I'm planning to write some new bluegrass haiku for next week, which, if I'm honest, is a form of procrastination because I'm really supposed to be writing the liner notes for the debut album by Desperate Ryver (be on the
Opinion / Humor
From The Side of the Road… personal ads for bluegrass pickers
As someone who landed his first full time bluegrass employment thanks to a classified ad, I continue to take an interest in this kind of advertising. Not to be voyeuristic, but the personals section has always been pretty interesting, too;
From The Side of the Road… tips for new bluegrass artists
In the last 10 or 15 years, bluegrass music has had its share of people trying to break in from other genres of music. Apparently the lure of low money and smaller touring vehicles is just too tempting for some
From The Side of the Road… talking politics on stage
Returning to the stage MC work subject, this is a revised version of the final installment of my series on the subject: This was the column I was hoping to get someone else to write for me. It was the one
From The Side of the Road… deconstructed band names
Way back in the first year of this column I did a series on band management, pretending that I knew something about it. The first installment dealt with the subject of naming bands, since it's something every band has to
From The Side of the Road… MC work – third time’s the charm
This is the third in a series on stage-show MC work. In the previous installment, I tried to answer a few frequently asked questions (or FAQ, for those in a hurry), covering issues like who should do most of the
From The Side of the Road…some more stage MC basics
Last week I tried to break on-stage MC work down to basics to make the mission seem less daunting for anyone who may find speaking to an audience intimidating. To sum up and review: you're just trying to make the audience
From The Side of the Road… no, you do it – I don’t want to do it
Something that you or your band must eventually face (besides your sound check and your non-existent retirement plan), is that at some point, usually no more than three or four songs into a show, you will have to say something
From The Side of the Road… Mr. Bluegrass Manners tells the truth
Mr. Bluegrass Manners has taken time away from his book tour promoting his new bestseller, Jam Session Offenses, Real and Simulated - Navigating bluegrass etiquette in the age of AI, to take the latest burning bluegrass questions from readers. As related
From The Side of the Road… cologne for the man who plays bluegrass
Since it has been established in the advertising world that if you can identify a niche, you can target it, it was probably inevitable that we would one day see the rise of bluegrass men's cologne. Bluegrass women's fragrances had already