Spotlight: The Roland Jones Orchestra

The Roland Jones Orchesta (From left to right) Troy Harris, Caleb Humphries, Drew Parrot (the blurry one), Jared McEntire at Crossroads Coffee House (not pictured: Chris Jones and Jacob Wolfe). Photo by Mary Schafer.

I have attempted to sum up the music industry from the start of this blog by referencing websites, talking to a few reps and going from just the knowledge that I have accumulated through research and a little experience (leaning heavily on the research). Because my experience is lacking, hearing things straight from a reputable source is probably the best place to get great information (obviously).

With that in mind, I wanted to figure out what it was like for aspiring musicians starting out. What sort of things they go through and what their aspirations and thoughts on the music industry are.

For this reason I introduce to you: The Roland Jones Orchestra. Based in Boone, North Carolina, the core members of this bluegrass group have been playing together for about a year and are attempting to create a name for themselves in the Boone music scene.

Jared McEntire (banjo), Caleb Humphries (mandolin) and Drew Parrot (guitar) began playing together the Spring of their sophomore year at Appalachian State University. They have since added bass players Chris Jones and Troy “T-Bone” Harris as well as fiddle player Jacob Wolfe, who has only recently filled the final position in the bluegrass group. The band describes their sound as music with bluegrass instruments. They have original songs written by Caleb, as well as dabble in old time bluegrass and funnel anything from Jack Johnson to The Beach Boys through banjo, guitar, mandolin, stand-up bass and fiddle.

Their first gig was on October 24th at an Open Mic night at Murphey’s Bar, a watering hole on Boone’s main drag, King Street. The main things Jared, Drew and Caleb remembered were that bluegrass is awkward in an Irish bar, and nothing in the placed worked right. Things were difficult. Jared said the pickup shorted out on his banjo, nothing but bass picked up on the guitar, and they ran out of mics. Drew rebutted, “But the crowd loved it.”

From that point on the group has had sporadic gigs at coffee houses, fraternity parties and fund raising events. They are currently taking gigs on a “just ask” basis. They described their current status in the Boone scene as being at the very bottom of the totem pole or lowest of the pecking order.

School takes up much of their time so they haven’t yet made it up there with the big players, but they are doing some pretty inventive things to get their name out there other than just playing shows. For one they are on myspace, ilike and facebook. Another pretty inventive thing is that they are instituting a business card policy, where they will hand out business cards at a show and each time you come they will stamp your business card. If you go to 4 shows you get to request them to play any song of your choosing at the fifth show. Note to those of you that cash in on this, don’t ask them to play rocky top or free bird. Choose something a bit more original, like “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” Ok so that’s a bit lame too, but it was just a suggestion.

Although their first bar crowd loved the show, Jared says the group tries to keep bar gigs to a minimum, “It’s hard to play soft music to a bunch of drunk people.” He also said that at bars bands tend to be just background music and until you get a crowd just coming to see you, you’re just fighting to keep a crowd’s attention. “Original stuff sets us apart, but right now songs people know keep their attention.”

On my personal favorite music industry topic, the group is for downloading and sharing of their music, for now. They support it because it is the best way to get their name out there, but they would hold a different position if their income was based on their music sales.

As for aspirations for the band Jared, Drew and Caleb aren’t really sure where they want to go with it. Jared said, “Mainly we are just hoping this gets us women” and Drew said, “To make the world a better place.” Caleb just seemed content to eat his sesame chicken.

They indicated the interview was up with a group statement, “Listen to us and tell all your friends, if not we’ll hunt you down with all of our bluegrass.”

If you want to check out a sample of their bluegrass sound check out this slide show featuring a live recording of a Caleb Humphries penned tune called “Down”. You can also visit their myspace or facebook pages.