Friday, September 28, 2012

The Hellmand Project


The Hellmand Project

Alabama Music Office.com goes to the VA Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for an exclusive private concert for you our AMO fans. The Hellman Project performed in a quiet area except for a water fountain that continually runs. These veterans are making the transition from military to civilian life. Music gives this transition meaning for Jason Hallman, Allen Morgan and Joe Gillentine.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Wet Willie in Tuscaloosa, Ala #2


Wet Willie in Tuscaloosa, Ala #2


Alabama Music Office.com goes to the historic Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see Wet Willie and Bad Brad & The Sipsey Slims perform for The Alabama Blues Project Benefit September 2012.
Wet Willie began as a thrown together blues-rock band during the magical Summer of 1969 "way down in Alabama"...(Mobile, to be precise). The original nucleus of the group that eventually became known as Wet Willie was called Fox. The first "gig" was a booking in Panama City, Florida at a club called the Oddessy, a geodesic dome right on the beach. For those who must have a concept, or reason and meaning behind every occurring work in any medium of art, the only one I can think of was "fun". Raw, hormonal...fun.
Drummer Lewis Ross assembled the musicians for a group called "Fox" in the summer of 1969, which a year later became known as "Wet Willie." Wet Willie was a versatile, high-energy Southern rock band that, from 1971 until 1978, produced an array of albums awash in good-time music, rollicking high-energy blues-rock, and white Southern soul, but racked up just one Top Ten hit and a lot of admirers.
The core members of the band during that period were Jimmy Hall, vocals, harmonica, saxophone; Jimmy's brother Jack Hall on bass; John Anthony on keyboards; Ricky Hirsch on guitar, and Lewis Ross on drums and percussion. The duo of girls singing background vocals dubbed "The Williettes" were staple of the classic Wet Willie sound, and always featured Jimmy & Jack's sister, Donna Hall. Keyboardist Mike Duke also joined from The Wetter The Better LP onwards. For a short period of time in 1974 UK singer Elkie Brooks joined the band as a backing singer, as did future Honkette Leslie Hawkins.
Wet Willie put out several albums on Capricorn Records between 1971 and 1977. Along with a "Greatest Hits" album released on Polydor Records, they also released 2 more final studio albums on Epic Records, although some hits collections and further live recordings have been released as recently as 2006. Perhaps their best-known LP is the 1973 live album, Drippin' Wet, but their main claim to fame is the hit single, "Keep On Smilin,'" which reached #10 on the Billboard singles chart. They also enjoyed some other Billboard-charted songs with "Country Side Of Life," "Everything That 'Cha Do" (Will Come Back To You), "Leona," and from their Epic Records period, "Street Corner Serenade" and "Weekend" from the LP's Manorisms and Which One's Willie? They toured and recorded extensively from 1969 through the early Eighties, and they still perform today.
Wet Willie released a new live CD "Miles of Smiles" in 2012 and is touring with 4 original members, including original lead singer Jimmy Hall, brother Jack Hall on bass, sister Donna Hall on vocals and TK Lively on drums, as well as other long time members Ric Seymour on guitar and vocals, Ricky Chancey on guitar and newest member Bobby Mobley on keys.

Caddle at BAAMFest



Caddle at BAAMFest 


Alabama Music Office.com goes to the Rogue Tavern in downtown Birmingham, Alabama to watch Caddle perform for BAAMFest 2011. Caddle delivers what they call Southern-fried-alt-country. Others call it Cow-Punk. Whatever you call it, it's damn good rock and roll.

Caddle's website says: Mixing gasoline and nitro would make a pretty impressive explosion, though nothing like the high powered alt-country
performance from these blue collar boys from Birmingham.
Described as "dixie fried roots rock with a dash of punk,"
Caddle draws on classic country and bluegrass influences,
then supercharges them with hard driving rock n' roll with an
attitude.
Caddle is:
Finney James-Drums
Chris Pottratz-Bass
Eric Watters-Guitar/Vocals
Gary Edmonds-Guitar/Vocals
Phillip Hyde-Vocals

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

How Important Is A Band Name? by Jerry W. Henry


In today's music business, having an effective web marketing strategy can make the difference between your band being a local, national or international music star. A band’s marketing strategy begins with its name. Selection of a band’s name is a key element because your bands name will also become your bands keyword on the Internet. Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, ASK and many other search engines use keywords to help hundreds of millions of people find what they are looking for on-line.

When someone is looking for information about your band on the Internet, they are more than likely, going to type your bands name into a search engine. When the search engine returns the results, you'll want your website and your Reverbnation page to be in the top of the listings.

Your keyword has to be very creative, even crazy. A crazy band name, when used as a keyword, will help your listings in search engines beyond your wildest imagination. Your goal is to dominate the first page when your band name is searched.

For example, let's examine two keywords for two music acts - "Alabama", the iconic band with a simple name and "Wild Sweet Orange" a newer rock band with a crazy name.

When I Googled “Alabama,” Google returned 560,000,000 results. On the first page of Google’s search results, “Alabama” showed up only one time on the first page as a band and was not even listed on the second page.

When I Googled the crazier name “Wild Sweet Orange,” Google returned 24,800,00 results. The very first Google listing, for “Wild Sweet Orange,” was for the band’s Official Website. Every listing on the first page was theirs and more than half the listings on the second page which they shared with a tea company.

Do you see what I am talking about? The first page in Google’s' search results is all important because most people doing searches will not dig past page two - in any search engine. The likelihood of a poorly chosen band name having any success on the Internet (from a marketing stand-point) is very slim.

The lesson to be learned here is: choose a crazy or creative keyword or words for your band’s name. With those crazy keywords people can find you easily on the Internet and that can improve your on-line marketing efforts well over 100%.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Wet Willie in Tuscaloosa, Ala #1



Wet Willie in Tuscaloosa, Ala #1 

Alabama Music Office.com goes to the historic Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see Wet Willie and Bad Brad & The Sipsey Slims perform for The Alabama Blues Project Benefit September 2012.

Wet Willie began as a thrown together blues-rock band during the magical Summer of 1969 "way down in Alabama"...(Mobile, to be precise). The original nucleus of the group that eventually became known as Wet Willie was called Fox. The first "gig" was a booking in Panama City, Florida at a club called the Oddessy, a geodesic dome right on the beach. For those who must have a concept, or reason and meaning behind every occurring work in any medium of art, the only one I can think of was "fun". Raw, hormonal...fun.
Drummer Lewis Ross assembled the musicians for a group called "Fox" in the summer of 1969, which a year later became known as "Wet Willie." Wet Willie was a versatile, high-energy Southern rock band that, from 1971 until 1978, produced an array of albums awash in good-time music, rollicking high-energy blues-rock, and white Southern soul, but racked up just one Top Ten hit and a lot of admirers.

The core members of the band during that period were Jimmy Hall, vocals, harmonica, saxophone; Jimmy's brother Jack Hall on bass; John Anthony on keyboards; Ricky Hirsch on guitar, and Lewis Ross on drums and percussion. The duo of girls singing background vocals dubbed "The Williettes" were staple of the classic Wet Willie sound, and always featured Jimmy & Jack's sister, Donna Hall. Keyboardist Mike Duke also joined from The Wetter The Better LP onwards. For a short period of time in 1974 UK singer Elkie Brooks joined the band as a backing singer, as did future Honkette Leslie Hawkins.

Wet Willie put out several albums on Capricorn Records between 1971 and 1977. Along with a "Greatest Hits" album released on Polydor Records, they also released 2 more final studio albums on Epic Records, although some hits collections and further live recordings have been released as recently as 2006. Perhaps their best-known LP is the 1973 live album, Drippin' Wet, but their main claim to fame is the hit single, "Keep On Smilin,'" which reached #10 on the Billboard singles chart. They also enjoyed some other Billboard-charted songs with "Country Side Of Life," "Everything That 'Cha Do" (Will Come Back To You), "Leona," and from their Epic Records period, "Street Corner Serenade" and "Weekend" from the LP's Manorisms and Which One's Willie? They toured and recorded extensively from 1969 through the early Eighties, and they still perform today.

Wet Willie released a new live CD "Miles of Smiles" in 2012 and is touring with 4 original members, including original lead singer Jimmy Hall, brother Jack Hall on bass, sister Donna Hall on vocals and TK Lively on drums, as well as other long time members Ric Seymour on guitar and vocals, Ricky Chancey on guitar and newest member Bobby Mobley on keys.

Monday, September 17, 2012



Bad Brad and The Sipsey Slims

Alabama Music Office.com goes to the historic Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see Bad Brad & The Sipsey Slims and Wet Willie play for Alabama Blues Project Benefit September 2012.
Brad Guin is a phenomenal saxophone player his lyrical and stylistic tenor sax playing has led Brad to some of the most acclaimed gigs a young horn player could hope for. He specializes in the Muscle Shoals and Memphis sound and has worked with some of the most influential artist of our time such as Eddie Floyd, Bobby Blue Bland, Little Milton, Clarence Carter, Johnny Taylor, B.B. King, Jimmy Hall, Percy Sledge, Gregg Allman, Bonnie Bramlet, The Temptations, Martha and The Vandellas, Four Tops, and The O'Jays. Brad Guin has been working with The Alabama Blues Project Advanced since Spring 2010.

Wet Willie Preview



Wet Willie Preview

Alabama Music Office.com goes to the historic Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see Bad Brad & The Sipsey Slims and Wet Willie play for the Alabama Blues Project Benefit.....AMO will release a song every Tuesday morning until Wet Willie's great performance is complete. Enjoy!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

International Blues Challenge 2009 Memphis


These are a couple of my collages that I have over at Vuvox. This one has two videos embedded; Alabama Blues Machine and Davina & the Vagabonds.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Music at Dick Cooper Party thru the Years



Music at Dick Cooper Party thru the Years 

Alabama Music Office.com goes to Shoals Creek near Florence, Alabama to attend Dick Cooper's Parties over the years. There is always an abundance of talent at any Dick Cooper Party. This video shows Alabama music artists doing what the love, playing music. Muscle Shoals is again developing new sound for the return of Music Mecca status.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Music at Dick Cooper Party



Music at Dick Cooper Party 

Alabama Music Office.com goes to Shoals Creek near Florence, Alabama to attend a Dick Cooper Party in the Spring of 2009. Armed with a cheap camera to capture some dark images of the music that happens at these events. The mixture of musicians is ever changing from one Dick Cooper Party to the next, but always feeding and strengthening the music community of Alabama.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The New Formula. By Jerry W. Henry



The music business understands that the “old” formula of how to successfully promote a “new” act is obsolete. The record companies are aware of this situation, but have no idea what the solution is. What they do understand is that they no longer are able to recoup their investment in studio time with a top producer, the cost of a video, the advertising budget, and the cost of the first promotional road tour from the profits on a first hit music project. An act must be capable of repeating and sustaining their initial success in the studio in order for a record company to make a profit because the necessary investment has increased dramatically.  Since the mid ‘90's the record companies have become painfully aware that there are no acts with songwriters who can continually write hit songs. The new acts since the mid ‘90's have one, two, maybe three good songs at the most, as any person who's purchased music since that time will testify. The record companies also know that MP3 downloading is a factor that has negatively affected their profits. That together with their inability to find sustainable new acts is the two main reasons why so many record companies are losing money. Those not losing money are the ones that have a library of popular artists from the past who continue to sell. The record companies now understand that the Internet is the new communications medium, it's here to stay, and they are all trying to figure out how to take advantage of it. Their pattern has always been to watch the numbers, analyze the trends, and then try to jump on board and ride the wave for as long as it lasts. If I told them what the answer is to the problems they face, they simply wouldn't know what to do with the information.

The new formula for success is to have the right factors in place first, and then to use the Internet's full potential to bring the artist to the attention of the entire world.

New formula rule # 1: You can’t have a hit record without a hit song. What is a hit song? To me, It's a song that is so damn catchy that after hearing it one time people cannot get it out of their minds and they will spend money to own that music. The world’s best producer cannot produce a hit record without having that kind of raw material.

New formula rule# 2: In order to create a hit music artist on the Internet, it’s necessary to have at least one hit song that has been properly produced.  It is necessary to have a web site that is a hit. What is a hit web site? It's one with thousands of "hits" per day but that's not the point. The point is that in the same way that a hit song works for a listener, a web site must grab a web surfer's interest within the first 5-10 seconds and hold their interest long enough to find the hit songs and listen to them. But it should also contain entertaining content for people to read and enjoy because a hit web site is a much more complex form of entertainment. The hit web sites are the ones that have great creative writing and cannot be digested in one sitting, so people will keep coming back for more entertainment. This kind of web site cannot possibly be designed by a web site design professional because real creative and entertaining writing is not for sale at any price. That means the successful music artist of the future needs to be more than just a musician in order to take full advantage of this powerful medium because the web site needs to reflect the artist's personal expression, and nobody can do that except the artist.

New formula rule # 3: The new formula for success may not even require an advertising budget.  Creative Internet promotions can achieve thousands of hits per day. The promotion has to be creative enough to attract the music lover. But the two previous steps are absolute prerequisites for success. A money-losing promotional road tour can be avoided by waiting until building an Internet fan club develops a large audience and selling enough music to warrant a road tour that will turn a profit.

The new formula also has the potential for making the old costly distribution networks obsolete. Because purchasing directly over the Internet could eliminate the necessity for retail mark-ups and thus maximize profits for all concerned.

The Recording Industry Association of America has the correct statistics on what music is actually selling as opposed to what is being played on the radio and what the record companies are attempting to market. They list The Beatles, Elvis, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Stones, Pink Floyd and The Eagles with the top 25 dominated by classic rock acts. I think it's very significant that those statistics are becoming geometrically times greater than the number of albums that they sold during their performance lifetimes. What has happened, and is happening, is the young people of today are discovering them in droves and buying their music. Traditionally, the record buying public has always been young people between the ages of 12-25 and those demographics have not changed. What this means is that the potential for profit in new classic rock is beyond calculation.

Southbound Showdown at Bama Theatre



Southbound Showdown at Bama Theatre

Alabama Music Office.com goes to the historic Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa, Alabama to attend Southbound Showdown which is a touring concert series showcasing various genres of Southern music on football home game weekends at Southeastern Conference college cities. The Tuscaloosa Showdown was the Friday before homecoming and featured; Ivan Neville's Dumpstafunk, The Stanton Moore Trio, Grayson Capps and Shannon Mcnally.
THE SOUTHBOUND SHOWDOWN
The first annual Southbound Showdown tour is coming to an SEC football game near you this fall !! The Showdown is a full weekend of Southern inpired music, food, art, and entertainment to give folks something extra to do before the games.
The Showdown centerpiece is a touring concert series showcasing various genres of Southern music on home game weekends. Whether it be Americana, bluegrass, blues, alt-country, New Orleans funk, Cajun, Zydeco, etc., our goal is to create a touring show of Southern inspired music, food, culture, and art to take to theaters throughout the South and beyond.
Each concert will be held the preceding Thursday or Friday night before large home football games to give our audience something to do before game day. In addition to the concerts, we're hosting sponsor pre-parties before each show where we'll feature Southern food, music, art, and other aspects of Southern culture.
Lastly, we'll be hosting a game day tailgate in each market near the stadium where we'll have live music, food, and a tent to invite our concert attendees from the previous nights' festivities! We're filming all the weekend activities for a documentary, so please check with us periodically if you think you've made the cut!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Shannon McNally at OZ Music



Shannon McNally at OZ Music

Alabama Music Office.com goes to OZ Music in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see Shannon McNally perform. Oz Music is one of a few places where a music lover can still go to browse through the racks, touch actual discs, talk to knowledgeable human beings and find the collectibles they seek.

Shannon McNally (New York, March 17, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter.
Shannon was born in Hempstead, on Long Island. While studying anthropology at Franklin and Marshall College, McNally began singing and playing guitar in clubs. After graduating and honing her skills on the streets of Paris as a busker, McNally secured a deal with Capitol Records in 1997. McNally was intent on making an acoustic record and entered the studio with studio professionals including Jim Keltner, Benmont Tench, and Greg Leisz. The resulting album Jukebox Sparrows was not released at the time.
In the interim, McNally opened for Stevie Nicks and Ryan Adams, and was part of the 1999 Girl's Room tour with Tara MacLean, Kendall Payne, and Amy Correia. She also modeled for Urban Decay cosmetics. In 2000, McNally issued the holdover EP Bolder Than Paradise. When Capitol finally issued Jukebox Sparrows in January 2002, it did so into a market that had already embraced such roots-flavored material as Ryan Adams and the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. McNally embarked on a press tour, and spent the summer of that year supporting John Mellencamp. In late 2002, she released the Ran on Pure Lightning EP, a collaboration with songwriter Neal Casal.
In 2005, McNally returned with the country, blues, and soul influences on the album Geronimo. The album's June release was accompanied by a summer's worth of live dates. Early 2006 saw the release of McNally's third album, North American Ghost Music. Tour dates with Son Volt also coincided its release.
Shannon McNally took off most of 2008 and 2009 after the birth of her first child. She has resumed performing and recording and toured with Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women. In 2009 she relreased the album Coldwater with her band Hot Sauce. Shannon currently resides near Oxford, Mississippi.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Grayson Capps at OZ Music


Grayson Capps at OZ Music

Alabama Music Office.com goes to OZ Music in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see Grayson Capps perform. OZ Music hosts music performances by local and touring artists, sometimes bringing artists to Tuscaloosa that we would not see otherwise.

Grayson Capps' fifth studio album, The Lost Cause Minstrels finds the Mobile, Alabama-based singer-songwriter coming of age. This doesn't mean, however, that his oft-unholy tales of the Southern Gothic have lost any sting. Quite the contrary, Capps' Tao-tinged, philosophical reflections—revealed deep inside songs shuddering with spit, stomp and snarl—are as potent as ever. Listen no further than the tracks: "Highway 42," "No Definitions" and "Rock N Roll" to hear that Capps cedes no quarter. It's just that this time his bark and bite is more conciliatory towards the unanswered questions mucking up the universe, while country soul-tinged textures and gospel harmonies ease the raw edges.
Occasionally, even a celebratory mood prevails like the horn-fueled romp "Ol' Slac," an ode the rebirth of the Mobile, Alabama Mardi Gras; or "Coconut Moonshine," a character sketch based on Mr. Jim who inhabits the hallowed roadside barbecue joint in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
As well, two rare, but classic, American roots' numbers are born again here: Taj Mahal's country-blues paen "Annie's Lover" and Richard "Rabbit" Brown's jaunty "Jane's Alley Blues," (the original recording preserved on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music).
Grayson Capps' real life situation has evolved since his previous release Rott 'n' Roll, and those developments are felt in both the album's sound and spirit. In 2010, he dissolved his band The Stumpknockers, re-assembling a new cast of musicians, fittingly dubbed The Lost Cause Minstrels. The line-up features a who's who of the finest players on the Gulf Coast music scene, including Corky Hughes on guitars, Chris Spies on keys, Christian Grizzard on bass and John Milham on drums.
In the middle of recording the album, Capps moved back to Alabama where he was born and raised. He'd been residing in Nashville since 2007 after leaving his longtime New Orleans' home following Hurricane Katrina.
Additionally, Capps co-produced the effort with his partner and Grammy Award-winning engineer/producer Trina Shoemaker (Queens of the Stone Age, Dylan Leblanc, Sheryl Crow).
All of these factors coalesce into a collection of songs timeless in their pursuit of truth yet well aware of how hard the truth is to find in these times. The Lost Cause Minstrels is the highly anticipated next chapter from one of the finest Southern troubadours of the day.
Grayson Capps first discovered music in Alabama where he was born and raised. His father and friends would sit around the house getting drunk, telling stories and strumming acoustic guitars. They'd run down songs by Hank Williams, Tom T. Hall, Glenn Campbell and Woodie Guthrie to name but a few. The idealism of those "Cannery Row" experiences would come to define his outlook on the world. Heading off to Tulane University as a theater major on scholarship, Grayson also took up playing music. He'd form two bands that would have moderate national success—The House Levelers and Stavin' Chain— receiving acclaim in publications like Spin and USA Today and opening shows for Keith Richards, The Replacements and Crowded House. After graduating college, he took to squatting with friends in a string of abandoned houses on the outskirts of the Big Easy, stealing electricity, growing a garden and busking for whatever money was needed. Grayson recounts those times on a number of songs off his debut album, If You Knew My Mind. One of those memories even finds its way onto Rott 'N' Roll in the form of "Ike.
"Hailing from South Alabama and spending over a decade in New Orleans, revered singer-songwriter Grayson Capps has found listeners the world over enthralled by his stinging tales of the Southern Gothic. In his own words, he explains: "I write songs which have the voice of dead prophets masquerading as town drunks screaming 'look at us we're pretty, too!'"
Over the course of four critically acclaimed studio albums and cameo appearance in the Golden Globe Award-nominated film A Love Song For Bobby Long, one will find a stunning depth to his discography, authenticating Grayson Capps as a rare American gem, equal parts country singer, bluesman, rock star, philosopher and poet. As Jambase recently declared, "New Orleans' marvel Grayson Capps is alive and well and slowly building one of the most phenomenal songbooks in America today. If ever there were a cat primed to pick up where Lowell George and John Prine have left off, it's Capps."
Grayson Capps is currently touring the world in support of his new album, The Lost Cause Minstrels, on the Brooklyn record label Royal Potato Family. He will have two songs featured in the upcoming Screen Gems film Straw Dogs starring James Marsden, Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard.

Monday, September 3, 2012



Doc Dailey and Magnolia Devil at OZ Music


Alabama Music Office.com goes to OZ Music in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to see Doc Dailey & Magnolia Devil perform. This is a Muscle Shoals area band that is a band to watch.


Doc Dailey has been writing and performing original music around the South for the last few years. From Muscle Shoals, AL, his sound has been described as Americana, Indie-Folk, and Gritty Southern Pop. Sometimes he flies solo, sometimes he's accompanied by others, and sometimes there's a full band in tow.

In December 2005, Dailey self-released a 6-song debut, The Family EP, on his own Southern Discipline Recording Company label.

After several recording attempts and countless shows around the Southeastern U.S., the time was right to get back into the studio. Dailey approached sound engineer Ben Tanner, formerly of FAME Recording Studio, and basic tracks were laid down at Wishbone Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL in October of 2009, for what would become Victims, Enemies, & Old Friends.

In the months leading up to tracking, Dailey assembled a full-time backing band consisting of, long-time accompanist, Jon Berry on banjo, Ben Stedman and Kyle Minckler (That Hideous Strength) on bass guitar and drums, and Amber Murray and Nathan Pitts (The Bear) on vocals and pedal steel guitar.

Overdubs and additional tracks were recorded during the next couple of months at Big Cedar in Cypress Inn, TN and Wildwood Park Recording in Florence, AL featuring Danley Murner (mandolin), Kate Tayler Hunt (violin, viola, and cello), Anna Grott (vocals) and guest appearances by Jamie Barrier (The Pine Hill Haints) on fiddle and Browan Lollar (Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit) on guitar. Dailey and Tanner co-produced the record with Tanner also adding keyboards to several tracks.

Doc Dailey & Magnolia Devil released Victims, Enemies, & Old Friends on October, 5th 2010 by Dailey's Southern Discipline Recording Company.

Songs from Victims, Enemies, & Old Friends have been getting airtime on several college stations around the Southeast as well a being featured on Franny Thomas's Sirius/XM show, Your Roots Are Showing, on The Loft.

In 2010, as part of a Billy Reid fashion campaign, Doc Dailey & Magnolia Devil were featured in a short film by Vice Magazine (VBS TV) and Levi's entitled, Americana: The Muscle Shoals Sound.