Scott H. Biram

Scott H. Biram offers up a unique blend of "real" country, old-school acoustic blues, and punk, with influences ranging from Minor Threat and Slayer to Bill Monroe and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Biram is a one-man band, playing all his songs on a 1959 Gibson hollow body, yet each song he plays differs vastly from one to the next, and Biram dishes out a rare sense of self-confidence and independence only rivaled by the originators of outlaw country music themselves.

Biram's number one love is the blues. Next in line come punk, metal, country, bluegrass, Tejano, and zydeco. The one-man band was born and raised in a rural area in the Black Land Prairie region of Texas, a stretch of land characterized by tall grass and rich fertile soil that stretches from north Texas to the San Antonio area. Biram regards Lightnin' Hopkins and Doc Watson as two of his major musical influences. He was exposed to blues during childhood and has played guitar and other instruments since. He played in a punk band throughout high school and college called the Thangs, and later played in two bluegrass bands: Scott Biram & the Salt Peter Boys and Bluegrass Drive-By. He got a taste of life on the road by touring with Bluegrass Drive-By, but has been a one-man band since the late '90s.

In 2003, Biram was nearly killed when his truck was involved in a head-on collision with a semi on a Texas highway. Less than two months later, Biram played a legendary show at Austin's Continental Club, performing on-stage in a wheelchair with IVs still dangling from his arms -- and that set has helped define his rebellious and relentless attitude ever since. Biram has released multiple albums independently, which he sells at his live shows. The Dirty Old One Man Band appeared in 2005, Graveyard Shift in 2006, and Something's Wrong/Lost Forever in 2009, all of them from Bloodshot Records. Biram returned in 2011 with Bad Ingredients, also on Bloodshot Records. ~ Megan Frye, Rovi