Sixwire is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

band from

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, United States. The group consists of

Andy Childs Andy Childs (born December 7, 1962) 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. His highest charting s ...

(lead vocals, guitar), Steve Hornbeak (keyboards, vocals), John Howard (bass guitar), Steve Mandile (guitar, vocals), and Chuck Tilley (drums, percussion). Robb Houston (rhythm guitar) was a former member. The band's name references the six strings on a guitar. AllMusic ((( Sixwire > Biography )))/ref> Sixwire recorded one album for

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

in 2002, and charted two singles on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' country charts, including the No. 30 hit "Look at Me Now". Five years later, they placed second on the talent show ''

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. The show was taped at CBS Television City in Los Angeles on Wednesd ...

'', and served as the house band on ''

Can You Duet ''Can You Duet'' is an American reality competition television show on CMT. The show was produced by FremantleMedia, the same company that produces ''American Idol''. The show premiered on April 14, 2008, and the first season ended on June 13, ...

'', another talent show.

History

Before the band's formation, Andy Childs recorded for

RCA Nashville RCA Nashville is an American country music record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is distributed by Sony Music Nashville which is part of Sony Music. Artists Current artists *Kane Brown * Corey Kent * Nate Smith * Morgan Wade Former art ...

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 Phillip George Vassar Jr. (born May 28, 1962) 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 (" For a Little While", ...

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 17 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, five for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number one on ...

, and

Shane McAnally Shane Lamar McAnally (born October 12, 1974) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. He debuted as a singer in 1999 with his Shane McAnally (album), self-titled album on Curb Records. This project produced three sing ...

, and previously played lead guitar in

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the eldest child of country singer Mel Tillis. After recording unsuccessful pop material for Elektra Records, Elektra ...

' road band, Mystic Biscuit. Drummer Chuck Tilley has a jazz background. He graduated from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

with a degree in percussion, where he studied with noted jazz educators

Steve Sample, Sr Steve Sample Sr. (1929/30 – 22 August 2020) was a bandleader, arranger, composer and jazz educator. 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 taug ...

and

Ray Reach Raymond Everett Reach, Jr. (born August 3, 1948) is an Americans, American pianist, vocalist, guitarist, composer, arranger, music producer, and educator, who was convicted in the State of Alabama on child pornography charges. Reach has performe ...

. Following graduation, he worked in Birmingham, Alabama as a member of a jazz group led by

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

bassist

Cleveland Eaton Cleveland Josephus Eaton II (August 31, 1939 – July 5, 2020) was an American jazz double bassist, producer, arranger, composer, publisher, and head of his own record company in Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. His most famous accom ...

. Later, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked with

Lee Greenwood Melvin Lee Greenwood (born October 27, 1942) is an American country music singer. Active since 1962, he won a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award and he has charted 33 singles on the Hot Country Songs with seven singles reaching the number one. He has ...

and

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

. Childs had initially declined to join the band but later reconsidered after

Brett James Brett James Cornelius (born June 5, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer based in Nashville. James' compositions have been credited on 494 recordings by a wide variety of artists. Signed to Career Records (a ...

had also declined. The band was formed in 2000 and signed to

in 2002. Their debut single, "Look at Me Now", peaked at number 30 on the ''

'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

) 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 (born January 20, 1965) is an American country music singer. Active from 1992 to 2025, he has had more than 30 singles on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' country charts. This total includes seven number-one singles ...

's album ''

Pictures An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be displayed through other media, including a project ...

''. Mandile co-produced ''

Nashville Star ''Nashville Star'' is an American reality television singing competition program that aired for six seasons, from 2003 to 2008. Its first five seasons aired on USA Network, while the last season aired on NBC. Its five seasons on USA made it the l ...

'' 2005 winner

Erika Jo Erika Jo Vastola (née Heriges, born November 2, 1986, in Angleton, Texas), 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 pr ...

's self-titled debut album, on which Tilley also performed as a percussionist. A sixth member, keyboardist Steve Hornbeak, also joined the band's lineup. In 2007, Sixwire auditioned for the

Fox Networks Fox Networks Group (FNG), formerly known as Fox International Channels (FIC), was the television networks division of News Corporation and later 21st Century Fox that operated from 1993 to 2021. It oversaw the production, broadcasting and distrib ...

reality show ''

'' and finished runner-up. One year later, Sixwire served as the house band on CMT's talent show ''

''. At the

2024 Republican National Convention The 2024 Republican National Convention was an event in which delegates of the Republican Party (United States), United States Republican Party selected the party's nominees for President of the United States, president and Vice President of ...

in Milwaukee, Sixwire performed as the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

. On the first day they played for nearly 45 consecutive minutes after a teleprompter malfunctioned, covering hits like "

I Want You To Want Me "I Want You to Want Me" is a song by the American Rock music, rock band Cheap Trick. It is originally from their second album ''In Color (album), In Color'', released in September 1977. It was the first single released from that album, but it ...

" by

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...

and several

Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock music, rock band formed in San Jose, California in 1970. Known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their Vocal harmony, vocal harmonies, the band has been active for over five d ...

songs.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Country music groups from Tennessee Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee Musical groups established in 2000 Warner Records artists American musical quintets 2000 establishments in Tennessee