Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard “These Roads Don’t Move”

. . . and Son Volt “No Turning Back” and Death Cab For Cutie "Meet Me At The Equinox” . . .

There are many strange stories in the record promotion world, about artists competing against themselves. There is the famous story about John Fogerty being sued for plagiarizing a song, because it sounded too much like . . . John Fogerty.

And there can be strange conflicts for and between record labels, and the promotion folks who work to get radio stations to play the songs they’re promoting.

Johnatha Brooke and Davey Knowles recorded the duet “Taste Of Danger.” It appears on Jonatha’s album “The Works” and on “Coming Up For Air” by Davey’s band Back Door Slam. Representatives from each label were encouraging mvyradio to play “their” version of the song (it’s the same recording on both CDs).

Earlier this year, Pete Yorn recorded an album for his regular label, Epic, but also recorded a quickie album with Scarlett Johanssen for Rhino Records, who chose to put that CD out at the same time as the Epic Record. So promo folks were calling, asking if we were going to play the “right” Pete Yorn record.

And we’re in a similar situation right now. Son Volt has a new single out called “No Turning Back.” And Death Cab For Cutie has a song on the “New Moon” movie Soundtrack. And the lead singers of each band have collaborated on a new project called “On Fast Move Or I’m Gone.”

Is there any reason NOT to play two new songs by the same artist? No. We do it regularly. For instance, we’re playing several new tracks off Carly Simon’s latest release. But with a finite number of spaces on our playlist, we tend to do one new song at a time, even if it rankles the Record Company Promotion people.

So we went for the strongest, most interesting song. “These Roads Don’t Move” by Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard has found its way into rotation on mvyradio.

What about the other two. Good song, both. But are they essential?

Hear samples of each:


Get a free MP3 of “These Roads Don’t Move”

Buy the Farrar/Gibbard album “One Fast Move Or I'm Gone Music From Kerouac's Big Sur” which includes a DVD of the Jack Kerouac documentary that spurred the musical collaboration, the Son Volt CD “American Central Dust” and the “New Moon” movie soundtrack featuring the DCFC song.

See the Farrar and Gibbard perform "These Roads Don't Move" live, see the movie trailer for "One Fast Move Or I'm Gone," see Son Volt perform "No Turning Back" Live and see the official music video for "Meet Me On The Equinox."

See this previous post, for details on how a song gets into rotation on mvyradio, then let me know what you think.