DRX is Now Finalizing 2015 Showcase Sponsors
(Nashville, Tenn. – Jan. 12, 2015) – Online social network and country lifestyle portal Digital Rodeo announces special guest host, Deborah Allen, for the upcoming DRX Artist Showcase to be held January 20th at 6 p.m. on Nashville’s famous 3rd and Lindsley Bar & Grill stage. The live performance will be streamed and can be viewed at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/digitalrodeox-live.
The DRX monthly showcases highlight some of the platform’s most promising Country artists and will help to promote some of the website’s featured independent artists. The January DRX showcase will feature Brandon Alan, Ty Bates, James Carothers, Nate Green and Amanda Winter.
DRX showcases offer valuable opportunities for attendees to enjoy musical performances from up-and-coming acts while engaging and networking with others in the field. A variety of sponsorship opportunities are available for the Jan. 20 showcase as well as future Monthly Showcase Series events.
For information on becoming a DRX Monthly Showcase Series sponsor, please contact John Pyne at john.pyne@digitalrodeo.com or Bev Moser at bev.moser@digitalrodeo.com
Music industry representatives that RSVP in advance to showcase@digitalrodeo.com will be offered a limited number of complimentary drinks during the event. DRX Members/Fans who RSVP are entered for special prizes (must be present to win).
Deborah Allen is one of those rare artists who forged their own path to success and ended up building a world-class career in the process. An extraordinarily talented singer, songwriter, producer and performer, Deborah's unique abilities as an artist may be matched only by her enthusiasm and creativity as an individual. It is that formidable combination of spirit and talent that keeps the Grammy-nominated entertainer in demand. With her latest album, Hear Me Now. Deborah Allen's music remains as smart, witty and sexy as ever.
“I was born singing,” Allen asserts. “I guess it would be hard to pinpoint exactly when my career in music became a full-on pursuit, but I'd say by the time I was eighteen I was sure that music was what I wanted, and I just forged ahead. There was no Plan B in sight.”
Fortunately, after moving to Nashville, Plan A worked out in grand fashion. Although most often associated with her signature smash, “Baby I Lied,” the true measure of Deborah's influence in contemporary music is underscored by the hit singer's diverse radio success. Songs like “I've Been Wrong Before,” “I Hurt For You,” “Rock Me,” “If You're Not Gonna Love Me,” “Wrong Side Of Love,” and “Break These Chains” are just a few of the singles that made their way up the Country, Pop or AC charts during her career.
Throughout her phenomenal journey of hits and accomplishments in every facet of her career, Deborah Allen remains true to her vision. From her discovery by Roy Orbison, to her friendship with Shel Silverstein, her work with Prince, and her current release, Hear Me Now, Deborah creates art entirely on her own terms. With a distinguished career built on success after success as a performer, songwriter and producer, the dynamic Delta singer from Memphis, Tennessee, has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. That's simply not Deborah Allen's style.
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Brandon Alan looks at the many years he spent on the scene in Austin, TX as something of a “musical grad school” where he developed his chops as a singer, songwriter, guitarist and performer. Now based in Nashville, he has moved his musical focus a slightly different way.
On November 18, 2014, he released his self-titled Country-Rock LP. The album was produced by former Seal drummer and current partner at Creative Arts Group, Ramy Antoun. Brandon also enlisted Sergio Andrade (Lifehouse) on bass, Clayton Corn (Pat Green) on Keys, and Jacob Hildebrand (Miranda Lambert) on the texture guitars. The album was mixed and mastered by industry giants Reid Shippen and Andrew Mendelson.
Brandon’s equal passion and skill in track and field earned him a full scholarship to Drake University, but he left after one year to pursue his musical future full time. His family sought professional advice by meeting with the Assistant Chair of the Guitar Department at the famed Berklee School of Music in Boston. After he auditioned, the professor’s professional opinion was that his skill and talent levels were far beyond that of a typical student, and he recommended that the best road for him was not four years in college but to embark immediately on his career. Brandon took this advice and chose Austin, Texas as the perfect environment to hone his craft. While making the connections necessary to launch his recording career, he worked his way up to playing live four nights a week, performing at such venues as The Saxon Pub and Threadgill’s.
“The stage … that’s really where the excitement happens,” Brandon says. “I love the feeling and the energy I get from the crowd. I love trying new things with my guitar and with the songs every night. I like to try different spontaneous arrangements and segues into songs. I have played a lot of acoustic gigs and I love it, but these days I am finding I have the most fun playing live with my full band. I can pull out my electric and really let loose.”
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The gravel in Georgia-reared Ty Bates distinctive draw and his genuine fire for the center stage are a fresh throwback to the days when unique and storytelling tunesmiths dominated the country charts. “I grew up on the Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Alabama and Allman Brothers days of country music. Those artists are the reason why I started writing songs. I wanted to touch fans the same way their music did with me. It’s about processing and discovering your own meaning behind the songs.”
Most notably, Ty efforts would secure a residency in shows at Six Flags Over GA and in several programs during the summers with his “Big Momma” (grandmother) in South Carolina. Like any musician, his employment resume is filled with part time jobs that deserve their own episode of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, but Ty refused to falter in pursuing his dreams to one day fill venues like the Ryman Auditorium and Red Rocks in Colorado. He would win recognition as a finalist in the Colgate Country Showdown and take home the trophy for “Georgia Male Artist of the Year” from Georgia-Country.com.
Moreover, it would be a submission into the Longhorn Steakhouse “Sing It like Jake” contest that would prove to be an once-in-a-lifetime experience. The win granted Ty the opportunity to sing alongside Jake Owen at Jake’s hometown show in Vero Beach, FL. Since then, he’s made the permanent move to Music City and built a grassroots fan base through performance opportunities with artists like Reba, Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton, Gary Allan, Dustin Lynch and Lonestar. Red Light Management also added Ty to their celebrated roster of headliners, which includes Luke Bryan, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley and Kip Moore. His debut self-titled EP will premiere this summer containing five songs all recorded at the famous Warner Brothers Studios. Ty penned or co-penned the entire project and looks forward to hitting the asphalt throughout the coming year to meet new fans along the journey. “Ever since I looked out and saw the audience singing a song called Firefly that I wrote, I knew that this was it for me. You cannot recreate that feeling when you see people that you’ve never met singing back to you a song that you crafted yourself. That’s why I get on that stage --- to make that situation happen over and over again!”
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In the style of the legends of genuine Country music, James Carothers delivers stirring and hard-hitting songs of real life on his latest album, HONKY TONK LAND. With a gutbucket baritone that brings to mind such singers as Waylon Jennings and Jamey Johnson, Carothers takes us to a time when Country songs of life's triumphs and struggles filled the airwaves and provided the soundtrack of our lives. A native Southerner (Selmer, TN) who now lives with his young family in Los Alamos, NM, James is a favorite in the honky tonks and casinos of the Southwest and throughout the Midwest, where his smoky morning-after vocals leave audiences clamoring for more. Recognized by some of the music industry's top media pundits as a star in the making, he also plays lead guitar ala Vince Gill in addition to singing. Carothers himself wrote all the songs on HONKY TONK LAND, except for "Trouble in Paradise," the tale of a dying marriage written by his father, Jim, a recorded songwriter himself.
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As the great Johnny Cash once sang, "I've been everywhere man!" Nate Green, a Kentucky born nomad is not only singing a similar tune, but also living it. Having relocated from city to city more times than your average twenty-five year old and calling home anywhere his guitar is, the young singer-songwriter hunted all over for inspiration in creating his own style and was determined to not only make a name for himself in country music, but to leave a mark. Merging slick country lyrics with sharp sounding elements of pop, all while adding an edgy twang reminiscent of the Bakersfield sound, sets Green apart from, well...everyone. But the road to his artistry, like many before, hasn't been an easy one.
"I've always had a different ear for music, but never really understood what I could do with it until I learned to write. Once I began writing, a friend told me if I wanted to make it, I'd better learn to play. So, I bought my first guitar for 100 dollars and taught myself to play... and that was just the beginning,” states the songwriter.
"It took me a while to finally get it," the BMI songwriter states about his music and sound, "but once I got it, I think I got it right. I'm more than excited for the real beginning! You go all over the thought spectrum deciding what you want to write about and you hear so many instruments all over the world. Then you try to imagine how you can bring them together. It took all of these places, experiences, and sounds to mold who I am as a person and what type of presentation I want to give my country music."
Settling back in Nashville with an EP set to release in the upcoming months, Nate Green is now determined to make one final move, and that's towards the top.
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Every once and awhile you hear an artist that makes you stop and say “WOW! Where did that come from?” From a tender young age, Amanda Winter has been wowing audiences with her small size and larger-than life vocals. Born and raised in the heartland of central Nebraska, she grew up loving and living her life around country music. Her sound and style are ranged from the power vocals of Carrie Underwood and Martina McBride to the heartfelt ballads of Patsy Cline and Bonnie Raitt. Although she excels in the modern country world, her music will always have an added effect of the roots of the great traditional country music that she grew up on. Amanda’s musical influences range a wide variety of the great artists of the 80s and 90s, including her lifetime hero Reba McEntire.
Her career highlights include winning the Cottonwood’s Got Talent competition in 2009, becoming the Top Professional Female Vocalist with the NCMF in 2010 and being awarded the top prize in the Galaxy of Stars competition at the Nebraska State Fair in 2010. Growing up herself as a foster child, she continues to be an activist for children everywhere, and hopes to be living proof that it doesn’t matter where you come from, that you can achieve it all if you work hard and dream big. It wasn’t until she was in her early 20s that she found the people who became her family, which helps prove Amanda’s favorite saying that the best things in life are worth waiting for.
In May of 2013, Amanda took the next steps to expanding her music career and recorded her first original single that she helped co-write “Little Girl…Big Dream” in Nashville, Tennessee. Shortly after turning 26, she knew it was time to take the plunge now or never and move to Nashville. In July of 2013 she loaded up just what would fit in her car, along with her saved waitress tips and donations from family and friends and headed south for the next part of her life. Each and every day she is thankful for this amazing dream and the people standing behind her, and says that she can’t wait to see what life has in store for her next. Amanda continues to be a testament to the fact that she doesn’t dare let the sky be the limit. Her life is much like the quote by English novelist George Eliot that says “It’s never too late to be what you might have been”.
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