Now that DownTown Mystic has a new website, it only seems natural to start a blog. With the successful release of the DownTown Mystic cd, it makes sense to talk about what’s been going on. When I look back to the start of the year and where DownTown Mystic was at, to now at the end of the year, 2013 has been one crazy kind of year. Since the last Quarter really rocked, I’ll start there.
After releasing 3 Digital Singles in April, June and August, DownTown Mystic was featured on the RADAR of the Direct Current: http://t.co/p4UAm3Frwa
The DownTown Mystic CD was released the following month in October. Here’s the Press Release: shar.es/Ee6gn …the cool thing about this was that I got the finished cds the day before I went to see my fave band—Band of Heathens at The Mercury Lounge in NYC. They had just released their great new album Sunday Morning Record a few weeks before. I saw them there back in April and met Gordy Quist & Ed Jurdi, hanging with them after the show. So I had a mini CD Release Party, with the Heathens being the 1st to get the cd. That was great!
The next day we started mailing the cd to Radio. The DownTown Mystic CD was released at Americana Radio in the US and the Euro/Americana shows in Europe, which had put DownTown Mystic on the map with the previous Standing Still CD. The response in Europe was immediate to the new cd, with the Euro/Americana shows playing 12 of the 14 tracks on the cd, and more shows giving more spins to DownTown Mystic than Standing Still. Added to this success was Dani Heyvaert’s cool review in Rootstime: http://t.co/x3lkuFR63s
I love the Euro/Americana show hosts because they really get the music. It’s very immediate. If they like it, they play it. Standing Still had received good airplay and the reviews in Europe gave such high praise, that I was really determined to up my game and put my best foot forward. It was very gratifying to have so many embrace the new release. It gave me confidence to face the US stations, which operate on a totally different level. You have to get the music heard and approved by a Music Director and Program Director, making it much tougher to get your music on the playlists, which are generally smaller. So the completion is fierce because there are only so many spots available at any given time.
It had been over 3 years since DownTown Mystic had released Standing Still in the US and I was hoping that Radio would still remember me. The response at Americana Radio was slow but sure. Standing Still had only managed to get to #157 on the AMA Radio Chart. So the new DownTown Mystic had something to prove. The new release hit the AMA Chart at #247 after the 1st week of release, but climbed up to #137 in its 2nd week, surpassing Standing Still’s best showing. I’m always amazed at the number of releases out there…I mean #247? And there’s another 400 after it! But that’s also what makes the Charts fun…it gives you something to aim for.
It was in the 7th week of release that DownTown Mystic released the new In The Cold Single at Thanksgiving. Here’s the Press Release: http://t.co/yfx9zHeZXX
The Holiday season would start in a big way for DownTown Mystic . On Black Friday, Paul Kerr posted his brilliant review of the new cd in the UK’s Blabber’n’Smoke: http://t.co/4jmRvAz5Ae
On Cyber Monday came the big news—DownTown Mystic would break into the Top 100 on the AMA Charts (#89-Terrestrial and #78-Internet) and have the highest debut for the week at #22 on the Roots 66 Airplay Chart! The following Friday, Shawn Underwood posted this great review in Twangville: http://t.co/Aacuzf1QZ8
The following week DownTown Mystic was at #88 and here’s what the AMA Chart looked like:
| 77 | 90 | 82 | LINDA THOMPSON (17|1) Won”t Be Long Now Independent Station Posting Count:0 – Track Spin Totals: |
^57 | 51 | 60 | 542 |
| 0 | 425 | 83 | ROSANNE CASH (16|14) The River & The Thread Blue Note Station Posting Count:2 – Track Spin Totals:3 100.00% (3) -Modern Blue |
^57 | 4 | 0 | 61 |
| 75 | 75 | 84 | JASON BOLAND AND THE STRAGGLERS (3|0) Dark & Dirty Mile Proud Souls Entertainment/Thirty Tigers Station Posting Count:1 – Track Spin Totals:21 100.00% (21) -Electric Bill |
56 | 61 | 61 | 3174 |
| 64 | 63 | 85 | GUY CLARK (20|0) My Favorite Picture Of You Dualtone Station Posting Count:2 – Track Spin Totals:8 37.50% (3) -Rain In Durango 25.00% (2) -I”ll Show Me 25.00% (2) -Cornmeal Waltz |
53 | 76 | 79 | 5847 |
| 69 | 74 | 86 | JOHN FOGERTY / VARIOUS ARTISTS (13|0) Wrote A Song For Everyone Vanguard Station Posting Count:2 – Track Spin Totals:13 23.08% (3) -Mystic Highway 23.08% (3) -Train Of Fools 15.38% (2) -Wrote A Song For Everyone |
53 | 61 | 68 | 6241 |
| 82 | 86 | 87 | DWIGHT YOAKAM (9|0) Best Of 2000-2012 New West Records Station Posting Count:0 – Track Spin Totals: |
52 | 53 | 56 | 401 |
| 110 | 89 | 88 | DOWNTOWN MYSTIC (6|0) DownTown Mystic Sha-La Music Station Posting Count:0 – Track Spin Totals: |
^52 | 52 | 42 | 325 |
I show this, not because #88 is so impressive, but because the names of the Artists that precede me are. I’m a fan of all of them, but the really special one for me is John Fogerty! I mean, many of the reviews of Standing Still in Europe made favorable comparisons of DownTown Mystic to CCR, so seeing DownTown Mystic close to his name on the chart was really cool! A few weeks earlier we were next to Paul McCartney on the AMA Internet Chart and that was really surreal!
|
270 |
118 |
110 |
DOWNTOWN MYSTIC (5|0) DownTown Mystic Sha-La Music |
^38 |
36 |
11 |
88 |
|
0 |
355 |
111 |
PAUL MCCARTNEY (7|5) New Concord |
^38 |
6 |
0 |
44 |
DownTown Mystic continues to get strong airplay at Radio and will close out the year with 9 consecutive weeks on the AMA Chart, making this a very Happy Holiday. Hopefully, 2014 will open up on an equally positive note. But as I started this Blog, 2013 was a crazy kind of year, and I’ll talk more about the earlier part of 2013 in upcoming blog posts.
In The Cold