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Lonnie Ratliff Country Music Newsletter
May 18th. , 2008
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"Spotlight Artist"
" Connie Smith "
"click" PHOTO below for website
"Click" Yellow Speaker below to play songs by
Connie Smith
Connie
Smith (born Constance June Meador August
14, 1941,
in Elkhart, Indiana) is an American country music singer. She is best known for her
1964 hit song "Once a Day", which spent 8 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Country music charts, the longest of
any female country music artist in history. This was Smith's only single to
reach the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts. In less than a year,
Connie Smith moved from being a small-town Ohio housewife to country
stardom with a number one single to her credit. Perhaps overly compared to
and identified with Patsy Cline, Smith is still considered by many to
be one of the best and most underrated vocalists in country history. Her
lonely desperation came straight from the heart, also: Her father was
abusive when she was a child, causing Smith to suffer a mental breakdown
while she was in her teens. [1] "Once
a Day" launched Connie Smith straight to the top of the country music
industry and, for a brief period, she was one of the top female stars of
the genre during the mid 1960s. Although she never achieved the level of
commercial success as some of her contemporaries, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Lynn Anderson and Dolly
Parton, she is often hailed by music critics as one of the finest
voices in country music, voted in 2001 by fellow artists and members of the
Country Music industry as #9 of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music of
all time (CMT). Smith was born Constance June Meador in 1941 in Elkhart, Indiana. Although she was born in Indiana,
she spent much of her early years in West Virginia and later in Ohio. Both of
Smith's parents were from West Virginia. Her father was abusive when she
was a child, causing Smith to suffer a mental breakdown while she was in
her teens. [2]
In West Virginia, she began to start singing locally. She was soon married
and became a housewife and had children. By the early 1960s, Smith
had already become a married woman with a four-month old son, living in Marietta, Ohio. During this time, Smith started singing locally
again and appeared on local TV shows around her hometown area. While
singing near Columbus, Ohio in August 1963, she was
discovered by country singer Bill Anderson
after winning a talent show contest. He recognized Smith's talents and
offered his help into getting Smith a recording contract, Smith accepted
his offer. A few months later, she was signed onto RCA
Records, where she worked with legendary RCA producer Chet
Atkins. At RCA, Smith recorded her signature song,
"Once a Day" during one of her first sessions at the studio. The song,
written by Bill Anderson
took him over two years to write. He finally finished the song after
hearing Smith needed songs for her recording sessions. "Once a Day", was
released as a single in September and hit the top of the country charts,
reigning as number one for eight weeks. [3]
To date, "Once a Day" is still the longest song in Country music history to
stay at the No. 1 spot on the Country charts. The only other female singer
who has recently came close to Smith's long-standing record was Carrie Underwood, who's 2006's "Jesus Take the Wheel" spent six weeks
at the No. 1 spot. "Once a Day" is Smith's only Billboard No. 1 Country hit
to date, although "Just One Time", a remake of a Don Gibson classic,
reached No.1 on the Cashbox Country Charts. Smith's follow-up, "Then
and Only Then," hit number four (even the flip side reached the Top 25),
and her Top Ten streak continued until late 1968, including the big hits
"If I Talk to Him," "Ain't Had No Lovin'," and "The Hurtin's All Over."
[4]
Between 1965 and 1966 Smith had three No. 1 Billboard Country albums,
Connie Smith, Cute 'n' Country, and Born to Sing. At this time,
Smith was one of the most successful female vocalists of the genre, having
the similar success Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette would later have. During this time, Smith had
been twice nominated for Grammy Awards, one for "Once a Day" in 1965 and
another for "Ain't Had No Lovin'" in 1967. Meanwhile, her success
began to take a toll; constant appearances on the road, in films, and on
The Lawrence Welk Show pushed Smith to the
brink of suicide in 1968. She credits her Christian faith with saving her
from killing herself. [5]
In 1969, Smith did a cover version of Marty Robbins' 1965 No. 1 hit "Ribbon Of Darkness," that made
it to No. 13 on the Country singles chart. That same year, she recorded a
duet album with Nat Stuckey entitled Young Love. A single
also called "Young Love", which was originally a hit
for Sonny James in 1956, only made it to No. 20 for Smith. Connie and Nat
also did a gospel album in 1970 called
Sunday Morning With Connie and Nat -- later re-released in 2001
under the title God Will. She was a top draw in country music
concert venues and even branched into minor movie stardom, appearing in
such films as Las Vegas Hillbillys (1966) with Ferlin Husky and Jayne Mansfield, and "Hell's Angels on Wheels" (1967) with Marty Robbins. Nevertheless, Smith did not give her career
100 percent like many of her contemporaries, touring considerably less,
stating her main priority was being a wife and mother. Connie has been
married for a number of years to fellow Country Music star Marty Stuart and
occasionally performs with him. After
Smith recovered from the pressure of being a female country star, she began
to balance chart success with a lighter schedule. Though her country hits
were rarer than in her mid-'60s heyday, she was a better performer —
and person — for it. Smith still managed the Top Tens "You and Your
Sweet Love" in 1969, "I Never Once Stopped Loving You" the following year,
and "Just One Time" in 1971. Her most successful year during the '70s was
1972. She recorded three big hits: the number five "Just What I Am," the
number seven "If It Ain't Love (Let's Leave It Alone)," and the number
eight "Love Is the Look You're Looking For." [6]
Smith continued to cut a lot of hits by Bill Anderson, but also cut a lot
by Dallas Frazier, including, "If It Ain't Love (Let's Leave It
Alone)". By 1972, Smith began to incorporate more Gospel into her
act. With the help of her third husband, Evangelist Marshall Haynes, she turned her live show
into a traveling gospel road show and signed with Columbia, which permitted
her to record more straight gospel songs. Though the material didn't score
as well on the charts as her secular singles had, she managed to stay in
the Top 20 during much of the '70s. [7]
Smith recorded more Gospel albums under Columbia, including 1974's God
Is Abundant, and was nominated for Grammy for Best Gospel
Performance for her song, "All the Praises". Smith's Country career,
didn't remain as successful, her hits rarely hit the Top 10. Her last Top
10 came in 1976 with "('Til) I Kissed You", which peaked at No. 10, the
very bottom of the top 10. When Smith was signed to Monument, she
broke away from recording too much Gospel. Instead, Smith's Country music
got more Pop-sounding, as Smith was keeping up with the times, during a the
time when Country music was becoming more Pop-sounding. This type of sound
was evident in some of her biggest hits from the late 70s, including the
Top 10, "(Till) I Kissed You" and "I Don't Want to Talk It Over
Anymore". After she signed with Monument in 1977, most of her singles
dropped out of the Top 40. [8]
Her 1978 single "I Just Want to Be Your
Everything" was Smith's last significant hit on the country music
charts, making it to No. 14. The single was originally a hit for Andy
Gibb, whose brothers formed the The Bee Gees. Smith's version has been said to be
the only notable cover version because it sounds like the original. As for
her other singles released between 1978 and 1979 (most notably, "Smooth
Sailin'" and "Ten Thousand and One"), they failed to become hits, and
peaked outside the Country Top 40. Although these songs were updated to fit
the time period, Smith was not one hundred percent focused on touring,
performing and promotiing, focusing more of her time on family and later
raising her children, which is one of the reasons for why she later
temporarily left the business. Smith was nominated three times for
the Country Music Association "Female
Vocalist of the Year" award and earned 10 various Grammy nominations but has won neither. Smith has
also occasionally dabbled in songwriting, penning over 30 songs and earning
a Broadcast Music Incorporated award
for her 1967 hit "I'll Come Running." Another Smith-penned hit "You've Got
Me Right Where You Want Me" was later recorded by Reba McEntire. Smith left
Monument records in 1979, and officially left recording and touring for
awhile for Smith to raise her children. However, in 1985, Smith returned on
the Epic Records label to record two singles titled, "A Far Cry
From You" and "Hold Me Back", the first being the only one which charted,
peaking at only at No. 71. No album was ever released from the label. Smith
did not release any studio albums in the 1980s. In 1992, she released
her first album in many years called The Wayward Wind. The following
year, Smith did a live album entitled Live In Branson, Missouri,
USA. Since 1997, she has been married to 90s Neo-Traditionalist Country
star Marty Stuart, 17 years her junior. Connie and Marty actually
met back in the 60's when as a kid he went to see her in concert. On the
way home he reportedly told his mother "One day I'll marry her!" The two
met again while Stuart was producing Smith's 1998 comeback album, Connie Smith. Although the album didn't gain any
attention, Smith co-wrote nine of the ten tracks on the album. The album
was released on Stuart's label, Warner Brothers. In 2003, Connie Smith released a
Christian album with Barbara Fairchild and Sharon White (from the country group The
Whites) entitled Love Never
Fails. In 2002, Smith was voted at No. 9 on CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country
Music, one of the highest honors of her career. George Jones also credits Smith as his favorite female country
music singer in his book I Lived To Tell It All. Dolly
Parton has also credited Smith by once saying, "There’s only
three real female singers: Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, and Connie Smith. The rest of us are only
pretending." The quote was put on Smith's 1995 comnpilation album by RCA,
The Essential Connie Smith. Most recently country singer Martina McBride recorded a cover version of Smith's signature
tune "Once a Day" and was put in McBride's 2005 album, Timeless. Smith continues
to be a regular member of the Grand Ole Opry, and when not on the Opry, she
does occasional dates with her husband. As a solo artist, Smith continues
to tour on her own. In May 2007, she sang "A World of Our Own", a hit for
Sonny James, at the Country Music Hall of Fame's Medallion
Ceremony honoring James' induction into the Hall of Fame. In 2007, Smith
joined her husband on his album, Compadres for a duet. Smith has been through many
marriages. Now Smith is married to Stuart. Smith has five children and six
grandchildren. One of her children lives overseas in Norway. Smith
is a devout Christian, and has made pilgrimages to Israel in the
past, including one with the late Waylon Jennings and his wife, country singer Jessi
Colter.The success of "Once a Day" & the peak of her
career in the 60s
Career slows down in the 1970s
Later career & life today
Personal life
"Click" buttons below for more Connie Smith websites
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__________________________
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Dick
Damron teamed up with Lonnie Ratliff for his last few
recordings and their Nashville recordings have been lauded as some of the
best recording by the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Honour recipients 50
year music career. Dick has won ever honor available to a
country artist in Canada as well as other countries through out the
world. "Click" Photo to Visit Dick Damron on MYSPACE.
Lonnie Ratliff
produced this publisher demo with Kenny Chesney of the Clint Maki written
song "Raised On A Gravel Road" back before Kenny signed with BNA
Records and went on to become the mega country star he is today. "Click"
Link below to listen to this 1990's Demo.
Lindsey
Cardinale is known for her top 12 American Idol finish in
the very year that produced a country music winner in Carrie
Underwood. Lindsey found the song "Nothin' Like A Dream" written by
Lonnie Ratliff & Tara
Lyn Mohr-Hart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_Lyn_Hart 
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By
Lonnie Ratliff
Long before songwriting was anything more than a distant dream I had developed the habit of listening close to conversations around me and really paying attention to what was being said and trying to just build a larger story, song or movie in my own mind out of what was being said. Some of these little life segments have stuck with me to this day and some have ended up in my songs but this is the only conversation that ever developed into two songs that I am really proud of.
At the time I was working at a DX service station in Pryor, Oklahoma during the day and buying and selling cars on the side. It seems like all my life I have always had some kind of little sideline going on in addition to whatever it was I was doing to pay the bills. Anyway the man who owned the service station was Brice Wallis and like me he always had his hands in everything. In his case I think he turned his extra efforts into money and not just something else to worry about. Brice’s main job was as a post office letter carrier and his two services stations in Pryor were his sideline.
One afternoon we were not very busy at the station and Brice came by and we got to talking and he said there was this little old lady at the end of his mail route who didn’t have any family left and hardly ever got any mail but she was always waiting out on the porch when he came by on his mail route. He said she was always making him some lemonade or cookies and he could tell she just wanted some company and since hers was the last house on his route he would talk to her for a few minutes and he got into the habit of always saving back the junk mail he was supposed to hand out and he always made sure she got something if he could.
Over the years he got to know her from these little 5 minute snippets of visiting and one day he mentioned how the days were getting longer and she said, yes it’s hard to believe that such long days can turn into such short years. Even then I had enough sense to realize that was a pretty profound statement. I also had enough sense to know I didn’t have the talent yet to turn it into a song or story so I just filed it away for future use. This was probably about 1975 and around 1990 I started the song “Long Days” and soon finished it with Canadian songwriter Sharon Anderson. That in itself would have been a pretty unique songwriter story but along those same lines I remembered how my great grandmother used to always just sit and wait for the mail when I stayed with her for a few weeks when I was six years old. She would always just watch the clock and say Lonnie, that mailman is running late today. Her kids had all moved to California like so many “Okies” before them had done and I remember it would really make her day to get a letter from one of them. I also remember they didn’t write very often and I saw how sad she would get when she went through her mail and there was nothing there but a catalog or some other kind of advertisement. In my little six year old mind there was just no excuse for them to treat my grandma that way and it left a lifelong impression with me. I made it a point to keep in touch with my mom up until the day she died with a phone call every week and I would always write a short letter or send her a joke I cut out of the paper or some goofy postcard I had found. I took things from this and added to the story Brice told me about the little old lady on his mail route and came up with the second song from one story when I wrote “Seed Catalog” with my good buddy Tom Mitchell. I have always felt like in both songs we were able to simplify a pretty complex story.
"Long Days"
"Long
Days"
"Long Days"
(Lonnie Ratliff / Sharon
Anderson)
Walter Hudson's up
at daylight
A habit now of sixty some odd years
There really
ain't much reason
'Cause not that much needs doing around there
Forty acres on the edge of town
He paid the bank off fifteen years
ago
He buried Martha last November
And for the first time
Walter's startin' to feel old
(Chorus)
All those long days
Muscles strained and
shoulders bent
All those long days
He thought would never end
Long days without slack
End to end and back to back
They don't
add up, the answer isn't clear
How'd those long days turn into such
short years
===========================================
Seed
Catalog
Stephanie
Davis Demo
Seed
Catalog
She sits by the window and waits for the
mailman
By the clock on her mantle he's a little bit late
There
may be a letter from her son or her daughter
Well here he is now, she
walks to the gate.... but
It's a seed catalog from some
place in Nebraska
With pictures of tomatoes you can grow in your
house
She could go see her daughter or son if they'd ask her
But
she don't want to put no one out
(Inst)
(Bridge)
The least they could do is drop her a postcard
Some pictures
of the grandkids would make her so proud.... but
It's a seed
catalog from some place in Nebraska
With pictures of tomatoes you can
grow in your house
(Inst)
Oh the kids are all home
now but it took a funeral
And it's a little too late for what they're
thinking about
The grandchildren stare at those plants in the
kitchen
Grandma grew tomatoes right here in her house... from
A seed catalog from some place in Nebraska
She grew tomatoes
right there in her house
She could have gone to her daughter or son's
if they'd ask her
But she didn't want to put no one out
Tag: No she didn't want to put no one out
Writers: Lonnie
Ratliff / Tom Mitchell
Copr.
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Hello Everyone
I want to tell you about a new Stand Alone Chat Room I have opened. By stand alone, I mean we are not part of a community such as PalTalk and the many others now online. We are our own community of DJ’s, Artist, Fans and Friends of Country Music. We are open 24/7/365 . The room was designed to provide a meeting place for all the above. We currently have DJ’s and Artists from all around the World who play their favorite music from you and others.
The room also has full video capabilities with television quality. The sound quality is second to none on the Internet today. As each DJ playing his/her favorite music, the variety of music ranges from early to top 40 current Country, Bluegrass, Gospel and alternative as well as a few surprises thrown in from time to time.
Planned events such as the following are forthcoming and some are in place already.
And much more.
Easy Instructions for the Western Heart Stand Alone Music and Chat room.
Go to: http://www.fantasyltd.com/gary/1.html
A Box will come up which will have 2 options. 1, “Will say, First time users click here.” The other will say “Click Here To Enter Room”
If you have never been here before please click
on option 1 and follow simple instructions to download the Client. (Takes
about 30 seconds) When the TC Client comes up just click on
“
Be sure to add to your favorites and do a save as.
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"Click" Photo to Listen to "His & Hers"
Erin Hay & Perley Curtis
Dial-Up "click" this Link to Play
http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=6550845&q=lo
For those of us who are easily entertained
"click" link below
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p128/Onwuku/Sensual/gibbon_monkey_dog_tail-1a4.gif
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"When It's Too Country For Everyone Else, It's Just Right For Me"
Erin Hay
THE COLLECTION "Click" Photo to purchase Erin's CD's THE CIRCLE
"Click" Yellow Button below to play
Lo-Fi Samples from THE CIRCLE CD
Lo-Fi Music Samples from this 23 song CD
"click" on EBAY Logo below
I want to update you regarding the finals for
the ‘
“The Best
“The Best Song” for
“
We’re happy to say that
we placed as First Runner up
in the “Best
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It was 1954, I was six years old and in the first grade at Sugar
Loaf School which was six miles west of Antlers, Oklahoma, on the Miller
Road, literally on the line on the map between the colors that indicate the
Ozarks to the east and the Great Plains to the west.
We were living out in the
country and share cropping peanuts on Miss Melton’s place. It was in
the fall and everyone was starting to thrash their peanuts. It took a
pretty good crew of people to run a stationary thrasher, and my dad and mom
were working on Terry Don Pfaff’s thrashing crew helping thrash other
farmer’s peanuts and trading out their labor so Terry Don would come
thrash our peanut crop. This barter system was a pretty common practice in
Southeast Oklahoma where no one had any
money.
My mom had told me that day
when I came home from school they would probably still be in the peanut
fields but not to worry because they would be home soon, and she would
leave some cookies for me on the table. That all sounded fine to me at the
time, so I didn’t have a worry to my soul that day when I headed off
to school.
Sure enough, when I got home
from school there was no one there, but the cookies were right there on the
table like my mom had promised, so all was well in my six-year-old
world.
I remember that after I ate
a couple of the cookies, saving some for later, I made a point of changing
out of my school clothes into my play clothes.
At this time I was feeling
pretty grownup, being all alone at the house, so I found some old leftover
cornbread in the kitchen and took it outside, called the chickens and
crumbled it up and spread it on the ground for them to eat. We didn’t
have a pen for our chickens, so they just ran around the place, always
looking for food and we, in turn, were always running around the place
looking for where the chickens hid their nests if we wanted to have any
eggs.
I was pretty much enjoying
my situation of being all alone at the house and feeling much more mature
than my six years due to all the responsibility that had been laid upon my
tiny shoulders. If my Mom and Dad had shown up during this well lit
envelope of time, everything would have been just fine, but sometimes fate
can rock the boat, and fate was arriving quickly with the setting of that
Oklahoma sun, and my little boat was heading directly into the dark storm.
I remember Mom saying they
would be home before dark and since it was not really dark yet I kept
telling myself to not worry; they should be home any minute.
It was right about this time
I started telling myself I wasn’t scared and that I had nothing to
worry about and trying my best to convince myself that that was true. As
the sun dropped lower and it grew darker this would become a pretty hard
sell for my run away imagination.
I remember that I was as
worried about my parents and thinking that one of them may have gotten
hurt. Working around a peanut thrashing machine was pretty dangerous work,
and I was able to create some pretty gruesome scenarios that would have
done the future novels of Stephen King proud.
Like I said, my first
thoughts were for my parents’ safety, but I didn’t have to
dwell on them very long before I started to think about myself, and the
darker it got the more scared I
became.
I knew my parents would be
coming home, that is, if they were ever coming home again, from the west up
the dirt road that ran by our house. They had taken our wagon and team to
Terry Don’s to be used to haul peanuts from the fields to the
thrashing machine and, since we did not have a car, that would be how they
got home.
I decided I would walk down
the road to the top of the hill in the direction they would be arriving and
I could see way down the road as soon as I got to the top of the hill about
a hundred yards west of our
house.
I called my dog as I set out
toward the top of the hill where I could get a good view down the road and
figured I would see our wagon when I got there. It was a pretty big
disappointment as I topped the hill with no wagon in sight, and there was
no doubt now that it was definitely getting darker by the minute. I stood
there at the top of the hill for as long as I could see anything down the
road, then I called my dog, and one dejected scared little boy turned for
home.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I heard
something rustle in the woods off to the side of the road and away ran my
dog to chase whatever demon it was out there lurking in the dark. That was
the last I would see of my dog for the night, and it was one sad , lonesome
little boy that walked the last few steps back to the most scary house in
Pushmataha county.
When I walked in the door I realized I was no better in the house
than I was outside, because it was darker in there than it was outside. We
did not have electricity, and I had been warned more than once not to ever
touch the kerosene lamps we used for light. I had enough sense, even at six
years old, to know that trying to light the kerosene lamp was way too
dangerous, and I could end up burning the house down or breaking the thin
glass lamp globes and cutting myself, plus I was not even sure I knew how
to light one, anyway.
Instead of just sitting there in the dark, I crawled up on my mom
and dad’s bed and buried my face in my mom’s pillow and just
started crying and hoping I could go to sleep and wake up and my mom and
dad would be there and my world would be right again. Unfortunately my
story was to get a lot worse before it got better. Just as I was about to
drift off to sleep I heard something underneath the bed, and, by this time,
I was so scared I was way beyond reason, and I knew it was bound to be a
rattlesnake.
I lay there with my head buried in my mom’s pillow too
scared to move but knowing somehow I had to get off the bed and out of the
house before this imagined rattlesnake bit me. It got quiet underneath the
bed and I decided to make my move. I eased to the foot of the bed and
jumped out to the middle of the floor and headed for the front door. When I
got to the front door I opened it then looked back to see my little kitten
coming out from under the bed where the rattlesnake was. I scooped him up
and headed outside. It would
be a couple more days before I even thought of the possibility that Kitty
was probably the “rattlesnake” under mom’s bed.
It didn’t seem quite
as dark now after my ordeal inside the house, so I hung on tightly to my
kitten and heard my dog barking out in the woods. I was pretty disappointed
with the dog’s loyalty, but I sure was wishing I had just a little
bit of his courage right now.
I headed down toward the barn and crawled up on the pole fence
making sure I didn’t let Kitty get away. Our old milch cow, Roz,
lifted up her head from the empty feed trough like she thought I would have
the answers as to who was gonna feed and milk her.
I felt a little better now
sitting here on the fence surrounded by Roz and Kitty, and, for a while, I
just sat there quietly, but
that feeling did not last long. I got to thinking about how hopeless
everything was for me and missing my parents so bad I just couldn’t
hold back the tears, and I just kept petting the little cat and wondering
what was gonna happen to me.
I finally stopped crying and just sat there quietly watching the
world turn black. I am not sure how long I sat on the corral, probably
closer to fifteen minutes than the lifetime it seemed at the time, but then
the silence and darkness was broken by a car headed up to our house from
the East. I remember the last awful thought I would have that night was
that someone was coming to tell me something bad had happened to my
parents.
As the car drew closer I saw
that it was Terry Don’s old Chevrolet and when they stopped and
opened the door the car’s interior light light up the most beautiful
sight I had ever seen in my life. There was my mom getting out of the car
and right behind her was my dad.
I was so relieved I almost
started to cry again and when my mom called out “Lonnie!,” my
voice broke when I hollered back, “I’m down at the
corral.”
I started to put the kitten
down ‘cause I knew they would know I had been scared if they saw me
hanging on to it, but then I remembered how I felt when my dog had deserted
me earlier tonight, so I just held on to the cat and petted it so he would
know how much I appreciated his loyalty, and I was not about to caste him
away now that everything was okay.
Mom came down to the corral and climbed up on the fence and sat real close to me and started to explain how they had had to work much later than they ever expected, and they had left the team at Terry Don’s and had him drive them home so they could get back to me as soon as they possibly could. I told her it was okay . She took out her handkerchief and wiped my face. She asked me if I had been crying, and I said “A little bit.” She hugged me a little tighter and said “Me too,” and we both sat there on the corral and petted the cat together.
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Artists shopping for a
record deal. I guess
one of the most asked guestions in the world has to be "How do I go about
getting a record deal". Well that is pretty easy to answer. No one
knows. Every deal is different. I do know that you have to do a
few things to increase the odds of a label paying any attention to
you. You need a photo, a demo and a bio.
Once you have those if you start to get some interest you will have
something that represents you and your little package can get passed around
to people who might be able to help you.
Photos are
simple enough. There's lots of people out there in the world that can
take a decent photo so find one. Just use common sense and make sure
the photo represents you. The demo
can be a simple clean version of you singing the Star Spangled Banner or
Amazing Grace but if you can't sing it better than it has ever been sung
before you may want to spend a few bucks on a little more advanced
demo. If you can find you an original song that sounds like it could
be the next "Jesus Take The Wheel" you will have moved yourself to the
front of the line when it comes to getting a record deal.
The last thing
is a one page bio. Show some creativity here in the one
phase of getting a record deal that don't cost you a dime. If
you are going to try to tell some label you think you can write songs
remember they are going to read your bio and if it sounds like 99% of the
bios on MYSPACE and starts out with how you started singing 72 hours BEFORE
you were conceived and you have always dreamed of singing your songs for
the world don't be surprised if they don't believe you are gonna be the
next Kris Kristofferson. Last but not least don't bother people in
the business until you have these 3 basic things a photo, a
demo and a
bio.
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This is the famous YouTube video
of the Korean baby singing
"Hey, Jude by the Beatles"
"Click" Blue Banner above to watch
