Archive for September, 2011

‘A Common Case of Disappearing’ – the Grand Prize album from 2010 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest Winner Amber Rubarth Releases on iTunes this Friday, September, 30

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

‘A Common Case of Disappearing’ – the Grand Prize album from 2010 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest Winner Amber Rubarth Releases on iTunes this Friday, September, 30.

New album produced by Grammy-winner Jacquire King and released on Brooklyn’s NewSong Recordings.

New York, NY. September 28, 2011. As the 2010 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest grand prize winner, Amber Rubarth won the opportunity to go into the studio earlier this year to record an EP with Grammy-winning producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Norah Jones).

“I met Amber last October in New York, at the NewSong Contest finals,” said Jacquire. “I was a judge on the panel, and Amber really stood out to me. She has a wonderful voice, and she is a very talented performer. I think that there are a lot of good things in store for her. I am really excited about what we recorded, and I look forward to watch it all unfold.”

The EP soon evolved into a nine song album entitled ‘A Common Case of Disappearing,’ and features an All-Star cast of musicians that includes bassist Frank Swart (Patty Griffin), drummer and percussionist Marco Giovino (Patty Griffin, Band of Joy) and guitarist Adam Levy (Norah Jones, Amos Lee). The album also features two duets, “Mirror” with Jason Mraz and “City Starts to Bloom” with Jason Reeves. It was recorded in the Spring of 2010 at Saint Claire Recording Recording Company in Lexington, KY.

“I feel extremely happy and grateful that it was originally supposed to be a five song EP,” explains Amber, “and now we’ve recorded and are releasing a nine song album!”

The album is being released by Brooklyn’s NewSong Recordings, the partner label of the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest. It will be released digitally on iTunes and other online retailers on Friday, September 30 to coincide with the international broadcast of her performance on National Public Radio’s Mountain Stage, an appearance she also won as last year’s NewSong Contest winner.

“This is a unique opportunity for talented artists like Amber to work with one of the top producers in the industry,” said Gar Ragland, NewSong Recordings president and the director and co-founder of NewSong Music, which produces the contest.  “And, we’re also proud to continue our decade long relationship with NPR’s Mountain Stage.  For 25 years, they’ve been showcasing some of the world’s best music performers and songwriters.”    

Amber will be touring the US, Europe and Japan this Fall and in early 2012 in support of the album’s release.

To learn more about the album and stream selections from it, please visit acommoncaseofdisappearing.com.

To watch the video documentary of the making of the album, click here.

MEDIA: For more information, please contact Lauren Stockner  at lauren.stockner@newsong-music.com; call (718) 788-0323.

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About NewSong Music

NewSong Music is an independent music organization with the following two-fold mission:  to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music and levels of skill, and to identify the truly exceptional artists within this community and to work closely with them to develop their careers and introduce their music to a broader, international audience.   You can find out more about NewSong and NewSong Recordings at www.newsong-music.com.

About Mountain Stage

Mountain Stage is a two-hour live performance showcase distributed each week by NPR and Voice of America and featuring some of the world’s greatest singers, songwriters and musicians in a relaxed atmosphere. Guests are musical legends, well-known artists, and emerging performers. Each week week five acts perform on Mountain Stage, usually two or three who were not born when the show began in 1983.

Mountain Stage hosted the first national media performances of Lyle Lovett, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Sheryl Crow, Barenaked Ladies, Alison Krauss, Ani DiFranco, Phish, Counting Crows, Ben Harper, Ryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Keb’ Mo’, Lucinda Williams, David Gray and many others. Musical pioneers Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Pops Staples, Odetta and Brownie McGee graced the Mountain Stage.

A good cross section of what Mountain Stage does might be gleaned from a list of some of the guests on its anniversary shows (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700th shows and 20th and 25th anniversaries). They included: John Hiatt, John Stewart, NRBQ, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Bob Geldof, The Violent Femmes, Tony Trischka, The BoDeans, Sheryl Crow, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Henry, Ricky Skaggs, Charlie Louvin, Hazel Dickens, Iris Dement, Steve Earle, Bruce Cockburn, Jesse Winchester, The Holmes Brothers, Tim O’Brien, Robert Cray, The Low Anthem and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. www.mountainstage.org

2010 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest Grand Prize winner Amber Rubarth to perform at Lincoln Center tonight.

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

This evening, as part of the NewSong Emerging Artist series at the David Rubenstein Atrium at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 2010 NewSong Contest winner Amber Rubarth will be performing to celebrate the release of her Grand Prize album ‘A Common Case of Disappearing.’ The album was produced by Grammy-winner Jacquire King and recorded earlier this year. The concert is FREE as part of  the Atrium’s Target Free Thursdays.For more information on the tonight’s show, please click here. To order and learn more about ‘A Common Case of Disappearing,’ click here.

The 2011 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest is Now Officially Closed for Entry

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

Thank you to everyone who has submitted this year. We’ll announce our remaining General Round finalists and the 2011 People’s Choice winner on Saturday, October 1.

A special thanks to our 2011 partners Mountain Stage, ASCAP, arts>World Financial Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, WFUV and Global Positioning Services.

To learn more about the contest finals event held here in New York on Thursday, October, 20, please click here.

Contest deadline extended to Tuesday, September 20.

Saturday, September 17th, 2011

Let’s face it. Not everybody’s good at meeting deadlines. And given the emails we’ve received this morning since closing the General Round deadline last night at midnight, we’ve decided to extend the deadline until midnight on Tuesday, September 20. This will be the final chance to submit your songs to this year’s Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, where great artists are discovered. Enter now by clicking here.

2011 Regional Round Winners Announced

Saturday, September 10th, 2011


MSNCCongratulations to the following regional round winners! They’ll be representing their regions in our live performance competition on October 20 at New York City’s World Financial Center Winter Garden.

While the regional winners have now been announced, the People’s Choice competition is still on, featuring videos from ALL of this year’s regional finalists. The artist with the most overall votes will join these artists at the finals.

INTERNATIONAL NORTHEAST SOUTHEAST
Ria Mae
Ria Mae

Halifax, NS
Clarence Bucaro
Clarence Bucaro

Brooklyn, NY
Christopher Williams
Christopher Williams

Nashville, TN
MIDWEST
SOUTHWEST
WEST
Ellis
Ellis

Minneapolis, MN
Megan Burtt
Megan Burtt
Denver, CO
Dudley Saunders
Dudley Saunders

West Hollywood, CA


THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT TO THE GENERAL ROUND IS 11:59 PM ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16.

While our Early Birds and regional round winners have now been announced, we’re still looking to fill the remaining slots left in the general round of the NewSong Contest.

Haven’t submitted yet? Submit online or through mail-in before next Friday’s deadline.

Questions? Send ’em to contest@newsong-music.com.

To all of this year’s regional finalists. . .thanks for being part of a great regional run this year! Together, we’ve brought over nine thousand voters (and hopefully, new fans) to your music. Keep it up.

Thanks for supporting independent music, and congratulations once again to this year’s regional round winners.

Click here to watch, listen and vote.

Click here to enter the General Round of the 2011 NewSong Contest.

Sincerely –

Gar Ragland
NewSong Director & Co-founder

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NewSong Music & Winston-Salem’s Hanesbrands Theatre Partner to Showcase Exceptional Emerging Artists in North Carolina

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011


Winston-Salem native brings musical talent to the Triad.

New York, NY – September 7, 2011 – New York’s NewSong Music is proud to partner with the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to curate a new emerging artist music series at the Hanesbrands Theater.

The series will showcase some of the most talented emerging performing songwriters from across North America. Performers announced to date include the Sweater Set, who launch the series on Friday, September 23, and The Honey Dewdrops, who perform Friday, December 16. Both shows begin at 8:00 PM.

Gar Ragland, the director and co-founder of NewSong Music and a native of Winston-Salem, is a member of the Arts Council’s Winston-Salem Music and Nightlife Task Force. “Milton Rhodes, Richard Emmett and I have discussed co-curating an emerging artist series in Winston-Salem for several years now. NewSong is currently a partner with two New York City arts presenters – Arts>World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts – to produce similar showcase series.”

“When we were ready to take the program beyond New York, it was a natural choice to bring it to my hometown and host the shows at the newly renovated Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts. It’s a great honor to have the opportunity to share with the Triad some truly exceptional talent from our artist community, and to present this new emerging artist series at the Hanesbrands Theatre in downtown Winston-Salem.”

NewSong Music is an independent music organization based in Brooklyn, New York. Its mission is to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music and levels of skill, while identifying truly exceptional artists within this community and introducing their music to a broader, international audience. The standout talent NewSong works with is discovered primarily through the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performing songwriters.

“We are thrilled to be able to partner with Gar Ragland and NewSong Music for this showcase of emerging music talent at the Hanesbrands Theatre,” said Richard Emmett, COO of the Arts Council and owner and operator of The Garage live music venue in the Arts District. “Gar and his company have earned an international reputation for giving emerging artists a platform to present their songs to audiences across North America, and for giving the top new talents they discover the promotional support and performance opportunities to take their career to the next level. Winston-Salem is lucky to be able to play host to some of NewSong Music’s stable of emerging musicians.”

Each year, the grand-prize winner of the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest receives a performance on an international broadcast of NPR’s Mountain Stage show, as well as a recording project produced by one of the premier producers in the music industry. The project is then released and distributed on the NewSong Recordings label. The 2010 winner Amber Rubarth’s prize-winning album was produced by Grammy-winning producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Norah Jones, Tom Waits) and is scheduled to release on September 22.

To learn more about this year’s contest and to submit (the deadline is September 16), please visit https://newsong-music.com/contest.

SERIES ARTIST BIOS:

The Sweater Set – September 23

Since their early years as teens in a DC church choir, Maureen Andary and Sara Curtin have developed a unique musical relationship.  Intricate Soprano-Alto harmonies soar over multi-instrumental arrangements of ukulele, guitar, flute, hand percussion, accordion, glockenspiel, and the occasional kazoo/mouth trumpet solo.

The Sweater Set has been nominated for 7 Washington Area Music Association awards including Best Contemporary Folk Duo of 2010, Best New Artist of 2009, has been awarded two Young Emerging Artist grants from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities and are 2010-11 Strathmore Artists-in-Residence in Bethesda, Maryland.

Honeydew Drops – December 16

Writing and singing in the veins of folk and old country music, the Honeydew Drops entwine harmony singing with tight instrumentation and craft songs that are simple and fine-tuned. Theirs are new songs from the southern mountains that ring with originality. After their appearance and first place win on a 2008 talent show broadcast of NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion”, the Dewdrops began their careers as songwriters and have since released two critically acclaimed albums, If the Sun Will Shine (2009) and These Old Roots (2010) both of which have charted at the #1 and #2 positions on the Folk DJ-L Charts for 2010.

NewSong Music: www.newsong-music.com
The Arts Council of Winston-Salem: www.intothearts.org
Hanesbrand Theater: www.rhodesartscenter.org/
Arts World Financial Center: www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts: www.lincolncenter.org
The Sweater Set: www.thesweaterset.com
The Honey Dewdrops: www.thehoneydewdrops.com

For all inquires please contact:

Lauren Stockner
516-317-3840
lauren.stockner@newsong-music.com

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