Prescription Bluegrass Editorial - THE BIRTH OF A RADIO JINGLE!

Guest Editorial by:
TOM FELLER

August 2010, began the musical partnership of Feller and Hill. Since that beginning, Chris and I have discussed having a wider and more entertaining approach to the music business. I've always been entertained by performers who use "radio personality" or "voice-over" references on stage, i.e. Ned Luberecki doing "the White Zone". Today's bluegrass scene has more bands and what I believe are higher quality bands than ever before. For this reason, a group who wishes to succeed must find creative ways to promote themselves and their music. 

In September 2013, when we made the decision to go full-time, we realized that until we secure more dates, we would need to create supplemental work. We began looking into voice-over work. Having a modern recording studio is like having a world of possibilities at your fingertips. Chris also has a remote studio, at his home, in Northern Kentucky, where he can receive, record, and send material back over to my studio. We spent much of the winter of 2014 studying and practicing the techniques for different types of voice-over work.

In April, 2014 we started recording short 30 second songs, that featured not only customized voice-overs from Feller and Hill, but customized harmonies.  We found a good combination of features that radio hosts seem to love: 

1) 30 seconds

2) fact based

3) informative

4) customized

5) fun

6) bluegrass-based

7) feature vocals, harmonies, and voice-over

8) timeless-can be used for years to come

The response was immediately positive and overwhelming. We were so encouraged and motivated from the initial response, we then completed radio promos for: Sweet Brenda and Him, Katy Daley, Jay Armsworthy, Judith Burnette, Joe Mullins, Daniel Mullins, Terry Herd, Cindy Baucom, Kyle Cantrell, and many more. By the end of May, 2014, we've written, produced, and recorded well over a dozen of these radio promos. All of which have been well received and continue to be played on many successful programs.  

Last week, I read an article posted by Brian McNeal "Radio Liners, What Why and How"!  It was a great read and reminded about many of the points we've experienced. It also reminded me that I needed to get in gear and get back in the studio and keep my word to Brian. Back in April, I had a discussion with Brian about creating a radio promo for him. To be honest, he sounded somewhat skeptical about the possibility. He mentioned he's wanted to do one for years, but considered it might be hard to find lyrics that would flow and rhyme with "Prescription Bluegrass" or his name "Brian McNeal". Some folks might get discouraged upon hearing this. I looked at it as a challenge. 

I woke up last Friday morning early, about 4 am. While trying to fall back asleep, I thought of all the things I needed to get done, including Brian's radio promo. I thought of Brian's challenge...finding something that rhymes with Brian. I recalled a trip to Branson a few weeks back where Chris and I listened to Lost and Found's version of "Our Love is Dying". I had that tune in my head and almost immediately the words "I'm always smilin', Listenin' to Brian" popped into my head. It wasn't a perfect rhyme, but we could make it work.

The next challenge was the music, where could I get that music quickly? We didn't have that tune recorded.I remembered our song "Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar", from our first album. It had a similar tempo and tuning. So with about an hours worth of creative manipulating of the raw tracks from "Old Guitar", I was able to get the perfect music, key changes and all, to "Our Love is Dying", for our new promo. 

Then was the vocal recording. I just used some lines straight from the Prescription Bluegrass Blog's website and radio page. I look for any catch phrases, show times, host names, or show names. Those are the basics that always seem to work. Then, just a matter of getting them to flow. They don't even necessarily have to rhyme. I sent the track over to Chris. That's right, we weren't even in the same place when we recorded this. About an hour later, he sent me back his voice over and vocal track and I just added it in to what I already had and that was a wrap.

When recording the voice-over, we usually read our lines at least 3 different times, in different ways. This is very standard in the world of voice-over and allows you to find the winning combination, while also getting more comfortable and natural sounding with your lines. The most important aspect is having fun. If you sound like you're having fun, the listener is going to believe you're having fun and they're going to have fun listening. We are getting comfortable enough doing these that we are able to turn out three or four per day, depending on the amount of production each one calls for. 

The majority of promos we've recorded so far have been entirely our own creations. We prefer the element of surprise, but could surely get them done a bit faster with some pre-approved script. So far, the element of surprise has paid off, as the hosts all seem to love what we were able to come up with. It may be a gamble, but doing it on our own has gained us extremely the valuable experience of creativity. We never assume that any of these promos will get air play, but rather are trying to give back to those people who have helped us start our careers, by giving us valuable air-time for our products. In essence, they are endorsing our product. This radio promo allows them to promote our endorsement of their product.  

In a nutshell, we probably spent two and a half to three hours total in getting the final product of the Prescription Bluegrass Radio promo.  We've already received offers to do these professionally, which we feel would be a great way to keep us busy, during our time not spent traveling. I think we'd even entertain the idea of offering this service for other groups. Using their voices and music, we could write, produce, record, and send out. It just depends on the amount of interest generated here. I think any group stands to gain so much from these on so many levels. It helps to form a personal and long-lasting relationship with the people who are helping your career. How can you put a price tag on that?

Audio by Tom Feller & Chris Hill, Video Production by Brian McNeal

ABOUT TOM FELLER

Tom Feller, along with Chris Hill, front the newly formed FELLER & HILL AND THE BLUEGRASS BUCKAROOS.  Tom has also played in THE LARRY STEPHENSON BAND, 3-FOX DRIVE and with RHONDA VINCENT AND THE RAGE.  He lives with his wife Angela and their two daughters in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and has a daughter attending college in Tampa, Florida. Tom and Angela recently bought an historic home and are enjoying restoring it to its former beauty.