Interview Tyler Jackson

I sat down with a friend of mine that also plays bluegrass music and asked him on his opinions of how he thinks the Internet has impacted bluegrass music. I was not able to get a video but here is the the rundown of questions and answers that he gave.

Q1: What do you think of today's bluegrass?
Answer: "I like a lot of it because a lot of bands are sticking to the roots of bluegrass and adding just a little of their own taste to it, but not going to far out of the box. The ones that can have the traditional drive and sound with a newer feel are the bands that are the most successful."

Q2: Do you think bluegrass would be where it is without the internet?
Answer: "Honestly I don't think it would be on an international level but I do think it would be across the US still. the help of YouTube I think is huge. People around the world can share and watch other bluegrass bands around the world."

Q3: How many bands have you discovered via the internet?
Answer: "Not many since I do go to a lot of festivals and a lot of shows, but I did find some over the internet. I cannot name them off the top of my head but there were maybe three or four that I found on YouTube or Facebook that I got really interested in.

Q4: How do you use the internet to promote your own music?
Answer: "I use Facebook the most and sometimes YouTube. I use Facebook because I can invite a number of people to the shows and I can also share that my CD is available for them to buy, and have them message me if they are interested. I don't use YouTube that much just because, well because I haven't. I don't think of it that much and I feel that Facebook is better for my music."

Q5: Do you see bluegrass music becoming bigger than it is now because of the internet?
Answer: "That's hard to say because there are a lot of kids our age and younger that don't really listen to bluegrass music; they listen to what they think is bluegrass music. If is going to spread to become bigger, I do feel that internet will be the main reason. I think so because it is able to reach out to so many more people than word-of-mouth or just going to shows."

Thank you to Tyler for sitting down and doing this interview with me, also if you are interested in his CD (which is great by the way) talk to me and I can get you in touch with him and check out his band on Facebook!