The Music Gardener - Artist Manager, Music Marketer

School starts back this week in Nashville and in other cities around the country over the next couple of weeks. Parents begin the task of getting their kids up early and ready for school. Pressure and stress rise to peak levels as the new schedules make it tougher to get to work. Wouldn’t you like something to get your morning going along with that cup of coffee?

THE ANSWER - Listen to Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers new song “Get On Up” Play it for your kids as they are getting ready or on the way to school. Then play it for yourself as you are rushing to work. This is guaranteed to give you a positive start for your day! Leave a comment here on the blog today and win a chance to receive a personal morning wake up call from Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers himself!

YOU CAN OWN “GET ON UP” FOR ONLY 99 CENTS!  Click Here!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I am the President of Artist Garden Entertainment, an artist management and marketing company. I only recommend music that I personally believe is exceptional and would be enjoyed by my readers. We do manage Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers and are compensated indirectly when someone purchases his music. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Brandon Bee Creation West 2010

The Music Gardener spent the last two weeks of July on a musical adventure that took my wife and I on a journey through the beautiful states of Washington and Oregon. While its good to be back home in Nashville, we are already missing the cool dry northwest weather.

Our first stop was Enumclaw, WA for the Creation West festival. The new festival location made for a different experience than in the past. The views from the Gorge of past years were missed, but Mt Rainier as the new back drop wasn’t such a bad thing. One of our artist, Brandon Bee, had the privilege of playing for the communion ceremony just after the Newsboys performance. I must say that Brandon did a fabulous job leading 10,000+ people in worship while Harry Thomas, founder of Creation, presided over the ceremony.

The following day, another one of our artist, Holly Starr, took the main stage revealing some new songs from her soon to be released record, Tapestry. Showing a new rock side to her show, Holly strapped on a Fender Strat for the first couple of tunes. It is always nice to see an artist you work with, giving it everything they have to entertain and engage an audience and Holly did just that!

Mr Talkbox, Mike Silva, Kevin Thornton

After Creation, we took a drive down to Albany, OR for Mike Silva’s Willamette Celebration. Circleslide took the main stage on Friday evening and rocked out 18,000 attendees just before Skillet and the Newsboys. The following day Brandon Bee and Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers brought their music to the festival. Brandon Bee and his band really rocked it out in the 100 degree heat just after the Metal Mulisha did their motorcycle stunts.  Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers the did his thing bring the crowd to their feet and making the evening a blast for festival attendees.

We then traveled up the Columbia River Gorge towards Quincy, WA. What an unbelievable drive! Diana and I spent a couple of days on Lake Chelan in strategy meetings with our newly signed artist, Holly Starr. We held most of our meetings on a boat sitting in the middle of the lake. I think that has to be one of the best meeting locations we have ever used! Isolated from the rest of the world, we were able to accomplish some great planning.

From Lake Chelan, we made our way back to Seattle via a scenic pass through the majestic mountains of Washington. Another beautiful drive! Seattle then became our home base for the remainder of the week. We had marketing meetings with our partner, Save The City Records, and prepared for the Soul Shine event topping off the week. Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers, Bejiman, Kevin Thornton and Rachel Lampa really brought an incredible show to the Experience Music Project in Seattle on Friday night!

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Taylor Swift

I often wonder why people in the music industry like to bash successful recording artists? Could it be they are jealous of their success? It often seems as if people in the music industry feel like they have been assigned the position of judge for talent after the talent has already succeeded. The funny thing is, consumers and their wallets actually the judge who gets the top positions on the sales charts. When an artist has the one of the top selling records in the country, the majority of the public is saying “we like this artist,  they are worthy of our dollars and they should be put at the top of the list” Taylor Swift has been a perfect example of this over the last couple of years. She is currently one of the top selling recording artists and has the #3 grossing tour for the year. (Probably could be the #1 but she chooses not to gouge her fans with the exorbitant ticket prices that other artists are serving up) A day doesn’t go by where I don’t hear someone in the industry bashing her. Why is this? New artist Beckah Shae, recently tweeted the following “What if.. the music industry, Instead of being comparative, competitive & critical, Began to celebrate & cheer for each other?” I love that! I was personally convicted and have decided to take on that challenge. There will of course be exceptions in the case of artists who give music a bad name through stupid antics on and off stage and I will have a difficult time cheering them on. But for the rest, I would like to say thanks for your contributions! You keep this music thing going!

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Byron Chambers and Manwell

As an artist manager, it is a very special time when your artist is honored for excellence with an industry award. This year’s Dove Awards were extra special as our artist, Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers, was awarded Hip-Hop/Rap song of the year for his writing and production on Group 1 Crew’s “Movin”! The Dove Award comes at a perfect time as Byron just released his new record “My Time”. Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers has been doing a great deal of work for artists behind the scenes over the last 10 years. He has toured as a musician with NSYNC, Britney Spears, Martha Munizzi and Group 1 Crew. I would encourage anyone who reads this blog posts to visit iTunes and pick up his new record “My Time” Byron is making music that is much different than most in the Christian industry. His music is relevant to the music that is happening in the mainstream while holding strong to his positive message. Please trust The Music Gardener on this one. YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS RECORD! Byron is currently on tour with Tobymac. If you are interested in having Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers play your event, please contact Artist Garden Entertainment.

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com

Dave Barnes

The Music Gardener’s “Pick of The Month” for April is Dave Barnes. While I have heard Dave’s name thrown around in Nashville music circles for a couple of years, I had never really taken time to listen to his music. A friend of mine recently talked up Dave Barnes so much that I had to go on a search for his music.  Boy, have I been missing out! Dave has a brand new release on Razor & Tie titled “What We Want, What We Get” and his new radio single “God Gave Me You” is racing up the radio charts! Dave’s voice on his new single has a quality that is reminiscent of Don Henley. His music was immediately added to a playlist on my iPod alongside the likes of John Mayer and Jack Johnson. If you love great songwriting that stirs emotion, then do yourself a favor and check out Dave Barnes. John Mayer blogged about Dave back in July giving him a raving review. Read more about Dave Barnes on the “Pick of The Month” page.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I am the President of Artist Garden Entertainment, an artist management and marketing company. I only recommend music that I personally believe is exceptional and would be enjoyed by my readers. I am not compensated in any way for reviewing this record or for the “Pick of The Month” with the exception of receiving free music for review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Coldplay

BiIllboard Magazine reported this morning that Chris Martin informed the press that Coldplay has performed their last show and recorded their last record together as a band. Extremely sad news for fans all over the world including The Music Gardener. Apparently their has been a major personal issue for some time between band members over the ownership of the word Coldplay. The controversy began when Chris Martin was playing a game of Scrabble with Joe Satriani over fifteen years ago . Joe Satriani used the word to win the game. Chris Martin refused to allow Joe to use the word claiming it really wasn’t a word and forced Satriani to pull out the Scrabble dictionary. Of course it wasn’t in the dictionary giving the win to Chris Martin. Chris actually liked the word so much that he decided to name his band Coldplay. Joe now claims ownership of the word and has filed a trademark infringement against the band. Other Coldplay members are so infuriated at Chris Martin for stealing the name and claiming he invented the word that they have decided to disband indefinitely.

April Fools!

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My wife and I spent the last couple of weeks enjoying the Olympics on TV. We enjoy seeing how people of various countries from around the world carry and express themselves in victory and defeat. Two moments will stick in my mind forever when I think back on the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. The first is the arrogant, rude Russian figure skater, Plushenko. Enough said. The second was watching Shaun White on the gold medal podium as the American National Anthem was being played. Shaun couldn’t stop himself from pulling out a little air guitar expressing his simultaneous love for his country and rock music. No matter what we Americans do, we feel the need to rock. This year’s American Olympians have rocked harder than ever. I would like to borrow a lyric from AC/DC (we Americans love Australians!) to send a message out to all of the incredible American Olympians participating this week in Vancouver. “For those About to Rock…We Salute You!”

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Brandon Bee cre:ate 2010

The Music Gardener had the opportunity to attend the cre:ate 2010 conference in Franklin, TN last week. WOW! What an incredible week. The conference led by musician/artist/author, Randy Elrod, was loaded with incredible music and encouraging speakers. Music highlights of the week were Audry Assad, Brandon Bee, Leeland and Gunger. All four artists had two things in common - Incredible songs and unique artistry that stands out above the rest! Conference attendees had the privilege of hearing Chick-fil-A’s President/CEO Dan Cathy talk about how they create such a unique experience and rabid fan base for their restaurants. The message of creating culture with excellence and passion was the conference “take away” for me. The artists and speakers that appeared at the conference blaze their own trails while shaping culture with their unique brand of excellent art. Capping the week off was the release of cre:ate founder Randy Elrod’s new book Sex, Lies & Religion . The book promises to shake up some conservative thinking which fit in perfectly with the conference!

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Byron "Mr Talkbox" Chambers

The Music Gardener’s “Pick of The Month” for February is Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers. Byron began his music career touring as keyboardist for NSYNC, Britney Spears and O-Town. He co-wrote and performed on “Diverse City” , one of Tobymac’s biggest hits to date. Byron has also written and produced hits for Group 1 Crew, Martha Munizzi and he did the arrangements for Danny Gokey’s performances on American Idol. Byron “Mr Talkbox” Chambers now brings his own music to the world with “My Time”. This Talkbox thing that colors Byron’s music is something new and fresh that I think you are going to enjoy. You can see Byron live on tour with Tobymac.  Please visit my “Pick of The Month” page to hear songs from “My Time”

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com










Disclosure of Material Connection: I am the President of Artist Garden Entertainment, the company that was hired to market this record. Regardless, I only recommend music that I personally believe is exceptional and would be enjoyed by my readers. I am not compensated in any way for reviewing this record or for the “Pick of The Month” with the exception of receiving free music for review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Music is such an incredibly powerful source and I find myself craving it daily. My most productive and creative work is inspired by music. There are those occasional mornings when I get so caught up in my busy “to do” list that I forget to listen to music. At the end of those days, I feel so unproductive and unsatisfied. When I find the perfect music for the day, it is amazing how much I can accomplish. I often wonder if I am extremely odd or are their others like me? I am so thankful that God gave us the gift of music! What is your soundtrack today?

http://www.artistgardenentertainment.com