Looking for some great country music- Texas style?
But you live in Maine, Chicago, Seattle, Canada, Europe or beyond, and you
really love this music and are dying to own it. Unfortunately, because many of
the Texas artists put out their own music independently, or through small
labels, much of this great music just isn't readily available
nationally/internationally, since distribution is the biggest hurdle getting
it into most retail stores.
Never fear!! With that wonder of technology-
the world-wide web- this great music can be delivered straight to your door
with a click of the mouse, or a quick phone call.
Here are some of the very best sites to find the
best of Texas Country Music:
One of the premier sites for purchasing Texas
country music, Texas Music Round Up began as a regional mail order company in
1996. Started as the brain child of David Sanger (drummer for Asleep At The
Wheel) who owns the small Austin label Lazy SOB Records and Matt Eskey (Mojo
Nixon's Toadliqors) who owns another local Indie label, Freedom Records and
fellow Texas artist Chis Wall of Cold Spring Records.
Each of the labels had the product, however
getting the product to the public was another matter, and advertising is a
key. However, to sell one title through an ad means having to sell 300 to pay
for the advertising. So they pooled their collective resources, forming Texas
Music Round-Up. They then created a catalog, which was mailed to people on the
mailing lists of their respective labels, and fans of the bands they played
with. That first catalog contained 15 titles- and success, for the first time
they weren't losing money. They soon realized this was the way to go, and
invited other artists and small labels to co-opt in and be included in the
catalog, thus increasing their inventory and solving some of the problem of
independent artists as far as advertising costs. They then spent the
advertising money to place ads in publications that would attract the audience
who would be interested in this type of music, all under the umbrella of Texas
Music Round-Up. Each partner has their job- David Sanger handles accounting,
Matt Eskey does the ads, catalog and website layout and Chris Wall & John
Riedie (also of Cold Spring) handle the shipments.
Texas Music Round-Up launched a website in October
of 2000, to expand on it's mail and phone order business, with the hope to
reach even more consumers looking for the type of music they offer. The
website has paid off- since it's debut Texas Music Round-Up's offering
of artists and titles has increased 6 fold, and they now offer hundreds
of titles from artists on dozens of labels. In addition to the titles and
artists out of Texas (including "honorary Texans") and Oklahoma, they've added
a section for the Indies out of Nashville.
Recently, TMRU has branched into the manufacturing
end, brokering deals and providing assistance in graphics and cover art. This
year they will begin exclusively distributing their own projects on the
Freedom, Lazy SOB, Cold Spring and Texas Music Round-Up labels.
For the music buyer, particularly attractive,
is their buying policy: Buy any 5 or more CDs and pay $10 ea. (or $15 for most
doubles). With so many artists and titles to choose from- a 5 CD minimum isn't
very hard to come up with!
Another great plus- if you've fallen in love with
an artist that's gotten hot, hot, hot now, chances are, TMRU is the only game
in town to still be able to pick up that artist's earlier work.
Sign up for their mailing list so you'll keep on
top of all the latest releases.
The concept behind LoneStar Music was created by
Chad Raney, while he was home recouperating from an auto accident. He
preferred passing his time surfing the web to watching TV, and was looking for
sites that promoted the kind of music he watched on Austin City Limits. He
soon realized there was an untapped market out there, and he came up with the
idea of creating a site devoted to giving the country music fan somewhere
where they could find out about new, as well as existing Texas country
artists, and so Lone Star Music was born.
LoneStar Music is different in that it not only
offers the buyer hundreds of titles and artists worth of music, but also
provides the latest news on artists, artist profiles and interviews, tour
schedules, venue information and ticket sales, non-music related merchandise
(hats, T-shirts, etc.), books and magazines, webcasts, message boards,
contests and Texas radio links. Fans can post their reviews on CDs and leave
feedback regarding their favorite artists.
LoneStar's buying perk- Buy 3 CDs and get free
shipping.
Of course no music site can carry it all, and
Texas Music Express is more often than not, the place to find that
certain title or artist other music sites don't carry. They also carry
hundreds of titles, and if you don't see what you're looking for, drop them an
email and they'll track it down for you. They also carry some artist related
merchandise and have a listing for music events around the Lone Star state.
Miles Of Music specializes in Americana, Roots,
Alt-Country and Rockabilly. They may be located in California, but this site
carries many of the Texas music artists and titles. They also carry imports-
so if perhaps you're looking for that certain Continental release by Dale
Watson, this is the place to find it.
Sign up for their newsletter and get the
latest dirt, latest releases and news on upcoming releases.
On international orders, with a few exceptions, if
you order 8 or more CDs, there's a flat $11 shipping charge.
Don't count out that old warhorse Amazon as an
option for finding Texas country!! Because of the sheer volume of titles,
Amazon is harder to navigate to find it unless you know what title or artist
you are looking for, but it does carry plenty of titles. If you just want to
browse, most will be found in the Indie dept. Go to country, and you'll find
many of these artists and titles, particularly in the Alt-country/Americana
section.
The only drawback- many times these titles have to
be special ordered, so it does take somewhat longer to get them.
This site is an invaluable listing of links
covering artists from around Texas, as well as "honorary Texans". The listing
is cross genre and includes links to the websites of everyone from the Texas
country music artists to Texas blues artists to Texas rock artists.
They also have a "cool links" section for other
websites, Texas radio stations, Texas music organizations, publications and
other points of interest.
Website of Texas Music magazine. This site
provides subscription info, band listings, venue listings, radio
station listings, an online store, and a Texas Music Trivia Quiz that's kind
of fun.
Each week, Humble Time Radio brings to the
airwaves of Texas and browsers of the web, the finest in original music in
Texas by the songwriters themselves.
Humble time is recorded live each week at the
Freiheit Country Store in downtown Freiheit TX. on FM 1101, Saturdays from
2-6pm. These tapings are open to the public and all are invited. The show is
hosted by Mo Humble.
Website of the popular long running PBS show
Austin City Limits. The website includes archives of past shows, artist
interviews, letters to fans and backstage- thoughts from the producer on
various shows.
Everything and anything you could possibly want to
know about the legendary Billy Bob's can be found here. The website includes
everything from it's history to the concert schedule to bullriding to an
online gift shop. A fun site to poke around.
Pretty self explanatory- a very interesting tour
of West Texas Music- the artists and songwriters. You'll find names such as
Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Jimmy Dean, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison,
Tanya Tucker, Waylon Jennings, Ronnie Dunn, Lee Roy Parnell and Natalie Maines
to name a few. The site also includes a gift shop and memorabilia.
This site gives links to everything relating to
Texas music, from venues, band information, record stores, to a listing of
every Texan or Texas born artist that has ever won a Grammy.
Outlaw Country Radio Live 365.com
www.chatlink.com/~degumbert/outlawcountry.htmlWebstation that plays
traditional country music with a definite tilt towards the "harder edge" of
real country. Here you will not only find the legends, your Waylons, Willies,
Haggards, Jones' and Paychecks, you'll also get to hear people like Dale
Watson, Dallas Wayne, Bill Kirchen, Chris Wall and more.