Chris Jones

Are you putting together your first CD cover, or are you looking for ways to upgrade the quality of your newest one? Don’t feel any pressure; that’s pretty much a yes or no question, and there’s no right or wrong

In many parts of our society, we place a high value on being positive. “Just stay positive,” we’re often told, even if we’ve just received the news that we have three months to live. Some countries are more positive than others,

Mr. Bluegrass Manners has been away for awhile. First he was dealing with final exams at ETSU where he teaches a class in the bluegrass program there called “Bluegrass Etiquette in a Rude Rude Rude Time.” Then he took a

We in the bluegrass music community have our own vocabulary, like referring to the banjo as “the five,” an instrumental solo as a “break,” a professional bluegrass income as “a living,” etc. I think we could all still stand to

Late December and January are always the time for countdowns and lists of the top “things” of the past year. You know, we have the Bluegrass Today top 30 songs of the year, the top 10 movies no one cares

I have a New Years tradition: I resolve to quit smoking, then realize I didn’t smoke to begin with. That was easy. I also take this time to give an annual bluegrass knowledge quiz. This time around, I thought veteran readers

Merry day-after Christmas. I’m spending the holidays in a somewhat remote area of western Canada, where it was necessary to write and send this column in late November, to allow time for it to be delivered by dog sled (with

I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season so far. Much of traditional Christmas literature, including, I believe, the first chapter of Matthew (“Like, Really Awesome News for Modern Dudes and Dudettes” translation), refers to this week as “crunch time.”

Do you give holiday gifts to the bluegrass people in your life, like your band members, your agent, your manager, your sound engineer? It’s not usually expected, which is good in a way: you’re off the hook if you don’t

Last week’s millennial bluegrass songs generated a lot of suggestions for additions. Many were good ones, and I’ll include some here. One reader pointed out what I already knew: my list is incomplete without a song title that makes some reference