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Crossover Touring April Update |
Hello, everyone!
There's been a lot of chatter lately about what's legitimate music marketing and what's a "psyop," and it's probably fair to not be totally sure about that nowadays. Long gone is the time when the cover of a major music magazine was all you needed to launch a band from nobody to somebody.
Increasingly, artists rely on their fans to serve as their marketing and PR teams, spreading the good word about new albums, upcoming shows, even the best merch in the online shop. How many people click through to check out the profile of some random TikTok that comes through their feed with a catchy song in the background? Is it a real person? Account created by a marketing team in New York City? Real person who works at a marketing firm in LA?
It's hard to tell even when you do click through.
Ultimately, you can't trick people into liking your music. Even the most creative marketing can't produce the kind of authentic, original, heart-felt music that fans gravitate to and pay good money to see on a stage, in person. No amount of TikTok shares can be equivalent to hundreds of hours woodshopping an instrument.
When you marry creative, research-based marketing with exceptional artists, though, you can really spread a message like never before.
See you out there on the road,
CT |
• This month, Crossover welcomes an iconic trio in The Devil Makes Three that travels in everything from Southern Gothic to California Punk, Delta Blues to Mountain Roots. Over the course of seven studio albums and more than two decades on the road, they have helped push the envelope of stringband music, with performances that burn with raw energy and songwriting that explores the hard-fought American experience. They like to say their shows are places "where revelry and catharsis meet in equal measure" and that sure sounds like an interesting place to be.
• On March 27, almost exactly 27 years from the day of their first release, Yonder made it a full dozen studio albums with the launch of "Good As True." It finds the band more melodic than ever, with choruses you can sing along to almost instantaneously and dueling leads from the mandolin and fiddle that constantly jockey for your attention. And is that last track more than 16 minutes long?!? It's almost as long as their summer tour, which makes hay in the northeast while the sun is shining and then brings them back to their Colorado home turf.
• Following last year's spare and introspective "Baby Man," Eric D. Johnson announced with his new Fruit Bats single this month that the big-band sound is back, alongside a full-band tour of nearly 50 dates across North America. "The Landfill" is the title track of his next Merge Records release, due June 12, and it's packed with full-throated wails, purring electric guitar solos, and driving snares. Man, can this guy write songs.
• Thee Sacred Souls followed up the recent announce of their May shows in Asia by adding three UK dates in July. Performances in Brighton, Bristol, and London will cap off a larger tour of Europe as they prep for the start of their Constellation Tour later this summer. They also dropped the dance-floor-friendly single “Any Old Fool,” a previously unreleased track from the recording sessions of their stellar 2024 album, "Got a Story to Tell,” accompanied by a new 7’’ on Penrose Records. As a proclamation of love, it's an upbeat and catchy track that’s a reminder this band is just getting started.
• Billy hit a fun milestone last week when he surpassed a million followers on Instagram, just another sign of how far his growing legend has spread. The good people of Grand Rapids also had a little fun when Billy surprised them by stepping in to join Sam Bush for part of his set at the St. Cecelia Music Center. Apparently Billy just texted Sam and asked if he could bring his guitar. That's a night folks are unlikely to forget anytime soon.
• While her summer touring calendar currently takes her as far as Woolloongabba, Australia, Gwenifer found time this month to stop in with NPR and record a captivating Tiny Desk Concert, which put her incredible talent on display. Her three songs thrum and sparkle, sounding like they are from another time, maybe another dimension. It's the sort of stuff that fits in perfectly at new label Pat Possum Records, home to legends like R.L. Burnside and Al Green, along with contemporaries like Haley Heynderickx and Max Garcia Conover. She'll be at Nelsonville Music Festival in June if you're looking to be taken out of this world.
• Two months on from its release, Clay Street's debut record, "Sin & Squalor," is still hitting new ears and grabbing new fans. This week, Relix sat down with the band for a chat about how it came together and what the future holds for the six-piece, as the magazine's "On the Verge" feature. It provides some nice insight into the band's approach to each live show: “We play the core of the song, but we don’t really try to keep the guardrails on too much,” Walker says. “The magic of the music scene we’re in is being different than the night before.”
• If you're looking to alter your mood in eight minutes or less, give a listen to the new Okonski record "Flying," which features muscular and melodic saxophone work from Cochemea. It's like two espresso shots to the brain, warm piano cut through with horn blasts that get things crackling. The folks at Follow the Arrow this June are going to be psyched.
• Not to be left out of the soul revival, Jesse Roper released this month the sultry "Green Eyed Lady," a throwback to tunes that Sam & Dave used to crank out. It's smooth and bouncy, like an AM radio hit (if anyone gets that reference anymore), with handclaps and fingersnaps. It was enough to get the attention of UK mag Notion, who interviewed Jesse about his songwriting and growing international appeal.
• It was a big day for East Nash Grass last Tuesday, as they announced both a 32-date summer tour and the addition of new guitarist Frank Carter Rische, who ought to be well known to anyone haunting Nashville venues. The tour takes them into the heart of Texas, through the midwest, up the East Coast, and finishes in the heart of Kansas, where folks definitely know their bluegrass. We expect they'll be delivered a very tight band, indeed.
• While he's maybe best known as the mandolin player up on stage with Billy Strings, Walker is also an accomplished songwriter, with an IBMA song of the year in "Red Daisy," and three co-writes on Billy's Grammy-winning records. This month, Walker dropped his first solo release, "Nighthawk," the title track from the album he'll release in May. It's classic high-and-lonesome bluegrass, led by a banjo, hurtling at pace, and full of broken hearts. He'll celebrate the album with six dates across the southeast.
• As a first taste of their debut album, "Mission Statement," which drops May 29, Slap Dragon released this month the enchanting "No Solicitors." Frontgal Laura Berens shows off her impressive chops, alternately precise in her diction and bombastic in her soaring vowels, while the band behind her is bouncy and staccato. Look for a Northeast tour announce later this month.
• Looking at Johnny, you might think the brand new "Long Haired Country Boy" was autobiographical ... and you'd be right. If this is your first opportunity to dive in, it's also a great introduction to the Johnny Mullenax ethos, which seems to get a little more rock and roll with every new release — just listen to that late-song guitar break and the stomping drums in the finish. Make sure you catch him as he races across the Midwest and up the East Coast this summer.
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