Stormy Montana To Release “Someone Like Me” Online and Worldwide

Country Music Artist Stormy Montana Has Already Broken Sales Records, Now She’s Set To Take Her Music Online

Sep 21, 2009 – NASHVILLE, TN — Country music artist Stormy Montana will release her highly acclaimed and top selling C.D., “Someone Like Me” online and worldwide November 15th, 2009 through i-Tunes, Amazon, LaLa, Rhapsody, Napster, and other online vendors.

“Someone Like Me” has already sold close to 7,000 physical copies since release, a virtually un-heardof feat in todays country music climate.  In fact, had the C.D. been Soundscanned from the beginning, “Someone Like Me”would have remained in the Top 20 Billboard Country Music Chart throughout much of the year.

Featuring 15 top quality songs by hit songwriters such as Dave Pahanish, Casey Kessel, Marcus Hummon, and James Slater; and recorded at Nashville’s finest studios featuring Nashville’s finest musicians, “Someone Like Me” is knee deep in great music that everyone can enjoy.

The release date is a reflection of the Christmas season and the decision to release “Someone Like Me” online for the first time came after much deliberation.  Stormy says, “At first we wanted to keep the C.D. offline completely, believing that the best way to sell ‘Someone Like Me‘ was for me to play shows, shake hands, and meet as many people as possible.  As time moved on we found that the demand for ‘Someone Like Me‘ at the shows was overwhelming, leading us to sell out very quickly.  At the same time, everyday we were getting request for the C.D. from places as far away as Japan and Germany.  We concluded we needed to have ‘Someone Like Me‘ in all the online stores so that the fans who weren’t able to purchase the C.D. at the shows, and those around the world, could.”

About Stormy Montana: At just 16 years old, Stormy Montana has proven to have one of the largest and most dedicated fan bases in all of country music.  She doesn’t attribute this simply to her age, but to the music itself, which is grounded in the best traditions of country music, with an eye towards the more accessible pop country of today’s generation.  Stormy began singing live in bars and honky-tonks at 9 years old and hasn’t stopped since.  Her love of music and performing is evident by the fact her mother never had to push her to sing and perform, it’s simply what she wanted to do.  Teaming with renound vocal coach Teresa Smith, and surrounding herself with a great team of Nashville insiders and music professionals, Stormy set sail on her life’s calling.  The culmination of these early years of hard work can be heard on her new C.D. “Someone Like Me” which has already sold nearly 7,000 physical copies.  For More Information Please Visit: http://www.myspace.com/stormymontana or http://www.stormymontana.com

This is HUGE!! Interscope Records is Coming To Nashville To Find Talent

(ed note:  I am aware that this post has changed several times now.  That’s because Interscope Records asked that it be changed in order to give the legal department time to give approvals for the name and image.  This event has not changed.)

I’ve been talking with some great people over the past couple of days who have a great plan to find talent here in Nashville – and seriously, you better sign up AS FAST AS YOU CAN to guarantee a spot !!

Interscope Records is seeking a male or female singer or singer/songwriter, 18-25, whose influences include; Tom Petty, Ryan Adams, Fleetwood Mac, Keith Urban, Sugarland, 3 Doors Down, Wilco, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, and John Cougar Mellencamp.

Interscope Records A&R staff representatives from Los Angeles will hold auditions on October 6th, 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee at the Hotel Indigo Ballroom (1719 West End Avenue, Nashville TN 37203) beginning at 10am all day until 6pm.

Guarantee your audition! You can schedule a pre-registration private audition by emailing your Myspace link, website, mp3’s and photos to the event coordinator at interscopeaudition@yahoo.com. Hurry, because slots are limited. Those who miss pre-registration can make the open auditions on the 6th at the Hotel Indigo 10am – 6pm.

Auditions are absolutely free and be prepared to sing an original or cover song. If you play an instrument you’re encouraged to bring and play it as long as it’s acoustic.

We’re NOT filming the auditions and this is NOT for a television show. We’re looking for a singer or singer/songwriter with real talent to sign to the label, make an album, promote and take it on the road.

Interscope Records roster includes U2, OneRepublic, No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Lady Ga Ga, The Police, Black Eyed Peas, All American Rejects, Chris Cornell, Eminem, Dr. Dre and many more generation defining artists.

For the Same Audition information: http://interscopeaudition.com.

Stormy Montana Plays The Nashville Palace Tomorrow!

Our great friend Stormy Montana is playing a set at the Nashville Palace tomorrow (sunday) at around 5:30.  This is a very rare Nashville show for Stormy and a great chance for you to see a soon to be super-star artist.

If you’re not familiar with Stormy, she fantastic.  And her album has sold well over 7,000 physical copies since being released this time last year (and how many major label artist can say that??).  It’s a great album too — so good I gave it the “Album of the Year” award last year.  It’s stellar, she’s stellar.  So come out and see her if you can – you’ll enjoy it.  Promise.

Suzi Oravec’s Performance At The House Of Blues – Suzi Won

Suzi won the Music Mogul competition by a wide margin.  The next step is entering into the studio with either Rodney Jerkins, or a producer of Rodney’s choice, to do a three song demo which can then be shopped to labels – including Atlantic Records.  Thanks everyone for your support of Suzi and her music.  We, as always, wish her well and a great career.  MusicMogul.com

Suzi Oravec Wins First Music Mogul.com Title

Earning a Demo Deal with Darkchild Productions

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ – Music Mogul.com has officially announced that 19 year-old, country-pop singer Suzi Oravec is the first winner of their online music competition where thousands of hopeful recording artists competed to win a demo deal with Darkchild Productions. The competition began in February 2009, when Suzi Oravec submitted her music video to Music Mogul.com that featured her song “Last Minute Miracle” that she wrote and dedicated to her mother who unfortunately died of pancreatic cancer in 2007.

Suzi Oravec has experienced heartache after heartache, while still fighting to get her name and music out to the public. As the hard worker that she is, Suzi graduated high-school one year early with honors with a plan to move with her mother to Nashville, TN to pursue a music career. Before Suzi’s mother passed, she spent every moment by her side and then sadly, but strongly made the move to the country music capital of the world solo, but with all of the inspiration and motivation to succeed behind her.

In August 2009, Music Mogul.com announced that Suzi Oravec was one of the four finalists who would compete in the finals, which took place at the House of Blues in West Hollywood on August 18th. Taking notes from her biggest music inspiration Sheryl Crow, who is a strong female cancer survivor, Suzi Oravec took stage with her guitar in hand and belted out her song “Stop Breathing“, which the crowd, judges of music industry experts and Suzi’s online followers clearly loved!

“Suzi Oravec is the whole package: she has a great voice, a talent for songwriting, and a really outgoing personality,” states Rodney Jerkins, Grammy-winning producer and founder of Darkchild Productions. “She’s exactly the kind of talent that we were hoping to find at Music Mogul.com and we’re looking forward to working with her in the future.”

Now with the Music Mogul.com title under Suzi Oravec’s belt, she is working hard to finalize all of the songs that she’s been working on for years and release a full album. For more information on Suzi Oravec, please visitwww.musicmogul.com/news/finalist-profile-suzi-oravec or www.myspace.com/suzioravec.

Music Mogul, Inc. (www.musicmogul.com) is the first online music world with a new and unique 3D entertainment platform to find the hottest new superstars. This online destination is set to make a mark in social networking with a ground-breaking design and interactive music experience for music fans, undiscovered artists, and celebrity artists alike.

Expect The Unexpected (Hey Labels, Are You Watching?)

I suppose the big news coming out today was the ‘break-up’ of Brooks & Dunn- but I don’t care about that - other than to say that if the Lord was listening to MY prayers, it would’ve been the big fat redneck stick twirler and his bear killing buddy instead – but what do I know, they’re GOO members now.

No, the big news to me is this video:

It’s Taylor Swift and her band ‘pranking’ Keith Urban at a show the other night.  It’s important because the interaction between artists on stage (thanks primarily to Brad what’s his name) has become a common thing.  You simply never know what’s going to happen – or rather, what you’re going to see when you go see a show.

In the past we would’ve read a stupid ‘press release’ about something like this happening – it’d be in the newspaper and the rags, but no one would’ve got to see it for themselves – and strangely, reading something like this happening doesn’t have the same ‘punch’ as actually seeing it happen.   There’s a tremendous value in seeing it for yourself.

Does that video make you MORE or LESS likely to want to attend a Keith Urban show?  MORE or LESS likely to want to see a Taylor Swift show?  Don’t you wonder what’s going to happen at the next show?  And don’t you want to be there when it does?

Until recently, shows have been as scripted as an episode of Nashville Star – but that’s begun to change.  Now shows can take several twist and turns – thereby increasing the entertainment value of the show itself.  Honestly, no one wants to be bored – and nothing is more fun for an audience than feeling like a participant in the show itself.  Just ask Jimmy Buffett fans!

In Nashville it’s hard to get people to pay $5 to see a live show in a club featuring several acts.  But ask those same people to pay $20 to go into a club and dance, and the club will be packed out.  Participation is everything.

And shows that have audience participation in them, even if the audience isn’t ‘actually’ participating, but are just there as witnesses to what’s happening – is where the real value to attending a show is.

Kenny Chesney recently put out a ridiculous rule about taking video at his shows — stupid, stupid, STUPID.  His crew/label could take a lesson from this and see it as a good thing (though I doubt they will).

The more that others see others having fun at a show, the more those others will want to ‘participate’ by going to the shows themselves the next time around.

(please note: The vid above comes from the official Keith Urban youtube – so this may have simply been a label creation – and the guy filming does sound as if he knows it’s coming – but that doesn’t make it less fun for the audience who don’t… and, Keith is on Capitol – and Capitol may get the value of fan created videos – who knows.)

You Can Help Suzi Oravec Get a Record Deal (Seriously!)

Our good friend Suzi Oravec is participating in a contest for the music web site MusicMogal.com. This contest allows artists to submit videos which fans vote on. The top 4 artist after a 3 month period are chosen as Finalist and are flown to L.A. to perform in front of major producers like Rodney Jerkins (Pussy Cat Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, others).

Music Mogal will video the performance and place it online at the Music Mogal site. Fans will once again have a chance to vote for their favorite artist and the winner, after a 24 hour voting period, will win a 3 song demo produced by Rodney. This demo will then be shopped to Atlantic Records. So the overall winner of the contest could actually land a Major Label record deal.

Suzi is awesome and as we told you, she has a very strong fan base. Thanks to her talent and those fans, Suzi was chosen as one of the top 4, so she will be flown to L.A. to perform at the House of Blues on August 18th, 2009. For the next 24 hours you’ll have a chance to go to the Music Mogal website and vote for Suzi!

She recently posted new Song “Please Stay” to her Myspace page, www.myspace.com/suzioravec , to give listeners a preview of her upcoming debut album release.

Help Suzi live her dreams! *Start Voting on August 19th for Suzi Oravec! Only 24 hours to Vote!*

From Anywhere To Everywhere – Meet Amanda Marsh

Over the last several months Amanda Marsh has come out of nowhere (Ventura Co. California) to make a name for herself in the Nashville community.  She, her brother Travis Marsh, and her manager/mother have been savvy marketers of not only her music, but also her web-only TV show “Anywhere”, in which she plays a female singer and big sister to her younger brother after the death of their oldest brother in war.  Together they set off in search of their long missing father to tell him about his son’s death, and while on the way they discover that not only do they like making music together, they could actually be successful doing it.

The story isn’t based on Amanda’s real life, but was specifically written for her based on the music she and Travis had written.  Several of her songs landed in the hands of famed director Patrick Norris (Gossip Girls, Chuck, Greek, and Friday Night Lights) and producer Sergio Vasquez.  They loved the music so much they immediately began writing the script and scouting locations.  Now the show is in the hands of several networks and it has a very good possibility of being picked up.

Amanda’s music is eclectic to say the least.  She is most certainly ‘country’, though she will tell you that her music represents country, rap, and rock (she likes to call it Crack) – and it does. Amanda’s debut album Love Is In The Details is on-sale now at the ATM store, as well as  iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon and in retail outlets.  In keeping with the eclectic theme, she wrote several tracks with people like Doc Little (Diddy, Beyonce), Bruce Kulick (Guitarist for KISS), Ron Harris (Christina Aguilera), and Jeremy Rublino (Gene Simmons).  Not to mention the songs she’s written with her equally talented brother Travis.   Country music, with each generation, is expanding.   In fact, music is beginning to act a lot more like how people act in their daily lives – interacting with others of different races, taste, ideals, likes and dislikes.  When asked if someone listens to country, rap, and rock, most will say yes.  This is a good thing for artist like Amanda because she’s perfectly blended them together to create her own sound.  Free from the traditional constraints that in years past would have kept her completely out of the closed-minded Nashville music scene.

To put it another way, when artist like Kid Rock and Darius Rucker can have hit songs on country radio – the time is ripe for an artist as talented as Amanda to really come in and shake things up!

She has a great unique voice that doesn’t allow her to be pegged as ‘just another blonde’ country singer.   Amanda really shines in her collaborations with Magic Man – a west coast rapper and part of the team that makes up the label ATM Records (Amanda, Travis, Magic Man Records).  The song, “Love Is In The Details” is a funky rap tinged southern country song that the most enjoyable song I’ve heard since HotChelleRae released “I Like To Dance” — it’s just a fun song to listen to.

But she can also burn them down with the best on ballads like “I Feel” (featuring Travis).

NashvilleHype! has been a real champion of Amanda, like all NashvilleHype! featured artist, though this is the first time we’ve actually written about her on site.  Normally we’ll find an artist, write about the artist, and start working with the artist to position themselves for what may lay ahead – whether that be management, publishing, a record label, or distribution.

When we found Amanda (or rather when she found us) she already had the ball rolling much more than most NashvilleHype! artist – which are generally new to the ‘business’ of music and thus need a little more behind the scenes help.

Amanda on the other hand had her show “Anywhere” shot and in post-production.  She had her incredibly effective marketing materials, with excellently planned photographs to portray the image she wanted to portray.  And she had ‘her’ sound – something no one else was doing, and few could emulate.  To top it all off, Amanda has already received (and is still receiving) tons of press in major publications.

So why choose an artist like Amanda to be a featured artist of NashvilleHype! when there’s not much NashvilleHype! can do?  Good question.

The answer is because Amanda Marsh is AWESOME, and even though she has all of those great things happening for her, there’s still some things that we might can help her do.  As we always say, artists aren’t a template – each one is an individual and they each have different goals and needs (case in point, Stormy didn’t need a record deal, she needed distribution and Laura wanted the record deal but needed the right one).

Amanda and Travis came to Nashville for the first time during CMA Fest this year.  If you’ve ever attended CMA Fest you know that many booths would be without fans.  Not Amanda.  Despite being new and relatively unknown to the vast crowd in the Convention Center, her professional image is so compelling that she consistently drew large crowds wanting to know more about her and her music.  She told me at the time how thankful she was to have so many people visit her and get to know her – and how everyone was so nice it was absolutely amazing.

From Nowhere, to “Anywhere”, to Everywhere – Amanda Marsh is the artist Nashville needs on it’s radar – in a Major way.  I promise you – (and I told her this months ago when we first met) Amanda is a star and with or without you Nashville, she’s going to be huge.

http://www.myspace.com/amandamarshmusic

http://twitter.com/amandamarsh

http://www.atmmusicgroup.com/store.html

Spinal Muscular Atrophy – Interview With Artist Kelly Ray Davis

(ed note: Readers of NashvilleHype! will without question be very familiar with Kelly Ray Davis and Crisp & Davis as they’ve been one of our flagship featured artists for a long time.  This interview was conducted for the sister site to NashvilleHype! Nashville Benefits)

On July 7th 21 artists will come together at the Cadillac Ranch in order to raise money to help find a cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  Among the artists scheduled to perform are Bridgette Tatum, Shawn Meyer, Gabe Garcia, Tommy Tutone, Amanda Williams, Memarie Gayle, Megan Linville, Rich Fagan, Larry Cordle, Spady, Kristi Manna, Kara Clark, Lila James, Diana Paul, Brittany Lee, David Brendan Hunt, Hoss Howard, Melissa Duvall, (host) Warren Silvers, and Crisp & Davis.

I recently contacted Kelly Ray Davis of Crisp & Davis and asked him to participate in a short interview about the event – and his own career.

How did you find out about the MUSIC FOR A CURE – SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY BENEFIT?

Warren Silvers (the host) called me up on the phone and ask if Rodney and I wanted to be part of this benefit and before he could get finished with his sentence I interrupted him and said sign us up.  I met Warren a few years back on myspace and he and I have been keeping in touch with each others work ever since.  So when he decided to put this benefit together, Rodney and I was one of the acts that popped in his head to invite and we are very honored to be a part of something so great!

You’re coming all the way to Nashville from West Virginia to participate in the show – did you have any second thoughts about accepting the invitation?

Second thoughts? No way! Rodney and I are all about helping out and giving back. God blessed us with the greatest talent in the world * which is music *.  Rodney and I both believe firmly that if you don’t use your talents for the right reasons they will soon enough be taken away! Like I told Warren just the other day, if it is just Crisp & Davis and Warren Silvers on the bill and we only draw a crowd of 3 people at the show we will be there Lord willing!  My great friend and adviser Paul King from Nashville Hype ask us to do a benefit a little over a year ago for tornado victims and we was all over it with out question! We worked our butts off getting press, radio, etc… involved in that benefit that Paul and the Red Cross put on and I can honestly say I am proud that we was apart of the Supercell Benefit.

Continue Reading This Interview By Clicking The Banner Below:

Tammy Cochran – 30 Something And Single*

(ed note:  I’m being totally serious when I say this:  If you’re not a fan of Tammy Cochran (and I don’t know of anyone who isn’t, but just in case), leave NashvilleHype! and don’t ever come back.  You don’t deserve to be reading this blog.  I know that may sound harsh, and I know that’s a pretty powerful statement of support for an artist – but I just didn’t know how to make my point any stronger about how great Tammy is.)

Tammy Cochran is awesome.  I know I say that about a lot of artist – and for each and every artist I say it about, I mean it – I am a true, blue, died in the wool fan.  And Tammy Cochran is flat out amazingly awesome.

Tammy has the voice.  The kind that’s extremely hard to find in what passes today for ‘country music’.  It’s the kind of voice that, through years of performing and discipline, is it’s own finely tuned instrument.  An instrument that can provide emotions, both joy and sadness, without effort.  Tammy is in complete control of her instrument.  In fact, I’m going so far as to say that Tammy is what used to be known in town (and the industry) as a ’stylist’.  Rare these days for sure.

No where is this more evident than her latest single, “Half the World Away (Shawn’s Song)” off her newly released CD 30 Somthing and Single on IBI Records (the name of the album is mis-leading in some ways and should carry an *on purpose – because I’m certain it must be.  That and if it wouldn’t break the ‘interviewer/interview-ee relationship’, I might’ve asked on the spot!).

To give you a good idea of just how awesome Tammy is, during CMA Fest a few years back, before Miranda Lambert was a household name and star – it was Miranda who totally, in her own words, “mobbed” Tammy during the event and was “freaking out”.

During this most recent CMA Fest I had the opportunity to sit down with Tammy for what turned into a wide ranging friendly chat (we actually went way over in time and I missed a show as a result – sorry! – but I didn’t mind).  A chat so wide ranging that it’s more like a 5 page magazine spread.  However, even we have our constraints – and though I might like to print the whole interview in it’s entirety, I’ve kept within the confines of what NashvilleHype! is about – the artist, the music, and the music business.

Hope you enjoy.

You’ve got a new album out?

I do!

Is it on your label?

Yes it is.

What does IBI stand for?

Ity Bity Indie

Oh, that’s awesome!

Thank you!

I googled it, I looked for more information and just couldn’t find it.

Well ya know what?  I was on Sony for 5 years and then I got signed to a company out of New Jersey called Shawnechee who did the “Way I Am” project – and they did great things.  I mean, you’re not going to get as much exposure in the mainstream when you’re on an independent label, but you much more control over what you do – and I had never done anything like this before and I’ve learned a LOT.  I mean, I would call people and be like, “can you help me? I don’t know anything about it”

You had to learn how to run your business…

Right.  The administration, which I used to just pop in the office drop off a song and drove away – now I was like, “I don’t know what that means! And I don’t know how to do it”.  And Nashville – the people who write songs and run publishing companies all just embraced me and said, “it’s ok!  we’ll help you” – and so I thought, “ya know what? I’m just going to do it”.  Fail or succeed.

What was your experience at Sony like?

It was a good experience.  The majority of it was a great experience.  There’s always things that come up, or issues – like any job – especially in a huge corporation.

Who was your A&R guy there that originally signed you?

Blake Chancey signed me.  Anthony Martin was my A&R guy.  He moved over to another label.

Anthony moved over to Montage, but they’re gone now.

Yeah.  I don’t know what he’s doing!

I was hanging out with Duane Propes from Little Texas and I was talking to him – and they were on the Montage label and I was asking him what happened to them and he was like, “I don’t know”.  So I don’t know.

Oh yeah, cause Alan Butler was running that label and he was president when I was over at Sony – so that’s how I knew all those people.  And it seemed everyone was over there.

Yeah.

But my experience with Sony was great.

Did you think about going to some place like Montage?

Yeah, I did.  I mean, I’m not closed minded to another record deal – but it’d have to be the ‘right’ one.

You’ve got all the creative freedom.  You get to choose the musicians.  Produce yourself.

Being an independent, you don’t have to spend $250,000 to produce an album.  But for some reason, big companies think that unless you spend $250,000 it’s not worth anything.

Right.

And we could do it for a lot less price, therefore we don’t have to sell a million records to recoup.

Did you record at your house?  Do you have a home studio?

No.  We rent a studio.  There’s a lot of studios in Nashville.

Yeah, and they’re all begging for business…

They are.

Is ___________ an internet only album, or will it be in retail also?

We’re currently working on major distribution, but we don’t know for sure yet though.

Have you picked the single off the record yet?

The adoption song, “Half the World Away (Shawn’s Song)”!  I think this song is going to touch a lot of people in a way that, it relates to people who have been adopted.  Adoptive parents, the birth mom – and despite there being millions of people out there, you can’t find adoption songs.

Are you going to try and take it to the big reporting radio stations?

That’s where Ity Bity Records comes in.  We’re going to take it to the people who have always supported us in the past.  We’ll be taking it to Country Christian radio as well as those stations that’s really been there this whole time.  We’re definately not trying to be #1 on the charts.  But we’re going to get the song out there. Sell records.  Do shows.  And keep going.

Are you going to do a video for it?

I don’t know.  that’s a tough call.  Because a lot of times you can spend a lot of money making the video and the video outlets don’t guarantee they’ll put it on the air.  Being ‘Ity Bity Indie’ there’s other things that you could use the money on also.  So again, those are all things I’m learning as I go.

Do you every year to CMA Fest?

I could not participate last year.  The year before I did. I actually had 4 days scheduled and the embasy from Guatemala called and said, “you need to come pick up your son” and I was like, “ahhh!” and so I didn’t really get to.

Is there anyone on your ‘team’ that you’ve worked with since the beginning?

My manager.  He became my manager right before “Angels in Waiting”

Who is he?

Al Schulz.

So from “Angels in Waiting” till now.  That’s a pretty good track record.

Yeah, suprised we haven’t killed each other, haha.

I mean, considering all the people you’ve had to work with over your career…

Do you have the same band members?

The majority of them are the same.  Now that I’m doing 3 months at the Alabama Theater, and I used to do 120 dates a year and now I’m doing 40 or 50, they have other gigs too.  But the core is basically the same.

When I was reading your background, I read about “Angels in Waiting” and how it was more or less the fans that began pushing for it to become a single.  And Sony really wasn’t for it.

They didn’t even want it on the album.  I mean, I over-cut for the Sony album.  I cut 11 songs and they said, “we’ll we only have a contract for 10, and you’re going to have to cut a song.  And the least most commercial song is Angels in Waiting” and I was like I do knot fight you on a lot of things, but I pick my battle here.  It will stay because it’s my personal story.  It was a tribute to my brothers.  this was how we were going to end up the whole project was with Angels in Waiting.  It became a single because the fans wanted it to become a single – not because anybody else did.

I love stories like that.  The one’s about the record exec that has no clue and the artist who fights and wins.

But they did work hard though.  They worked hard on the song.  And they were polite about it because they came to me and said, “we’ve been to your shows and we’ve seen the crowd reaction to the song – can we single it?”  And I talked to my parents about it and told them they were going to have to get more permission than just from me, because it’s my family you’re exposing.  My parents were great and what a great way to bring awareness to Cystic Fibrosis.  And a great way to honor your brothers.

You’ve got a new album out?

I do!

Is it on your label?

Yes it is.

What does IBI stand for?

Itty Bitty Indie

Oh, that’s awesome!

Thank you!  Ya know what?  I was on Sony for 5 years and then I got signed to a company out of New Jersey called Shanachie who did the Where I Am project – and they did great things.  I mean, you’re not going to get as much exposure in the mainstream when you’re on an independent label, but you much more control over what you do – and I had never done anything like this before and I’ve learned a LOT.  I mean, I would call people and be like, “can you help me? I don’t know anything about it”.

You had to learn how to run your business…

Right.  Like administration.  I used to just pop in the office, drop off a song, and drive away – now I was like, “I don’t know what that means! And I don’t know how to do it”.  And Nashville – the people who write songs and run publishing companies all just embraced me and said, “it’s ok!  we’ll help you” – and so I thought, “ya know what? I’m just going to do it”.  Fail or succeed.