The word “counterintuitive” has definitely earned its place among the most overused words and phrases of the last 10 years, like “frankly” (the favorite of politicians, and that may cover the last 20 years), “twerk,” “going forward,” “at the end
Chris Jones
Ripping, pounding, throbbing bluegrass band names
This week, while iced in in Nashville, TN, I was going to discuss the concept of the band name subtitle, and I still am, but I realized that I had teased you a little bit last week with the reprinting
Phantom goat calls and bluegrass band names
I’m in the recording studio all this week at Crossroads Studios in North Carolina. If I actually wrote a new column, it would go something like this. “Well, do we like that, or should we try another pass?” “Am I the only
Live at the Old Feed Store – Chris Jones & the Night Drivers
Live albums usually fall in one of two camps. Sometimes, even with the most talented bands, the songs come off flat and lifeless, perhaps thanks to the musicians taking too much care to sound ‘perfect.’ Other times, the recording perfectly
We are Shoferët e Natës
Early on in the life of this column, I wrote a series on naming your bluegrass band, offering various ideas depending on what kind of band you were seeking to name, and even suggesting some band-naming formulas. This week, my
Do you haiku?
I was reminded recently by Ned Luberecki that I had once written a bluegrass haiku that went as follows: late in the evening Uncle Pen played the fiddle why did he do that? This led me to think that we were overdue for a
2015 Bluegrass Music General Knowledge Quiz
It’s time, as promised, for our annual Bluegrass Music General Knowledge Quiz (a registered trademark, all rights reserved, void in Louisiana and Hawaii and no one knows why). We all have friends who are trivia experts of some kind, like the
Like A Hawk from Chris Jones & the Night Drivers
Chris Jones has released a new single from his current project, Live At The Old Feed Store. The song is Like A Hawk, one Chris wrote and recorded previously for his 2006 album, Too Far Down The Road. It's a bluesy
Most boring bluegrass stories of 2014
We were going to have the second form of quiz this week, the annual bluegrass general knowledge test, but first we need to deal with some other January business: the annual recap of the the most boring stories in bluegrass
New Year’s 2015 bluegrass quiz
Well, we’ve come to the end of the calendar year (my personal year came to an end in November), and what I usually like to do at this time of year, besides put on a silly party hat and hum