…or is that Hallowe’en? In any case, enjoy yourself but please eat candy corn responsibly. I’ve seen the sad fate of those who didn’t.
If you tune into Truegrass this Friday or Sunday on Sirius XM’s Bluegrass Junction, I’ll be playing as many Halloween-ish classic bluegrass songs as I can think of, which is, honestly, not that many (sad that Reno and Smiley or The Country Gentlemen never released a Halloween album, and the world is still awaiting the first bluegrass version of “The Monster Mash”). When I run out of those, I’ll throw in some murder ballads for good measure. Aside from that theme, I plan to play a tune from Doyle Lawson’s first solo album, Tennessee Dream. It was just recently added to our library.
Our band is taking some time off, and I’m in northern Alberta, where the Swine Flu is rampant. Kids are even failing to show up for hockey practice, so you know it’s bad. Meanwhile, things are going very well for the new CD Cloud of Dust. It’s being carried by CD Baby (there’s a direct link to the right page from this site, so you can avoid wading through various other Chris Joneses in your search), County Sales, Digstation (download only) and other outlets, soon to be available on Amazon and i-Tunes too. Reviews have been great and sales have been brisk (I’ve already put a down payment on a circa 1994 Dodge Neon). If you’re a radio station (very few people are actually radio stations, but you may work at one, and that’s just as good) you can download airplay-quality files of a few of the songs at www.airplaydirect.com (see link at left)
. Download those in the next few days, because we’ll be adding new ones very soon, and there’s a limit of 3 songs available on the site at one time.
Here’s what renowned country music journalist Robert K. Oermann had to say about the first single from the album:
CHRIS JONES & THE NIGHT DRIVERS
The Love She Left Behind
Writer: Chris Jones; Producer: Chris Jones; Publisher: Gal
Sal, BMI; GSM (track) (www.chrisjonesmusic.com)
—I am one of those people who would love to hear
bluegrass music in the mainstream country radio mix. This
lilting tune is just the ticket. First of all, it’s being released
as a single. Second of all, it’s not whiny or nasal sounding in
the slightest. Thirdly, the harmony singing is simply gorgeous,
as is the rippling instrumental work. Heartily endorsed.
Our next show is in my old stomping grounds of Chicago, IL, or actually the near-north suburb of Evanston (see the “shows” page). This is a great concert series, and I just received word that Jon Langford will also be on the bill doing a solo acoustic set.
Feel free to leave comments about this blog. I’d way rather hear from you than the Russian spammers who have recently infiltrated the site (maybe they just like the blog a lot).
The photo below is from our Nashville album release party, courtesy of Ted Lehmann. I recommend his blog too at www.tedlehmann.blogspot.com. Photo note: I’m not asleep, I’m just feeling the music.
Chris
