If you ask Chris Jones what he does for a living, his reply might begin by asking how much time you have.
In addition to managing his band, Chris Jones and the Night Drivers, he’s a singer, guitarist, and composer. He also writes a weekly bluegrass humor column and hosts shows on SiriusXM satellite radio.
He says he loves it all, but that’s not his only motivation. Musicians of all kinds--perhaps especially bluegrass musicians since the COVID shutdown--are looking for creative ways to generate income and grow their fan base by capitalizing on their particular skills and knowledge. Writing and radio hosting are in Jones’s wheelhouse.
“I have a band right now where everybody has something else going on,” Jones says. “That's good for me because it takes some of the pressure off to be working 200 days a year.”
Jones has performed bluegrass professionally since age 18. He’s hosted radio shows off and on for nearly as long. Now, he hosts Truegrass, his weekly radio show on SiriusXM. He can also be heard filling in on other network offerings, including Bluegrass Junction and Willie’s Roadhouse.
“I started with college radio at the University of Vermont radio station,” Jones recalls. As he moved from band to band across the nation during his extensive bluegrass apprenticeship, he often found work at a local radio station. He hosted everything from country music shows to the occasional on-air swap meet that used to be a staple of locally-owned radio stations.
With streaming and other technological changes, some argue that the radio DJ has gone the way of the blacksmith. But Jones’s popularity on SiriusXM shows that many people still value connecting with an on-air host on a show such as his.
“That really is the strength and that's important to have that connection,” he says. “And I'm the same way as a listener. I really don't want to hear a computerized playlist. I want to hear somebody who's engaged with the music in some way.”
Jones’s encyclopedic knowledge of and passion for the music makes him the perfect host for Truegrass, which features bluegrass songs at least 20 years old. He hosts the show from his home in Alberta’s Peace Country or any of the countless places he tours in North America and abroad. His hosting has brought new fans for the band, though listeners don’t always associate him with Chris Jones and the Night Drivers.
“The other day, I had somebody say, ‘Are you the same Chris Jones that's on the radio?’ A couple of people have come up to me in the past and said, ‘I pictured you a much shorter fellow,’ to which I always answer, ‘I do the show sitting down, so I seem shorter.’”
Jones’s comic sense was evident in the first instructional columns he wrote years ago for Flatpicking Guitar magazine.
“It was becoming a borderline humor column,” Jones remembers. “I was teaching a tune and I would put in some guitar tab, and I found that I was really enjoying the humor side of it. I'm a humor-writing fan, too. I read a lot of stuff like that.”
An invitation to participate in the burgeoning Bluegrass Blog led to “From the Side of the Road,” his popular weekly humor column in Bluegrass Today. He recently celebrated his 500th column for the online site. Recent topics include “Mr. Bluegrass Manners” (Big string loops on the tuner pegs: bluegrass fashion faux pas?); advice for opening acts (enjoy the headliner’s snacks, such as locally-sourced jelly beans); “Rocky Top” as bluegrass haiku (I like it up here/no phone bills or smoggy smoke/we’re completely lost).
Classic artists influence his music and humor writing. “My dad was a big James Thurber fan, and he’s high on my list. And I was introduced to Robert Benchley through my mom, who had a couple of his books at home. And I became a real fanatic about that. A lot of those writers from that era are really interesting to me. And contemporary ones, too.”
Though occasionally readers mistake his satire for real advice or legitimate information (“I had a whole social media uproar last year,” he remembers), the one-of-a-kind column has turned into another valuable side gig.
“I'm kind of surprised at the success of it just because it's such a weird thing,” says Jones. “I get responses from people all over the country that read it. I've had people in Europe tell me, ‘I don't always understand every part of it, but I kind of enjoy it.’ So that has been very gratifying.”
Though Jones may have had enough experiences in his storied bluegrass career to inspire the Great American Novel, he has other plans.
“We're all looking for things to sell out on the road besides the vanishing CD,” he explains. “I want to put out a book of songs of mine, with some writing about each one, and chord charts and background and things like that. I'm also trying to compile the humor columns into a collection. I'm already working on that.”
So, of all his jobs, does he have a favorite?
“I feel very fortunate to do all these things,” Jones says. “But I think that the thing that I have done the longest professionally is play music. It's the part that still takes priority.”
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