In song titles and lyrics.

Tune in today, June 7th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

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It’s very well-established. You take your time to record an album and you keep it alive on terrestrial radio. In the best of circumstances you dribble out track after track, keeping the album alive for years.

But that was then and this is now.

The “Billboard” chart has become irrelevant. It’s completely manipulated. Want to go number one? Sell vinyl. The real action is in streaming, but the chart includes sales, which are de minimis, to the point where the chart is completely untrustworthy.

So who is the chart for?

The industry itself.

Yet it is publicized in media every week!

But this is the media consumed by oldsters, not youngsters, the active music streaming/buying audience.

And insiders know the chart is a joke, you can brag to your client you made them number one, but everybody on the business side is snickering.

But that’s the least of the industry’s problems.

Today you can make an album and it can be gone in a week. I don’t care how much publicity you’ve garnered, makes no difference. The active fan base buys it, and then what? Crickets. Maybe you can go on the road and sell some to concertgoers, but at this point tickets are so expensive that no act dares go on the road and not play their hits. The idea of playing most of the new album is kaput.

So it’s like the album never came out. You can see it in Discogs, but the fact of its existence is greater than the music itself.

Meanwhile, major labels keep pursuing terrestrial radio, which means less than ever before, which the younger generation does not listen to. The old paradigm is you go where the most people are, but if that mass is declining, what does that mean? I’ll tell you what it means, you’re missing most of the audience.

So if you have Spotify Top 50 music, it’s easier. It can be seen and heard there, as part of a playlist if nothing else. But if you don’t make it to the list, or if you don’t qualify for the list, not making hip-hop or pop, then what?

Oh, that’s right, you want to get on a playlist. Sure, some passive listener might hear your song and save it, but the business is based on active listeners, ever heard of the 90/10 rule?

And then the whole paradigm is disrupted by TikTok. Disruption always happens, especially when you’re asleep at the wheel. Turns out watching the hoi polloi is more interesting than watching dressed-up, media-trained bozos on YouTube. (As for the YouTube music subscription numbers, don’t believe them, an incredible percentage are just paying to get rid of the interminable video ads.)

So the major labels try and control TikTok. But this is playing from the rear as opposed to the front. And the truth is most acts make music that isn’t TikTok friendly. If it’s long and slow, forget about it.

What about that music?

The majors don’t sign it.

So, the majors are losing control of new music production. The story isn’t how TikTok stars can go forward without a label, but how the major labels don’t want to sign most music, and acts making these tunes are forced to go it alone.

As for the big TikTok acts going independent… Almost none of them can resist the huge check, the better deals the majors will proffer just to keep product in their system, and influencer culture is ridden with overnight successes who turn into nothings almost as fast. Make it in music as a social media star? Sure, there are examples, but there are exceptions to every rule.

And the music business continues to detach itself from the public.

I was watching this Netflix comedy special last night, Jeff Ross and Dave Attell looked like they’d just stumbled out for a pack of cigarettes. Bill Burr was wearing his Nikes. This is why you used to want to be a rock star, to break cultural norms, to do it your own way. Now all the stars and wannabe stars have stylists, want to break into the world of fashion, do you think this resonates with the average person on the street? No, for them it’s about the music first and foremost. You shouldn’t need clothing or production to sell it.

And I think it was Jeff Ross who said he lost his sense of taste during Covid. Yes, he bought tickets to a Dave Matthews show! I’m laughing just writing this. Irreverence, it used to be a hallmark of rock music. But the dimwits coddled by the industry can’t even make a joke, never mind take one.

Is the above depressing?

Of course!

But when things are in the doldrums, that’s when disruption occurs. People who think outside the box triumph.

Want to think outside the box?

Fire your lead singer who has got a mediocre voice, I don’t care that he wrote the lyrics, find someone who can sing, who the audience wants to hear.

Write one song so good that it goes viral. That should be your goal, to write individual great songs, forget the album, unless you’re one of those Patreonites bragging that you’re making money selling to an ever-dwindling number of hard core fans. Patreon is not the game, it’s a paper route.

Yes, it’s a hits business. It’s always been a hits business.

Or forget the recordings all together. Make it about the live show. But then it’s got to be different every time you come through, if not every night, and it’s got to be spectacular.

No one wants to hear the above, because that would mean they have to change their thinking. Not do it the typical way. Raise money, book a studio, record an album, pay people to promote it…straight to the dumper.

And it would mean you’d have to reach higher, stop letting others tell you how great you are and measure yourself against…

The Beatles.

That’s right, you’re competing against them every day, they’re right there next to you online, and Paul McCartney is even on the road, hoovering up dollars, that could have gone to you.

In addition to that great voice, maybe you want songs with changes, bridges… Worked for Paul!

Not that that’s the only way to break in. But if you don’t do it the traditional way, you’ve got to be even better than the rest, to bring people to you.

I’d say it can’t go on this way, but it has for over a decade, getting worse and worse.

And what has changed?

ALMOST NOTHING!

They don’t make television like this in the United States.

And they certainly don’t make movies. Hollywood is patting itself on the back over the success of “Top Gun: Maverick.” I haven’t seen it, but I did see the original, because back then movies still mattered, the stars weren’t on TV, they were shooting for something more. I hear it’s a special effects movie that’s a tribute to the military. More serious reviewers have panned it, even in the L.A. “Times,” but the public loves it. On RottenTomatoes it’s got a score of 97/99, the first being the critics  and the second being the public, not that there’s a cadre of trusted critics anymore, both Siskel and Ebert are dead. Movie criticism barely means anything more than music criticism, and since there’s no longer the advantage of free records, and anybody can express their opinion online, music criticism means nothing these days. It, like movie criticism, especially on front line, highly touted product, is essentially cheerleading. The critics don’t want to lose their access. And money trumps art. Our national standards have dropped. Say something sucks and the blowback on social media is that you suck. To a great degree people don’t even know what great is anymore, they don’t have contact with it.

Great doesn’t play to the audience. When all the hit records are done by the same producers and songwriters, with the acts essentially buying insurance, why should the audience care? It truly is product, with no lasting effect. A great record, a transcendent record, exists in its own atmosphere, you find a slit in the globe, step in and are amazed. You can’t wait to tell people about the experience, one you’ve never had before. But that’s not what drives the business today.

You know why TikTok is so powerful? Because it’s new and different, it’s tapping the talent of the hoi polloi, with essentially no restrictions. The gatekeepers have rules, the gatekeepers say no, whereas the creators of the app say yes, they’re delivering tools for you to create. It’s the humanity that is attractive in TikTok, something that’s certainly been squeezed out of mainstream music, and a whole hell of a lot of television too. As for movies with that element, the studios don’t even release stuff like that anymore, the risk is big and the payback odds are extremely low.

But the numbers were never this big in foreign countries. Actors were part of the fabric of society, not held high above the regular citizens.

Now before watching the first episode of “Borgen,” we finished off this season of “Hacks,” which ends leaving you believing the series is over, done with, but doing research online one finds out that’s far from the case. They get the Hollywood pitch meetings right, Jean Smart is better than the rest of the cast put together, she’s a marvel, and ultra-believable in the role, but everybody else is essentially a cartoon. The production values are great, but so much of the rest is predictable, two-dimensional cardboard.

But not “Borgen.”

I’m waiting for the innovation on the other streaming services. Disney giving us another “Star Wars”? What next, more “Hello Kitty”? This is evidence of brain dead profiteering. Sequelitis. Without the original “Top Gun” the new one would have done a lot less at the box office. But in a world where so much is unsatisfying, where it’s hard to build from scratch, the purveyors keep going back to the well, again and again and again. And believe me, it’s about innovation, especially in tech, where there is no catalog, which is keeping the major labels alive.

You must read this article from Bloomberg:

“Mark Zuckerberg Is Blowing Up Instagram to Try and Catch TikTok – The CEO of Meta Platforms needs Reels—his short-form video feature—to fund his metaverse, and you can smell his desperation from Beijing.”: https://bloom.bg/3aDxBhj

And you should take the time to click through, even if you don’t use social media. Because this is about more than advertising to young people. Turns out Zuckerberg was a one trick pony. Facebook, which even he didn’t come up with. He bought WhatsApp and Instagram, brilliant moves, but this can’t happen again, just like content creators are wary of making deals with Apple, they don’t want to give up control of the game. All Zuckerberg seems able to do is copy, in most cases poorly. Which means his metaverse play…will probably fail. Because if someone talks about something ad infinitum, it seems to never happen in tech. It’s always some left field nobody who twists the concept and delivers what people want. Yes, there will be a metaverse. But will it be about owning land and buying clothes and tchotchkes? Probably not.

So let’s see, supposedly declining to death Netflix has the latest “Stranger Things,” TV sequelitis, that I gave up on with season two. And it’s got “Squid Game”… The other outlets have nothing similar. And we keep hearing it’s about their catalog. When in truth, catalog is important, but it’s front line, new product that creates all the buzz and the sales, that drives your business.

And now Netflix has the new season of “Borgen.”

Maybe you never watched the original. Your loss. The Israelis and the Danes make the best television, and “Borgen” is Danish. And in truth, I spent two years watching the cream of the crop on TV and now am mostly subjected to B level material. Like the people listening to the umpteenth track by the Weeknd produced by Max Martin, or one of the albums Jack Antonoff is involved in, their sights are lowered, they don’t expect revolutionary, but you know it when you hear or see it.

Like “The Bureau.” The French “CIA” show. It’s got more tension than the movies in the theatre, and with your giant OLED TV the image is just as good. You’re involved, you’re invested.

But you won’t get hooked right away.

There’s all this crap about people’s short attention spans. But we know that everybody’s got time for great, that’s what bingeing is all about, which is why HBO and Apple are so stupid releasing their product week by week. It’s the experience, the immersion that turns us on, that gets us to testify. Watching one of these series dripped out week by week is like taking a break after foreplay, and then after you go to the bathroom, there is penetration. And just when you’re getting into it, there’s a break for dinner… Would you ever get off under these circumstances? Of course not. As for you offended by sex analogies, the whole world runs on sex. As does TV. You can be puritanical, like a politician standing up for morality and then stepping out on his wife, or you can stop pooh-poohing sex, after all it’s human nature.

So Netflix has dropped all eight episodes of season 4 of “Borgen” right away, today. And if people didn’t know I was a fan of the show and tell me, I might not have known it came back. Because it’s impossible to reach people. And hype is so twentieth century. No, today the product stands on its own, and the goal is to make something so good that it sells itself.

Like “Borgen.”

So I’m not going to tell you the new season of “Borgen” is immediately riveting. You’re playing mental games trying to remember where the last season left off, after all it was years ago. But Sidse Babett Knudsen is so serious, so involved, not wanting us to look at her, but doing her job, that we’re drawn right in.

Everybody’s just doing their job on “Borgen.” It’s not movie stars saying LOOK AT ME! And the amazing thing is they make being in government, and media, look exciting, like legal TV shows. But the law moves slowly and media moves fast and the government is somewhere in between.

It’s a career. Forget the stunting, the election of the unseasoned, inexperienced, most people in government are lifers, especially the non-elected. And you’ve got to choose your path wisely. Say no to one gig and yes to another. Playing the game is half of the job.

So, do you yell or treat everybody nicely.

This is one of the reasons American business is messed up. Executives are so busy being nice to their workers that they lose focus on the ultimate goal. I’m not talking about sexism, I’m not talking about abuse, what I’m really talking about is competence. An executive wants to believe everybody can do their job, is dedicated to their job, knows what they’re doing, and if they criticize someone for being substandard it’s not the ultimate faux pas. When you’re responsible, you care. And when an underling screws up, I’m not talking a mistake, everybody makes those, but is unprepared or does a lousy job or…it makes you go nuts. Which is why founders are replaced by managers with MBAs that know how to run the company, but just can’t innovate. A founder is riding on the edge, he or she wants their team to ride on the edge with them.

Oh, you think I’m touching the third rail here.

But let me put it this way. Some people take their jobs very seriously, it’s life and death, and for all the b.s. that we should take time off, disconnect, it’s oftentimes this game, this work, that gives meaning in life. Try not working, it’s depressing. And a lot of people want to make a difference with their job, like Sidse/Birgitte Norberg.

As I referenced with Ari Emanuel, all these big shots have PR teams, they see the press as a tool. And that is evidenced in “Borgen.” A truth not in American TV.

And the issues are real and up to date. Climate change. Putin invading Ukraine. These are the issues of our day, not the Mandalorian.

So I’m watching and I’m involved. The rest of the world falls away. You have to pay attention or you miss it. And I don’t want to miss anything. That’s how you get ahead in life, not missing anything. As for those smoking dope, which is for some ridiculous reason seen as cool, try remembering what happened while you were stoned. Hell, half of the game is just observing, you’ve got to know the landscape, where the bodies are buried, people’s weakness, to even play the game.

It’s not a great continuum from the everyday to the elite. There’s a huge gap between the two. Which is why regular folk revere and criticize, gossip about the elite. They have no access. But at the top of every company/organization, there’s a game. And the people playing it are smart. And it’s hard to stay in. And if you’re asleep, you lose. You’ve got to not only play, but think ahead.

This is all in “Borgen.”

It was palpable, the experience of watching “Borgen” as opposed to the rest of the dreck I’ve been consuming recently. I could feel it immediately. Not only was it a good ride, there were lessons to be learned.

Americans are fed bread and circuses. So they’re not even aware of situations, never mind the truth. But “Borgen” does a better job of delineating the issues behind climate change than the media in America. It’s simplified, but not simple. This is the power of the visual image. To send a message. The images bring you in, you get hooked on the story, and while you’re on the ride you’re picking up all kinds of information.

That is not in a Marvel movie, irrelevant of its grosses.

It’s not on the gossip sites.

This is real life.

And in “Borgen” everybody is not beautiful, as everybody in government is not not only in Denmark, but the USA.

“Borgen” is what it’s all about. When they started teaching film in universities they were thinking about stuff like “Borgen,” not the crap in theatres today. This is serious business. Which causes you to take it seriously.

This is what I live for.

Hey Bob

I don’t think you’ll be surprised that we’ve been fortunate enough to have hosted Billy several times at Newport Folk.  Hell, we even had him play two different sets/days last year coming out of covid. One where he played a “traditional” set dedicated to the bluegrass masters before him and one where he completely lit the stage afire with originals. In my 15 years I’ve only given 7 encores and let’s just say if I hadn’t given Billy and the boys another song last summer I wouldn’t have made it out of the fort alive. To all who bore witness it was clearly one for the books and for Newport that’s truly saying something.

But here’s the thing that needs to be said. Why Billy Strings is who he is and why he’s come to your attention in the most organic way is not simply attributable to his indisputable mastery of instrument and craft, which at his tender age is truly remarkable; it’s because of the people he keeps in his corner.

Billy Strings team is as close a tight knit crew as I’ve ever witnessed. Akin to the road crews of yore that ate, slept, shit and breathed for their artist, Billy’s team set out to build their tribe one show, one fan and one mind blow at a time. I know because six years ago in 2016 I walked out of a music industry panel I was speaking at during one of the major conferences after a sardonic, swear laden rant about the bastardization of the word “independent” and “music”. I suddenly realized Newport Folk & Jazz didn’t really fit into the festival paradigm they literally birthed and thus there was no point in trying to convince anyone of anything anymore. I was done, so I put down my mic and walked off the stage and out of the conference all together.

On the way back to the hotel, Billy’s manager, Bill Orner ran me down and  walked the ten blocks explaining his and Billy’s ethos and stratagem, which he professed mirrored what the Newport family has been striving to rebuild for over the last decade and a half.  In short, we clicked and ever since  I’m constantly impressed but not shocked that Billy, Bill, Patrick, Allyson and their entire karass have stayed tried and true to their collective vision. When boiled down it’s pretty simple: there is no higher purpose than serving the music and the community; everything else is just noise.

While actions speak louder than words, music can save your soul. Four years after we first met, right before we had to officially cancel Newport Folk in March 2020 we pulled together the meager resources we had left in our annual budget as a non-profit and created a musicians relief fund to help our artist friends who were in mounting difficulty due to the spread of the virus. It was quickly evident the pandemic was going to last more than “a few weeks”.  We opened up the simple grant process and blew through our funds in 72 hours. We thought we knew how dire it was for artists, but in truth we had no clue. We faced the gut wrenching reality that we’d have to shut it down before helping all those who needed it.

As if on cue Bill Orner called me out of the blue saying he heard what we were trying to do and the Billy Strings crew wanted to do an online campaign to give a third of all merch sales to the relief fund until we could get on our feet. The amazing amount of money raised in an incredibly short time allowed us to keep the fund going until we could regroup. Soon after countless other Newport Folk alum started pitching in and for good and bad it’s still functioning today as the relief is still needed for many. But the first artist to reach out and offer help …. Well, there is a reason Billy and crew epitomize what we call Folk Family. It’s pretty simple, there is no higher purpose than serving the music and the community; everything else is just noise.

-Rock Steady

Jay Sweet

Executive Producer / Executive Director

Newport Folk & Newport Jazz / Newport Festivals Foundation

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Billy and his band are wonderfully talented, we’ve had them through the Cap numerous times for sold out, multi-night runs.  One key aspect to Billy’s development over the past few years you didn’t cover has been the overwhelming support he’s received from the Jam Band community and all the fandom that entails. This demo has a tight network of its own, and its stamp of approval still holds a strong, collective weight across multiple generations.

A Billy show comes with many of the tenets a Grateful Dead show carried in it’s day or a Widespread Panic .moe or Phish show carries today: fans traveling to multiple shows in multiple cities, early-entry rail riders, tapers, exclusive merch and posters for sale, set list scrutiny, lots of tie-dye and good vibes.

Billy surely pulls his fan base from all over the spectrum, but based on what I see when he’s here live the Jam Banders have embraced this guy and play a foundational role in his success.

Bruce Wheeler
GM
The Capitol Theatre
Port Chester, NY

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We’ve been working with Billy for 2-3 years now at Seated and I can say his touring success is largely due to Pat, Liz, Bill, and the amazing team surrounding him.  Since day 1, that team has truly understood the value of capturing first party data on their ticket buyers.

Before every show goes up, they capture email & phone numbers from fans who may be interested in attending.  Every presale launch then gives fans the chance to share their email & phone for early access to tickets.  Additionally, every single one of the sold out shows that you mentioned has a long waitlist of emails & phone numbers that they can then retarget with the 2nd show (or the next time he comes to town).

In a world where all your streaming data is owned by the DSPs and all of your ticket buyer data is owned by the ticketing companies and promoters, Billy’s team has spent years growing their own list and understanding their fans.

Oh and his music is pretty damn good too.

“Who is the next Strings? Someone who’s been doing it for years, practicing in the shadows, not spamming the labels to sign them for an instant hit.”

We’re seeing the same momentum with Goose.  They played Bowery Ballroom the month before the pandemic in 2020.  This month, they sold out Radio City and just put up a 2nd show.  Not all success stories can be found on the Spotify charts.

-David McKay

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Billy’s agent is Pat May, co-founder of Crossover Touring. You will never meet anyone who has met Pat that wouldn’t say he’s one of their favorite people. He’s the sweetest man on the planet. Pat has been an agent for over 20 years, representing folks like David Grisman and Del McCoury, and Pat is always looking for new artists that he can take on the slow and righteous path to success. Everything you said about Billy’s career arc is the intentional artist development Pat has been building with Billy for years. He wanted people to discover this kid out of a shared love for music, not because some jockey, or playlist, or algorithm pointed them there. Every aspect of this kid’s rise is as real as it comes.

Adam King

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I’m a regular reader, and I’ve never written to you. But because Billy Strings is a bluegrass artist, and I’m a lifelong bluegrass pro who served 15 years as president of the International Bluegrass Music Association, I thought I’d contribute some perspective about what makes Billy special. Several things:

* He is a for-real guitar virtuoso. Having studied Doc Watson deeply for years, his clarity and tone are a close match to Doc’s and just sounds really good even at high speeds. He’s the reigning kind of the flatpicked acoustic guitar sith technique as awesome and as flawless as they come.

* He is 100% authentic, not an easy thing to pull off in today’s big music biz. He sings and writes from the heart, and fully believes in what he’s doing. He grew up on bluegrass (as well as a high interest in metal). There’s a great YouTube of a concert of just him and his dad — an old-fashioned no-mistaking-it bluegrass guy. It’s great to see them interact.

* His band is excellent, no-b.s. bluegrass hounds, and they sing really well. At a Billy Strings show you get to hear first rate banjo picking and mandolin picking, scarcely heard on big stages since the heydays of masters like Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe.

* His music is fully accessible, easy to follow even at high speeds, and his writing is about real things, not mindless pap.

* His life story as detailed in a big NYT article is compelling, growing up in a meth household and getting into trouble while finding his own path. A very unlikely success story considering his troubled start. This helps make him interesting and an object of admiration by young and old alike. It’s natural to root for him.

* He slides easily between honest traditional bluegrass and open-ended experimental jam-grass a la Phish. Combines the clear virtuosity of bluegrass with a style that appeals to Dead types. Being invited onto shows with Bill Kreutzman has helped him widen his appeal.

* His easy facility on the guitar and his body language as he shreds is exciting to watch and is for-real, not concocted or overblown.

* Bluegrass has an honesty about it and a depth of tradition that takes exceptional skill to sell to a wide audience — and Billy’s  steeped in that tradition and can fully communicate it to people who may have no idea what bluegrass is. They just can tell it’s good and different and authentic.

There’s a YouTube of the full version of what they showed for 8 seconds on the Grammys. Great stuff. Check it out.

Bluegrass has never seen the likes of him in its 75 year history, and still in his 20s he’ll be a force for a long time to come.

Pete Wernick
“Dr. Banjo”

Bluegrass Grammy nominee

Niwot, Colorado

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Billy is a phenomenon. Pure and simple. Playing with passion every day for years and then finding an audience from the ground up that just wants to experience something as a community around music. I met him and his manager a couple of years ago when they first visited Honolulu. I had reached out to his manager about possibly recording with an artist that i manage for a collaborative album with artists from various decades and styles. They said yes and were excited to stop their vacation for a few hours to play and record. First of all Billy, his girlfriend, now fiance, and his manager were wonderful people from the first second we all met. Watching Billy and Jake meet and subsequently compose and record a new song over a couple of hours was a beautiful experience. We have kept in touch and Billy invited Jake to play with him in Wilkes Barre last fall as we were in the same state touring together. Watching them on stage together play 1 then 2 songs and Billy asking Jake to play the entire second set with his incredible band was inspiring and amazing. I have seen a lot in over 55 years of concerts and 41 years in the biz but this evening was one of a kind as a fan of live music. And i have a feeling most of Billy and his bands live shows feel like one of a kind to his fans. I appreciate you writing about him and spreading the word to your readers. Everyone that follows you should check out a show. You do not have to know one song and may not but I promise you that you will absolutely love the concert experience Billy, his band, and his team bring to the stage.

Thank you Bob!

Van Fletcher
Manager-Jake Shimabukuro

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Indeed, Billy’s music has always been a celebration!

We were fortunate to know him when he was still a young guy in a small town.  He played our wedding! And just a few months later put his nose to the grindstone, quit drinking, and the rest is history.

Colleen​ Wares

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Yessir Bob! So amped to see the Billy Strings wave cresting wider. Here at SiriusXM we’ve been huge supporters from the beginning.

Before the Grammys and Post Malone collabs, he was in heavy rotation on Jam On and Bluegrass Junction.

We also broadcasted the Cincinnati show you mentioned live, as our first ‘Concert of the Week’ on our newest live music channel, nugsnet radio (search for it on the SXM app).

Billy’s music has been resonating for many years now, and the data we use reflected it very early on.

He’s one of the most streamed artists on nugsnet, a live music platform that also has music from Metallica, RHCP, Dead & Company, Pearl Jam, Springsteen, etc etc.

Thanks for spreading the good word.

Ari Fink

SiriusXM

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We’ve been rocking to Billy Strings here in Michigan for about 15 years now.  The first time I saw him was in my friend’s living room.  EVERYONE in that room (all 25 of us) were like……fuck! who IS this kid!?  He was about 17-18 at the time.  Just a matter of time.  A lot of it, but it was inevitable.  Love to see a kid who has continuously worked his butt off get some well-deserved recognition.  And he’s NEVER told anyone how great he is.  Super refreshing.  We’ve got a great roots scene here with a number of great writers/players.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with many of them as a producer here in Grand Rapids.  And Billy, while he’s been at it a while…he’s just getting started.  Cheers!

-Michael Crittenden

Mackinaw Harvest Studios

PS:  and re: Billy Strings….hats off to John Strohm at Rounder.  He truly believes in the careers of the artists he gets behind.

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HI Bob
Definitely something in the water with artists doing things on their own terms.  Another act that should be on your radar if not already is Turnpike Troubadours.   Their recent tour numbers:

All headline hard ticket shows have sold out within hours (if not minutes) of the on sale:
May 14/15 – Morrison, CO (Red Rocks) – 2 nights – 18,560 – 100% sold out – Grossed $1,049,462.00
April 8/9 -Tulsa, ok – 100% sold out – 2 shows- 3400 tickets – Grossed $166,040.
April 21/22/23 – Ft. Worth , TX – 15,000 tickets – 100% sold out – Grossed – $1,320,000
May 6 – Helotes, TX – 4000 tickets – 100% sold out – grossed – $239,000
May 7 – Houston, TX – 5000 tickets – 100% sold out – grossed – $267,650

A few of their Current headline (hard ticket) shows that have yet to play (not including headline festivals)
June 10 – Council Bluff, IA – currently at 8,652 tickets sold
June 11- Waite Park, MN – sold out on on sale date- 5500 tickets
July 29,30 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium – both dates sold out day of on sale – 4,724 tickets
Aug 19 – St. Louis, MO – sold out within minutes – 3400 tickets
Aug 20 – Bonner Springs, KS – current ticket count at 11,500 tickets sold

This is an artist that has never had a “radio hit”.    With that said, they realistically have a 90 min set full of hits if you if you judge “a hit” by every single person at every show singing EVERY SINGLE SONG IN THE SET, WORD FOR WORD, AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE!

Random video a fan posted from Red Rocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spjNKU7vsF4 – the top row is as engaged as the front row.

Another random video from a fan – undeniable hit :  The Bird Hunters

This band is real and their overnight stardom has taken over 10 years.  Open invitation for you to come to any show.

Cheers!

JON FOLK
RED11MUSIC
As Agent for Turnpike Troubadours
Nashville, TN
www.Red11Music.com

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I asked a friend of mine who owns a guitar shop how did the pandemic affect you. He said, “We sold three times as many guitars to ALL sexes as we did pre-pandemic.” Which means that we are going to have a lot of warm guitar players in the next few years.

Michael Des Barres.