Hello Everyone,
Welcome to spring! That time of year when the flowers bloom and the annual lawn mower migration begins anew. (If you listen close, you might be able to hear one calling at this very moment.) I can tell it's spring here because the rain feels a little warmer than it did a few weeks ago and the furnace is running most of the time rather than all of the time. We hope it's not too cold (or too hot) wherever you are. But have faith, bluegrass festival season is on its way and with it the weather is always perfect! (Isn't it?)
Speaking of festival season, I can guarantee, well almost guarantee, that the weather will be greatly improved when we travel to Ogden for the OFOAM festival. As it turns out, OFOAM is not what you get when you lather up with Irish Spring; it is an organization in Utah dedicated to supporting acoustic music. You can read more about the festival at Cybergrass. The Urban Monroes are really looking forward to heading to Ogden and traversing the "Endless Road of Rock" again as we travel south east to get to the great Southwest. We have also just added Kootenai River Bluegrass and Beyond Festival in Montana and Clatskanie Bluegrass Festival in Oregon. We'll tell you more about those and others in our next blog.
In the meantime, since we can't warm up the weather, the Urban Monroes will try to warm your hearts instead with some new music playing on our pages at www.urbanmonroes.com and www.myspace.com/urbanmonroes. It includes our single "You Don't Have to Move That Mountain" which was released on Poetman Records' premier bluegrass sampler. The sampler also includes cuts by the Grascals with Dolly Parton, Larry Stephenson with Ricky Skaggs, Rhonda Vincent, Si Kahn with Kathy Matea, Steve Martin with Steep Canyon Rangers and Kathy Kallick. We also have some brand new tracks streaming in our player on most of our websites. Those songs include "Secret Agent Man" which racked up quite a few 'iLikes' when it went online a couple of days ago and an original called "Hole in My Heart" which will be in the player soon.
The UM's are still on APD's DJ driven Top 50 Global Bluegrass Chart. We spent most of March in the Top 10 which definitely gives us a warm feeling regardless of the weather. Reading playlists and receiving DJ comments does the same. (Or did the furnace just kick on again?) WAMU, World Wide Bluegrass, the Bluegrass Mix are just a few...There's not room here to thank them all of individually, let alone express how much it means to us.
Here is a brief list of some of the stations that have played us in the last few days:
Here are a few things that DJ's had to say about our new music from Pavement and Pathways:
Highway 61
"My listeners keep asking for the cd that contained "You Don't Have to Move That Mountain". KCBL
"I also am excited about getting to hear your full project. After 18 years as a bluegrass host it takes something pretty solid to get me excited about another CD! "
WYSO
"I have just listened to your "You Don't Have To Move That Mountain" cut on the Acoustic Rainbow Bluegrass sampler. I'm very impressed! This cut will get air play."
Down Home Bluegrass
Down Home Bluegrass
"I love the Urban Monroes, they have a great sound"
WXIN
So pull up a lawn chair in front of the heat register, shut your eyes and pretend festival season is already here. We're very grateful to all the stations and DJs playing the Urban Monroes as well as to everyone listening to the music. The airplay and comments really took the chill off a March came in like a lion and left like a snow leopard, now if we could only do something about the whole "April Shower" thing.
