AMERICAN bluegrass music and rock and roll may seem poles apart – but John Wheeler, from Hayseed Dixie, begs to differ.

The 45-year-old from Nashville plays 'hillbilly' covers of AC/DC and other hard rock songs and it is all thanks to the first two concerts his dad Earl took him to when he was 10.

John told Weekend: "The first show that my dad took me to see was a Hank Williams Junior concert in 1980.

"The second show I went to was an AC/DC show when they were touring their Back in Black album.

"At the time Hank Williams Junior had an album out called Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound so when I heard him play that and then heard Highway To Hell they didn’t really sound that different to me.

"It was pretty much the same people in the audience too. It was what I affectionately refer to as hammer slingers of the world.

"I say that with some love because my dad was a cabinet maker and if I wasn’t making music I’d probably be doing some trade job.

"Where I’m from they’re the people who listen to outlaw country and blue collar rock and roll.

"So the separation between these two styles never seemed like a vast gulf to me growing up.

"When I get on stage and say the Lost Highway to Hank Williams and the Highway to Hell are the same road, it’s kind of funny but I also think it’s true.

"AC/DC is a very blues based band as is rock and roll. All Led Zeppelin were doing at the beginning was filtering delta blues through a Marshall stack essentially."

Hayseed Dixie have since recorded 14 albums over 15 years and have played around 1,200 shows across the world.

But the quartet are performing their first Warrington gig at the Parr Hall on Saturday with Livewire, who play straight AC/DC covers.

John said that the UK is the one of the places that has supported the band the most and he now lives in the country after meeting his wife at Cambridge Folk Festival.

Hayseed Dixie were playing at the festival and the pair met during an argument about beer.

John added: "We always ask for a case of ale and a case of lager and they’d only given us half of our drink when we turned up.

"I asked our stage manager to bring down someone who had the keys to the cooler.

"Two minutes later down she came. She had big green eyes and long red hair and this expression kind of like Jeremy Paxman.

"She was clutching this clipboard and said: ‘Is there a problem?’ And from that moment I was smitten."

John started playing guitar when he was seven when his dad got fed up of seeing him rock out with a tennis racket.

The frontman said: "He came in and said: ‘If you’re going to pretend like you’re playing you might as well be actually playing something’.

"That was his attitude to everything – ultimately practical

"My mum Barbara had one of those old record players with detachable speakers and I used to sit there all day playing along to Beatles songs."

Since then John's innovative 'rockgrass' style has been praised by the likes of Gene Simmons and Brian May.

"I just enjoy watching people smile and if anybody pays me to do it then I’m a pretty happy guy," added dad-of-two John.

"It means my kids can probably eat free range organic chicken that day. It’s not lost on me that I’ve been able to do this for a living for 15 years."

- Hayseed Dixie and Livewire perform at Parr Hall on Saturday. Visit pyramidparrhall.com or call 442345.

DAVID MORGAN