The following was contributed by Chris Burton, a good friend of The Bluegrass Blog. Knowing how many of our readers are part time bluegrass performers, we asked Chris to discuss his recent experiences - and success - getting his debut solo release out and distributed online. The project features a mix of Chris’ original material and bluegrass classics, and features performances by original Lonesome River Band member Jerry McMillan, Amanda Smith, Ron Stewart and Blinky Moon Boys. Commenting is enabled on this post, so please feel free to share your feedback.

After two or more years of recording on a digital multi-track recorder in my basement, I finally released my first solo project The Way I See It a few months ago. The Bluegrass Blog was nice enough to do a post that talked about the project and about my plans for distribution, which mentioned the fact that the CD was being distributed to digital download services. The Blog Masters have suggested a follow up to help other unsigned artists with distribution, which obviously translates to sales and music getting heard.

Here is what is happening with my project, with a few simple suggestions that hopefully can make a project more successful. Chris Burton “? The Way I See It currently has been distributed to 19 download services. Some are very well known, some are not. It can take from 2 weeks to 3 months to get up and selling on any of these nineteen sites. It is available now on these popular sites: Apple iTunes, Sony Connect, Music Net, MSN Music, and a number of others.

How did I get the project sent to all of these services? It was easy. I signed up with CD Baby.com. For $35 they create what equates to an online store for your project. Bio, sound clips, a price that you set, accounting, etc. As a member, I can log on to the site and check any of the information about my project I want to (sales, hits which are listed daily, etc.). I can also change things (price, clips, bio) at any time. CD Baby keeps $4 per unit sold, and the rest comes back to me. (more…)

Bluegrass music has not made very much progress in the area of music videos. Yeah Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, Del McCoury, and a few others have managed to get something to air, but they are the select few. It’s hard to get a bluegrass music video on the air. I know from personal experience. I have produced several music videos in the course of my business and I’m still working on trying to get them to air [I’ll let you know if I’m successful]. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear of another bluegrass group getting a music video on television.

3 Fox Drive is a relatively new incarnation of The Fox Family. So while the band name is new, the members have been around the industry for some time. You can read the band bio and the member bios for more info.

I had the opportunity to visit with Kim Fox, the lead vocalist, via email and she shared some interesting background information about the video. But first, here is the text of the press release we received yesterday about their music video debut. (more…)

Thanks to the folks at The Mandolin Cafe, where we first saw this story about the rebirth of a stage show featuring the music and life story of Bill Monroe. The show is titled Back to Bean Blossom: The Life and Music of Bill Monroe, and will feature a mix of musical performance, visual images and live narration. It is scheduled to be presented on November 18, 2005 at the Basile Theatre/Indiana History Center in Indianapolis, IN as part of their Sounds Of Indiana concert series.

We were able to reach a number of the folks involved in this program for some background on its creation and evolution, as well as the “back story” of Bill Monroe and the state of Indiana.

This show is the brainchild of Indianapolis mandolinist Mike Butler, who was inspired to pursue this venture after he participated as a performer in a similarly themed presentation for Indianapolis area blues players staged by the Indiana History Center. He approached them about a program on Bill Monroe, and with an eye towards Monroe’s “Indiana connection,” they agreed that the show would go forward under their auspices. (more…)

Starting in the next few days, we will institute a new feature on The Bluegrass Blog - long form posts. These will be articles which notably exceed our typical posts in length and which feature substantial content that is wholly original to one of our authors, or involving the results of our independent research.

Because of the length of these features, only a brief synopsis of the content will display on the font page, along with this longform graphic and a link to display the entire article. In some cases, photos will accompany the longform piece and we may open them to comments if the content suggests it.

Like our sporadic audio podcasts, longform posts will be published as the opportunity arises, and not on any specific schedule or frequency.