''Nashville Recording Artist''

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 24 Sep 2014 9:27 am

Something that really bugs me is, the local yokal cover band singers that take their money to pay for recording and pressing CD's. Then they have the gall to call themselves "Nashville Recording Artist". They are no more of a ''Nashville Recording Artist'' than I am. A band I was in, recorded a 45 in 1983 in Nashville. Does that make me a ''Nashville Recording Artist''? Of course not. I guess for these drug store cowboy singers, it's a good way to inflate thier already over-inflated egos.

Anyone with enough money can record and make a CD in Nashville.

Do you see this in your area?

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 24 Sep 2014 10:06 am

If you made a recording in Nashville, then you are a Nashville recording artist.
Since 1972 the musical definition of "artist" has been "any performer, regardless of ability".

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 24 Sep 2014 11:40 am

why ernest, what changed in '72 ?

this type of labeling goes right along with local bands having a 'new release' that is 'about to drop' and then they'll be going 'on tour'... (in their van)

i guess most of these artists are too young to realize that these terms originally came from actual signed artist situations from credible recording industry sources.
as i was coming up in the business i didn't pretend to be a star while i was learning, earning and getting experience wherever possible. we dreamt about big time music contracts, but didn't claim to have one....or try to convince ourselves and others that we were in that category.

i'm still dreaming.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 24 Sep 2014 12:57 pm

Some of these locals also say they are "on tour" when it is just them playing the local area clubs. I think it is a joke.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 24 Sep 2014 2:13 pm

...what changed in '72 ?

The drugs got stronger, evidently.

Yes, "on tour".... playing little bars. Another one that irks me is the term "shows". A lot of bands today call every local bar gig a "show".

Niels Andrews · Post by **Niels Andrews** » 24 Sep 2014 2:36 pm

On "Tour" also includes coffee shops where they play for free. People from the West Coast go to the East Coast and vice verse. 19 and been playing for 3 months and they are an "artist". Sounds like fun to me, just 45 years too late!

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 24 Sep 2014 3:03 pm

How about "Transatlantic Singer/Songwriter of Many Years Standing"?
Meaning, of course, "Couldn't sell my songs over here so tried in Europe, and no-one wanted them over there either, so I've been standing in the rain for many years hoping for something to come along."

Alan Tanner · Post by **Alan Tanner** » 25 Sep 2014 3:01 am

Some years back I worked with a group that was pretty good. The funny part was that the singer, who really DID have it together, drove a meat truck between Nashville and Champagne, Illinois. We played in Illinois, and usually the bass player started the night off. Then he would introduce the singer as "And here he is, STRAIGHT from Nashville..etc" He wasn't lying, and a lot of folks got a chuckle, as they knew us. But some folks ate it right up......
There was a "group" here locally that even went so far as to have jackets made for sale and pictures etc. They had the band name and, I think, the words "summer tour" or some such. They played about two places regular and usually had a crowd of about 10...and 8 of those came with the band (on the tour).......

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Sep 2014 7:24 am

About 10 years ago a local band asked me if I wanted go on their "European Tour". I declined. When they got back a couple of months later the drummer told me that the singer had a friend in France, and the friend hooked them up with some gigs... a few weekend gigs in neighborhood bars, playing to about a dozen people a night! Welcome to the European Tour!

I know several singer/songwriters who book their own "Tours" across the country playing small clubs for the door. They work their way from CA to Mass playing their original music, promoting themselves, doing the booking, etc. That was the formula back in the old days, but I'm not sure it works so well today. Stars are made overnight on the internet now, deservedly or not.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 25 Sep 2014 7:47 am

It doesn't bother me at all. Whatever gets people into the room, it's the music that keeps them there. Anything you say to attract new fans is good if it works. "Nashville Recording Artist" helps non-musical people at a county fair decide that they like your act. It's better than "Attractive Karaoke Singer" in that respect.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 25 Sep 2014 7:49 am

Doug Beaumier wrote:
...what changed in '72 ?
The drugs got stronger, evidently.

Yes, "on tour".... playing little bars. Another one that irks me is the term "shows". A lot of bands today call every local bar gig a "show".

I'm right there with you, Doug. But most of the bands in the Sacramento Valley now, there gigs are really more like shows. They have set lists and rarely strays from them. The crowds seem to be accustomed to this, as they rarely request songs. They'll ask if we anything by so-and-so, and if we do, they have to wait until we get to it in our set list. Or we say know and they say "OK". Most also have a "lead singer" that is usually some over-active hunk, or an equally over-active girl singer. The crowd really thinks they are seeing a show and not just another honky tonk band.

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 25 Sep 2014 9:29 am

GET OFF MY LAWN!

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 25 Sep 2014 12:07 pm

Yeah. What Steve said.

LJ Eiffert · Post by **LJ Eiffert** » 25 Sep 2014 1:01 pm

To days music world in night clubs and the new world Industry is a full time joke on the folks who could care less about what anybody think as to how they run things. Pride and respect is like loving your x wife.It all works the same way in the music world Industry circle. It's time to eat that " Creek Gods Yogurt with Don Jose. I bet Bar S is in the race of meats. Help feed the children and don't be so cold on the ones that are Nashville recording Artist. They can't help themselfs just like Radio Country Stations who keep calling themselfs young Country or new Country. No Body are winning on the game but making a great mess and a joke out of Country Music History.

Uncle Leo J Eiffert Jr the SWAMPWATER FOX!

Bill Cunningham · Post by **Bill Cunningham** » 26 Sep 2014 6:05 pm

There is nothing new about those posters advertising "Nashville Recording Artist". I have seen them for many years and remember my dad ranting at them over 50 years ago because they were advertisements for "artists" that it would a stretch to consider amateurs. But they had put up the money to make a record in Nashville.So I guess they were "Nashville recording artists". Maybe it's a reverse trend and this advertising technique only recently made to the left coast.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 26 Sep 2014 6:11 pm

b0b wrote:It doesn't bother me at all. Whatever gets people into the room, it's the music that keeps them there. Anything you say to attract new fans is good if it works. "Nashville Recording Artist" helps non-musical people at a county fair decide that they like your act. It's better than "Attractive Karaoke Singer" in that respect.

So, b0b, from the looks of it, it sounds like you call yourself a "Nashville Recording Artist". Did I get that right...?*

*(Not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 26 Sep 2014 7:01 pm

Anything you say to attract new fans is good if it works.

okay... I'm a Grammy award winner and I've recorded with Paul McCartney!

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 26 Sep 2014 7:05 pm

Doug Beaumier wrote:I'm a Grammy award winner and I've recorded with Paul McCartney!

Well, I'm impressed!

Tom T Taylor · Post by **Tom T Taylor** » 27 Sep 2014 2:52 am

Glass half empty ?
If you dropped the coin and backed yourself to record a CD in Nashville, then good luck.use that to your advantage.
I never put anything on youtube. But if I did and it got a half a million hits, I believe I would advertise the fact.
I'm with b0b. The world is marketing,and if it ain't a lie, you can sell yourself.
The truth will find you pretty quick.
With regards to "touring", (in our van ) I figure if we play 5 consecutive nights in 5 bars away from home and got paid to do it....Got another name for it ?
How bigs my bus gotta be to qualify?
Watched a documentary called "Sound City". Started with some 19 year old kids (I think they called themselves Nirvana?) that promoted themselves in a van on a trip across America. Never heard what happened to them...
Lighten up. Make music,not love.

Tom T Taylor · Post by **Tom T Taylor** » 27 Sep 2014 3:15 am

okay... I'm a Grammy award winner and I've recorded with Paul McCartney![/quote]

If it'true Doug,the you have nothing to be ashamed of.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 27 Sep 2014 10:09 am

"Played with Hank Williams."
Yes, I put his records on and played along with them.

But as long as there's no bad deception, it's not as bad as some of the 50's do-wap groups, who have had so many changes of personnel that none of them sang on the hits that they present as part of their act. In fact, in some cases, there's more than one group singing under the same name, each of them descended from one of the original group members.

LJ Eiffert · Post by **LJ Eiffert** » 27 Sep 2014 10:57 am

With the real truth about the Music Business and this whole world of how it works has been put out on this forum and nobody real cares about it anyway. For the people like myself who have lived this hard ass life & have paid the price to still be around for what we love & respect it's sad to think of how many folks have lost their live over this sell your soul game. Make all the jokes you want about the name game of people who just want to be apart of what they don't even see is they are. If you live it for music than you are the business. Selling it. That's a whole new game. Good luck and God Bless Us all cause the Devil got us all now until you know what happens. Uncle Leo J Eiffert Jr the SWAMPWATER FOX.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 27 Sep 2014 6:34 pm

sounds like you've paid the price, leo!

Mark Carlisle · Post by **Mark Carlisle** » 28 Sep 2014 11:37 am

This band had one of the best Euro tours ever!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF4H8lB2Y_o

LJ Eiffert · Post by **LJ Eiffert** » 28 Sep 2014 5:31 pm

Chris Ivey,I've paid the price and more for others in this music world from New Orleans/Nashville/Los Angeles and all across this Nation all my life.Many folks have got rich off of me and are not around to talk about it. But,am still here. The truth dose not set you free. We are all guilty til you can prove to some black robe rocket pusher system who make big money off of us from our hard working common job just to live. Again in music and the common world of everyday people we are not free to steel on the streets with out a price to pay. When I died again nobody will care about who I was. After awhile it just goes away just like an in and out memory of the mind. God Bless us all while he can. Uncle Leo J Eiffert Jr the SWAMPWATER FOX coonass.