Utah musician Russell Dixon still livin' that amazing grace

By Jill Prichard

May 11, 2005 | In an instant he thought of his favorite song, Amazing Grace, while sitting in his music recording studio. Taking off his shoes to be completely comfortable, Russ Dixon offers to tape the interview; recording is second nature to him.

Dixon was born in Provo in 1975. Shortly after his birth, his family relocated to Spokane, Wash., for the first seven years of his life. Before entering the third grade, his family moved once more to Kaysville, Utah, where he lived throughout his high school years.

"I have my earliest music memory in the kitchen of our Spokane home. I burned a hold in the floor roller-skating to Sunglasses at Night," Dixon said.

Music was always prevalent in Dixon's home. His musical start was initiated by his mother who had once been in a professional band, Colours, which opened for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Her love for music passed on to each of her seven children, including Russ.

"The first song my mom taught me on the guitar was, I Walk the Line, by Johnny Cash," said Dixon.

His devotion to music continued to mount.

Not many people can remember their first cassette, but Dixon not only remembers, he recalls the plastic packaging.

He plays the "air guitar" as he sings the lyrics to, Pour Some Sugar on Me, from Def Leppard's Hysteria album; his first tape.

His devotion to music soon started to fade.

"I became uninvolved with music from 8-years-old until I was about 14. I thought singing was for girls and that it was a weak thing to do."

Through some convincing of his eight-grade best friend, Brian Tibbets, he joined the school chorus.

"All I had to do to audition was sing Happy Birthday. I didn't care about choir, I just wanted to be around all the pretty girls," admits Dixon.

It was during this school year that Russ was introduced to rap music. He quickly fell in love with the beat that the songs provided. Dixon often got into trouble for writing hip-hop songs during school choir practice. Brian and Russ wrote a "drug-free rap song" that they performed for an eighth-grade assembly.

Dixon continued in the school choir into the ninth grade.

During his sophomore year, he enrolled in a music theatre class. This is where he met Ryan Merrill. Soon Ryan, Brian and Russ started congregating at Dixon's home to play guitar and sing. They named their band after Russ' mother's former band, Colors.

"That was to be a bridge name until we got a cooler name."

Together they wrote one song titled Rain, in which they performed for a high school assembly. Colors became an instant success.

"We didn't plan on becoming an actual 'band,'" Dixon said.

Now Colors was in the first stages of more success than anyone of them imagined.

During their senior year of high school, they wrote 10 songs. The band decided to make a cassette tape recording before they graduated high school. They spent four hours a day, for two days, and $400 recording their first tape.

Mass production of their first record was done in a double cassette tape player. It didn't take long for the recorders to wear out.

"It took forever to make copies. We would record all day long. It was a nightmare."

The band members heard about a recording deal. If they paid $1,000, a company would produce 500 compact discs. Tired of recording and flipping cassette tapes, they ordered their CD's.

"Five huge boxes arrived from UPS and we wanted to throw up," said Dixon.

They looked at the countless albums and wondered how they were ever going to sale them and pay off their debt.

Dixon decided they would rent the Kaysville Movie Theatre and hold a concert to make money and sale CDs. For $750 they rented the theatre for two nights.

"We built our own stage out of 2-by-4s and plywood. We borrowed a giant American flag from the Boy Scouts of America to use as our backdrop. We sold tickets out of our school lockers and book bags. We even gave receipts to everyone that purchased a ticket to be more official." The concert sold out for both nights.

This new music sensation was offered a recruitment scholarship from Utah State University. They would play for USU assemblies and travel around Utah and Idaho to recruit new students for the college.

"We loved this! We got to build our fan base while having our school paid for."

Dixon's band was able to complete their second album before each of them departed on separate LDS church missions.

The first week Dixon returned from completing the two-year church service, he headed to Dixie State College in St. George for their first concert.

"When schools started booking us and people were paying us to come and sing; I knew we were big!"

They were paid $650 to perform at DSC.

Russ spent 10 years performing with Colors. During this time they performed in Canada, Thailand, throughout the United States and even at one of the Medal Ceremonies for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Collectively they sold over 90,000 CD's.

The band decided to stop performing and focus on their education and careers. Other creative sides of Russ began to emerge.

Russ was 12 when he developed a love for photography. Still using his first camera, an old Fuji wind-up, his talents have spanned from music to shooting professional photography.

"I was never interested in art in college. It just wasn't me," said Dixon.

Photography isn't the only job that employs Russ' time.

He owns and operates two full-time businesses, both from home. He designs and makes medicinal bags for homeopathic medicine-takers and has a "gift-giving business," in which he represents several clients; such as, Realtors and banks.

Other than the two home-based businesses, shooting an average of two weddings a week, writing commercial script and jingles for television and radio, Russ also finds time to stay close to his music roots. He teaches guitar lessons and records local artists from the recording studio in his home.

It's easy to see why Amazing Grace comes quickly to Russ' mind as his favorite song. Through all his life's experiences this far, he's experienced just that.

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