This just in: Bluegrass Unlimited has just published a very good review of our new CD Cloud of Dust. Here’s the link: http://bluegrassmusic.com/content/reviews/reviews-march-2010/#chrisjones

In other Cloud of Dust news: the CD is now available for download through i-Tunes and Amazon. The physical CD is also being sold through Amazon, though currently for an outrageous price (I’m investigating why). It’s still best for the starving artists (us) to order through this site. i-Tunes continues to get low marks for searchability (I’m listed under Blues and Classical), but you can find it using the album title.

The Winter Olympics are over, and I’m already in full-scale withdrawal, but by popular demand, I’m keeping this “Curling 101″ info below for a few more days, in case you want to better understand just what the %&@** you were watching anyway.

First of all, the goal is to get as many of those 40 lb granite rocks closer to the center of those rings you see than your opponent’s rocks. Only one team can score per end (an end is comparable to an inning). For example, if there are two yellow stones near the center (or “button”) and five red stones near them but not closer than those two yellow ones, yellow scores two. Having the last rock to throw in the end becomes a big advantage, because if you can find a path to the middle, your last rock can outcount any number of opponents’ rocks that may be lying there. Much of the strategy is built on setting up the end by denying the team with last rock (called “the hammer”) the chance to score with it, or at least hold them to one point. The team with the hammer meanwhile tries to set the end up by keeping the center clear to make scoring at the end possible, preferably multiple points.

Why are they sweeping you ask? And why are they yelling at the sweepers? Sweping in front of the rock heats the ice in front of the rock’s path, and that will make the rock go farther, and it will also keep the rock’s path straighter, delaying the “curl”. The “skip”, who calls the shots at the other end, yells instructions to the sweepers based on his/her determination what that rock needs to make that shot successful.

The “throwing” of the rock requires a lot of precision, since a different kind of weight is called for for different kinds of shots. The lightest weight is needed to place a “guard” in the front of the rings (or “the house”), “draw weight” to reach a specific area of the house , often the front of the house or right to the button; “hack weight” , meaning enough weight to reach the hack (where the curlers slide from) at the other end, often used to tap another rock back or out of the rings; a few different “take out” weights for removing opposing stones. All need to be thrown at the precise weight called for by the skip. The skip, meanwhile, needs to place the broom (for aim) at the right place on the ice for the weight that’s being thrown, to anticipate how much the rock will curl (a lighter rock will curl more).

If you have the hammer in the end, and you score, you will lose the hammer the next end.  Sometimes it’s advantageous to “blank the end” and have no score in order to retain the hammer and try to set up a score of 2 or more the next end.

Curlers wear a slider (nowadays often made from teflon) on the bottom of one shoe, and a gripper on the other shoe.  When delivering the rock, the player slides centering his/her body weight over the foot with the slider. The broom is used for balance.  This is way harder than it looks. The curler will then turn the handle clockwise for an in-turn or counterclockwise for an out-turn, depending on which way the skip wants that rock to curl. Everyone throws 2 rocks per end, and everyone sweeps when not throwing, except the skip at the other end.

Whew! And that’s just the beginning, without getting into any of the strategic fine points. I hope that helps. No go watch the gold medal games and explain all that to your friends.

Oh yeah, the photo is of me curling in Sexsmith, Alberta with Sally and her sister Sandra preparing to sweep.

It was nice to be back playing with the band, after a holiday hiatus. In addition to playing at SPBGMA and a really nice house concert (or, to be more accurate: “cabin concert) in Bowling Green, we also worked in my first ever performance at a Best Buy (unless you count returning a laptop before the end of the 10 day trial period a performance). I really enjoyed that, actually. Ned’s wife Kelley was on hand to make sure Ned was escorted safely out of the store without spending a good chunk of his monthly salary after the show was over.

More updates soon. Below is a photo sent in from a Bluegrass Junction listener of me at the Berkshire Mountains Bluegrass Festival (now Grey Fox) around 1980. I have no idea what I was wearing there, but i do know that was the same Gallagher guitar I’m still playing. That was the first year I got it. I’ve replaced the capo, though.

Chris

Well, we’re a few days behind the promised schedule, but our band’s tour dates are now up on the site. Right now they’re running through most of June. More will be added to the site, and more gigs will be added, especially in the spring, thanks to the hard work of the agents slaving away at DMA Artists headquarters in Nashville (it’s a glorified bluegrass-booking sweat shop).

I head back to Nashville at the end of the month for shows in Bowling Green, KY and Nashville, and to remind my friends at Sirius XM what I look like. I also plan to thaw out gradually, before heading to Florida to visit family.

Speaking of what I look like,  I seem to have grown a beard without really meaning to. It turns out, that’s what happens when you stop shaving for an extended period of time. I never knew. It’s unlikely to stay, but right now it’s a nice barrier against -30 temperatures. I took a picture, just in case I decide to ditch it tomorrow. I also included another winter scene from here in northern Alberta’s Peace Country. We have to enjoy this scenery now, because spring could be here in as little as 15 weeks!

P.S. I asked Bluegrass Junction listeners to give thumbs up or thumbs down on the beard below, so if you see that, they’re not being rude; they’re just doing what I suggested. Feel free to weigh in. I’ll abide by the majority opinion…..at least for a while.

I’m writing this on the eve of Twelfth Night, the day before the last day of the Christmas holiday, or the Feast of Epiphany, Ukrainian Christmas, or whatever you choose to call January 6th. I tell you this so that no one can make fun of you for still having your tree up (okay they might, but you can just ignore them). Am I right that 12 drummers drumming ranks really low on the list desirable Christmas presents, to say nothing of the shipping costs?

I’ve made no New Year’s resolutions, but I promise to you now that most, if not all our 2010 tour dates will be posted this week. Meanwhile, instead of gaining a bunch of weight that I have to promise myself to take off in the New Year, I opted to stop shaving after Christmas. That way, when I do shave, I’ll have that New Years Resolution feeling of accomplishment, and all it will cost me is a razor blade and a possible nick or two.

More soon, plus those tour dates…really.

Chris

Photos below: the post-Christmas grizzled me, drinking from a Tim Horton’s mug (Christmas present), and the view from our porch overlooking the Peace River in northern Alberta

I wanted to wish you and yours a very happy holiday. Ron Block, my wife Sally and Ron’s wife Sandra and I plan to play an informal show on New Years Eve at the Cherry Point community hall in Cherry Point, Alberta. From Fort St. John, BC,  go towards Goodlow and keep on going.

It’ll be a mostly Christmas Truegrass on Christmas day. There’s a limit to the bluegrass Christmas material that’s over 20 years old, so that’s why I couldn’t manage an all-Christmas show. Tune in if you can, in between turkey helpings: Christmas Day 3-6 PM eastern time.

Speaking of Christmas songs, I love them, but they often leave me with more questions than answers. For example, why do two different popular Christmas songs refer to “mistletoe, hung where you can see” (”Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree)? This implies that someone hangs mistletoe where you can’t see, and why would you do that? Unless it’s a ploy to get someone to kiss you in a dark corner somewhere (”Hey baby, come on over here. I have some mistletoe hung where you can’t see.”), and if someone would fall for that, why do you need the mistletoe at all. Maybe I take these songs too literally.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Chris

Here’s a photo to give you an idea of what the Peace Country in northern Alberta looked like this morning.

I was in Edmonton watching the Canadian Olympic trials for curling, which is one of the premier events in the sport. 2 Alberta teams finished first in the men’s and women’s sides: Kevin Martin of Edmonton, and Cheryl Bernard from Calgary (see photos below).

The Night Drivers’ touring schedule is done for 2009, but 2010 is looking like the busiest year we’ve ever had, so we’re excited about that. Thanks again to everyone in radio for their continued support and airplay of “Cloud of Dust”.

This week’s “Truegrass” show on Bluegrass Junction will feature classic bluegrass Christmas music from Reno and Smiley, The Country Gentlemen, The Stanley Brothers and more. We’ll also have music from Red Allen, John Hartford, Cliff Waldron, and the usual host of bluegrass pioneers. It will air this coming Friday, from 3 to 6PM eastern, the again on Sunday, 6 to 9 eastern.

On Sirius XM’s Bluegrass Junction, I’ll be your Thanksgiving guest throughout the day (whether or not you invited me), because we’ll be running Truegrass reruns all day long. Classic bluegrass and turkey: what a combination.

Have a wonderful holiday, eat responsibly, be forgiving of your more eccentric family members, and please travel safely.

Chris

P.S. In other news: Ned Luberecki has been out touring with Stephen Mougin of the Sam Bush Band. The Nedski and Mojo tour has been a big success from all reports. Mark and Mary Stoffel are proud new parents (see last week’s post).  We have released a brand new single to radio from “Cloud of Dust”. It’s Tom T. and Dixie Hall’s new prison song, “One Door Away”. It’s available to radio stations through www.airplaydirect.com, and also downloadable through Digstation (see link on home page). This is song may be the start of a whole new genre: the positive prison song. Don’t worry: Tom T. and Dixie assure me they have no plans to write a positive murder ballad!

This exciting news coincides nicely with a bunch of time off the road for the band. Time off isn’t a bad thing at this point, because we’re looking ahead to the busiest year even in 2010. I’ll be spending time in Alberta with my family, doing my daily Bluegrass Junction shows from the “northern studio” and getting in some curling check the photos page). Maybe some new songs will be written. Who knows? The first week of December, I celebrate a milestone birthday. If you’re really nice to me and promise not to make any over-the-hill jokes, I might even tell you which milestone it is.

Night Driver Ned Luberecki isn’t having any of this down time business. He’s on the road with Stephen Mougin (Sam Bush Band) doing the “Nedski and Mojo Tour” in the northeast.

If you tune into Truegrass this weekend, we’ll a bunch of your phone requests, including one for Dock Boggs (I had to raid the Sirius XM folk library for that one. Fortunately their security is extremely lax). We’ll also have some Doc Watson, Boys From Indiana, Gloria Belle, Here Today, The Hillmen, and the usual cast of bluegrass pioneers. When Friday’s Truegrass show resumes, Darrin Vincent will be my guest co-host in the studio, from 6 to 9PM eastern.

Things are continuing to go well for the new CD “Cloud of Dust”. It’s available for sale and download through this site. Our new single “One Door Away” has just been released, paired with a virtual flip side (a meaningless term I just made up) “What You Do”. Both are now available to radio stations on www.airplaydirect.com.

Here are two more DJ reviews of our new CD “Cloud of Dust”:

I’ve been a fan of Chris Jones since his days with Weary Hearts.  His albums are among my most cherished recordings and I firmly believe Cloud of Dust is his best to date. Having the opportunity to share incredible music like this with my audience is why I do what I do.

Terry Herd
Bluegrass Radio Network

From the start, each song on Chris Jones and the Night Drivers’ “Cloud of Dust” invites and intrigues. This CD quickly became one of my favorites in my collection, one that if I had a turntable, it would be stuck in it.  But thankfully this is 2009 and the album is on my iPod which means I can take it where ever I go.  This album has a song for every season of life – love found, love lost, tragedy and strength.  Get it.  Your CD collection won’t be complete without it.

Teri Ann McLean

www.thebluegrassmix.com

We’ll have the very talented Aaron Till playing fiddle with us on the show with us. Aaron has been an on-and-off band member for some time and is on our new CD. Mark Stoffel would have been playing with us, but he and his wife Mary are expecting their first baby. To be more specific, they were expecting their first baby a few days ago, but the new child is taking his/her sweet time (knowing what you know now about the world outside, would you be in a big hurry to get out of there?). Mark understandably didn’t feel he could go to Chicago and risk Mary going into labour while he was in the middle of a soundcheck many hours away. We were fortunate that Aaron was available, because he has been fiddling with Mark Chessnut for most of the year.

Things are continuing to go well for the new CD “Cloud of Dust”. It’s available for sale and download through this site. Our new single “One Door Away” has just been released, paired with a virtual flip side (a meaningless term I just made up) “What You Do”. Both are now available to radio stations on www.airplaydirect.com.

Here are two more DJ reviews of our new CD “Cloud of Dust”:

I’ve been a fan of Chris Jones since his days with Weary Hearts.  His albums are among my most cherished recordings and I firmly believe Cloud of Dust is his best to date. Having the opportunity to share incredible music like this with my audience is why I do what I do.

Terry Herd
Bluegrass Radio Network

From the start, each song on Chris Jones and the Night Drivers’ “Cloud of Dust” invites and intrigues. This CD quickly became one of my favorites in my collection, one that if I had a turntable, it would be stuck in it.  But thankfully this is 2009 and the album is on my iPod which means I can take it where ever I go.  This album has a song for every season of life – love found, love lost, tragedy and strength.  Get it.  Your CD collection won’t be complete without it.

Teri Ann McLean

www.thebluegrassmix.com