Hey folks,
Sorry I haven't been around. Been a very busy week. This week is CRS, or the COUNTRY RADIO SEMINAR, which is THE biggest "Dog and pony" show in Nashville. It is the new music convention where every major radio DJ, Programmer, vendors, owners, managers, etc. are all in town to intereact and connect with the ENTIRE RECORDING INDUSTRY. Every major artist, the new up and comers, the independents about to break, the older "yesterday's news" and everything in between A WHOLE LOTTA WANNA BE'S all converge downtown for four days of music, business and some really intense DRINKING and PARTYING!
The labels put on public and private showcases, strutting the stuff radio is going to be getting in this coming year. The new trends or attempts at trends will be on display. There will be private shows in some of the clubs, closed to the public and VIPS only. There will be a lot of public shows (for the people playing nearly a thousand dollars to participate) and other events going on. A huge convention center showroom for vendors, merchandise people, managers, agents, artists, fan booths. Most will do "station IDentification tags for the stations "Hey, this is BRAD PAISLEY on WkXX in Portland! You have the HOTTEST COUNTRY in the Great Northwest!" Takes all day for some artists to record all those things.
There will be the interviews pictures taken and generally trying to schmooze the industry to play records in the future. For all the talk of the Internet, streaming, going viral, Terrestrial radio is still by far the place most people get their music and that is not going away. Internet is the way to continue the trends but with BILLIONS of people on there, Terrestrial radio is still responsible for about 85% of new and existing listeners to music. And I don't think that is going to change any time soon. Although you will continually hear a lot of people saying "Radio is dead... and all that. I wouldn't buy too much into that. I'll believe that when I see it.
Tonight I make my annual pilgramage down. There is a huge bar, the BRIDGE BAR that I lovingly refer to as the "LAZY RIVER BAR RIDE" for all us people doing this. Around a thousand people will be wandering in and out, floating back and forth to tables, booths, seats, to rub elbows, hob nob, and try to interact with the industry. The new WANNA BE'S will all be there trying to get attention, the older dogs will be trying to avoid attention (or try to maintain being in the limelight) publishers and pluggers will be trying to get appointments with managers and agents, the attorneys will be in full display, everyone will basically be on their superficial best. With the right attitude of getting a drink, not taking it seriously and watch it pass by, it can be a LOT OF FUN.
And instructional. There will be tid bits of information, there will be conversation on coming trends, and laughing about the ones that just died. On the docket tonight will be "the death of bro country" (Thank God), the terrible state of the industry, the destruction and tearing down of Music Row, how things are no longer how it was BACK IN MY DAY!!! The costs of being in the industry, the destruction of the business by the Internet, the convoluted nature of award shows and the Internet, artists that are overlooked, and of course the CRAP THAT THEIR PLAYING ON THE RADIO!!!"
That one always tickles me because intermixed in the middle of all this ARE THE MAIN RADIO PLAYERS AND THE PEOPLE YOU WANT TO PLAY YOUR RECORDS!!!! So a lot of feet will be going into mouths and a lot of careers will be ending before they really get going because someone had a bit too much to drink and ran his/her mouth to the wrong person. Nothing like finding out that stations are not playing your record you are spending a fortune to promote all because someone said something stupid to someone at the CRS the year before. Catty business.
And it is a GHERMFEST!!! Every wanna be are trying to give people their CD's. They even set up little racks on their tables and encouraging everyone to take one. It is always predictable. The people that do this are mostly the older artists, who have the 70's hair and rhinestone suits that looks like they just walked out of the country music hall of fame exhibit from 1975. There will be the "Kenny Rodgers" silver fox look alikes, the "She really is coming out of that too tight dress that she should have stopped wearing ten years ago" and the "Here is our over 45 year old band members, with our too tight wranglers and our cowboy hats from the Garth Brooks era of the 90's.
And of course EVERY PARENT MOMANGER AND DADANGER will be on display with their future Taylor Swift and Hunter Hays wanna be's. All thinking THEIR KIDS ARE DIFFERENT. Funny to say that when they are all wearing the EXACT same things. There will be a whole ton of "redneck cap acts" wearing the same plad shirts, sunglasses and their baseball caps either forward or backward. The Eric Church knock offs.
It is a funny time. But after about three hours, I'll be done and ready to head home. I no longer do the ten hour, end up drinking in the bar at five in the morning. But I've done a few of those. Just no longer have the energy nor inclination. Let em have it. I'll see some friends I was supposed to call the day after last year. And a bunch of guys from my generation trying to display their own acts, and keep their contacts rolling. There is some legitimacy to it. It is our giant FRANTERNITY PARTY. Hope I remember to wear my fez and class ring. LOL!
Before that I am playing the COMMODORE. Tonight is going to be interesting because on Monday we lost one of our really good friends, Tommy Turner. Tommy was somewhat of a fixture over the past five or six years. A 70 plus year old guy, who had been in the Union for decades, was always a smiling goodwill ambassador for the town and songwriting. Funny funny guy always a great fun to be around.
All of the songs I am doing are reflective, yet not morose. I'll be pulling some from the past, THE BEGINNING, my humorous look at death, and MY WISH, the song I used to end with, until a huge Rascal Flatts hit with the same title forced me to shift to TABLES AND CHAIRS. I'll be doing a brand new one I wrote for my Uncle Richard, "WHAT THEY LEAVE BEHIND" which is as appropriate for Tommy. Gonna do "24 NOTES" since Tommy was as 20 year Navy man. And a couple "special things, one I wrote with Norm and Allen Shervelle, TRYING MY BEST TO LIVE, and my ode to dreamers, "THE BIGGEST RISK IS TAKING NO RISK AT ALL."
So it's gonna be a full night. Then this weekend will be a Cajun filled show at Richard's cajun cafe and then join up with Matt Casey who is here, doing his New England to Nashville (NETN) benefit show.
So yes, the MAB is back in business. Two tours so far this week, a full recording session for one of mine and OD's songs, and a whole lot of tributes.
As a little extra for you, I don't remember if I ever posted this. It is a song called FANTASY FOOTBALL TEAM that I wrote with Stacy Young, from Missouri. We wrote it about five years ago and this past year was cut by a trio of girls, SOUTHERN SIRENS. They did a really cool video which I have posted on some places, but couldn't remember if i did it here. After last week's Super Bowl, (Yeah pretty good for Old Peyton) it was pretty appropriate. Hope you like it.
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