Woody: I’ve thought about the record industry a little bit. We’re with Rebel Records and they have such a history of selling CDs and LPs. I don’t know a whole lot about the new downloading of music and stuff but it seems like a band at our point and newer bands and those that have been around for 20-30 years … I think everybody’s got to catch up pretty quick in bluegrass. Especially the labels. I could see the whole industry swinging that way pretty fast in 10 years. Probably be all that way … CD players might be obsolete.
Graham: Bluegrass is a little bit behind. We still have a lot of people … not a lot, but usually every other show, coming to our table asking us if we have tapes. I think bluegrass is probably a little slower to catch up to that. For us, we do a lot of our sales at festivals… hard copies. I think that’s the backbone fo bluegrass for so long. So I think that part of it will stay steady. There’s still going to be a lot of people coming to festivals and buying their music there.
How do you deal with the writing process? Who kicks it off, do you all have a say?
Mike: Once we’ve got a song, woody does most of the singing. We just bring it into the band and turn it loose and take it from there. We’ll play a song 15 different ways: fast, slow, waltz, 4/4, and just experiment. I think that’s one of the fun things about what we do.
Charles: It’s nice to have five years on it … I don’t think any song anyone’s presented has turned out the way they thought it would go. It’s always different in some way, some more than others. Everybody’s got an opinion and an idea that’s what makes it good I thinkg.
Woody: It’s pretty cool we’re kind of like an equal band as far as the ownership. We’re not one person with a backup band. Charles and Graham are the dominant songwriters. They don’t just show up with a song and say play it like this, because I wrote it and this is my band. They show up with the songs and then we, together, mold them or change them or sometimes they just come right out and we take hold of them. But I think, because we’re an equally shared band on and off-stage, I think that lends itself to even more creativity as opposed to a good writer with his band that makes them play the song how he wants it to be played, or she. I think that’s a unique thing to our group and has helped with the creativity.
Have you all been to this several times before? What keeps you coming back? What’s the best part of this week?
Charles: Everybody in bluegrass is here. All the artists … and it’s fun. It’s so much fun to come see all your friends and play music. All the promoters are here, all the people that put on festivals, all the DJs and the radio people. So as much fun as it is, it’s also important to take advantage of all the opportunities that are there to grow your band and meet new people, get your music out there. It’s a big bluegrass party where you can get a whole lot of things done. It’s great. I’d recommend it to anybody. A fan, an artist, someone who’s in the business or not in the business – it’s a great time of the year and we all get to look forward to it.
Is there anything this week that you’re looking forward to, especially?
Woody: The Opry was one of the highlights and that already happened. [laughs]
Graham: But we do Fan Fest on Friday. That’s always good, because they open up the gates and let everybody in. It’s always a good crowd, you can meet people and sell your CDs after the show. That’s the real performance aspect of IBMA.
Mike: It’s just a chance to run across new bands, new stuff you’ve never heard before. Traveling around we hear a lot of the same bands that we cross paths with a lot. So it’s nice to come in here and hear something different because people are here from all over the world. Bands are here from everywhere to give it their best shot.
Is there anybody you’d recommend to my readers, either from North Carolina, or who you’ve run into on the road?
Graham: I saw the Steel Drivers last night, I thought they were pretty awesome.
Charles: I was going to say Shannon Whitworth has a new CD out there. It’s awesome, and if you’ve never heard of it, you should check it out. Shannon Whitworth, it’s awesome.
