Well, one could say that the Canadian radio promotion produced a "less than desirable" result, whilst simultaneously it was a good perspective generator and learning experience. I love to learn! Basically fewer radio stations than hoped for added Still Crazy, leaving the investment not delivering the ROI in terms of exposure and artist awareness than was the intent. Oh well, we all take our hits (pardon the pun!).
Good news in the balance, well over 100 stations in Europe & Australia have been play-listing the music. A big, big favorite on this side of the Atlantic has been "Waitin' for My Train", which is a sure-fire traditional stomp-your-feet-kick-up-some-dust kind of guitar & pedal steel party of a song. I am thankful for these stations & their wide open and positive reception to the music!
The big question these days is "where & what next?" to get to the next level in creating exposure for what I feel is a rather strong record (but, hey that's only my opinion & the numerous journalists that have reviewed & confirmed that) and increasing sales.
For now - the focus will be on live performance. In this day and age of the music industry, us "low on the totem pole", self-driven, self-financed artists are best rewarded in record and merchandise sales at live shows. So, it's time to take advantage of the spring and summer longing for cold beer & good music. This means that Every ounce of available time will be focused on generating new bookings, and rehearsing & re-arranging up coming live shows.
Here is a run down of the schedule to this point:
Date | Title | Venue | City | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
31.03.2011 | Internationell Författarscen | Stadsbiblioteket Malmö | Malmö, SE | |||
02.04.2011 | Mitt-West | Mitt West Country Club | Ikast, DK | |||
05.04.2011 | Aalborg Country Club | Huset i Aalborg | Aalborg, DK | |||
06.05.2011 | Summer Season Kick-off | Meyers Ranch | Vejle, DK | |||
11.05.2011 | ABF/Riffet | Kulturhuset, Trelleborg | Trelleborg, SE | |||
17.06.2011 | Headliner Festival Performance | High Chaparral Festival | Hillerstorp, SE | |||
13.08.2011 | Festival Performance | Killhults Country Festival | Laholm, SE | |||
13.08.2011 | Headliner Festival Performance | Killhults Country Festival | Laholm, SE | |||
26.08.2011 | Still Crazy in Dalarna | Dössbergets Värdshus | BJURSÅS, SE |
As you can see, a couple of fun festival performances on the agenda. At High Chaparral June 17-19, I'm honored to play on the same stage as a number of super cool Swedish acts like Ulf "Masken" Andersson & the Wild Bunch, Buford Pope and others along with a fellow Canadian artist that folks in Sweden are not so familiar with, but who has generated 5 albums and a good run of success since the late 90's, Julian Austin. He'll put on a rough & tumble, authentic country performance using a band consisting of Nordic members.
And while we're on the topic of true twang...my many thanks for the very enthusiastic response from Jonas Ericson and Svenskyrkan, Bjursås ( www.svenskakyrkan.se/bjurs
For now - that's where things are at. I am re-inspired and feel the twang in my finger tips surging! I had better get them punching the keys of the computer keyboard & telephone to book more shows!
Twang-a-lang!
//Evan