Making the most of it

The BIB strongly recommends an article by Brance Gillihan, co-founder of the original Bluegrass Blog, which appeared yesterday on the Bluegrass Blog's successor, Bluegrass Today. The article is entitled '4 ways to make the most of free exposure', and it's full of good advice for bands who want to improve to the point where people are prepared to pay them for performing.

We particularly appreciated a link to an article on the Sonicbids blog: ''How to get the most out of your band rehearsal in 3 hours (or less)'. This comes in the first of Gillihan's sections, which are:

• Play good music
• Become an entertainer
• Run it like a business
• E-mail is the key

There's a bonus in the 'Become an entertainer' section in the form of a video of the Johnson Mountain Boys in 1988 playing the Stanley Brothers song 'Unwanted love'; the performance is presented as 'a historical example of great showmanship'. 'Showmanship' here doesn't mean gimmicks, antics, or anything phoney; the JMBs are simply sharing their excitement with the listener through the music.