Something quite amazing happened this past week. On February 21, 2014, DownTown Mystic’s track Way To Know went to #1 on the Roots Music Report’s Alt/Rock Song Chart! Not only that, the DownTown Mystic album went to #3 on the RMR Alt/Rock Album Chart!! The Roots Music Report is the #1 independent music chart in the world.

I’ve been at this for quite a while in the music biz, and I assure you, nothing like this has ever happened to me before. It’s been said that “good things come to those who wait”. Sure, I’ve been waiting a long, long time but even this seems a bit unreal!

As an independent artist in the marketplace, without a publicity and marketing machine behind you, the odds are heavily stacked against you. You can set goals to reach but you also have to be realistic about attaining them. That’s why I’m a big believer in SUCCESS being how YOU define it. Being totally independent, this is a HUGE victory and by any measure, being #1 is SUCCESS!!

Four years ago when I was recording the Standing Still album I knew we had something good, and when it was finished, I knew it was the best thing I had ever recorded. But Standing Still did not get much attention at Radio in the US. Now three and a half years after its release, I was ready to release the DownTown Mystic album, which I thought was even better. Since I’m not an artist who actively tours, and not having any music out in such a long time, I was wondering if Radio would even remember DownTown Mystic.

As I already stated, I believe that success is how you define it for yourself. By all measuring sticks, the DownTown Mystic album has been a great success. We’ve had more stations at Americana Radio play DownTown Mystic than ever before. The cd has been on the Americana Music Assn. Radio Airplay Charts since its 1^st day of release nearly 5 months ago, increasing spins for 20 consecutive weeks, breaking into the Top 50 in Total Weekly Spins.

For me, the DownTown Mystic album has far exceeded all my expectations and going to #1 on the Roots Music Report Chart is like the icing on the cake. While radio promotion is all about going after the radio stations not playing your release, I want to thank all the stations who supported and played DownTown Mystic, because they’re the ones who helped to make this happen. #1—what a trip!

Way To Know