DIXIEDEADSHOT

Dixie Deadshot is the stage name of Raelee Calhoun — a Southern trap and outlaw country rap artist from Pikeville, Kentucky. She came up writing songs in a notebook nobody knew about, working day jobs that didn't suit her, and driving Pike County back roads at three in the morning trying to figure out what the voice in her head was for.

The voice in her head turned out to be a record deal. A Southern trap producer heard her demo in 2024 and signed her on the spot to a small Pikeville label. The label became Holler & Hellfire Records. The demo became her debut EP, Dead Reckoning, released in early 2026 to immediate critical attention — appearing in Rolling Stone Country, NPR Music's Heavy Rotation, and Pitchfork's Best New Music.

What sets Dixie Deadshot apart from her peers is the conceptual scope. The albums are not standalone projects — they are tied into a paranormal romance literary series of the same name, also written by the artist under her author name Kaylin Renea. The character of Dixie Deadshot exists both in the music and in the books. Same person. Same voice. Two different mediums.

The work pulls from outlaw country (Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Tyler Childers), Southern hip-hop (Lil Boosie, Kevin Gates, Yelawolf), and Appalachian folk tradition. The result is a genre intersection nobody asked for and a lot of people turned out to need — described by critics as "what Loretta Lynn would have sounded like if she'd grown up listening to Lil Boosie and decided to mean every word."

Her current album, The Devil's in the Details, is the companion soundtrack to the second book in the Holler & Hellfire series. The lead single "The Devil Doesn't Knock" was named one of The FADER's top singles of 2026. The fall tour begins September 2026.