This will be extremely short, just as I hope and pray the end of 2020 is. I was going to list all of the most positive developments of 2020, and that was even shorter than this column is. Instead I've composed
Author: Chris Jones
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From The Side of the Road… odd Christmas traditions of the bluegrass stars
It's well known among those who keep track of obscure Christmas traditions (almost no one), that once you do something, anything, in two consecutive years during the holidays, you have started a Christmas tradition which you will then have to
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From The Side of the Road… bluegrass paternity settled, once and for all
Just after the 2020 presidential election was called (the first time), I wrote a column here about how we'd all need to find new subjects to argue about just to keep us off the streets, or off of Facebook, Twitter,
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From The Side of the Road…. bluegrass pandemic goals vs reality
Bypassing Christmas for the moment ("and so, as Tiny Tim observed . . ."), we are approaching the time for year-end reflections, top 10 lists, and other ways of cataloging and looking back on the year 2020. "Yuck" is the
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From The Side of the Road… Hallmark Christmas movies with a bluegrass twist
Last year around this time, I offered up some potential Hallmark Christmas movie plots with a bluegrass element, because, you know, we all need the money. Last year, I had no idea how much we'd be needing the money. I'm sure
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From The Side of the Road… Thanksgiving 2020 edition
Thanksgiving is upon us, and for some it's a time for reflection on all we have to be thankful for. For most, if we're honest, it's a time for eating as much as humanly possible, saving no room for pumpkin
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From The Side of the Road… Mr. Bluegrass Manners takes your questions
Mr. Bluegrass Manners has just completed a 14-day mandatory self-quarantine after attending a conference in South Dakota on Thanksgiving etiquette. He's feeling well and is ready once again to take your questions: Dear Mr. Bluegrass Manners, Is it considered permissible or not to sing
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From The Side of the Road… I’ll give you something to argue about!
Well, though it's not acknowledged in all camps, the election of 2020 is behind us (pending the final vote count in Alaska, which I'm told to expect sometime next May), and I know you were probably hoping that you could
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From The Side of the Road… are bluegrass lyrics supposed to make sense?
Ours is a music of lyric mysteries. Not always, mind you. "Tonight I'm alone without you my dear, it seems there's a longing for you still," is pretty straightforward, but for every song like that, we've got a song suggesting
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From The Side of the Road… studio budgets in the bluegrass world
If this week’s column seems at all disjointed, it’s only because The Night Drivers and I are in the studio all this week, and I’m writing this in between takes of our new medley of Next Sunday Darling is My