North Carolina Music Zone

Being a blogger was not even a career option while I was setting my sites on career options.  It has been quite a journey to get here. I started writing stories and poems at about the age of nine. For as long as I can recall, I have always carried a love for music in my soul too, even before I started writing.

Over the years, I found a way to merge my love of music and my passion for the written word. In 1994, I set out on my journey as a music journalist.

Before graduating from Union County College in Cranford, NJ with an associate degree in Communications and Liberal Arts, I started writing about local bands as an intern for Arts Weekly, Inc. Within weeks I worked my way up to being a paid intern and in time, a paid employee of Arts Weekly, Inc.

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During the course of my internship and employment, I wrote several weekly columns for this publishing company. Starting in March 1994, I was asked by my editor to write the column Bea Flatte which appeared in The Aquarian Weekly.

Following the internship, the publication company offered me a blues column. Writing Boogie n Blues allowed me the best music education.

The highlight of that period was my cover story for AW, Crossroads, A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Published on August 23, 1995, this was the only cover story I wrote, but it is an article listed in Stevie Ray Vaughan's Day by Day, Night After Night; His Final Years 1983-1990. 

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Two years later, Arts Weekly, Inc. offered me another column opportunity for their publication, The East Coast Rocker. Backyard Boogie n Blues featured news about local rock and blues bands.

I would be a published writer at Arts Weekly from 1994-1999. Besides my weekly columns, I wrote several band profiles featuring local and regional acts. These articles were published in Twist & SHOUT, another Arts Weekly gem.

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Major Music Memories

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Along the way, I have had the honor to meet, interview, and watch many great performers. Some of my favorite memories include meeting B.B. King at a high school in Denville, NJ, and interviewing Buddy Guy at a hotel in New York City. Meeting my favorite Rolling Stones guitar player, Mick Taylor, for an interview at a studio in New York City was also a  great honor. Truly an afternoon I will never forget.

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I enjoyed getting to know Jeff Healey and would keep in touch with him until cancer took him in 2008. He was not quite 41 years old. I caught up with Healey several times on the road when he was touring in support of his blues trio.

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Rufus Thomas met with me at a different hotel in NYC. We sat in the lobby and had a long talk.  I enjoyed hearing him warm up his vocals for his appearance on Conan O’Brien. He would sing Walkin’ The Dog.  O’Brien would dance with me in the aisle before the start of that show, making it an even more memorable day.

Another fond memory for was interviewing a young Kenny Wayne Shepherd the week his debut release took over the blues charts. I also remember the first time watching him shred strings from just feet away. He was 18 when he experienced his first ride to the top of the charts. When we  met he was conquering the blues world with his “Deja VooDoo” assault on the world. That was the first release of his debut album, Ledbetter Heights.

Remembering the old and making new music memories always fills my soul with happiness. I thank The Rolling Stones most of all for my love for music.

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It is for them that I have opted to write and publish my works under the name of Tracey Stones.

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 Radio DJ

September 1996 I debuted on air at 88.9 FM WBZC in Burlington County. The Tracey Stones Zone, Your Ticket To Ride. It was a monthly feature show that tied in with my monthly columns. I would interview the national artists coming through the area and promote blues shows in NJ/NY/DE/PA.

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 Band Manager

1987-1989 Manager/Promotions for Del Capries

1989-1990 Manager/Promotions for SideShow

1990-1992 Makeup and Personal Assistant for Tumblin’ Dice

1994-2005 Manager/Personal Assistant/Media Agent for Teddy Young & The Aces.

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 2015 – Current

Creator and writer for NCMZ.LIVE 

Published by

Tracey Stones Productions

www.traceystonesproductions.com

Available for the development of electronic press kits, website development, band branding, photography, promotional tools like commercials for social media accounts and much more.