Student's Band Conquers Bluegrass Championship

Feb. 4 and 5 marked the 23rd Annual Bluegrass Championships in Nashville, Tennessee. The contest is loaded with the top 27 bluegrass bands in the country, one of which featured EMU senior Reed Jones.

The Society for Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America (SPBGMA) holds the yearly International Band Championship competition that features the nation's premiere amateur bluegrass bands. Over two thousand bluegrass lovers, anxiously awaiting the new champion of bluegrass, flooded this year's festival. Not only was Jones the lead guitarist in his group, Billie Renee & Cumberland Gap, but he is also now a SPBGMA bluegrass champion.

Jones said, "Our band really thought we had a great opportunity to win, and we went into the contest with a ton of confidence. We knew that there would be some unbelievable competition, but decided from day one that we were going to showcase it all and let the chips fall where they may." On Sunday the chips ended up falling into Jones' hands when the judges announced Billie Renee & Cumberland Gap as the new International Bluegrass Champions.

"When the judges read our name it was beyond awesome," Jones said. "To be titled number one at something that you are so passionate about in life is so validating, and really makes you feel like all the hard work, all the little gigs on the side, all the money spent, all the hours rehearsing, and all the individual practice was more than worth it."

Being named the 2006 International Bluegrass Champions was not all that Billie Renee and Cumberland Gap received on Sunday.

Jones said that winning the competition opened a lot of doors for the band. They won $3,000 in prize money that they will split among the five members. The band also automatically returns to next year's championship. Jones said, "Our band will be featured in some of the biggest blue grass publications like Bluegrass Music Profile and Blue Grass Unlimited, which is kind of like Sports Illustrated in the bluegrass world."

The competition consisted of three days packed with all different styles of bluegrass. Saturday held two out of the three rounds where every band played two songs during each round of competition. After the first two rounds, twelve of the bands advanced to Sunday's final round, in which they played three songs. Jones said that they were randomly given a number to determine when they would play on Sunday. They ended up playing fifth out of twelve. "Our biggest competitor was right after us," he said, "so we knew we'd have to perform well, and we nailed it."

When asked about future plans pertaining to bluegrass, Jones said, "My mom and dad are so supportive of my music and I've had a guitar in my hands since sixth grade and I plan on playing music until I die. With that said, I don't think it's something I would do as my sole profession, because the music business is far different than just playing music. I'm excited about getting married in June to LeAnn and teaching."

Jones and his fiancee LeAnn Gascho, also an education major, will be graduating in April. They plan on returning home to Ohio to teach.