As is often the case with independent artists, Dualtone Records' Jeff Black found a receptive ear at National Public Radio. He debuted selections from his second album on the label, Tin Lilly, on the network's popular afternoon news and feature show, "All Things Considered," in early August. Black also made available via iTunes Black Tuesday, a free podcast of live shows, unreleased tracks and selections from his early catalog. He has instituted another appreciation-building promotion, the "Black on the Tracks" tour, that enables fans to travel with him by train to selected concerts in the U. S.
Country traditionalist Leland Martin first attracted widespread attention in 2002 when his whimsical "If I Had Long Legs (Like Alan Jackson)" edged into the Billboard charts. "Thankfully, my music has been embraced by enough radio folks to at least give me a fighting chance to reach the listener," said the one-time sideman for Freddie Hart. "When given that chance, I've placed my bets and promotion dollars on the belief that my music measures up in the places it's heard. I've gotten a lot of requests for shows from venues and festivals in areas where I've gotten airplay."
A long-time favorite with truckers, Martin is distributing his new self-titled album on Magnet Music/Aspirion Records through truckstops and the normal retail chains. The album earned him a five-hour special on Dave Nemo's trucker-oriented XM Satellite Radio show. Martin has cemented his traditionalist credentials with a new music video, "Country As The Day is Long."
Still basically an East Coast phenomenon, the Povertyneck Hillbillies are already showing the kind of muscle a big label act might envy - right down to owning their own tour bus and gaining national sponsors. Operating out of the Pittsburgh area, the Hillbillies credit much of their success to two mentors, songwriter/ producer Bob Corbin, who was formerly with the Corbin/Hanner Band on Mercury Records, and George Moffett, the head of Variety Attractions, a major buyer of talent for fairs. Since uniting under their name in 2002, the seven-man band has parlayed every little break into a bigger one.
Corbin, in addition to managing the band, produced its latest album, Don't Look Back, wrote their most popular single "Mr. Right Now," and set up the label, Cort Records, that the band now records on.
Chris Abbondanza, the Hillbillies' lead singer and a marketing whiz on his own, said that Moffett first saw them play at their local county fair in 2002. He was sufficiently impressed to book them for a series of fair showcases in Pennsylvania and several other states. That led to lots of fair bookings. "George has kind of taken us under his wing," Abbondanza continued. "Along with the fairs, comes working with the radio stations and getting radio play." Even without the intervention of promoters, some Clear Channel stations have programmed the Hillbillies' records, and Abbondanza said that four "Froggy" format stations in the area gave "Mr. Right Now" a total of 1,000 spins.
After Corbin wrote a jingle for the 85-store Eat'n Park restaurant chain, Abbondanza persuaded the company to carry counter displays of the band's new album. The Hillbillies has also enlisted Pittsburgh PBS station WQED in their cause. "They came to one of our bar shows, and that kind of sealed the deal," Abbondanza explained. In addition to running an initial feature story on the band, WQED followed with an hour-long documentary. Recently, the station filmed a live in-studio concert of the band that will air throughout September, as well as offer for sale as a DVD. Besides the concert proper, the DVD will include two additional songs and the original documentary. Viewers will also be offered the Don't Look Back CD. The special is being made available to other PBS stations.
The Hillbillies will perform 205 shows, mostly along the East Coast, by the end of 2005. Their bus now bears the sponsored logo, "84 Lumber Presents The Don't Look Back Tour." Cricket cellphones and Coors Light have signed on as sponsors as well. Wal-Mart stores in the East and Midwest have agreed to carry the band's albums - although not in the Pittsburgh area, Abbondanza said, in deference to the earlier agreement with Eat'n Park. Abbondanza is negotiating with Mountaineer Race Track in West Virginia to sell sponsorship space on the band's equipment truck. In the first six weeks of its release - before the Wal-Mart and Eat'n Park connections kicked in - Don't Look Back sold 4,500 copies.
Business has been so good, Abbondanza concluded, that the Povertyneck Hillbillies plan to showcase in Nashville this fall to attract a major label deal.