Welcome to State Of The Union, appearing each month in bluegrass now magazine! This column provides the spouses of professional bluegrass musicians with a forum in which they can share their insights, observations, and experience with fans and other bluegrass spouses. To see captions, please run your cursor over each photo! January 2003: Dreama Stephenson on IMAGE
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver . . . Del McCoury . . . the Mark Newton Band . . . Lost & Found . . . the Lewis Family. These bands take pride in the way they look. As a promoter, I definitely look for that. If performers don't look good, it turns me off. It really hurts their chances of getting booked at our festival. If their promo pack isn't business-like, and the picture they send with it doesn't look halfway decent, I probably won't give them a second look.
 The ones that dress the best get the most respect; I've seen it over and over. As much as we hate to admit it, we are judged by our appearance and hygiene. It's more than the music. I've traveled with Larry for over five years, and at least one or two people will come to him after his show and compliment him on his clothing. I've even heard them say, “I'm new to Bluegrass and I'd never heard of him before, but when I saw him come onstage, I decided to stay because of the way he was dressed!” David McCormick of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop thanked Larry and each of the guys for dressing professionally onstage the last time they hosted the Midnite Jamboree. I try to keep Larry in the most updated clothes. But he's really good about that himself, and he was before I came along, so I can't take too much credit. He's known for his pullover shirts, Claiborne and that sort. He never asked his band members to wear the same type of clothes, just to dress nicely, but they've followed his lead.
 When Larry dresses up, his whole persona changes. He gets in stage mode! He holds his shoulders higher. He carries himself differently. Shoes count! I hate to see tennis shoes on stage. I recommend taking shoe polish on the road, so that your shoes always look nice. And you don't want to get up there with wrinkles! If you have a bus, you can always take an iron or a steamer. If you have access to a closet, stage clothes should be hung. That's what we do on our bus. Hanging pullover shirts on a rack is the worst thing you can do, because it stretches out the shoulders, but we found a remedy for that problem. We use one of those Rubbermaid containers for the bottom of the closet, and we keep pullovers in it.
 Whether people realize it or not, sometimes image plays a larger role in being a crowd-pleaser than the music itself. I'm not saying it has to be a suit and tie or a dress, but if you're part of a stage show, you're supposed to look better than your audience! People who want to play professionally, and don't want to hold a day job, need to dress professionally. If some bands would dress better, and look more together, it would help take them much farther, even to getting a record label to take a closer listen. It's a business, and you should work it as a business. You should DRESS for SUCCESS! Dreama's Festival In The Pines website is at www.tripplecreek.com. Her husband's site may be found at www.larrystephensonband.com.
if you're the spouse of a professional bluegrass musician, and interested in participating in a future installment of State Of The Union. |
She's been a hairstylist for almost two decades; she was a marketing professional for an international manufacturing firm for over seven years; and she's been a skincare and image consultant for BeautiControl, a national cosmetics company, since 1995. She does hair and makeup for selected photo shoots for the Doobie Shea label, making groups like Mountain Heart and Lonesome River Band look spiffy for album covers and publicity photos. She's produced and promoted Festival In The Pines for six years, continuing a family festival tradition that began with her father. She builds and maintains websites, including those of Dale Ann Bradley and her own husband, musician Larry Stephenson; she also helps with Larry's bookings, CD sales, and even drives the bus! She develops graphics and logos, and has created t-shirt designs for Missy Raines, many festivals, the wedding of an NFL football player, reunions of the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz, and of course, for her husband's award-winning band. Here, Dreama Stephenson offers her thoughts on something that bluegrass performers consider with widely varying degrees of care: image. 