Author: Chris Jones

Is it “Mon-ROE” or “MUN-roe”? Is how we pronounce bluegrass names important? It probably is, yet it’s not always as simple as it might seem. Do we pronounce people’s names the way they would pronounce them themselves, or do we

I’m on a flight across North America right now, the second of three legs of my trip home from our recent European tour. This seemed like a good time to write this column, because for one thing the deadline is

Early spring brings its familiar signs: the start of the baseball season, the blooming of daffodils, and in the northern states and Canada, a seemingly endless supply of mud. Late spring will be here before we know it, though, and

In his comment on last week’s column about stage communication, Dick Bowden requested that I write a follow-up article on band members who don’t know the number system. I don’t as a rule answer this kind of request, unless it’s

Well, I was going to continue the discussion we were having about on-stage communication, but it’s gotten too loud in here to be heard (cyberspace can be so noisy!), so I guess I’ll just call out the numbers with my

On-stage communication between musicians can take many forms and is required for a variety of purposes, some vitally important, some completely unnecessary but at least amusing. One of the biggest reasons for communication during a show is to assist someone in

Vendors, especially food and beverage vendors, at a bluegrass festival can sometimes be like an oasis from the elements, a blessed port in a storm. Think of the times you’ve been at a hot and humid festival in late July;

Last week I received my first major blowback from a Bluegrass Today column of mine. I never like to offend people, and it is never my intention to do so. I said as much in my reply to the comment.

Are bluegrass festivals successful? The answer, in 2013 (I prefer to work in the present because it’s so now-ish), is an unequivocal “yes” and “no.” It all depends on who you talk to and how you define “success.” For some,

Last week, we deliberately inflicted pain on ourselves and discussed the topic of album reviews, with actual samples (that I made up, but does it really matter?). Specifically, we examined the categories of the Everybody Gets a Rave and the