The Missing Link

Popular songs as we know them today perhaps found their shape and with one of the seminal founders of American popular music, Stephen Foster. Stephen Foster is often credited as "America's First Composer" and widely regarded as one of the first who made professional songwriting profitable. Foster wrote songs that we often mistakenly think of as folk songs. His songs include: “OH! SUSANNA”, “OLD FOLKS AT HOME” (SWANEE RIVER)”, “MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME” “BEAUTIFUL DREAMER” ...

Rascal Flatts Sets Fans A-Twitter on High-Tech Tour

Rascal Flatts may be the star attraction of this summer’s “The Farmers Insurance Presents Changed Tour,” kicking off June 15 in Hartford, Conn., but it’s the fans themselves who will see their names up in lights. Or, more precisely, on the enormous video screens at each tour stop. Always ahead of the curve in social-media promotion, Rascal Flatts, who on April 3 released Changed, their second album for Big Machine Records, is furthering the unique Twitter initiative they debuted ...

New Artist Spotlight: Casey James

Casey James was born cool — or, more precisely, in Cool, a tiny Texas town not far from Fort Worth. With both parents playing guitar and singing, James inevitably followed the same path. His aesthetic grew from a variety of influences — Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Bonnie Raitt, ZZ Top, plenty of outlaw Country and down-home blues. For all the range his favorites covered, they were united by their fundamentally emotional and expressive approach to music. This didn’t escape James’ notice. Toughened...

2012's Hottest Music Cities, According to SXSW

Austin's annual SXSW Music Festival kicked off this past week. This year, 500 bands from around the world were invited to perform for an audience that is upwards of 250,000. SXSW's estimated economic impact on the Austin economy was more than $165 million in 2011. And attendance is again up. As a premier festival for independent music, SXSW also provides a useful lens into the geography of the world’s leading indie music scenes. To get at this, I turned to Martin Prosperity Institute...

New Artist Spotlight: DJ Miller

Even as a boy back in Idaville, Ind., DJ Miller was determined and focused in pursuit of his goal of becoming a Country performer. Whatever sparked it, Miller had a dream and he knew from the start he would spend his young years chasing it down. Of course, plenty of kids aspire toward stardom. What made Miller stand out was his realization that attaining it meant taking charge of making it real. He hit on an important epiphany early, as he notes in his bio: “You can’t be the only one having fun. You have...

Radiohead and Other Lives Dazzle in Glendale, Arizona

Talk about a one-two punch. On a magical night at Jobing.com Arena in Arizona, both Radiohead and Other Lives delivered performances as magical as they were memorable. What made the double-bill on March 15 even more special was the groundbreaking approach to music making that had the near-capacity crowd cheering unfamiliar material with the enthusiasm of a audience cheering greatest hits at a Bruce Springsteen or Sir Paul stop. Even from our seats located a good...

New Strategies, Tools and Possibilities for Mobile Marketing

Want to make money in music? Go for the fans’ pocket — not for the money but for their mobiles. With the rapid adoption of smartphones, mobile devices are transforming the way fans consume music by bringing it to them portably and wirelessly. That creates more opportunities for artists to reach out to them. Mobile is where digital and social marketing converge, and technology is evolving to integrate them ever more seamlessly by incorporating Facebook, Twitter and other social sites and ...

Songwriter Stretching

If you’ve been writing songs for a while, maybe you’re starting to feel as though you’re getting good at it. That’s great! You want to develop confidence in your abilities. And of course, we all like to do stuff that we are good at. When you’re working on a song and you know that you’ve come a long way in your mastery of the process, you feel secure and in control. However, (you knew there would be a “however!”) it’s all too easy to settle into your “sweet spot” as a songwriter. You wind up using...

CMA Broadcast Award Winners Share Success Strategies for Country Radio

Whether serving large urban markets or small-town communities, the on-air personalities and stations honored by CMA’s Broadcast Awards have one thing in common: They’ve earned recognition from their peers for doing it right. Now, “doing it right” can mean any number of things. This is why we assembled a panel of 2011 Broadcast Awards winners on the afternoon before the CMA Awards in November, to share their thoughts on how to build listener loyalty and beef up the bottom line.

Website Design Tips for Country Artists, Labels – and You

With so much fan interaction happening on Facebook and Twitter these days, you might think that regular websites are a thing of the past. In fact, artist and company websites are more essential than ever for establishing and developing a brand. Your website is your home base. It’s where you ultimately maintain control of what and how you communicate with your fans and/or customers. Remember: The goal of your social media sites is to drive traffic back to your website. So what makes ...

Dave Isaacs On Arranging The Music In Your Head

Nashville guitar guru and master musician Dave Isaacs talks about how to take the music you hear in your head and put it on paper. Arranging music is one of the hardest things a songwriter can face, and Dave takes the time to tell us how songwriters can find better ways to articulate what they are conceiving in their head. To listen to Dave's lesson on arranging, click below.

Garfunkel and Oates – Two First-Rate Second Bananas

Comedy duos are a dime a dozen. However, GREAT comedy duos are a rare commodity and something to be treasured when found. Falling into the latter category are Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, otherwise known as Garfunkel and Oates. The duo, both actresses with many television, film and commercial credits to their names, met by chance at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre in Los Angeles after being introduced by fellow comedian Doug Benson. Micucci (Oates)...

New Artist Spotlight: Lisa Matassa

Lisa Matassa’s resonant voice, interpretive skill and exuberant delivery are evident throughout her debut album, Sunrise Highway. But the particulars of her story add even more to her appeal. Born in Florida, she settled on Long Island, where she made her initial impact in the red-hot dance music world of the 1980s. Recording as Lysa Lynn, Matassa released two singles, “I’ve Got the Hots for You” in 1987 and “Rock Me Baby” in 1988, and opened for Taylor Dayne, Brenda K. Starr ...

Jason Sturgeon Rides with Skyjacker Suspensions

The 2011 CMA Music Festival was the tipping point for a unique marketing partnership between rising Country star Jason Sturgeon — a self-proclaimed gearhead — and the famous Skyjacker Suspensions he idolized growing up in small-town Indiana, where driving oversized trucks through the mud was a way of life. Last year at CMA Music Festival, Sturgeon brought the jacked-up, family hand-me-down red Chevy truck to the Power Zone that appeared in his music video for the song,

Concert Review: Tiger Army Roars at Musink Kickoff

What a difference a voice makes. Having a great bunch of songs helps, too. Tiger Army may share a psychobilly sound with the Howlers and the legendary Guana Batz, the two acts that opened for the group Friday night at the launch of the annual Musink tattoo and music convention at the OC Fair & Events Center. But there is little doubt who owned the musical side of things during this first of three festival days in Costa Mesa. Armed with a vocalist who likely would have been a success no...