Preparing for Falcon Ridge
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 12:00
Last night, I spent a bit of time reviewing the different performers scheduled to be in the Emerging Artists Showcase at Falcon Ridge this year. Each one of them has a MySpace Music page up where you can listen to their music and find out other information about them. With that, let me list the artists, with links to their MySpace pages, and a few different comments about each one.
I really liked Jenee’s music. She showed up about the middle of the pack in terms of how many people had visited her page. However, she had one of the smaller percentages of people that visited her page that actually listened to her music. She did not provide the ability to download any of her tracks or an easy way to buy CDs. She listed Ann Heaton, another Falcon Ridge emerging artist as one of her friends.
Ashleigh had more people viewing her page, and also a lower percentage of viewers listing to her songs. She doesn’t allow downloads or provide an easy link to buy CDs. She is performing tonight at The Living Room in New York City.
This page was fairly well visited. In addition, many of the people visiting the page listed to their songs. They did not provide downloads or easy ways to buy CDs. I really liked ‘To Ohio’, but was less enthusiastic about ‘The Horizon is a Beltway’
Katie gets more traffic than Jenne or Ashleigh, but not as much as The Low Anthem. You can buy tracks from the page as well as order CDs, but there aren’t any free downloads. She does have a YouTube video on the page. She wasn’t one of my favorite performers, but she came close.
Robby had a little less traffic than Katie. He provided free downloads, a couple of which I put on my mp3 player for the drive up. He also has a nice sharing tool
Gretchen was one of the more popular pages with many of the visitors listening to her songs. You can buy tracks of her songs on the page. She was one of my favorites.
Michael gets a little less traffic than Gretchen. He doesn’t allow downloads but does have a link to buy tracks on iTunes. He also uses YouTube, Eventful and Last.FM. He doesn’t have his schedule on the page or mention Falcon Ridge. I listened to ‘I’m Ready’ and wasn’t all that impressed. However, then I looked at his YouTube video.
You Hide is a wonderful song and an incredibly well done video. It isn’t like your standard, see the folk music sing, or see the girl dance, music video. It is well worth watching.
Lucy Wainwright-Roche-Brooklyn NY
Lucy Wainwright-Roche was probably my favorite performer on the list. With two great singers as parents, Loudon Wainwright and Suzzy Roche, it isn’t surprising that she is so good. It seems like I’m not the only one that thinks this. Her page received more visits and the visitors played more songs than any of the other emerging artists.
She performed a wonderful rendition of ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’, which is a song that I love. I look forward to hearing her at Falcon Ridge.
Brad’s page was one of the least frequently visited pages, and it is too bad. I really like him. He allows downloads, provides the ability to buy tracks. He doesn’t list his schedule. His song ‘Juarez’ is well worth listening to. Jesus lives in Juarez Mexico. His video, Let Her Fall in Love is also well worth the watch.
Carrie Elkin-Austin TX
Carrie’s page gets considerably more traffic than Brad’s but less than many. She doesn’t provide downloads and didn’t jump off the page at me.
Blue Moose & the Unbuttoned Zippers-Boston
Blue Moose also received little traffic. They do allow downloads. ‘Saucy Sailor’ and ‘Kisses Sweeter than Wine’ were both very good.
Abi is sort of in the middle of the pack in terms of traffic. She doesn’t provide downloads and didn’t jump off the page at me.
Emily also receives very little traffic on MySpace. She does allow downloads and her files are in M4A format instead of MP3 format.
RJ also only gets a little traffic. She lists Abi as a friend. She doesn’t include downloads and didn’t jump off the page at me.
Danny gets a moderate amount of traffic. You can’t download his music, but you can order CDs. He was another one of those performers that didn’t make it to the top of my list, but came close.
Brooke Brown Saracino-Northampton MA
Brooke gets minimal traffic. She allows downloads, and didn’t jump off the page at me.
The Blind Willies’ page gets a moderate amount of traffic. You can’t download music, but you can order CDs. They have various YouTube videos on their site. They seemed really interesting, but I just didn’t get into their music. I’m hoping I will get more into their music when I hear them live. They seem to have a lot of energy in their music.
Anne gets a little more traffic than average. You can’t download music, but you can buy tracks. She also didn’t have a reference to Falcon Ridge on her page. Her YouTube video, Where your scar is was cute and enjoyable. I was shocked, however, to see that it had been viewed over 400,000 times.
Amy’s page is one of the most active. The first song by her that I listened to, didn’t do a lot for me. She doesn’t provide downloads from her MySpace page. However, she has a Reverb Nation page where you can download tracks, as well as watch videos. I watched one of her videos, performing live in a club somewhere, and it was very good. She’s one of my favorites.
Juliana gets a little less traffic than the average, but she has one big thing going for her. She is on Pandora. I added her into my Pandora Station. You can’t download tracks, but you can order CDs. She is another one of my favorites.
Ian’s page gets very little traffic. He doesn’t allow downloads, but you can order CDs. It looks like he deserves more recognition than he gets.
Erin Sax Seymour-NYC
Erin page gets an average amount of traffic. She doesn’t allow downloads. She does have a YouTube video, Good Girl. It is worth the watch.
So, that is my brief review of the Emerging Artists lineup. It was great to get a chance to hear their music before I hear them live on the main stage at Falcon Ridge. If you get a chance before you hop in the car, check out some of their music, or check it out when you get back from the festival.
Have a good time, everyone, look forward to seeing friends there.
