Author: Chris Jones

My band's first show in front of real people since March of 2020 (we did an entire tour with pretend audiences in late 2020) was over the Labor Day weekend at Thomas Point Beach in Maine. It's a wonderful event,

As of the Labor Day weekend, I have returned to touring and playing music for people I can actually see. For me this often involves cross-border air travel, and it did this past weekend. I was expecting it to be

The tribute band is nothing new to bluegrass music or to any other genre of music, for that matter. "Beatlemania" was the first one I was ever aware of, but I know the concept is much older than that.  Sometimes there's

Leadership Bluegrass is an IBMA-related program which has been going strong since the year 2000. Its stated purpose, according to IBMA's web site, is "to pull together a cross section of people with exhibited or potential leadership qualities into a

Dixie and Tom T. Hall - photo  by Terry Herd Bluegrass and country music legend Tom T. Hall passed away at his home in Franklin, TN on Friday, August 20th. He was born in Olive Hill, Kentucky in 1936. Known as "The

In case you need to take your mind off of current events, and the inevitable rancorous arguments that accompany them, it might be good to apply your mind to a pop quiz. Think of this as bluegrass sudoku, even though it’s

I was recently sent a press release about a song that claimed it's the "Hotel California of bluegrass" (because you can never leave?), and it got me thinking about these kinds of comparisons: "The American Pie of Bluegrass," "The Mick

Chris Jones has been unexpectedly detained at the Canadian border, so we are running this pre-pandemic column at his direction. It's Charlie Sizemore's favorite! Co-writing is definitely the mode of Music Row. We have a great co-writing tradition in bluegrass music,

Hello from North Carolina. This week I'm in the studio recording some Christmas songs with the Night Drivers. Between writing charts, and watching A Christmas Carol and Elfto get into the Christmas spirit in late July, I'm a little pressed

Out of necessity, I'm afraid this column is being composed on a less-than-current iPhone (I received no compensation from Apple for saying that, though I thought I could get Samsung to kick in a few bucks). The fact is I