Introducing - The Rhodies!

As an artist whose name also serves as the name of the act, I often get asked something along the lines of, "ok, so you're Colette Jones, who are those guys?" People seem miffed at the perceived exclusion of my accompanists/band mates from the billing and challenge me on this quite a bit. To me there isn't anything unusual about artist name = band name. Many artists perform under their name, even if they've had the same steadfast band behind them for years. I never realized how controversial this is, but there seems to be a lot of opinions about naming conventions for musical acts. I've been in bands, duos, trios, and usually there is a band name, this just happens to be my solo project and I named it as such.

Artist name, artist name with an "and the," or just band name are all options and are employed in different circumstances depending on the creative control of the project. There's billings such as Bob Dyland and his band (many other artists employ this tactic when specifying on a flyer whether they will be performing with a backing band or truly solo), not to be confused with The Band. Heck, sometimes even a true solo artist doesn't use their name or a stage name, opting for a band name style title. Iron and Wine, for example, sounds like a full band name but is the title of a solo artist project. Then you have Alice Cooper which serves as both the stage name of the front man and also the name of the band. And of course you have your Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and such (isn't The Heartbreakers just the best band name ever? I wish I'd thought of it).

Sometimes I perform solo, often as solo with accompaniment, sometimes with a rotating lineup of band members or featured performers. My partner--Mr. Jones, plays anything from guitar, bass, or mandolin, sometimes sings a little backup but sometimes not. I'm trying to get him to take up the fiddle. At the end of the day, this particular musical entity is the Colette Jones show, the catalog of songs and artistic expression belong to this project and the way the rest of the band takes shape is variable, at least at this point in time.

That said, we have been settling into some familiar patterns over the past year. Mr. Jones and I go on the road as a duo quite a lot. It's not typically feasible to bring any other players along when we're hitting the bar gig circuit. When it's just the two of us we can travel in a small vehicle, share a room, and we already share a bank account which helps when profit margins on such tours are already tight. Now I have to state that I do, of course, always introduce whomever I am playing alongside to the audience, just as I of course remind the crowd to tip their bartender. Everyone on stage gets sprinkled into my stories plenty. But sometimes the questions start as we're setting up or during an intermission when someone came in late. "I know who she is, who are you?" they ask. I do wonder if folks are so incredulous when the frontperson is a man, but I digress. Mr. Jones, demure and a bit sarcastic, has taken to quipping back--"I'm the roadie." Of course he is much more than that, but as hardworking independent musicians, roadie is very much part of the job description and one that deserves some recognition, so I can't fault him for wanting to cheekily acknowledge one of the harder aspects of his night (this will be relevant later).

That brings me to last summer. We were discussing the idea of an "and the" name and trying to brainstorm ideas, as we'd been playing with other folks more often and I wanted to have a way to indicate to our local audience when I'd be bringing backup. When I first started this project I thought long and hard about what to call it. Using my name wasn't at all something I thought I'd do. I wanted something like an adjective noun situation, perhaps an avant-garde phrase, whether it was going to be just me or a duo act or a full band. But everything I thought of seemed to be derivative, cliche, too niche, or didn't properly represent the spirit of the act.

Picking an "and the" name proved equally difficult at first. Then one day it came to me while I looked out my bedroom window. We had recently moved to a new house that in true Washington fashion came with a giant rhododendron at the window. It is the first thing I see every morning when I wake up. I'd been eagerly anticipating seeing it bloom for the first time, so I could find out the color of the flowers. That morning I woke up and saw the first fuchsia-pink blossom and it clicked--The Rhodies! I love the little play on words. The band gets their flowers (pun intended), while acknowledging the hard work that goes into making music happen. It conjures up a mental image of something pretty and something tenacious. We're all busting our butts out there, hauling loads of gear up stairs and across state lines. I thought about just spelling it "roadies," but this way adds a little something sweet that I think hits just right. What do you think?

"What is she thinking about?" Just daydreaming about the rhodies blooming...

Topics: band names, Colette Jones and The Rhodies, creativity,