed that gray Pathfinder, the surer I was that I was going to be sacrificed to the rock gods in Waterloo that night. Â I mean no one knew where I was, I was supposed to be at the gym, and really, who’d miss me. Â Thankfully, no one decided to murder me that night and I have lived to tell the tale.
Bless Yer Heart formed when Eric and Brad both moved home to Abbeville, SC after separate bouts of heartbreak. Â They began to channel their experiences into songwriting and quickly needed to form a proper band to support those efforts. Â Everyone kind of sort of knew everyone else. Even though they will tell you they met at some sort of subversive club for alternative lifestyles, that’s not really the case. Eric and Brad went to high school together, Duane taught Eric guitar back in the day, Nathan and Eric and Brad had played together previously and Andrew and Duane had been in bands together throughout the years. Â Suffice it to say for a band that hasn’t been around for very long, they have the background and experiences with each other to play like one that has. Â Maybe that’s why on November 2, their album debuted at #3 on the Billboard Heatseeker South Atlantic chart. Â “We were third to like Will Hoge or something,” says Andrew. Â Not a bad position to be in, I’d say. Â The band’s debut EP, A Heart in Limbo, is available now.
The band is packing out shows in the Lakelands and are beginning to branch out to the Athens and Atlanta areas with upcoming shows at the Terrapin Brewer and Smith’s Olde Bar.  Additionally, they will be playing the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville.  I personally hope to make that trip as the Wildhorse Saloon TV show on TNN was how I learned to dance in elementary school.  I wasn’t very popular.  And some people are ok with being unpopular.  However, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue with Bless Yer Heart.  “The rumor is, we’ve sold one of our songs to Travis Tritt,” says Brad.  “Really all we want is to let music be what pays our bills, it’s our passion.”  The band is recording a new full length album to be released late spring.  It will be produced by the band’s guitarist Duane Terry, who went to school for audio engineering.  Check out the track White Trash Anthem for a taste of what Bless Yer Heart is all about.  Also, check out their website for upcoming shows.  I can personally guarantee your safety…well to an extent.  You start hitting that moonshine mason jar and you’re on your own pal.
