From small-town roots to some of the Chattahoochee Valley’s biggest stages, Dixie Red has spent years proving that a good country band is about more than the songs—it’s about the people, the energy, and the community that keeps showing up.

For Dixie Red, it all started in January 2018.

The four-piece country band—made up of Ashley Miller, Billy Joey Miller, Rickey Babcock, and Kyle Netherland—came together with a love for live music and a sound that felt right at home on both sides of the Georgia-Alabama line.

Based in the area stretching from Valley, Alabama, to Columbus, Georgia, Dixie Red quickly began building a name for itself throughout West Georgia and East Alabama, eventually taking its show into Central Alabama as well.

But what began as four musicians playing together soon became something much bigger.

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A Breakthrough Early On

Only months after the band played its first show, lead singer Ashley Miller stepped onto another stage—this time as a contestant in Kowaliga Idol, one of the Lake Martin area’s signature talent competitions.

She won.

The victory helped introduce Ashley and Dixie Red to a wider audience at exactly the right time. With momentum growing, the band began landing more opportunities and steadily expanding its reach.

Over the years, Dixie Red has performed at some of the Chattahoochee Valley’s most recognizable events, including the Midland Commons Concert Series, Bikes on Broadway, and the Barks & Blues Music Festival. They’ve also become familiar faces at local venues such as The Loft in Downtown Columbus.

Their formula has remained refreshingly simple: play good country music and give people a show worth remembering.

Known for an energetic live set featuring crowd-favorite covers, Dixie Red has built its following the old-fashioned way—one stage, one crowd, and one performance at a time.

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When the Music Stopped

By 2020, Dixie Red had spent two years establishing itself as a working band.

Then COVID arrived.

Almost overnight, the stages went dark.

For nearly six months, the band couldn’t play, creating an uncertainty they had never experienced before. It wasn’t simply about missing shows. Nobody knew what live music would look like on the other side of the pandemic—or how many of the venues that supported local musicians would even survive.

It was a difficult, uncertain time for the band—the COVID-19 shutdowns didn’t just silence stages, they left them wondering if, or when, they would ever stand under the lights and play for a crowd again.

For a band built around performing in front of people, six months was a long time to sit still.

But Dixie Red did what resilient musicians do.

They waited. They stayed together. And when the stages came back, so did they.

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Giving Back to the Community That Supports Them

Years later, Dixie Red’s connection to the community goes beyond the places they perform.

On September 13, 2026, Ashley and Billy Joey Miller participated in the Remembering Dolly Book Drive, lending their music and their time to a cause focused on getting books into the hands of local children.

It was a fitting combination of country music and community service. Ashley and Billy Joey performed Dolly Parton covers, helping celebrate the music of an artist whose legacy extends far beyond the stage and into a lifelong commitment to children and literacy.

But they weren’t there simply to perform.

They also helped support the book drive itself, giving back to the same community that has spent years showing up for Dixie Red.

There is something special about that full-circle moment. Local musicians depend on communities to fill venues, attend festivals, share their music, and keep live entertainment thriving. Opportunities like the Remembering Dolly Book Drive give artists a chance to return that support in a meaningful way.

For Ashley and Billy Joey, that meant using something they love—music—to help put books into the hands of children throughout the community they perform in.

The community has shown up for Dixie Red for years. Now, they’re continuing to find ways to show up for the community, too.

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Eight Years and Counting

The band that played its first show in January 2018 is still here in 2026—still performing, still entertaining crowds, and still representing the music scene that connects communities across the Chattahoochee Valley.

There’s something worth celebrating about longevity in local music.

Bands change. Venues come and go. Life gets busy. Entire industries can change almost overnight, as Dixie Red experienced firsthand.

Yet the music keeps finding a way.

For Dixie Red, success isn’t measured only by a competition win or the size of a particular stage. It can be found in all the nights in between—the rehearsals, the miles traveled, the familiar faces in the crowd, the communities they give back to, and the decision to keep doing something they love year after year.

From Valley to Columbus and communities throughout Georgia and Alabama, Dixie Red has earned its place in the region’s live-music story.

And after everything that could have stopped the music, perhaps the best part of their story is also the simplest:

Dixie Red is still playing.