I love the Internet.

From: Luke Lewis
Subject: Re: Road Map For The Blues

Check out Joe Ely records to find more Hancock songs._
Find "Dirty Water" by Buddy and Julie Miller. It will blow you away.

Remember that first Robbie Robertson album? With "Broken Arrow"?

Robbie can’t sing for shit, but oh the VIBE of that album. Like the Band, but one step removed. This Buddy and Julie Miller track was recorded in the same mindspace as that first Robbie Robertson solo record. Well, if Robbie left the U.S. for some island "Survivor" was filmed on, living in the detritus after the contestants and TV crew left. With no hope of economic success, only playing because it FELT GOOD!

Or maybe you’ve stumbled into a bar in some far out neck of the woods, and as you were quaffing your beer, you noticed that your toe was tapping, that the band on stage…they weren’t playing what was on the radio, but the sound entered your body and TOOK YOU AWAY! To a place where none of the bullshit of life mattered.

Do you revel in your 10,000 square foot house and German automobile? Then, "Dirty Water" isn’t for you. It’s not even for you if you ASPIRE to those things. "Dirty Water" isn’t about the pop chart, but music, making the players and the listeners feel good. When the musicianship matters more than the money, you get something like "Dirty Water".

Luke Lewis doesn’t e-mail me every day. He doesn’t try to push stuff down my throat. This record isn’t even on his label. He’s e-mailing me as a FAN! And someone who’s the head of Nashville’s most credible label, the man who’s turned Lost Highway into a brand akin to David Geffen’s Asylum of the seventies, where you can buy the discs on the record company name alone, he gets my ATTENTION!

So I fired up my P2P program. Found the track and downloaded it. And was positively stunned as it started to play.

Oh, let’s say the album was on Lost Highway. Luke could have mailed it, but when I got it would I still be in the mood? Funny about music, it’s all about the mood. Ever look at your collection and find NOTHING you want to hear? Then you know what I’m talking about.

Or I could get in my car and drive to the store and buy it. But what store would actually possess it? In an era where Wal-Mart doesn’t even carry every Beatle album, what are the odds the stores that exist near me will carry THIS?

Or, I could order it from Amazon. That’d be even FURTHER delayed gratification.

Or, I could buy the track from iTunes. Let me check, can you get "Dirty Water" on iTunes?

Yup, it’s there. Is it worth a buck? Sure. But if you think I’m gonna pay FIRST and decide LATER you must be living in the nineties.

That’s how the business used to be. You heard one track on the radio, and then bought the album to find out, most of the time, it just wasn’t that good. But then along came the Internet, and you could hear everything FIRST!

The labels cried foul. That’s not how you do it. You must buy shrink-wrapped product, you don’t know what’s in the goody bag until AFTER you pay.

WRONG!

And the labels still haven’t recovered. Thirty second samples? Think that would convince you to buy "Stairway To Heaven"?

And I’ve SEEN Buddy and Julie Miller. I didn’t think they were THIS good. I wouldn’t lay down ANYTHING for their music without hearing it first.

But on P2P, it’s FREE!

Oh, I’d pay ten bucks a month for P2P, but the labels WON’T LET ME!

So, I downloaded this… And you know what, LUKE LEWIS IS RIGHT!

So, I fired up MySpace. There are four Buddy and Julie Miller tracks there. But not "Dirty Water". If you’re a savvy surfer like me, you too can steal it. But, if you’re afraid of the long arm of the law, you’re gonna live in the dark. Unless you plop down 99 cents. But I GUARANTEE YOU AT LEAST HALF MY AUDIENCE WON’T LOVE THIS TRACK! But if you DO!

You should be able to hear it in its entirety online. You should be able to acquire it at a cost that feels free, like cable TV. Who would this hurt? Certainly not Buddy and Julie Miller. Who knows, they could BLOW UP!

We’re living in a brand new world. Where it’s not about chosen hits, but GREAT MUSIC! If you’ve got friends, trusted filters, you’re now in nirvana. You’re uncovering stuff you had no idea EXISTED and it’s making your life so much RICHER!