Tag Archives: Bluegrass Today

Rick Faris can claim an impressive backstory, one which found him well equipped to pursue his prowess as both a picker and performer. His father was a touring bluegrass musician who had the distinction of playing at the Grand Ole Opry, as well as making appearances on Hee-Haw and Nashville Now. Faris himself had a role in the Faris Family Band, a touring outfit that spent twelve years on the road while weaving its way through the festival circuit, and sharing their skills with students in schools across the country. His big break came when he was recruited by Greg Cahill to audition for Special Consensus, trading his guitar for a mandolin and helping the band reap a pair of Grammy nominations and several nods from the IBMA.

Faris’ first album, Breaking In Lonesome, provided an avenue for establishing himself as a solo star, winning him kudos from Bluegrass Today and any number of other esteemed publications. With his sophomore set, The Next Mountain, he’s taken another significant step forward, courtesy of a dozen songs that show an astute ability to shift his stance as needed, whether engaging in upbeat, effusive offerings such as Deep River, I’m Asking You Today, Evil Hearted You, and Time To Move On, or the more reflective rumination found in What I’ve Learned, Laurel of the Mountains, and Tall Fall. He’s assisted in these endeavors by a superb supporting cast that includes Ronnie Bowman, Sam Bush, Ronnie McCoury, Rob McCoury, and Mike Bub, among many others, but it’s to Faris’ credit that his singing and picking still manage to take center stage.

Given his credentials, it’s hardly surprising that Faris has created such a naturally engaging and enticing offering. Beyond the quality of the songs themselves — all of which Faris had a hand in writing — the musicianship is first rate, practically a given considering those that are involved. The fact that the melodies and arrangements fit so well in sync makes it clear that even at this point in his career, Faris is firing on all cylinders. It’s not hard to imagine that his efforts will result in contention for various best-of lists at the end of the year. At the very least, The Next Mountain ought to take Faris to the next plateau.

A favorite voice for many in the bluegrass world is Shawn Lane, whose instantly recognizable vocals have graced a multitude of top tracks from Blue Highway, as well as several hits under his own name. While lots of bluegrass male vocalists today find their singing influences in country music, Lane’s sound has always harkened back to his southwest Virginia upbringings, with shades of Ralph Stanley’s mountain tones mixed with a singer-songwriter sensibility. On his latest effort, a seven-song EP called Family & Friends, Lane effortlessly mixes those two styles, giving listeners a tight, concise record that will certainly leave them wanting more.

The EP title is certainly apt, with Lane’s supporting cast consisting of family harmonies (sons Garrett and Grayson Lane, brother Chad Lane), and several well-known friends as the studio band (Barry Bales on bass, Clay Hess contributing guitar on several tracks, banjo from Patton Wages, and Gaven Largent’s dobro). The songs, including six written or co-written by Lane, slip effortlessly from banjo-fueled traditional drive, to lonesome mountain Gospel, to softer folk sounds.

A few songs from the EP have already found much success on the radio and charts. Opening track I Met the Man spent over six months in the Bluegrass Today Gospel Top 10, with seven weeks of that at number one. It’s certainly a powerful number, based on the true story of Lane’s father’s recovery from a stroke and coma. Wages’ gritty banjo and urgent mandolin from Lane underscore the moving words of a man pulled back from death: “Thought I was gone, but He had another plan, I met the man.” This song pairs nicely with the a cappella, Stanley-esque I’ll Wear a White Robe. Sung in a call-and-response style, the clear, resonant vocals will grab listeners’ attention immediately.

The other radio hit, One More, has a gently rolling singer-songwriter vibe. Lane penned the song with Ronnie Bowman, and it shares an uplifting message of hope after struggles and pain. A solid bass backing from Bales accompanies Largent’s fine dobro work. American Factory Town, written with Bales, has a similar feel. Filled with images of a working-class town hit hard by shifts in the economy, it goes for optimism instead of blame and anger. “I’m proud to have the ones who stayed to tough it out, cause we’re all American-made. We won’t stay down, so don’t you underestimate what we’ll be,” Lane sings, personifying the town itself. 

Rounding out the EP are a pair of modern traditional numbers and a thoughtful love song that calls to mind James Taylor. Free as the Wind has Richard Bennett as a co-writer, and it has a definite Bennett vibe to it, with a breezy sound that mimics the narrator’s journey across Texas. Wages’ banjo leads Footsteps Falling, which is probably the closest thing to a Blue Highway song here, with its full band sound and hints of desperation in Lane’s voice. New Days, written with Gerald Ellenburg, is a winding, poignant piece that finds the singer recovering from many hard years with the discovery of a new love. 

With Family & Friends, Lane offers listeners plenty of hope and encouragement in a year when they’ve been difficult to find. The seven songs here are all well-written, with enough variety in their content and sounds that it keeps you hitting the rewind button to listen through once more. As with many EPs, the only complaint I have is that I wish there was more.

For more information on Shawn Lane, or to purchase his new EP, visit him online.

We had an unexpected treat today when Sammy Passamano with 615 Hideaway brought Hillary Klug down to the media room at World of Bluegrass to perform a mini showcase for us. Hillary played fiddle, sang, and accompanied herself buck dancing, supported by Cristina Vane on banjo and Evan Winsor on guitar.

Hillary has established a reputation as a bluegrass/old time entertainer through her viral videos on YouTube and Facebook, with some reaching more than four million views. She is a buck dancing champion, and combines the two skills in a pleasing and engaging fashion, earning her this substantial following. This tasty merging of techniques came about organically several years back when Klug was busking on the streets of Nashville. One chilly afternoon, with passersby passing her by, she added some footwork to help stay warm, and found that suddenly people were stopping to admire her performance. Ever since, she is known as the buck dancing fiddler with the long blonde hair.

Cristina is a noted performer on her own merit, working both in the old time and roots music world, and in classic rock and blues as well. Her debut project, Nowhere Sounds Lovely, is available online. 

Evan is not only an accomplished Nashville multi-instrumentalist, he is Hillary’s fiancé.

Here is their impromptu take on The Cuckoo.

They also recorded a video of Cristina singing Way Down The Old Plank Road, which we will add as soon as we can.

Well done all – and thanks for stopping by!

Once again, we will be joining a great many people in the bluegrass community as we head down to Raleigh, NC today to be part of IBMA’s 2021 World of Bluegrass convention. The three-day business conference runs this Tuesday through Thursday at the Raleigh Convention Center, followed by the big IBMA Bluegrass Awards Thursday night at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, and the IBMA Bluegrass Live! festival at the adjacent Red Hat Amphitheater on Friday and Saturday. 

Our contingent is a bit smaller this year, owing to concerns about COVID infection, IBMA’s restrictions on entry, and other unrelated factors, but we will do our best to bring the many events associated with World of Bluegrass to those who can’t be with us in Raleigh. You can keep up with IBMA goings on by visiting us through the week as we offer updates on activities on the ground, and photographs of the many performances, awards, and conference functions.

We will again be headquartered in the IBMA Media Room, typically Room 302 in the Convention Center. This is on the opposite side of the building from where most of the conference sessions and showcases occur, on the Lenoir Street side. Please feel free to stop by any time to say howdy, or to share any new recordings or information you may have.

Hope to see the tops of your smiling faces there.

Anders Beck and Greensky Bluegrass at Shagbark Farm in Michigan (7/16/21) – photo © Bryan Bolea

Greensky Bluegrass straddles two worlds, one that nods towards bluegrass and the other that uses it as a springboard for seeking other plateaus. While their name clearly indicates their affection for traditional picking and singing, the band make it a point not to be confined to any particular parameters. Those that insist on labeling their sound often refer to it as nu-grass, grassicana, Americana, or jamgrass, but one thing is well established — their mix of classic and contemporary sounds definitely defies any easy description. While banjo, mandolin, and dobro play a decided role in their instrumental make-up, spontaneity and improvisation allow them to pursue other avenues, and keep them in tune to a wide realm of possibilities.

Formed in 2000 in Kalamazoo, Michigan by banjo player Michael Arlen Blount and guitarist Dave Bruzza, the band has undergone several changes in personnel over the past 20 years, resulting in the current line-up consisting of Blount, Bruzza, Anders Beck (dobro, resophonic guitar), Michael Devol (bass, vocals), and Paul Hoffman (mandolin, vocals). A win at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival Competition in 2006 elevated their visibility, and now they currently count ten albums released between 2004 and 2019. With the pandemic slowing their outside activity and bringing their touring to a halt, they opted to make the most of their time off by releasing a series of digital only offerings which they dubbed The Leap Year Sessions.

“There was a lot going on,” Beck insisted when Bluegrass Today spoke with him by phone. “We all went to St. Louis and recorded a series of closed performances on high definition video in an empty venue. They’re high quality recordings that were well shot and well edited, and we released them during quarantine. We wanted to create something for people that were stuck at home, and the best thing we came up with were these video sessions. And then we released them every week or so. We got great a reaction from people who saw it as a further way for fans to experience the music without having to go anywhere, or leave the safety of their living rooms. For us, it’s a little window in time. We were really excited to be playing together, but also, it was really freaking weird to be playing in a venue with no people in it.”

To an outside observer however, the bigger challenge might be how to keep their influences aligned while trying to ensure their appeal to a decidedly diverse audience.

“The answer to that can run a gamut of responses, depending on whatever day we’re talking about,” Beck muses. “It works because we are raising the reverence for bluegrass while varying the template at the same time. I like listening to bluegrass music as much as I like to listen to rock and roll music, or jazz music, or reggae music, or whatever. Our influences are just all across the gamut, and of course, bluegrass is one of them. But just because we sort of stumbled on playing music on bluegrass instruments doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to stick with bluegrass. For me, learning that style of music was incredibly important. It gave us a jumping off point to do what we like to do. That’s our reverence for the music right there in a nutshell. You have to be able to play bluegrass, quote, unquote, correctly or properly, and play it well in order to start to monkey with it.”

Still, that begs the question of how the band attempts to please traditional bluegrass lovers while still bringing newer fans into the fold. Asked if they might worry about alienating anyone in that process, Beck quickly demurs. 

“I’ll tell you, we don’t worry about it anymore,” he insists “Honestly, we sort of forget about that. The key to understanding the name is that green sky is literally the complete opposite of blue grass. Okay, so we are bluegrass, but we are also the complete opposite. Now that we’ve grown into that name, it’s become a witty little pun. The name itself has really come home to roost, because we are often so far away from bluegrass a lot of the time during our shows. For so long, we felt like we were trying to appease this bluegrass audience, or else those people would get mad at us if we didn’t do bluegrass the way the traditional camp expected us to. We thought they would hate us. We’d be screwed. We felt we needed to do it the right way and all that other stuff. But what we found is that no one was really getting mad at us ever. At least they didn’t express it. We never got the death threats we were expecting.”

Beck attributes some of that acceptance to the bands that came before, noting that Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, and Yonder Mountain String Band actually made that transition earlier. “They were starting to bend the genre a little bit, so it wasn’t like we were doing anything different on that level,” he suggests. “We were just sort of continuing on this evolution, and we certainly invested our Midwest roots into it as well.”

In a sense, it’s that combination of credence and confidence that allows the band to move forward without having to second guess their own MO. Beck readily agrees. 

These days it’s less about having to stand up for ourselves,” he maintains. “We can just say we do what we do, and if people like it, that’s awesome. We didn’t do that for a long time because we were really nervous about it. Because bluegrass was in the name of the band, we felt like we had this need to show that side of the band. We have these bluegrass chops, but now it’s sort of just evolved into something past that.”

That said, Beck is quick to counter any notion that bluegrass is no longer an important additive as far as their sound. “We play anywhere from two to ten traditional bluegrass songs in any given show,” he says. “And we enjoy the hell out of it. Our catalog is pretty big. We still love to play that kind of thing. We definitely still play those songs and enjoy them. Sometimes, after a show in front of 4,000 people, when it’s around one in the morning, we’ll go and play a set of bluegrass songs around a single microphone on a small flatbed trailer. We’ll focus on traditional songs for maybe about an hour. That’s our traditional connection. It kind of reminds us of our musical juxtaposition, which I think is still very obvious.”

With the pandemic slowed, at least at the moment, Greensky Bluegrass is back on the road, in a scaled down mode. They’re playing mostly on weekends at the moment as they navigate the course of COVID while trying to calculate what they’re able to do.

“We’re really trying to figure out how to play music in weird times,” Beck admits. “But it’s starting to feel kind of normal out there I suppose. We’re looking forward to a bunch of really cool events. We’ve got three nights at Red Rocks in Colorado, which is my favorite venue in the world. We’re doing the 4848 festival in West Virginia, which is something we love to do. We’re actually kind of partners in that festival. We’ll be doing Bonnarroo again and we’re gonna be in Alaska pretty soon as well. There’s a thing up there called the Salmon Fest that we did a few years ago. Then we’re doing two nights at the Ryman Theater in Nashville for Halloween which I’m excited about as well. We’re also gonna have some fun Nashville special guests there but I can’t tell you about that just yet.”

That said, Beck does admit that it can be a challenge at times when it comes to capturing that live energy and spontaneity in their studio recordings.

“I think that we straddle the line of both those things very well,” he allows. “One of the reasons is due to the fact that we really take pride in creating albums that are unique, because they’re the ones that really represent what we’re going to do in the long run, like, say, 50 years from now. The albums need to stand the test of time. So, we put a lot of effort into creating really good studio albums. We’re not necessarily trying to make it like the live experience all the time. Sometimes we do, but we prefer not having to be tied to that so much. I guess what I’m saying is that I’m proud that we can we can exist in both worlds. That’s a big deal for us. We really felt like we had to prove ourselves, because there was this fear that there would be this mob of traditional people coming over the hill, and that certain people would be saying, ‘that’s not bluegrass or that’s not what it’s supposed to be, or those guys aren’t good,’ or whatever it might be. It was just a weird thought that I had.”

Ultimately though, Beck says the band arey content to do their best at whatever they attempt, and continue to progress and go forward. “We put a lot of blood sweat and tears into this,” he insists. “We’re just trying to evolve, but mainly, we’re just trying to be ourselves.”

Given the angst and uncertainty the world has encountered over the past 18 months, Waiting Out the Storm would seem to be an apt title for Billy Droze’s latest release. Then again, Droze knows a little something about longevity and making a mark over the course of a career. He’s written songs for The Grascals, Junior Sisk, Darryl Worley, Flatt Lonesome, Shenandoah, and Jamie O’Neil, and several of those recordings have climbed to the top of the charts. At the age of 35, he’s a seasoned performer who can claim some impressive credentials, including nominations for various IBMA and ICMA awards, as well as the honor of co-hosting the 2018 ICMA Awards at the Grand Ole Opry.

Still, like most artists, Droze’s abilities are best measured by his songs, and those that grace this latest album are clearly among his best yet. While the music is solidly enshrined within a bluegrass template, several could easily cross into country realms as well. As John Lawless, the esteemed editor of Bluegrass Today, once put it, “Billy’s not just a clever songwriter; he can sing bluegrass and country with the best of them. His voice betrays his love of both genres.”

That’s especially true here. Small Town Mystery, Miss Me Anymore, All You Gotta Do Is Listen, and the title track are solid and assured, songs that reflect both his confidence and conviction. Much of the music falls somewhere between an easy ramble and a tender tapestry, whether it’s the steady stride found in Here We Are, the ragged repast of Night Birds, the beguiling ballad, Bring on the Wind, or the down-home designs of She’s Still Here. Notably then, Droze produced the album single-handedly, and had a hand in writing all the material, save one track — Woman of My Life, a song which features his father Red Droze and, not surprisingly, boasts a distinctive countrified feel.

Taking this effort in its entirety, it’s evident that Droze’s wider recognition is only a matter of time. And indeed, if the name is any indication, Waiting Out the Storm should be the vehicle that affords him that fame. It’s an album flush with across-the-board appeal and the easy embrace that only the most memorable music can offer.

Rhonda Vincent after learning that she has been invited to join the Grand Ole Opry (February 29, 2020)

Rhonda Vincent will be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry tomorrow night (February 6). Originally slated for last March 24, the event was put on hold when the pandemic hit.

“Some people say 2020 was the worst year ever,” Rhonda Vincent told Bluegrass Today. “For me I was asked to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry. How can this be a terrible year, right?”

This is the first time a brother and sister have become separate acts to be inducted into the prestigious music club. Rhonda’s brother, Darrin Vincent and Jamie Dailey of Dailey and Vincent joined the Opry in 2017. The Browns (Jim Ed Brown and his sisters) were inducted as a single entity.

“It’s a lifetime dream come true. My family was listening to the Opry long before I was ever born. This is like continuing the family tradition.”

The eight-time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year, and her band The Rage, will be performing to a sold-out crowd Saturday night. 

“They can have 1,100 people right now. It’s like one of the only shows that’s sold out. There’s a young lady flying in from Washington state and people coming in from New York. There are people coming from everywhere for this induction.”

“We want to meet and greet, and we can’t do that at the Opry. I get to do a meet and greet over at The Troubadour Theatre after the Opry, and host the Ernest Tubb Record Shop Midnight Jamboree live once again. They have not had a live show for years.”

Vincent will be decked out for the induction in a royal blue dress New York designer Constance McCardle created specifically for the once-in-a-lifetime occasion. Rhonda hopes to perform three songs from her forthcoming album that she has been working on for more than a year and a half. The project includes a trio of tunes that Opry members have recorded—her latest single, a cover of Porter Wagoner’s What Ain’’ to Be, Just Might Happen, Jeannie Seely’s Like I Could, and Webb Pierces Slowly. But the one she’s struggling to work up the nerve to perform at the Opry is a bluegrass version of the daunting, Unchained Melody.   

“It took me 12 hours recording that song to get my vocal the way I wanted it,” Vincent recalls. “I was terrified to sing it, but they encouraged me to do it when we were at my Christmas in Branson. I’ve only sung it on stage one time. I was shaking after I finished singing it, but they gave me a standing ovation. So, I hope that’s a good sign.”

Vincent performed the last part of 2019 at the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre in Branson, MO in a different style show. While she included straight bluegrass like her IBMA Song of the Year, Kentucky Borderline, she also performed Christmas bluegrass with special guests and a living portrayal of the nativity.  

“People came away from that saying how powerful and amazing it was,” she says. “There was scripture read in there. You could just feel the spirit and an anointing on that particular segment. Then, we would have our special guests come out and sing a Christmas song. We ended with The Twelve Days of Christmas and then a finale song of Feliz Navidad.

The last song proved to be a bit challenging for the bluegrass star, but she did her homework.

“It wasn’t like I was going to graze over that. I called my cousin who speaks fluent Spanish, and we went over it and over it. [I thought] If I’m going to sing this, I want to sing it correctly. I would have special guests come out. When it came to that line, they didn’t sing. I am SO glad I learned how to sing that line.”

Prior to the start of her Branson shows, Vincent told Bluegrass Today that the future seemed uncertain for her and the band. But since that time, she’s happy to report a brighter day. 

“We are kind of holding our own as everyone else is I think,” Vincent said. “We’re still in business. I guess when I have to start selling our houses and the bus, then we’ll start worrying,” she adds, laughing. “So far, we’ve been able to sustain this. We’re probably in a different situation in that [my husband/manager] Herb is at retirement age. Next December he’ll be 65. He said, ‘Just retire and let’s fish and stay at the fishing shack!’ That is not something that would be fun for me.” 

Her heart and calling remain in the music. 

“More than anything, God has blessed us and been able to do what we do. As long as He continues, I feel like we’re doing His will. My daily prayer is God, what is your will for my life and give me acceptance of what that is no matter what it is.”

(Note: Rhonda Vincent and The Rage will be performing at the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum on March 19 in Owensboro, KY. For more tour dates, log on to www.rhondavincent.com.) 

Daryl Mosley is probably best known to bluegrass fans for his tenure as vocalist and bass player for The Farm Hands, but his songwriting is what has drawn the notice of artists and writers from across the music industry. In addition to earning several SPBGMA awards for Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year while with the Farm Hands, Mosley’s originals have been featured on albums by numerous country, bluegrass, and Gospel artists. His recent Pinecastle album, The Secret of Life, provides a further showcase for Mosley’s songs, highlighting 11 numbers from his pen.

Opening track A Few Years Ago kicks things off with bright fiddle and mandolin from Adam Haynes and Danny Roberts, respectively. It’s found a welcome audience with radio programmers, and recently cracked the Top 10 of Bluegrass Today’s weekly chart. It’s a pleasant stroll through memories of youth, with a more experienced man looking back on a life before regrets. The Secret of Life also offers life advice, told from the perspective of a respected small-town barber. It’s a nice, thoughtful number, with quite a few common sense pieces of wisdom for a simple, well-lived life.

It Never Gets Old takes a stripped-down approach, with soft guitar and dobro accompaniment through most of the song. It’s a quiet love song, again appreciating the simple things in life that sometimes become the most important: “The edge of your smile cuts deep in my soul, just looking at you never gets old.” A bit grassier than some of the other songs on the album, which lean toward the singer-songwriter sound, is another love song, I’d Write You. Mosley imagines himself as a variety of artists, all with the goal of his expressing his feelings to the woman he loves. 

On the flip side of love songs is the uptempo Heartaches Moving In, cowritten with Danny Roberts. It’s a straightforward “my woman done left me” number, with a catchy chorus and enjoyable banjo from Aaron McDaris. The other cowrite on the album is the bluesy Do What the Good Book Says, a fun Gospel number penned with Rick Lang. Mosley’s smooth lead vocals work well with this style of song, and it seems like one that would be very enjoyable live. 

Other highlights include two songs that find connections between the singer’s earthly father and his heavenly one. Hands in Wood is a heartfelt ode to a hard-working father who spent his life using the things he built from wood to help others. It makes a clever connection to the Biblical carpenter in the last verse. All the Way Home finds the singer looking to his dad for protection as a young child walking through dark woods, then turning toward Jesus for peace and security when he’s older. Perhaps the album’s best song is the well-written A Piece at a Time, which recalls Thirty Years of Farming in its story of a farmer who can only watch as “the only life he’s ever known is leaving in pickups someone else owns.”

Overall, The Secret of Life has a calm, singer-songwriter feel that works well with the slice of life songs that comprise most of the album. Mosley does a fine job at capturing the memories and emotions of everyday people in songs that may seem simple at first listen but are filled with clever turns of phrase and strong imagery. Though most of the songs aren’t necessarily hardcore bluegrass, he’s joined by a strong crew of musicians. In addition to Roberts, Haynes, and McDaris, the album’s band includes Tony Wray (guitar), Michael Stockton (dobro), and Mosley himself on bass, as well as three fine harmony vocalists in Irene Kelley, Jaelee Roberts, and Jeanette Williams. If you’re looking for good original songs that don’t rely on overused bluegrass images, Mosley is your man.

For more information on Daryl Mosley, visit his website. His new album is available from several online retailers. 

It’s hard for me to believe, but this is my 400th column for Bluegrass Today. I had assumed I’d be out of ideas by about number 12 or so, and perhaps I was, but I guess this is a testament to the breadth and scope of our bluegrass music world and the bits of humor to be found in it, even when, or maybe especially when, we’re taking ourselves very seriously.

Regular attempts at humor can sometimes rub people the wrong way, and I knew there was a risk of that going into this, but I’ve been fortunate to have received very little blowback over these several years. Sure there were some people heavily invested in the IBMA board “troubles” of  2014 (if you don’t know what I’m referring to, consider yourself lucky), who were unhappy with my making light of the situation a couple of times in passing. There was also the incident in which the International Bluegrass Music Museum threatened to pull advertising from Bluegrass Today because I had invented a fictitious museum employee, song researcher “Peter Van Kip,” in a story about lost original lines of some famous bluegrass standards. Note: this was under previous museum management; the current management thought it was funny. Other than that, though, I’ve had pretty calm waters.

But if there’s one problem I’ve had more often than others—and it does relate to the museum story above—it’s that I have too many people taking me seriously or at times literally. This was particularly worrisome when I often wrote columns that could be classified as “faux advice,” like a 12-part series I did on band management in the early years of the column. In one January 2012 installment, I dispensed “advice” on band photos, in which I recommended avoiding new band photos entirely, theorizing that they’re actually the cause of many personnel changes. One solution I offered:

“Convince the public that your new member is actually the same as the person in the old photo. It’s not necessary to insist that the new person take on the name of the old one (although it wouldn’t hurt, if he or she is willing); you’ll have to insist, though, that the new musician dress as much like the previous one as possible and have the same hairstyle and facial hair, if applicable. The wearing of dark sunglasses at all times would be helpful. Weight differences can be handled by encouraging the new band member to gain or lose as much weight as needed to approximate the girth of the person he or she is replacing. Height differences are more difficult to manage, therefore I discourage the hiring of any new person who is more than 3 inches taller or shorter than the previous person. Otherwise the new member will just have to sit down as much as possible, including on stage.”

Anyone taking this seriously and following this advice would very quickly have some serious band management problems.

Then I occasionally have publicists or the artists themselves asking me to write about their current release or just to give them some exposure, and I’ve wanted to say, “Have you read what I’m writing here? You don’t want this kind of exposure.”

I’ve also had people say sincere and earnest things about what I’ve written, urging me to write about other topics: “Your discussion of band photos was very interesting and informative. Would you consider writing something about song publishing? That’s a topic of great interest to me, as I am an aspiring songwriter.” I thought, “Sure, I could write one, but it could lead to the quick yet painful death of your budding songwriting career.”

Is this the reader’s fault, though? It has been pointed out to me that the column has no name, so nowhere is it even implied that this is a humor column at all. Leaving it unnamed wasn’t really deliberate but was possibly influenced by the fact that I only expected to be writing the series for about three months. 

All this brings me to the present 400th column turning point: I think it’s time this column had a name, and I would like your help. 

We’re going to hold a naming contest, and I would like you to submit your ideas in the comments section below. The winner will be selected by me and the Bluegrass Today management. We’re not offering any prize vacation packages or anything. This being the COVID-19 era, no one’s traveling anywhere more exotic than the backyard anyway, and heaven knows, a trip to Raleigh for the IBMA World of Bluegrass ain’t happening. With all the cancelled shows, I’m not exactly flush with legal tender, either, so the prize is just the knowledge that your title was the chosen one. I’ll also throw in a Truegrass request and dedication, if you’re a listener, as well as a mention in this column, of course, and on my new web site’s blog.

There are no formal rules except that I’d like to allow two entries per contestant, in case you have more than one idea, but please don’t submit a list.

If you’re competing in this, you’re someone who reads all the way to the ends of these things, and I thank you. I’d even like to thank those who just read the first paragraph and move on, but unfortunately they won’t see my thanks. I also want to offer my heartfelt thanks to the publishers of Bluegrass Today, John Lawless and Terry Herd. They have always been supportive and encouraging, and they have given me an almost entirely free hand in what I do every week. I appreciate them so much.

Finally, I’d like to apologize to anyone who took any of my words too seriously and whose careers and lives suffered irreparable damage as a result.

I’m kidding about that last part.

The new title will put the pressure on me to write at least 100 more of these, and I hope I’m up to the task. Thank you for reading, and I do mean that.

Well, if you’ve checked your email, yesterday’s Bluegrass Today stories, or just talked to one of your perpetually in-the-know friends (that third one is usually the least reliable of these sources), you’ve already heard that the IBMA World of Bluegrass will not be happening this year, at least not in the physical sense.

Since it was in the physical sense that we enjoyed this annual gathering, the concept of a “Virtual World of Bluegrass” is leaving a lot of people skeptical and with a lot of unanswered questions. 

These are a few of those questions:

Will a seminar on web site design be as interesting even if I don’t oversleep and run from my hotel to get there 10 minutes late?

Answer: Probably.

Will the keynote address be enhanced by the fact that I’ll be doing a load of laundry while I’m watching it?

Answer: Possibly. I know of at least one keynote address that would have been greatly improved by my doing laundry at the same time. I’m thinking specifically of the keynote I helped deliver myself.

Will a virtual awards show still run an hour and 40 minutes overtime?

Answer: Yes. With all the change going or in our lives, we really shouldn’t mess with tradition. The schedule will be drawn up once again based on the assumption that all speeches will be an average of three seconds long.

Will schmoozing and trying to drum up business be the same when it’s done virtually?

Answer: No. It’s too easy to end a virtual conversation by claiming that the internet went out. 

Will the money I save by not physically attending the IBMA World of Bluegrass enable me to take my family on a cruise of the Grecian islands?

Answer: Have you been following what’s happening in the cruise industry? Or on Grecian islands?

These are all valid questions, and we’re all wrestling with the profound disappointment of the loss of our “Bluegrass Christmas” on top of all the other losses of 2020 piling up. The Christmas analogy is fitting, since at least at first glance, a virtual IBMA World of Bluegrass seems about as exciting as a virtual Christmas celebration, with its virtual caroling, opening of virtual presents, drinking of virtual egg nog, and having virtual family arguments via Zoom.

This news was pretty inevitable, though, and we have to support the IBMA’s prudent decision. Let’s face it: the World of Bluegrass was already a health hazard, with the event being an almost perfect environment for the spreading of germs and for those germs to wreak havoc on a large group of people who spent the week doing all the things known to compromise the immune system: sleeping less than 4 hours a night, consuming more than the recommended daily allowance of caffeine and alcohol, singing in stairwells, etc. This behavior was always followed up by close contact with other attendees, a lot of handshaking, and of course plenty of face-touching (last year’s seminar, “Face-touching in Bluegrass Music, a Retrospective” was very informative).

In years past, some attempted to blame the hotel ventilation in Nashville, Louisville, and even Owensboro for the number of people who got sick the following week, ignoring the obvious culprits. In fact the last person who talked to me about that theory did so loudly, talking over a band that was playing, after which he coughed in my face. No, this is probably not the time to put our powers of disease-resistance to the test.

You know what, though? We’re going to get through this, even if things may not look quite the same on the other side. We’ll have our virtual experience this year and then look forward to an IBMA World of Bluegrass like none other in 2021, with in-person schmoozing, in-person jamming, very little sleeping, and yes, some face-touching. See you then.