It's a natural partnership: live music and the friendly confines of minor league ballparks. Farm-team baseball has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence and with it an outcropping of new stadiums - intimate little gems where fans can get a close look at aspiring sports talents.
It's a great place to get up-close and personal with aspiring musical talent, too. That's why Publik Music has joined forces with ProLink Sports + Entertainment + Media to provide opening-act talent for a series of ballpark concerts throughout Texas. >We're calling it the Publik Music Texas Showcase. The first event is the Waterstone Development Round Rock Express Freedom Fest July 4 at Dell Diamond. The concert is headlined by legendary Texas troubador Jerry Jeff Walker and Kellie Pickler, a finalist for CMA artist of the year and former American Idol favorite. Four local indie talents will warm up a crowd that is expected to top 4,000. The local audience will get a new look at Stacy Barnhill, Uncle Lucius, the Paula Nelson Band and Ariel Abshire. It's a magnificent opportunity for these aspiring indies to build a home-grown fan base.
Future Showcases - artists to be determined - are planned in Dallas and Corpus Christi. ProLink has close ties with minor league venues throughout the state, with scores of successful tennis and music events on its resume. The company has worked with such musical luminaries as Elton John, Willie Nelson, Clint Black, Mike Mills, Chris Robinson, Pat Green, Eric Johnson, Ray Benson and Gavin DeGraw.
Our task - plain and simple - is to find and promote the music of independent artists. Doesn't matter whether its a brand new sound from a group formed yesterday or the work of a seasoned pro trying a wider audience. Doesn't matter if it fits a genre or a fusion or a particular record label. Hell, the Continental Club in Austin is playing host venue to a Chamber Music Festival. Maybe jazz piano legend Duke Ellington was right: "There's two kinds of music. Good music and the other kind." From where we stand, any other categories don't matter much.
Besides, if YOU haven't heard it, it's new music anyway. So part of our challenge is to spread the word ... to put you in touch with the best songs and songwriters you've never heard of ... yet.
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