Go Indie For The Holidays!

It's not too late to get a nice stocking stuffer for Christmas. You know Amazon; they've got all kinds of shipping deals. No drone yet, though, unfortunately.

Why go indie for the holiday? There are several reasons, the first of which is, have you heard the stuff they're playing on the radio? No, me, neither. I don't listen to that crap. But I catch a snippet of it from time to time -- bumper music on my favorite talk shows. And inevitably, one of the hosts, who is older than he dares admit to himself, will say, "That's one of my favorite songs of the year." Seriously? Can you hum a few bars? What do you mean, "thump thump thump"? That's not a song! A song is supposed to have, you know, words...and ideally, a melody. How about some real music for a change of pace? I still remember when a song could make me cry, even after I'd heard it fifty-four hundred times. I wrote once that "a song is an angel".

Secondly, you know, good music doesn't just pop, fully formed, out of a falling raindrop. Sure, some songs are serendipitous. But usually even the songs that originate with the muse (who I'm pretty sure I don't believe in) still require lots of honing and fiddling to get them just right. Aside from the current top ten, "Thump Thump Thump" song, even bad songs were hunkered over by somebody who believed in them enough to spend hours hunched over their guitar, cramping their writing hand by jotting and crossing out words in a notebook. Imagine how much work a good song takes!

Thus, one should support the indie musician. This is where you're gonna get your next taste of actual enjoyable tunes. Aside from loops of past hits, I guess. (Ever notice that the hip-hoppers who use somebody else's music call it "sampling"? No, it's stealing.)

Third, don't you want to be known, among your circle of friends, as the "hip" one? Sure you do. Everybody does. Nobody says, "Yea, I'm the stodgy old coot who plays my Perry Como albums while I stretch back in my La-Z-Boy and take a snooze." And even if you are that person, why advertise it? Have some hot new music to recommend! Music you are the first person to hear!

I've listened to the songs on "Rhythms of Life" many times and thus I heartily recommend this CD. Because I am "hip". And because I have a good ear. Remember me? The Encyclopedia of Music? I wouldn't steer you wrong.

So click the link below and hop on over to Amazon. Shoot, this CD is a steal at $6.47! What the heck?? This guy is selling himself short! But, too bad for him; too good for you!

Remember to mention that your cool, trendy friend told you about it.


Click To Buy

The Year In Music - Red River

Whew! I'm getting this in under the wire!

I thought I would take a moment to take stock of Red River's accomplishments for 2007.

Most importantly, we added two new band members, Dale Boylen and Mike McClelland. Dale is a singer-songwriter from Hawaii, by way of Minneapolis. Mike is a drummer extraordinaire, with loads of experience. Dale and Mike have made Red River better.

2007 started out for Red River with the number one country song on SoundClick, "Ring In The Old". Thanks to my friend Cliff for helping make this song number one.

Surprisingly, since this has been a long dry spell for me, Red River did manage to record some new songs in 2007:

April Days (mine)
The Red Sky (Dave's)
That Girl (Dave's)
Heaven Knows (Dale's)
She'll Never Know - this one will be finished today, December 31! (Dale's)

Okay, only one of those was mine, but how do you know I don't have a bunch of great songs in the pipeline? (Okay, I don't; but I do have a few new songs that are possibly ready to record).

We also re-recorded a couple of our older songs, "Triple Service" and "To Talk To You Today". Thanks to Mike for making "Triple Service" sound SO much better; and thanks to Craig Larson for helping to improve "To Talk To You Today" substantially, and for helping to cover up that microphone stand bump that I did. (Hey, I never claimed to be a professional).

2007 was the year that I started exploring music licensing. Nothing's happened yet, but you never know. Audiosparx used Red River's music in a YouTube video, which was pretty cool!

I also created a new website for the band. I like it a lot better than the old one. You can find us at www.redrivermusic.biz

I guess that pretty much sums up 2007 for Red River. It was a year that found us kind of trying to decide what direction we wanted to follow.

But the future is the future. One never knows what will happen.

So, here's to 2008 and all the surprises that are in store.

Another Take On Illegal Downloading - From A Member Of Red River

Some guy posted a link in one of the audio message boards to a story about the RIAA suing people for illegal downloads and said it was chicken shit.

Here is my reply to him:

"Just another way that digital recording is destroying the music industry. People now think music is "cheap" and should not be payed for. The average person has no clue what it costs to record a commercial cd, not including the time and effort spent writing the material for said cd, practicing it over and over and over again (cause studio's charge way too much to not be 100% prepared before you enter one) and the likely years and years, perhaps decades of learning to play and perfect your instrument of choice.

It's a TON of work, time and $$$ invested by the artist....the ones that get screwed the most. It's no wonder we have "music" these days performed by "Artists" who can't read or write music, can't sing and can't play an instrument. Those are the ones making money and those are the ones most likely to survive in a digital world.

I'm sure i'll get flamed for this post, but i'm truly sick and tired of people thinking quality music should just magically appear on their personal computer with no payment for the people that created the music.

Last but not least, let us remember that the music you steal is an artists labor of love....life's mission if you will, and that it means the world to him/her and the artist poured their soul into creating that music"

They just are totally clueless. I wonder how many of THEM stayed up half the night to work on their "job" like Dave did the other night?

Bothers me that music has become so cheap.....disposable. I HATE that. Man, I remember saving my money for months so I could buy the next Beach Boy's album. I got a lot of satisfaction from that.

Happy new year to both of you.

Dale