In yesterday's post about only tangentially-related-to-Easter songs, I didn't really go down the religious route. But I could have found more than a few cross songs (Prince's "The Cross," Scott Miller's "Is There Room On The Cross For Me?").
Earlier this week Jesse Barnett pointed me to this tune, and sure, on the day between the Crucifixion and The Resurrection, why not play a song about sinners and (maybe) forgiveness.
Thanks Barnett and Bianco!
See the video on Youtube.
Showing posts with label jesse barnett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jesse barnett. Show all posts
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Los Lonely Boys "Fly Away"
Jesse Barnett of Right Arm Resource is our guest blogger this week. He spends his days on the phone with radio stations across the country, advocating for records he believes in. While PJ is on vacation, Jesse talks to you about 5 new songs he thinks radio, and you, will love.
“The time has come when we must leave you, sorry we are but we must go.”
Bet you didn’t see a quote from the Casper theme song coming, did you? I’m like that.
Next week you’ll have PJ back, flaunting his encyclopedic knowledge in front of you like an SNL-era Dennis Miller emceeing the Newport Folk Festival. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my posts for the last few days as much I did writing them. At the very least, I hope I turned you on to some great new music.
For my last entry of the week, I’m picking a band I’ve had a lot of experience with. Back in 2003, my former assistant was the promotion guy at a little record label named Or Music. At a conference for non-commercial radio programmers in Louisville, KY, the label held an early morning showcase for a couple of their artists. It’s not common to have early morning artist showcases at conferences, you can imagine, because the coffee hasn’t quite kicked in yet.
When Los Lonely Boys took the stage in a too-small room, their harmonies, guitar antics and unique brand of “Texican Rock And Roll” was all anyone needed to get their hearts racing for the rest of the week. It’s rare to have a conference performance that everyone collectively points to as ‘the moment,’ but this was indeed one of them.
That performance was the beginning of a long successful road for brothers Henry, Jojo and Ringo Garza (yes, a drummer whose real name is Ringo. You can’t make this stuff up sometimes.) The single “Heaven” from that self-titled debut album rose to the top of the airplay charts and the disc went multi-platinum.
The band followed up with two more original studio albums, Sacred in 2006 and Forgiven in 2008, as well as an ep of covers from 1969 and an acoustic live disc.
Now on their own label, the band is back with Rockpango, their first original studio album in three years. A Spanglish word coined by the band, Rockpango translates more or less to “rock party,” and that’s exactly what the 11-track collection is. The first single, “Fly Away,” is everything you love about Los Lonely Boys, especially those crazy-tight harmonies that can only come from spending an entire lifetime (or three) singing together.
Relix has the exclusive first listen for the single. Check it out here:
Relix - Audio - Artist Exclusives - World Premiere: Los Lonely Boys "Fly Away"
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
“The time has come when we must leave you, sorry we are but we must go.”
Bet you didn’t see a quote from the Casper theme song coming, did you? I’m like that.
Next week you’ll have PJ back, flaunting his encyclopedic knowledge in front of you like an SNL-era Dennis Miller emceeing the Newport Folk Festival. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my posts for the last few days as much I did writing them. At the very least, I hope I turned you on to some great new music.
For my last entry of the week, I’m picking a band I’ve had a lot of experience with. Back in 2003, my former assistant was the promotion guy at a little record label named Or Music. At a conference for non-commercial radio programmers in Louisville, KY, the label held an early morning showcase for a couple of their artists. It’s not common to have early morning artist showcases at conferences, you can imagine, because the coffee hasn’t quite kicked in yet.
When Los Lonely Boys took the stage in a too-small room, their harmonies, guitar antics and unique brand of “Texican Rock And Roll” was all anyone needed to get their hearts racing for the rest of the week. It’s rare to have a conference performance that everyone collectively points to as ‘the moment,’ but this was indeed one of them.
That performance was the beginning of a long successful road for brothers Henry, Jojo and Ringo Garza (yes, a drummer whose real name is Ringo. You can’t make this stuff up sometimes.) The single “Heaven” from that self-titled debut album rose to the top of the airplay charts and the disc went multi-platinum.
The band followed up with two more original studio albums, Sacred in 2006 and Forgiven in 2008, as well as an ep of covers from 1969 and an acoustic live disc.
Now on their own label, the band is back with Rockpango, their first original studio album in three years. A Spanglish word coined by the band, Rockpango translates more or less to “rock party,” and that’s exactly what the 11-track collection is. The first single, “Fly Away,” is everything you love about Los Lonely Boys, especially those crazy-tight harmonies that can only come from spending an entire lifetime (or three) singing together.
Relix has the exclusive first listen for the single. Check it out here:
Relix - Audio - Artist Exclusives - World Premiere: Los Lonely Boys "Fly Away"
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Sahara Smith "Are You Lonely?"
Jesse Barnett of Right Arm Resource is our guest blogger this week. He spends his days on the phone with radio stations across the country, advocating for records he believes in. While PJ is on vacation, Jesse talks to you about 5 new songs he thinks radio, and you, will love.
Penultimate [pi-nuhl-tuh-mit] adj: next to the last.
As in, this is the ‘penultimate’ blog post I get to write for PJ.
You’re sad. I know. Let’s not focus on that. Let’s just enjoy the little time we have left together.
I’ll start today’s post with a little primer. T Bone Burnett is one of the most celebrated people in the music business . An artist, a songwriter, a producer… just the first few things that come to mind. He has shepherded many of the most acclaimed projects of the last ten years including the soundtracks to O Brother Where Art Thou, Crazy Heart and Walk The Line. His production work on Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand earned him Grammy statues for Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year in 2009.
So when T Bone Burnett calls Sahara Smith “the best new artist I have heard in many years,” folks should pay attention.
Sahara Smith grew up outside of Austin and started performing when she was just 12 years old. She garnered national attention at the age of 15, coming in second place in a contest for young songwriters for A Prairie Home Companion.
Burnett called in some of his key session players to work on Smith’s Myth Of The Heart and the result is a gorgeous collection of songs that invoke a steamy Texas night. The first single, “The Real Thing” had her cooing in your ear “why don’t we drive all night and wake up in Laredo?”
Um. Ok. Has anyone seen my keys?
Her new single, “Are You Lonely,” is at radio now and it’s another showcase of her fantastic songwriting:
And tonight I'm gonna go downtown
There's a bar on San Jacinto where all the lonely people go to get useless.
And if it's true what they say about you must be true what they say about me too.
God it's getting hard to know what the truth is.
If you forget me in the morning that's alright cause I'll forget you too.
Combine that with her sultry voice asking you if you’re lonely. Well, you get the idea.
Check out the video below to hear the song while Sahara winds her way around downtown Austin:
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
Penultimate [pi-nuhl-tuh-mit] adj: next to the last.
As in, this is the ‘penultimate’ blog post I get to write for PJ.
You’re sad. I know. Let’s not focus on that. Let’s just enjoy the little time we have left together.
I’ll start today’s post with a little primer. T Bone Burnett is one of the most celebrated people in the music business . An artist, a songwriter, a producer… just the first few things that come to mind. He has shepherded many of the most acclaimed projects of the last ten years including the soundtracks to O Brother Where Art Thou, Crazy Heart and Walk The Line. His production work on Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand earned him Grammy statues for Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year in 2009.
So when T Bone Burnett calls Sahara Smith “the best new artist I have heard in many years,” folks should pay attention.
Sahara Smith grew up outside of Austin and started performing when she was just 12 years old. She garnered national attention at the age of 15, coming in second place in a contest for young songwriters for A Prairie Home Companion.
Burnett called in some of his key session players to work on Smith’s Myth Of The Heart and the result is a gorgeous collection of songs that invoke a steamy Texas night. The first single, “The Real Thing” had her cooing in your ear “why don’t we drive all night and wake up in Laredo?”
Um. Ok. Has anyone seen my keys?
Her new single, “Are You Lonely,” is at radio now and it’s another showcase of her fantastic songwriting:
And tonight I'm gonna go downtown
There's a bar on San Jacinto where all the lonely people go to get useless.
And if it's true what they say about you must be true what they say about me too.
God it's getting hard to know what the truth is.
If you forget me in the morning that's alright cause I'll forget you too.
Combine that with her sultry voice asking you if you’re lonely. Well, you get the idea.
Check out the video below to hear the song while Sahara winds her way around downtown Austin:
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Ivan & Alyosha "Fathers Be Kind"
Jesse Barnett of Right Arm Resource is our guest blogger this week. He spends his days on the phone with radio stations across the country, advocating for records he believes in. While PJ is on vacation, Jesse talks to you about 5 new songs he thinks radio, and you, will love.
We’re halfway to the finish line.
PJ’s coming home in a couple days and I can only hope he doesn’t regret his decision to let me sit in the captain’s chair.
The bad thing about vacations for radio programmers is, when you get back, the stack of the music on your desk is ridiculously high. Sometimes, without someone prodding you to listen to a particular project, it gets lost in the shuffle.
I can’t complain about this too much because I’m guilty of doing this myself. A manager I knew reached out to me at the beginning of the year about an ep for a band he was working with out of Seattle. And the download link sat in my inbox, ready to check out.
And sat there.
Then one morning I got an email from a regular client, whose impeccable taste and opinion is questioned by no one, telling me, basically “Hey idiot – would you listen to this guy’s band already? You’ll love it.”
Sometimes that’s all it takes.
It only took one listen.
The members of Ivan & Alyosha have been playing together since 2007. (Spoiler alert: no one in the band is named Ivan or Alyosha. They’re characters from Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. You know, the book you lied about reading to the girl in the cute librarian glasses.) It wasn’t until the 2010 South By Southwest festival that they started to gain notoriety. NPR’s All Songs Considered picked them as part of their conference preview and one of their songs was later featured as NPR’s Song Of The Day.
Their ep called Fathers Be Kind was released last month and features five songs that celebrate the trend of glorious indie rock harmonizing. For a refresher, refer to the performances of Mumford & Sons and The Avett Bros that dropped jaws on the Grammys this year (and for a non-nationally-televised band, read up on personal favorite Good Old War).
The title track, “Fathers Be Kind,” is a plea to parents to do right by their offspring. “Fathers be kind to your children, you know it matters what you tell them, you gotta feel for them, you gotta steal for them.”
I’m a father of a ten-year-old son and a seven-going-on-seventeen-year-old daughter. Let’s just say it didn’t take much to suck me in to this one. Let’s see if it does the same for you.
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
We’re halfway to the finish line.
PJ’s coming home in a couple days and I can only hope he doesn’t regret his decision to let me sit in the captain’s chair.
The bad thing about vacations for radio programmers is, when you get back, the stack of the music on your desk is ridiculously high. Sometimes, without someone prodding you to listen to a particular project, it gets lost in the shuffle.
I can’t complain about this too much because I’m guilty of doing this myself. A manager I knew reached out to me at the beginning of the year about an ep for a band he was working with out of Seattle. And the download link sat in my inbox, ready to check out.
And sat there.
Then one morning I got an email from a regular client, whose impeccable taste and opinion is questioned by no one, telling me, basically “Hey idiot – would you listen to this guy’s band already? You’ll love it.”
Sometimes that’s all it takes.
It only took one listen.
The members of Ivan & Alyosha have been playing together since 2007. (Spoiler alert: no one in the band is named Ivan or Alyosha. They’re characters from Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. You know, the book you lied about reading to the girl in the cute librarian glasses.) It wasn’t until the 2010 South By Southwest festival that they started to gain notoriety. NPR’s All Songs Considered picked them as part of their conference preview and one of their songs was later featured as NPR’s Song Of The Day.
Their ep called Fathers Be Kind was released last month and features five songs that celebrate the trend of glorious indie rock harmonizing. For a refresher, refer to the performances of Mumford & Sons and The Avett Bros that dropped jaws on the Grammys this year (and for a non-nationally-televised band, read up on personal favorite Good Old War).
The title track, “Fathers Be Kind,” is a plea to parents to do right by their offspring. “Fathers be kind to your children, you know it matters what you tell them, you gotta feel for them, you gotta steal for them.”
I’m a father of a ten-year-old son and a seven-going-on-seventeen-year-old daughter. Let’s just say it didn’t take much to suck me in to this one. Let’s see if it does the same for you.
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Edie Brickell "Pill"
Jesse Barnett of Right Arm Resource is our guest blogger this week. He spends his days on the phone with radio stations across the country, advocating for records he believes in. While PJ is on vacation, Jesse talks to you about 5 new songs he thinks radio, and you, will love.
And we’re back.
Day two of PJ’s vacation, and the valiant effort to make our case for some worthy music continues. Thanks for being in this with me for the long haul. You’re a giver. Don’t ever let anyone tell you differently.
Think back to the late 80’s. Pop radio is dominated by such timeless classics as Bobby Brown’s “My Perogative” and Poison’s “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn.”
Oh shush, you know you turned ‘em up. Just accept it and move on.
But then, in between the heavy beats and the raise-your-Zippo anthems, there came a simple song of personal acceptance, where philosophy was the talk on a cereal box and religion was the smile on a dog. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians’ “What I Am.”
And you were the one to correct all of your minions… “Nooo… not THE New Bohemians, just New Bohemians.” Like Smokey Bear, not Smokey The Bear. It’s true. Look it up.
“What I Am” went top 10 and the album Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars went double platinum. Although the success of the song was never matched by the band again, Edie Brickell’s comforting and conversational vocal style was now ingrained in our heads forever.
For much of the next 20-some-odd years, Ms. Edie Brickell spent much of her time as Mrs. Paul Simon, focused on raising kids and having a great family life. She released solo work, another project with New Bohemians, and a project known as Heavy Circles with her stepson Harper Simon.
Fast forward to 2011. The kids are grown and Edie’s on a tear. Songs that have been in the works since her last solo album in 2003 are now seeing the light of the day on her new self-titled album that came out right after the new year. Not content to put out just one project, two weeks later saw the release of The Gaddabouts, a collaboration with Steve Gadd, Pino Palladino and Andy Fairweather Low.
The press has been kind to both projects, and Edie is starting to get some face time again. She appeared on Jimmy Fallon and opened for Iron & Wine at Radio City Music Hall in January, and is slated to play at Jazzfest this year.
The first single from her solo album is called “Pill,” a sardonic take on our need to find a quick fix to cure our daily woes. Edie’s warm vocals, timely lyrics and pointed chorus (“They got a pill for that”) make for another classic. The new animated video does a nice job of illustrating the point as well. Enjoy.
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
And we’re back.
Day two of PJ’s vacation, and the valiant effort to make our case for some worthy music continues. Thanks for being in this with me for the long haul. You’re a giver. Don’t ever let anyone tell you differently.
Think back to the late 80’s. Pop radio is dominated by such timeless classics as Bobby Brown’s “My Perogative” and Poison’s “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn.”
Oh shush, you know you turned ‘em up. Just accept it and move on.
But then, in between the heavy beats and the raise-your-Zippo anthems, there came a simple song of personal acceptance, where philosophy was the talk on a cereal box and religion was the smile on a dog. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians’ “What I Am.”
And you were the one to correct all of your minions… “Nooo… not THE New Bohemians, just New Bohemians.” Like Smokey Bear, not Smokey The Bear. It’s true. Look it up.
“What I Am” went top 10 and the album Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars went double platinum. Although the success of the song was never matched by the band again, Edie Brickell’s comforting and conversational vocal style was now ingrained in our heads forever.
For much of the next 20-some-odd years, Ms. Edie Brickell spent much of her time as Mrs. Paul Simon, focused on raising kids and having a great family life. She released solo work, another project with New Bohemians, and a project known as Heavy Circles with her stepson Harper Simon.
Fast forward to 2011. The kids are grown and Edie’s on a tear. Songs that have been in the works since her last solo album in 2003 are now seeing the light of the day on her new self-titled album that came out right after the new year. Not content to put out just one project, two weeks later saw the release of The Gaddabouts, a collaboration with Steve Gadd, Pino Palladino and Andy Fairweather Low.
The press has been kind to both projects, and Edie is starting to get some face time again. She appeared on Jimmy Fallon and opened for Iron & Wine at Radio City Music Hall in January, and is slated to play at Jazzfest this year.
The first single from her solo album is called “Pill,” a sardonic take on our need to find a quick fix to cure our daily woes. Edie’s warm vocals, timely lyrics and pointed chorus (“They got a pill for that”) make for another classic. The new animated video does a nice job of illustrating the point as well. Enjoy.
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Nicole Atkins "Cry Cry Cry"
Jesse Barnett of Right Arm Resource is our guest blogger this week. He spends his days on the phone with radio stations across the country, advocating for records he believes in. While PJ is on vacation, Jesse talks to you about 5 new songs he thinks radio, and you, will love.
Hello? Is anyone looking?
Well, this is strange. I feel like I’m sneaking into someone’s room and writing in their diary. Sure, a blog is not private like a diary, but you know what I mean.
Don’t you?
I’m honored that PJ asked me to guest-blog for a week while he and the family take a much-deserved vacation. He didn’t tell me where he was going, but I’m going to assume it has something to either do with a drink with an umbrella in it, or a seven foot tall cartoon character. Either way, my hope here is to keep from doing irreparable damage to his good name.
Part of PJ’s daily existence is taking (and dodging, when needed) an insanely large volume of calls from folks like me each week telling him about all the great songs piled up on his desk and just why, why oh why, each one deserves their place in rotation on WMVY’s airwaves.
Over the next week, I’ll highlight five of these songs, making my case to you, the reader. Perhaps together, we can convince PJ to find a home for them.
So here we go…
When I first heard Nicole Atkins in 2007, radio was awash in a sea of pretty female singer songwriters and their acoustic guitars. Then the album Neptune City hit my desk. A mix of swooning 60’s-girl-group melodies, vocals with attitude, indie cred album tracks and a band that could actually PLAY. Dang.
The first single, “Maybe Tonight,” was like Phil Spector meets the Go Go’s and the second, “The Way It Is” was throat-clearing sexy. When I got the chance to see her perform in a couple different settings at South By Southwest in the spring of 2008, she exuded an air of confidence and killed it every time she took the stage.
Like so many music industry stories go, after the promotional well for the album ran dry, she and the label parted ways. Over the next few years, she wrote the tracks for her new album Mondo Amore, playing anywhere possible to support the recording of it. Long story short, she’s got a new label, a new lease on life, and a killer album to back it all up. She also got a great opportunity to perfect the songs live as she spent last November opening up for The Black Keys.
The first single (ahem – this is where we all team up together to get PJ to play it) is called “Cry Cry Cry.” It comes out of the gate with a driving beat, her trademark soaring vocals and a chorus that is impossible to get out of your head after one listen. Radio has responded kindly, with major airplay nationwide. The album was just released, selling over 2000 copies in its first week, and she capped it off with a performance of the song on Conan. Watch it below. I dare you to not find yourself singing it out loud later in the supermarket.
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
Hello? Is anyone looking?
Well, this is strange. I feel like I’m sneaking into someone’s room and writing in their diary. Sure, a blog is not private like a diary, but you know what I mean.
Don’t you?
I’m honored that PJ asked me to guest-blog for a week while he and the family take a much-deserved vacation. He didn’t tell me where he was going, but I’m going to assume it has something to either do with a drink with an umbrella in it, or a seven foot tall cartoon character. Either way, my hope here is to keep from doing irreparable damage to his good name.
Part of PJ’s daily existence is taking (and dodging, when needed) an insanely large volume of calls from folks like me each week telling him about all the great songs piled up on his desk and just why, why oh why, each one deserves their place in rotation on WMVY’s airwaves.
Over the next week, I’ll highlight five of these songs, making my case to you, the reader. Perhaps together, we can convince PJ to find a home for them.
So here we go…
When I first heard Nicole Atkins in 2007, radio was awash in a sea of pretty female singer songwriters and their acoustic guitars. Then the album Neptune City hit my desk. A mix of swooning 60’s-girl-group melodies, vocals with attitude, indie cred album tracks and a band that could actually PLAY. Dang.
The first single, “Maybe Tonight,” was like Phil Spector meets the Go Go’s and the second, “The Way It Is” was throat-clearing sexy. When I got the chance to see her perform in a couple different settings at South By Southwest in the spring of 2008, she exuded an air of confidence and killed it every time she took the stage.
Like so many music industry stories go, after the promotional well for the album ran dry, she and the label parted ways. Over the next few years, she wrote the tracks for her new album Mondo Amore, playing anywhere possible to support the recording of it. Long story short, she’s got a new label, a new lease on life, and a killer album to back it all up. She also got a great opportunity to perfect the songs live as she spent last November opening up for The Black Keys.
The first single (ahem – this is where we all team up together to get PJ to play it) is called “Cry Cry Cry.” It comes out of the gate with a driving beat, her trademark soaring vocals and a chorus that is impossible to get out of your head after one listen. Radio has responded kindly, with major airplay nationwide. The album was just released, selling over 2000 copies in its first week, and she capped it off with a performance of the song on Conan. Watch it below. I dare you to not find yourself singing it out loud later in the supermarket.
Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Raphael Saadiq "Stone Rollin'"
Jesse Barnett is going to be guest blogging here next week. And to get things off on the right foot, here's a free iTunes download that we received, via of Mr. Barnett.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Guster "Airport Song"
The scene: Backstage at the Life Is Good Festival 2010
I'm talking to Jesse, who's holding a big framed poster covered with the autographs of most everyone who has played at the two day event.
Jesse was one of the top fundraising VGP's (Very Good People) for Life Is Good's Kids Foundation, earning him all kinds of great perks. He and his wife and two kids met most every band, had special on-the-stage seating and backstage access throughout the weekend, thanks to his tireless, months long charitable efforts leading up to the festival.
Guster---who have just come off the main stage---will be his last "get" for the weekend. He has otherwise filled his commemorative poster will the scribbled sharpie signatures of folks he's just seen live.
If you've ever been to a Meet & Greet, there is usually this awkward moment, when the band files into the room (or in this case, tent), and the band and the fans look at each other, waiting for somebody to go first.
Jesse---he's not shy---jumps right in, offering the band compliments and thanks, and then he mentions, "I worked the Hybrid record for you guys."
I tell you this story to point out that, Yes, Jesse works in Record Promotions. But more importantly he's a music fan first.
There really aren't cultural tales of heroic record promoters. No, unfortunately, folks who make a living trying to get radio stations to play certain records are generally painted with the same dirty brush that people use to describe Used Car Salesmen.
And, outside of my subjective experience, I might see how you could be cynical, and equate those who make commerce out of art as being worthy of contempt.
But thankfully, my subjective experience has educated me otherwise.
On a daily basis, I interact with folks who devote their lives to getting records played on radio. And by and large, these people are music lovers first and foremost, who happened to work in a field they are passionate about.
Jesse Barnett, and a couple dozen other folks like him, call me every week to talk about records they're promoting and why they think mvyradio listeners might like them.
I know that not every radio station Music Director enjoys taking these calls, but I find them to be really rewarding. I spend a few hours each week, talking to people who are not just passionate about music, but are willing to be evangelical about it. Sure, sometimes it's rote. And yes, I only end up playing a fraction of the records I get talked to about. But to be a part of the conversation is pretty exciting for a music fan.
I'm on vacation next week, so I am asking you to take my music calls.
Jesse will be calling you, via this blog, to talk directly to you about five records he's working, that he thinks mvyradio should be playing. Read what he has to say, listen to the tracks, and leave some feedback. It'll be great to have you in on the conversation, too.
A bit about Jesse. His company is Right Arm Resource, based out of North Easton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Emerson, and worked for A&M Records and then Hybrid Records among other places, before starting his own independent company.
Jesse, like most of the Record folks who call me at mvy, is an independent promoter. Instead of working for a label (where label heads decided what artists they will work with, and the promotions department goes about promoting those artists whether they like them or not) an independent promoter is like a freelancer. Jesse will get hired by Sony or New West or Universal to work Raphael Saadiq or The Old 97s or Jack Johnson records. He has to scrap for each job he gets, but he only has to work records he really believes in.
Starting Monday, read about the songs Jesse is getting evangelical about. Think about how it might sound on mvyradio. And let us know what you think.
I'm talking to Jesse, who's holding a big framed poster covered with the autographs of most everyone who has played at the two day event.
Jesse was one of the top fundraising VGP's (Very Good People) for Life Is Good's Kids Foundation, earning him all kinds of great perks. He and his wife and two kids met most every band, had special on-the-stage seating and backstage access throughout the weekend, thanks to his tireless, months long charitable efforts leading up to the festival.
Guster---who have just come off the main stage---will be his last "get" for the weekend. He has otherwise filled his commemorative poster will the scribbled sharpie signatures of folks he's just seen live.
If you've ever been to a Meet & Greet, there is usually this awkward moment, when the band files into the room (or in this case, tent), and the band and the fans look at each other, waiting for somebody to go first.
Jesse---he's not shy---jumps right in, offering the band compliments and thanks, and then he mentions, "I worked the Hybrid record for you guys."
I tell you this story to point out that, Yes, Jesse works in Record Promotions. But more importantly he's a music fan first.
There really aren't cultural tales of heroic record promoters. No, unfortunately, folks who make a living trying to get radio stations to play certain records are generally painted with the same dirty brush that people use to describe Used Car Salesmen.
And, outside of my subjective experience, I might see how you could be cynical, and equate those who make commerce out of art as being worthy of contempt.
But thankfully, my subjective experience has educated me otherwise.
On a daily basis, I interact with folks who devote their lives to getting records played on radio. And by and large, these people are music lovers first and foremost, who happened to work in a field they are passionate about.
Jesse Barnett, and a couple dozen other folks like him, call me every week to talk about records they're promoting and why they think mvyradio listeners might like them.
I know that not every radio station Music Director enjoys taking these calls, but I find them to be really rewarding. I spend a few hours each week, talking to people who are not just passionate about music, but are willing to be evangelical about it. Sure, sometimes it's rote. And yes, I only end up playing a fraction of the records I get talked to about. But to be a part of the conversation is pretty exciting for a music fan.
I'm on vacation next week, so I am asking you to take my music calls.
Jesse will be calling you, via this blog, to talk directly to you about five records he's working, that he thinks mvyradio should be playing. Read what he has to say, listen to the tracks, and leave some feedback. It'll be great to have you in on the conversation, too.
A bit about Jesse. His company is Right Arm Resource, based out of North Easton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Emerson, and worked for A&M Records and then Hybrid Records among other places, before starting his own independent company.
Jesse, like most of the Record folks who call me at mvy, is an independent promoter. Instead of working for a label (where label heads decided what artists they will work with, and the promotions department goes about promoting those artists whether they like them or not) an independent promoter is like a freelancer. Jesse will get hired by Sony or New West or Universal to work Raphael Saadiq or The Old 97s or Jack Johnson records. He has to scrap for each job he gets, but he only has to work records he really believes in.
Starting Monday, read about the songs Jesse is getting evangelical about. Think about how it might sound on mvyradio. And let us know what you think.
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