Tag Archives: music Blogs

SXSW Live

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It’s SWSW time, and if you want to keep up with the action, there’s excellent coverage from some leading music journalists. New York Times writers Jon Pareles, Ben Sisario and David Carr report through the weekend from Austin in the Time’s Topics page devoted to the festival. Pareles, who is the Gray Lady’s chief pop critic, is a veteran whose coverage goes back to the glory days of Rolling Stone. He has a keen, well-rounded ear. In his coverage today, Pareles also adds a keen observation on the state of today’s music artist:

…musicians draw their audiences from people who chase down music in the news media, in blogs and on noncommercial radio stations — or maybe from a friend’s recommendation or a giveaway on a music downloading site.

Yes, the biz has been leveled via the Internet. That, of course, is the good news for the music artist. The bad, or at least difficult, news lies in making money. I’ll cite a few cases, both good and bad, in future posts that exemplify the money issue.

Back to SXSW coverage, try WIRE’s Underwire blog, with jottings from Eliot Van Buskirk and others. Today, he discusses band Choo Choo’s take on Twitter as a tool to connect with fans.

For an authentic view from the ground, try popwreckoning’s blog. Their writers will transport you, with reviews, band details and photos.

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The ‘pre-release’ strategy

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On the “We’re America” front, of timely significance is coolfer.com’s recent note regarding a “pre-release” strategy for singles tracks as employed by Rascall Flatts for it’s album, “Unstoppable,” which will be formally released April 7. As an indie artist, I’ve arrived at the same conclusion as I’ve come to embrace the iTunes-led track trend.

So, let the pre-release strategy of my “We’re America” song serve as an example for other artists. Note that the tune was written and produced during the past week as a solo single in response to the current political climate over the recession. So let’s workshop this here a moment:

•    artist releases single that must get out in a timely manner;
•    single is not as yet attached to an album;
•    yet single will be pre-released via social media;
•    then, formally released via both traditional and social media.

I won’t go into all the release details here, but will post the progression along the way, warts and all. With decades of music industry experience as both a Nashville songwriter and an indie artist and as a PR pro, I hope to bring something useful to the table.

Comments and suggestions are, of course, invited.

Breadbasket me, baby

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Kind of a dream night here in Kansas City last night.  My wife, Roxanne took me to dinner. Lucky man, KC strips at the Golden Ox on 16th and Genessee. A 40s joint in the stockyard section, wood paneling, pleated bar, live jazz wafting in from the lounge. Even a brief departure from our glowy repast when, in the men’s room, I came face to face with a panoramic photo of the yards, circa 1910. The rawness of woodframed housings and pens, tiny figures of men burning remains — The hard terrors of the cattle industry churning my gut. And, yes, I turned from it, back to the paradise of the evening, which only got better.

We summoned our adoptive Pakistani cab driver, Al no less, who sped us back to our hotel, the Westin. Now it was a bottle of Riesling in the rooftop Benton’s (named for painter Thomas Hart Benton), where another jazz ensemble was playing, the Stephanie Laws Jazz Combo, with Wayne Hawkins, piano; Bob Bowman, bass; and Tim Cambron, drums. Even sans sax, they would’ve made Bird proud, moving like a long river through standards and pop surprises like Moondance. Even closing with “Over the Rainbow,” the tune Harold Arlen wrote in a rush on his way to the”Wizard” set; the tune Harold Arlen didn’t think had a shot. Oh yes, we are in Kansas.

And all the while, behind our couch was broad a picture window opening out onto the KC skyline. The Western Auto sign conducting the proceedings like a conductor with a neon baton, avenues of light funneling downtown.

Western Auto sign, Kansas City

Western Auto sign, Kansas City

Yes, I love America, and it doesn’t get purer to a junkie like me than the heartland. R’s like me. We revel in discovering the soul of a town. I need to feel its history, its music, its people. I need to peel back its layers, hear its long tales . I need it in the raw.

That’s what I’ve done in my songs over the last decade. I write about place. I try to see a city through time. That’s what I did in my debut album, “King Kong Serenade.” After all, New York’s my hometown. I drove its taxicabs, I sang on its streetcorners, I cooked in its kitchens and I wrote for its newspapers. As a sampler, try “Crossroads of America.”

Release of “We’re America”

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I will be releasing a new song, “We’re America,” with the hope of raising the spirit of Americans during this difficult period. Listen to this pre-release track.

It was prompted by the bickering across the political aisle at a time when countrymen of all persuasions should be rallying behind President Obama and the nation. Certainly, our two party system is our strength, and questioning the administration, policy and legislation is essential. But the rancor and division have gone too far for a nation in crisis. Rush Limbaugh’s call for failure and serious hand-wringing and doubt from the far corners of both parties is working against the current of pragmatic support we need to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. As Tom Friedman wrote in his March 10 column in the New York Times: “Economically, this is the big one. This is August 1914. This is the morning after Pearl Harbor. This is 9/12. Yet, in too many ways, we seem to be playing politics as usual.”

So, I”m hoping to join with Tom and others to  inspire what I call a “new patriotism” with “We’re America.” Give it a listen (from above link) and stay tuned here for more on this quest.