Album Capsules
by Mark E. Waterbury
Rick Caruso - Keep the Dream Alive
Click here for the review
Big Green Limousine - Title Track Conspiracy
Click here for the review
Living Space - Fade Into Existence...
Click here for the review
Jarrod Birmingham - Stages
Click here for the review
Corbin Keep - Call of the Wild Cello
Click here for the review
Sprawl - Sarah Veladora
Click here for the review
Annie Humphrey - Edge of America
Click here for the review
QWIKSAND - The Fellowship of the Groove
Click here for the review
Pthalo - self titled
Click here for the review
Matador - self titled
Click here for the review
Crossroads: George Lynch
by Mark E. Waterbury
Click here
Industry Profile - Scott Baggs, Talent Buyer - The Entertainment Collective
by Mark E. Waterbury
Click here
Indie Band Spotlight - Rick Caruso
by Mark E. Waterbury
Click here
Scott Turner's Song Publisher's Perspective
Click here
Music Biz Opportunities
Click here
Music Industry Marketing Showcase
Click here
Serge Home
Click here
Music Morsels archives
Click here
About Music Morsels
Click here
Submission Guidelines
Click here
Ad Rates
Click here
Scott Turner Tapes
Click here
Music Morsels News
Click here
Sponsorship Information
Click here
Sponsors:
MUSIC MORSELS SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
To SUBSCRIBE to our FREE e-mail version of Music Morsels, send an email message to SergeEnt@aol.com and put the word "Subscribe" in the subject field. That's it. Expect to receive your email issue the first week of every month. Please note: We do not share or sell our mailing list with anyone so your privacy is protected.
MUSIC MORSELS - The legal stuff:
Music Morsels is distributed worldwide the first week of the month by subscription.
The e-mail version is FREE. That's 12 educational issues brought to your computer screen! Feedback is always welcome at SergeEnt@aol.com. Thank you for your support!
Disclaimer: Just because we print the stuff that doesn't mean we necessarily endorse it. Problems with content? Contact us ASAP and we'll tell you how we can help.
Music Morsels reserves the right to reject certain advertisements based on content.
Copyright 2004 by Music Morsels, a Serge Entertainment Publication.
Editor: Sandy Serge
Contributing Columnists/Writers:
Mark E. Waterbury, Scott Turner
Music Morsels
P.O. Box 2760
Acworth, GA 30102
A division of the Serge Entertainment Group
|
|
 TM© April 2004
Indie Band SpotlightBy Mark E. Waterbury
ARTIST NAME: Rick Caruso
MUSICAL GENRE: Inspirational Americana rock
BIRTHPLACE: Ashtabula, Ohio
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Nashville, TN
YEARS INMUSIC BIZ: 5 years
WEB SITE: http://www.rickcaruso.net
CDS SOLD: 6,000
FAN BASE SIZE: approx 1200
MM: What made you want to go into music professionally?
RC: I would say that I saw the possibilities when I started playing benefit concerts for food drives. People at these shows would ask me if I had a CD or something that they could buy and I didn't have anything at the time. I had never even been in a studio up until that point. And I was playing shows in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee - any area where we heard there were food bank shortages. We did these free concerts and instead of asking people to bring money we asked them to bring a donation for the food bank.
MM: Has working with food banks always been a personal crusade with you?
RC: I was in the military for awhile and I was in the Middle East and the Far East as well as Honduras and Panama. I saw a lot of hunger and depreciated economies. I got out of the military and I'm one of those really patriotic type people, but I just could not believe that our country could have a hungry person. With all the resources and all the money that we have, there should never be an American that should go hungry. Even as a kid I wondered about that. I did learn a lot of my direction and beliefs from my parents. My parents and their families went through the tail end of the great depression, so they knew what it was like to go without.
MM: So do your values and beliefs go into your songwriting?
RC: I've been accused of - and it's really a compliment - writing the story songs about things that are the most important to me. These include God (I have a real strong faith); our country; and helping each other;, and families and hard work. Those are the basis of all of our songs. I do have some love songs that I believe in as well and we do try to give a good mix. It's definitely that inspirational Americana type rock that we are doing.
MM: When you finally decided to record your first album how did you go about that?
RC: I met someone in church who used to work with Conway Twitty named Mike Schrimpf. He asked me if I had anything recorded and I told him I hadn't even been in a studio yet. He is just a phenomenal engineer as well as a musician. He ended up bringing in musicians like "Bird" Burton who had worked with people like Fogelberg and the Eagles, and John Huey who played with Vince Gill. So all of these guys come in and Mike showed them the music we had to work with. They really liked it because they were used to just the same generic country thing and we had something new to work with.
MM: When the CD was first released, what did you try to do just to get noticed, particularly in a town like Nashville that has so many musicians?
RC: It was really strange because something inside of me just held me back. A lot of musicians when they get to Nashville, the first thing they do is go down to Music Row and start knocking on doors and telling people they are the next big thing. Something told me not to do that and to keep working on my music, which I continued to do for years. I just wrote so many songs and just really got a feel for who I was musically. We released the album and I didn't know what to do. People in the business here were telling me how much they liked my music and what they could do to help, and they all wanted money. Not a couple hundred dollars but large sums of money, sometimes five or ten thousand dollars. That was my first impression on what was going on in this town and what to beware of. I did find in one of the trade magazines an ad for someone promoting to independent radio, and by the time IÊhad found that, I was already recording my second album. The first album we had sold primarily at our shows and we were only doing a couple of shows a month. We also received record contracts through the mail. I never met these people and I just knew not to sign anything.
MM: So what kind of progression went into the promoting of your second album "Faded Glory?"
RC: We did start to see more success working with that indie radio promoter called Sheheshe. They really got the ball rolling for us. They are real good people, a husband and wife team that have a small staff. It's not that expensive and you're paying for their postage and their phone calls to get program directors to spin your album, and then they send you airplay reports. After we hooked up with them we were getting airplay all over the country. With "Faded Glory," we had released that just a couple of months before 9/11. All of a sudden, people started paying attention and realized that we had something to say. I started to get more notice as a writer and creator of music. I wasn't really looking for an artist deal or anything like that - we just wanted to work it slowly and let it take its course.
MM: What is the feedback you receive from your fans and what do they appear to like most about your music?
RC: The biggest response that we hear (which is for the most part very positive because it is a bit diverse) is they like the inspirational music that has a positive message. With the love songs, we have a new one called "Your Lullaby" and I don't think there's been a woman yet who has heard it who hasn't gone, "wow". And it is a true love song. The neat thing is that we can play the music for the kids and the kids are getting it. We always try to make sure that the music is positive, and we are not doing things just to get quick attention. We just want to put out good music and a good message, and hope they get the message; everyone has bad days or hard days but it's not that big of a deal.
MM: You just released your third CD "Keep the Dream Alive." What kind of success would you like to see with your career now and what do you think it will take to get there?
RC:I was always a big Neil Diamond and Garth Brooks fan. They had these tremendous followings. I'm not really looking to be a rock star just to be a rock star. Do we want to sell albums...yes. If I sold a hundred million albums I would be cool with that, but it's not just about the selling and the money and all that. It's about have we touched people's lives? Have we helped someone? We want to continue to do the food drive shows and put on a good family show that people can bring the cans of food in to help their community's food bank. Just make it part of their life so they can see how easy that is to help. If you put on a good show they will buy the albums and that will expand your fan base. We know we have to play in the bigger venues and get in front of more people. To get to the level of success that I would be really comfortable with, it does take money. You have to form a team of people to help get you out there - the booking agents, the promotional people, and you have to pay them. You have to have money for expenses when you tour and be able to pay the band members. It does all start with needing a few greenbacks.
|
|
