As a fan of music I like anything that challenges my ears. That bends the rules, or flat out breaks them. Even music that plays completely by the rules and does it so well it can't be considered anything short of incredible! I personally feel that The Wreckers were all of those things at once. When it was announced that The Wreckers would not continue as a duo I was saddenned, but I was hopeful that we would soon see solo projects from one or both of them. I have been a long time fan of Michelle Branch, so when The Wreckers exploded onto the scene I was very receptive to them. I believe Country radio quickly agreed and before we knew it we had a first class phenomenon! Then it ended. Michelle and Jessica released solo singles a few months apart in 2009, and I loved them both. I think these women are both very talented artists and songwriters and I feel like country radio has been blessed to have them contributing their gift to the genre.
Last week Jessica Harp announced that she was walking away from her solo career and focusing on her career as a singwriter. I do not know her reasons, but I know that I will miss her music on my station. I hope that in her writing she continues to contribute great music that will be recognized and apprecitated by country radio and fans for years to come. Jessica's solo album is set to be released digitally on March 16th. I plan to purchas this album and have it, and I would seriously encourage any of you who were fans of The Wreckers and Jessica as an artist to do the same. As fans we have so few ways of actually being able to express our apprection of an artist except through the buying of their music. I plan to show Jessica how much I enjoyed her work by buying he digital album, and my hope is that so will millions of other people. Show Jessica that whatever reasons she may have for leaving her pursuit of a solo career that we enjoyed her while it lasted, and wish her the best. That we loved what she had to say and how she said it, through that action our multitude of voices will sound in one loud cry of THANK YOU, JESSICA! Do that.
Recently I attended the Country Radio Seminar, or CRS in Nashville. A week of interaction between Country radio professionals, record labels, artists, and others in these indistries. On Wednesday night I Feb. 24 I was spending time with Cold River Records Recording artist Katie Armiger (Unseen, Kiss Me Now), her promtions team, and new comer Nine North Records' artist/songwriter Bridgette Tatum (I Like My Cowboys Dirty/She's Country). Both are wonderful perfomers and songwriters, and good company. I was informed earlier in the evening that NASCAR allstar Ryan Newman, who I discovered owns Tatum's record label, would be in a suite in the hotel racing people in a NASCAR video game. So needless to say that's where I wanted to be. I spend several minutes taking in the room and the people, and I am introducted to Bridgette and her team. Then in walks Ryan Newman. He greets his guests quietly and the takes a seat in his comfy chair in front of the room's 37" flat screen and begins taking on all comers. I have to admit, I am a little intimidated (no wait, that's Dale Jr.) The man in the #39 car sits just a few feet away playing a video game version of what he does for a living, and half a dozen guys and milling about the room muttering challenges to each other. "You think you can take him? Well go on, boy! Take a shot at it!" I realize that I need this photo op for our station website. I mean, how many chances will I have to get my picture taken with Ryan Newman? I quickly take out my cell phone and text Corey that I am about to race Ryan Newman, in an attempt to rub his nose in it (yes, we are that competitve with each other). He fires back by telling me to ask him a question, saying his answer may surprise me. He says, "Ask him what he has on his iPod"...LIKE A FOOL I think, great! What an opportunity to learn a bit of minutiae about a celebrity that I can take back and share with my listeners! So I wait for him to conclude the race his is in against the 3 or 4th woman in a row he raced against. It seems that the women had a more courage than the men in the room. I see an opprotunity to introduce myself and take it. ME: "Excuse me, Ryan. I am Fletch Brown, PD of WXFL in Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL." RN: "Hey, nice to meet you." ME: "I do a daily NASCAR report and my inside guy told me to ask you a question." RN: "Ok" ME: "What do you have on your iPod" RN: "I don't have one" ...his response was so unexpected, and so quick I hardly had time to process it. I was certain his response we be something like Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff. Or maybe even something more contemporary but equally surprising like Li'l Kim, or Ludacris! But no. I stumbled at first, not sure I had heard him correctly. ME: "Excuse me, what?" RN: "I don't have one" ...that is what he had said. I realized instantly I had been suckered! Corey new the answer and wanted me to make a fool of myself. Apparently, Ryan had adressed that same question in an interview that I failed to read. I began the awkward back paddle away from the subject. ME: "OH! Well, he said your answer would surprise me, and I guess that's why...uh, well..uh..yeah, ...." Yes. It was like that. Ryan Newman looked at me like I was a total idiot for having been taken in by that prank, and I backed away slowly to the safety of Katie, Bridgette, and there management teams. This was a place I knew my way around. My footing was sure among these people. I was not likely to make a mistake like that here. After about another 30 minutes of violently texting Corey back to curse his name, I decided I would go ahead and take my chance racing Ryan for a photo op. Handing my camera off to a kind person willing to take a few shots I took my place in the seat adjacent to Ryan and picked up the controller. Already feeling like an idiot I hestatied to ask it, but out it came. ME: "Ok. Which button is the accelerator?" To which he simply raised his controller up and tapped the buttons for the gas and brake respectively. Now the race was on. It didn't take long for my crippling insecurity at this point to wipe out all my motor skills. After rudely crashing and banging into several other cars coming off the starting line, and watching Ryan take a huge lead to start the race, I broke the nervous silence with a question. An Interview! What else could I do? M: "So, after playing so many of the people here what would you say is the most common rookie mistake they all seem to make?" RN: "Over correcting" Which of course meant that I IMMEDIATELY started over correcting my car against my will! The first few laps were more like a demolition derby than a race. Finally, in the last 4 laps I was able to get a good feeling for the controls and improved. I was actually 2nd for two laps. Then, as the race finshed with Ryan in 1st place and me in 4th, Ryan reached his hand over and shook mine and said, "There you go. 4th place is alright. You did at least as good as the girls". A big grin on his face telling me that I had just be zinged but in good hearted fun. I laughed out loud (and I mean loud) because what the hell else was I going to say? I shook is hand, thanked him for his hospitality and slid out the door like a kid who just wet his pants on the playground. As I wandered back into the din of The Bridge bar, in search of a libation that would take the edge off, I swore I would destroy Corey for what he had done. Clock is ticking....clock is ticking.
