Anj Way

Most guests on this show play an instrument. Anj Way works the other side of the stage: the calendars, the posters, the social feeds and the phone calls that get a band from one town to the next.

A fan first

Anj's first big festival was Bonnaroo. That was where she first heard Yonder Mountain String Band, and she was hooked. She started seeing them all the time, 20 or more shows a year.

She got close to the band and started running their street team, recruiting fans in different cities to spread the word. When Yonder brought in a new marketing person who did not know the band well, Anj stepped in to help. From there she made more connections, moved into booking, and then into management.

"I never went to school for any of it. I just learned all of it as I got into it. Some things can't be taught. But I'm still learning every day, that is for sure."

She is quick to credit that community. Without Yonder, she says, she would not have any of the jobs she has or know any of the people she knows.

Going full time

For years she worked a day job and did music at night. Around 2018, Omni Arts Group offered her a way to do music full time. It started small and grew from there. She is still grateful for that chance.

Then came 2020. Anj had been booking a festival at Terrapin Hill Farm in Kentucky, her first chance to book a whole festival, with The Infamous Stringdusters, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades and Old Salt Union on the bill. It never happened. She kept working anyway, moving her bands' promotion online and helping with small outdoor gatherings in Kentucky.

Two festivals, one family

Folky Fish Fest takes place at Maramec Spring Park in St. James, Missouri, about an hour and a half from St. Louis. Anj says a lot of its people come from the John Hartford festival world, a festival she also worked, and they are carrying on that family feel and the picking. Her favorite part is the kids jam camp. Young players learn from visiting musicians, then get to perform, including the festival's first set.

First City Music Festival in Vincennes, Indiana is a nonprofit run by a board and a committee. Anj came in around 2022 doing only marketing, a couple of months before the fest. Now she books it with co-founder Jeff Deckard. She never knew if she would get to book a festival again after Terrapin Hill, so that means a lot to her.

She likes that First City has no overlapping sets, so fans never have to choose. And she still talks about the year a hurricane's leftover weather rolled through during the festival. The crew played through the rain the whole weekend, pretty much on time.

"Anybody that was there, you ask them, we're like, 'Man, if we can get through that, we can literally get through anything.'"

What a manager does

Anj does less booking these days. Management, as she describes it, means working with booking agents to route tours, advancing shows, building timelines for album releases, and handling PR and social media. The work does not stop at five. She runs many social media pages, so a weekend at a festival means scheduling posts ahead for the days she is away.

Her favorite part is the marketing: finding the moments that make someone wish they had been there.

"It's finding the best moments. Of course the best jams on stage, but the kids blowing bubbles, the people hugging, and just the energy, and being able to portray that into social media."

Omni is reshaping itself as a boutique, meeting bands where they are. Some need a full-time manager. Some just need help promoting a tour or planning an album release. The plan is to connect artists with the agents, photographers and production people Omni already knows. Omni has added a partner, and they are adding artists.

She also chooses her clients now. Early on she worked with bands that were not her style.

"I'm at the point in my career now that if I don't enjoy it or I don't really believe in it, it's not something that I'm gonna put my energy into."

The new kid on the roster

One artist she is excited about is Ettore Buzzini, an 18-year-old banjo player who was finishing high school when they talked. Her Omni colleague met him at IBMA, and Anj started working with him at the start of 2026. She had not seen him play in person until the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown that March. Her verdict: he might look 18, but he does not play like it.

How fans can help

Trevor asked about band riders, and Anj had stories: pages and pages of requests, very specific kinds of peanut butter and jelly, and one band that slipped a request for a particular DVD into its rider to see if anyone was reading.

Her serious advice is for fans. Buy pre-sale tickets. Take a friend. Buy merch, which she says gets bands from one place to another. Check out the vendors at festivals. And spread the love beyond the biggest names.

"Go check out a new band, or go check out a band that's not playing stadiums. It goes a long way."