Author: Chris Jones

Somewhere deep in my list of items that are on a new bluegrass band’s to-do list was this little, seemingly trivial task: “Book a gig.” I think it was somewhere after selecting stage clothes and seeking endorsement deals. Many—though by no

I hope the holiday season has treated you well, that the relatives who gave you that sweater that was two sizes too small saved a receipt, and that you didn’t get sick of Christmas Times a-Comin’ before Christmas time actually

Several weeks ago, I compiled a list of things that a newly-formed bluegrass band needs to do to get off the ground. I don’t have that list in front of me, and I’m too lazy to actually look for it

We’re in the midst of a series on band self-management, and one of the more difficult—and for some, tedious—jobs facing a new band is the writing of your first promotional material. For many musicians, the idea of selling yourself to

Having made the mistake of starting on the touchy subject of band personnel changes, their motives, methods, and possible prevention, I guess I have no choice but to finish the job, especially since last week I promised to go into

In the previous column, I attempted to put the important steps any new band has to take into some kind of logical order. It’s not my intention to cover each one of these step-by-step, which is probably a good thing

Now that we’ve thoroughly exhausted the subject of band names, and you’ve arrived at your own, whether it be “Sausage: A Very Acoustic Band” or “Blue Ridge Railroad,” I thought we’d continue this series on band self-management, more-or less in

I made a solemn promise last week to wrap up this series-within-a-series on the naming of bluegrass bands, and I fully intend to keep my word. I was even tempted to move on to the next subject in the band

Before I continue this series on band self-management, and its sub-series on naming your bluegrass band, it might be useful to review some of what was discussed last week. A few recent trends in bluegrass music have also been called

The forming of a bluegrass band and the subsequent management of that band involves a lot of important decisions, too numerous to cover in a single column,so this will be the first of a series. Future columns will deal with