In these polarized political times (please hold your comments), a new acronym has sprung up to describe politicians who don’t quite tow the party line: RINO and DINO, short for Republican In Name Only, or Democrat In Name Only. This
Chris Jones
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Start planning your post bluegrass retirement career now!
We discussed bluegrass death last week, and if things followed along the expected timeline, this week should be all about the bluegrass afterlife. Instead, though, I’d like to back up to the part just before death: bluegrass retirement. I know what
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I Can’t Change The Rhyme from Chris Jones
Mountain Home Music has released another single this week by Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, taken from their current album, The Choosing Road. This time it's one that Jones wrote and delivers with his signature deep baritone voice. I Can’t
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Are you afraid to die, in a picturesque and very bluegrass way?
Well, it’s the heart of summer; it’s extremely hot in many places, and our thoughts turn naturally to death. This may seem a little morbid, but this is a column about bluegrass music, after all. Aside from the moment when
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More fun with bluegrass lyrics
A while back (about as specific as I get now about past events), I wrote a column in which I substituted a line or two of current pop lyrics for the original lyrics of some bluegrass standards, just to see
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Bluegrass Lyrics Quiz – Do you listen at all?
I touched on this issue in the introduction to last week’s column rerun: people aren’t listening to the lyrics of bluegrass songs. By “people” I mean human beings, obviously, but specifically the people who are fans of bluegrass music, and
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Big changes for Chris Jones & The Night Drivers
Anyone who follows bluegrass knows that one of the biggest constants in the life of a touring act is the turnover of band personnel. The life of a road musician is a challenging one, and there are myriad reasons why
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Can you find the errant line in these bluegrass songs?
With a Bryan Adams love song having made it into the second round of voting in the IBMA Awards, the subject of people paying no attention to the lyrics of bluegrass songs has come up again as a topic. I’ll
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Mr. Bluegrass Manners returns to collect his check
Mr. Bluegrass Manners is back a lot sooner than usual. Generally he emerges from his hermit-like, yet very polite life at his southern Indiana ranch-style home to answer a few questions, then disappears for months on end, presumably working on
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Bluegrass songs about bluegrass – song ideas to get you started
I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but bluegrass songs about bluegrass are more popular than ever. I saw at least a couple of them on the IBMA second ballot, and the charts have been full of them. What’s not