Alan W. Tompkins
Festival Director and Founder

In addition to organizing the Frisco Bluegrass Festival, Alan is Vice President and General Counsel of Hunt Sports Group where he manages legal matters for Mr. Lamar Hunt, his family, and their companies.  Hunt Sports Group is the operator of Pizza Hut Park and the owner of the FC Dallas Major League Soccer team.

A native of Kentucky, Alan moved to Texas in 1983.  He earned MBA and law degrees from SMU and is licensed as a CPA in Texas.  He enjoys riding his Indian and Harley motorcycles and is an instrument-rated private pilot.  His musical background includes playing electric bass guitar for Southern Gospel groups in Kentucky as a teenager. He is also an IBMA member and avid bluegrass enthusiast who plays banjo and upright bass.  He lives in Dallas with his wife Julie.

Gerald Jones
Festival Co-Director

Gerald, life-long Texan, has been involved with the performance, production and teaching of music for more than 30 years.  He's played live or recorded with Jerry Douglas, Mark O’Connor, Vince Gill, Sam Bush, Tanya Tucker, Grand Master Fiddle Champion Jim "Texas Shorty" Chancellor, Hank Thompson, Red Steagall, Jethro Burns, Junior Brown, and many more.  He's the editor of Mel Bay’s web magazine Banjo Sessions and is a frequent contributor to Joe Carr’s web magazine Mandolin Sessions.  He also invented the Acoustic Plus electronic banjo pickup used by Earl Scruggs, Bela Fleck, Alan Munde, Bill Keith, and many others. 

Gerald is a multi-instrumentalist, proficient on banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle, and other instruments.  He is a member of the staff of Camp Bluegrass, a bluegrass instructional institute held annually at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, where such artists as Lee Ann Womack, Natalie Maines, Stuart Duncan and many others have found their start in bluegrass and country music.