N ashvil leMusic Guide .com NashvilleMusicGuide.com 1 The Springs Best Young Band in Country Music Music City BBQ Festival Tequila Cowboy’s Friday, August 24 5:00 Al Green Saturday’s 7:00 Andy T Band 9:15 Fabulous Thunderbirds August 4, 11, and 18 Saturday, August 25 4:00 David Ball 7:30 The Springs 3:00-6:30 9:30 Grand Funk Railroad @TheSpringsBand | www.facebook.com/thesprings www.thespringsband.com NashvilleMusicGuide.com 2 The Springs Best Young Band in Country Music Music City BBQ Festival Tequila Cowboy’s Friday, August 24 5:00 Al Green Saturday’s 7:00 Andy T Band 9:15 Fabulous Thunderbirds August 4, 11, and 18 Saturday, August 25 4:00 David Ball 7:30 The Springs 3:00-6:30 9:30 Grand Funk Railroad @TheSpringsBand | www.facebook.com/thesprings www.thespringsband.com NashvilleMusicGuide.com 1 Letter from the Editor Born, raised, and still Besides that, there is a bigger audience in Nash- spending half my life ville for the sound than many think, and a bet- in OK, I know red dirt ter understanding. What we hope you’ll find in well. I’ve washed the the pages that follow is a bridge over the gap dust from OK’s red between Nashville and red dirt territory. dirt soil from truck windshield’s all my Also, I wanted to remind everyone that NMG life. has a songwriter night once a month, hosted by Sam Cooper. It is the first Thursday of every Like the music, that month at Douglas Corner. He has some of the red dirt dust stays best hit songwriters in Nashville come play. with you! Julie Ingram is hosting her annual Pull For Our When we at NMG Heroes Celebrity Shoot in September. Be sure got ready to publish this issue, many people, to check out the back cover for more details. on both sides of the fence, questioned how we The shoot is in Virginia. could, and why we should, be able to pull it off. The answer is simple - we promote indepen- Enjoy this issue and be sure to check out the dent artists and none are more independent website for more articles on these and other than those who could be called red dirt. artists. Randy Matthews NashvilleMusicGuide.com 2 Contents Letter from the Editor Editor & CEO Randy Matthews [email protected] Features 38 Managing Editor Amanda Andrews [email protected] Director Sales & Marketing Janell Webb 4 What is Red Dirt? [email protected] 8 Smooth as Velvet Accounts Rhonda Smith Stoney LaRue [email protected] 9 Leaders in Music Associate Editor Krys Midgett NAMM Departments [email protected] 12 Carrying Red Dirt from Phil Sweetland, Preshias, Contributors Texas to Nashville Editor’s Letter Rick Moore, Andrew Miller, Leslie Arm- 2 stong, Brion Dixon, Jessica Northey, Rich O’Toole 6 Radio Spotlight Hank & Edna Beach, Bronson Herrmuth, Rick Amburgey 16 Red Dirt Favorite Finds Collin Hudson Music Row Success Growing Up Kilgore Founder: Dan Wunsch 7 Adam Hood Johnny Horton Photography Bob Coan, Jerry Overcast 17 Shake It Down 10 Music Venues HOW TO REACH NMG Six Street Market 11 Events Press releases, CD Reviews [email protected] 18 Worldwide Red Dirt 14 NMG CAM Jason Boland & Stragglers NMG Sounding Board Advertisement/Rates 20 [email protected] 19 John David Kent 21 NSAI Event Submissions 27 Alter-Ego Tools for Successful [email protected] Granger Smith Re-writing Part II General Info 28 The Turnpike 22 Inside Track on [email protected] Troubadours Music Row NMGRadio.com 29 Randy Rogers Musician Spotlight [email protected] 23 30 The Life Of A Gypsy Johnny Garcia NMG Radio Delivery Serivce Brandon Rhyder [email protected] 24 NMG RDS 32 Chad Sullins and the Compilation Information Nashville Music Guide 1700 Hayes Street, Suite 103 Last Call Coalition 34 Loretta Lynn Nashville, TN 37203 The Past with a Office 615.244.5673 Fax 615.244.8568 Pesonal Touch Disclaimer: Nashville Music Guide, Inc 35 Bobby’s Idle Hour is not liable for any inaccuracies submit- 8 The Present with a ted by freelance journalists, advertisers, publicists, and/or persons using this issue Personal Touch for the free publicity and/or any royalty payments or fees due to the publication 36 Producer’s Spotlight of material in the form of a press release, Bill Green events, publicity, or advertising. 37 Biz Buzz YouTube Ups and Downs @NashMusicGuide 38 Nashville Country Club Reviews NashvilleMusicGuide.com 3 What is Red Dirt Music?By Andrew Miller I’m staring out the window on my way home from Texas the cake. after a week of visiting my family in the Lone Star State. “The artists of ‘Texas/Red Dirt’ tend to write most of their Looking out, it seems that I can see to the ends of the Earth own songs, record with their road bands, and the creative in all directions. I can see the true horizon anywhere I look direction is driven more by the sound of their live shows,” — by comparison, Music City feels claustrophobic — and I says Neuman. “They do not have to worry about what will finally think I know how to answer the topic for this article: ‘research,’ just what feels right to them.” What is Red Dirt music? Those fundamental tenants would radiate from Stillwater For the last week I’ve been struggling to answer that ques- into the surrounding areas and into Texas over the next tion. How do you define a genre of music that includes decade, and it would influence a new generation of artists countless artists whose music sounds nothing alike? from Oklahoma, Texas and elsewhere that would bring Red Dirt closer to mainstream. Even those within the Red Dirt scene have a hard time nail- ing it down. Most define it like Supreme Court Justice Pot- In the early 2000s, the first Red Dirt acts started making ter Stewart defined pornography: “I know it when I see it.” a name for themselves outside of Oklahoma and Texas. “[Red Dirt] is defined by the fact that its not really some- Artists like Cross Canadian Ragweed and Reckless Kelly thing that can be defined,” says Enzo DeVincenzo of 377 started breaking into Billboard’s U.S. Country charts, and Management, which manages Stoney LaRue and the Ran- at that time Nashville took notice but wasn’t impressed. dy Rogers Band. “There's a wide variety of influences so, band by band, artist by artist, no two will sound alike, but “Twelve years ago, the ‘Red Dirt’ format and the Texas you can tell they pull from some of the same points of ref- Music Chart were considered by most in the industry as erence.” a fad that would pass in a couple years,” The ‘red dirt country’ Neuman says of Red Dirt music’s jump “This has been a heavily debated ques- genre is producing its into the national spotlight. tion over the last decade,” Clay Neu- own musical version of man says. Neuman is associated with that edgy, independent As late as 2006, mainstream country had Red Dirt acts including Johnny Cooper, a hard time accepting the genre. In a par- Cory Morrow, and Jason Boland & The sound.” ticularly snarky article published by CMT, Stragglers. “To some, it is about a raw Editorial Director Chet Flippo called Red grit that does not exist in ‘commercial Dirt “the same Progressive Country music country’; to others, it is about what is 100 percent indig- that's been flourishing in and around Austin for more than enous to the Texas and Oklahoma borders. To me, it is a 30 years. It's just another mode of naming it and then mar- throwback to the days of Sun Records, when they produced keting the name.” edgier, groundbreaking independent music that was per- formed, night after night, in the music halls throughout the But, as Neuman points out, the music hasn’t faded away as Southeast, with such breakthrough artists as Elvis Presley, everyone in the industry expected. Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The ‘red dirt country’ genre is producing its own musical version of that edgy, “Twelve years later, artists from this format continue to independent sound.” thrive more than ever, make substantial progress on Bill- board album sales charts, and especially excel in iTunes Maybe the first step in defining Red Dirt music is to con- sales,” he says. “Our ‘core’ artists are now playing shows sider it a movement more than a genre, and that movement all across the country. And from an industry standpoint, the started on a farm owned by Bob Childers outside of Still- Texas Regional Radio Report now has the importance to be water, Okla. in the 1980s. At “The Farm,” seminal Red Dirt included in the weekly Billboard Country Update.” artists including Childers, Red Dirt Rangers (John Cooper, Brad Piccolo and Ben Han), Jimmy LaFave, Tom Skinner One common misconception about Red Dirt music is that it and others played and wrote music together because they is an alternative or rival to Nashville country, and that Red wanted to, the way they wanted to. They shared influences Dirt artists are jealous of the success of their Music Row in Bob Wills and Woody Guthrie, two legends of country counterparts, but that’s not the case. and folk music who had done things their own way. “I think in some ways, everyone is the same because they The Farm was the antithesis of the industry on Music Row. really just want to get their music out to as many people as The musicians at The Farm were writing and playing music possible,” DeVincenzo says.