News/Thoughts

Monthly Archives: October 2015

Advice For Aspiring Musicians

By Andrew McKnight “What is the single most important money-making tip you would give a new singer/songwriter?” That question was asked of Featured Artists at *The Standing “O” Project, and answers from 16 of those working musicians are collected in this book; some are single sentences, others are pages long. Killing it In the Streaming Age offers a different take ...

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TBelly

UK’s Russell Keefe says he’s been playing music since he was a “small child,” he mused. In and out of several bands during his music career, it was a stint with Les McKeown’s legendary Bay City Rollers that occupied a lengthy season of his life; 18 years, he said. Les, the original lead singer, was looking for a new band ...

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Lee Sims

Lee Sims is often referred to as a Colorado music icon, and a “down home superstar.” His current CD, Deep In The Heart Of Me, is a return of sorts for Lee, to the music industry. As a youngster, Lee’s dad would take him to jam sessions, and prod him to get up there and perform along with the adults. ...

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Sibling Harmony

By Tori Gold Back in the winter, we attended the DC Bluegrass Union’s indoor festival. It was a top notch festival held in the ballroom of an up-scale hotel and unique in that we stayed on the same floor on which the ballroom stage was located. This convenience provided plenty of opportunity to mingle with the performers between sets. One ...

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Robert Earl Keen

By Greg Tutwiler Texas singer-songwriter, Robert Earl Keen began his professional recording career in 1984 with his debut album, No Kinda Dancer. Since then, he has recorded 18 full-length albums and written songs that have been covered by vaious artists from the country, folk and Texas country music scenes including George Strait, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, and the Dixie Chicks, ...

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Carolina Story

By Greg Tutwiler Carolina Story is Ben and Emily Roberts; Ben from Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Emily from Lennox, South Dakota. They met in Memphis, and now hail from East Nashville. So, you may wonder, where did the Carolina part come from? I did too. “When we first started dating, I took Emily on a week long camping trip in ...

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Before The Words

By Donna Ulisse As I sit here in the quiet of my home office with the computer screen throwing contrived lighting across my hands, I am reminded of how natural and unchanged the craft of song writing is. We can invent all these wonderful new tools to use for writing songs but it still comes down to the very basics; ...

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Build It, They Will Play

By Edward Tutwiler During this magical, mystical, Americana string-music tour that I’ve been so blessed to take, I have had the privilege to document the stories of many fine instrument makers. Some have been renowned musicians who also construct a special instrument that delivers the perfect sound to their ears and then build a copy of that instrument one at ...

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