Biography

Why You Should Care: Whether it’s in the studio or on stage, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers are making some of the most distinctively elegant yet driving music to be heard anywhere today, and they’re delivering it with a unique blend of dry wit, emotional authenticity and broad humor. Altogether, members of Chris Jones & The Night Drivers have won more than a dozen IBMA awards and have recorded more than ten #1 songs. The band — Jones and Mark Stoffel (mandolin), Marshall Wilborn (bass) and Grace van’t Hof (banjo, ukelele, accordion, vocals) — had eight No. 1 songs from their last album, Make Each Second Last, an unprecedented milestone in Bluegrass radio.

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Chris Jones and the Night Drivers leap into 2023 with an energetic slice of straight-up bluegrass the quartet hopes will extend their remarkable streak of #1 chart hits into a new year.

With its intricate yet organically flowing arrangement and the cautiously optimistic, yet wry wisdom of its lyric, “The Price Of Falling” fits easily into the Jones canon. Backed by the Night Drivers — veteran mandolinist Mark Stoffel, Grace van’t Hof on banjo and award-winning bassist Marshall Wilborn — Jones delivers a meditation on the delicious uncertainty of new love over an insistent bluegrass beat. Alternating solos over the hooky chord changes of the chorus’s back half punctuate elegant lead and harmony vocals, creating musical momentum that reflects the headlong rush of emotions offered in the lyric:

Nothing’s ever gonna be the same
And it’s good and it’s not
You’ll learn to take the pleasure with the pain
Cold and hot
Sometimes an easy road
Other times you pay for your heart’s calling
The price of falling

“This is just an upbeat kind of song I wrote about the highs and lows of falling in love,” says Jones. “One way or the other, it changes how your world looks, whether it’s your first crush at age 7 or the more experienced version! We really had fun with this one in the studio.”

About Chris Jones & The Night Drivers
Whether it’s in the studio or on stage, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers are making some of the most distinctively elegant yet driving music to be heard anywhere today, and they’re delivering it with a unique blend of dry wit, emotional authenticity and broad humor that’s won the loyalty of a growing number of fans across the country, from MerleFest in North Carolina to California’s Huck Finn Jubilee, and around the world.

Steve Martin referred to the Night Drivers as “. . . some of the best players in bluegrass! Chris Jones’ voice is there with the great masters.” Americana artist Jim Lauderdale said of Chris, “He continues to have one of the most distinctive and best voices in music, period.”
The band — which is Mark Stoffel on mandolin, Grace van’t Hof on banjo and ukelele and Marshall Wilborn on bass — is led by Chris’ soulful lead-singing, songwriting, and solid rhythm and lead guitar. Chris boasts extensive performance credits as a sideman with artists like Lynn Morris, Vassar Clements, Special Consensus, Dave Evans, Earl Scruggs, and the acclaimed Irish band The Chieftains.

Altogether, members of Chris Jones & The Night Drivers have won more than a dozen IBMA awards and have recorded more than ten #1 songs. The Night Drivers also bring name recognition in related fields, as bluegrass fans are well-familiar with Jones for his award-winning work as a SiriusXM DJ, on both Bluegrass Junction and Willie’s Roadhouse.