DIVA OF THE WEEK? You might be getting the impression that my blogs so far in 2017 have focused on "divas". Two weeks ago, I tackled Lady Gaga, off her Superbowl halftime performance. Last week it was Beyoncé in the wake of the Grammys. This week, it's another female performer.
But, unlike the other two, this one is an aspiring up-and-coming singer-songwriter from right here in New Jersey. And if you've read my blog with any sort of authorize over the last six and a half years, the name might be familiar: Rachel Allyn.
But if you haven't, here's the skinny: Rachel grew up in Ogdensburg NJ, and took to music at an early age. In her teens she was performing at various pubs, such as the Jefferson House close by where I live. During the summer, she'd sing, play her guitar and also sing to backing music on CD's. They were usually covers, such as the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Elvis Costello, but soon began to embrace country music. She started attending many concerts by top country performers. In fact, by a stroke of luck, Shania Twain pulled her out of the audience to sing a number with her. That had to be a thrill of a lifetime, especially for someone who dreamed she'd be a star someday. Then, in the case of lightning striking twice, it happened again, this time, it was Gretchen Wilson who spotted her. Sounds like destiny would take over, right?
Shortly before I started my blog in August, 2010, my wife wanted to do something local and noticed she was playing at one of the pubs that surround Lake Hopatcong, the now-defunct Kabob's. At the time, she was on summer break from Belmont University right there in Music City itself, Nashville. She was between her junior and senior years there. We would catch her two more times during that summer, meeting her parents as well. She had a collection going to help her with her college expenses as well. During my early blogs, I wrote that I was excited for her, and she was going places.
Fast forward to early 2017. What happened?
She seemed to be doing the right things. Playing pubs, mostly local but getting recordings made. Her 2009 debut EP, Late Nights and Early Mornings had some really good tracks on it, namely "Stand Still" and "Getting By", the latter about her family. Both songs hit #1 on my blog, and she followed that with her cover of R&B singer Shontelle's "Say Hello To Goodbye", another SNS chart-topper, with also included her first (and only) proper video. Soon, she was the featured artist on a fledging Internet radio station, and she and her band won the "house band" contest at the Jersey Shore's country station Thunder 106. She played local music festivals like Maplewoodstock and Jameroo, as well as other North Jersey festivals (which also featured cover band Moving Company which had included my late friend Ron Pietranowicz).
By mid 2012, she switched management companies in an effort to jump start her career. That seemed to pay off as she played concerts, opening for the likes of Kenny Rogers, Trace Adkins, Thompson Square, Lonestar and Travis Tritt, just to name a few. Some of her songs got placement on national cable shows on CMT. She's performed on local radio stations, as well as key clubs at the Jersey Shore, Hoboken, and even in New England. Her second album, the full length Do It Yourself was released in early 2013, and her most recent Next Year's Girl, in early 2016.
In spite of all this publicity, success has still eluded her I continue to enjoy her songs; in fact, my most recent featured track "No Second Chances (Tennessee)" moves from 20 to 14 this week, and is her 13th consecutive top 20 song to grace my blog list, her entire output since my blog debut. Last year, she got engaged, but, in her late 20's career-wise, she was finding success wasn't coming easy.
Having seen pop artist Phoebe Ryan, also from New Jersey get on the cusp of national success, and seeing Rachel's Charlotte counterpart Christina Taylor (the former Taylor Centers) attract some buzz, I was thinking about what Rachel has been doing. Her camp had been pretty quiet lately and I wondered what she had been up to.
I came upon her Facebook page, where she wrote a blog entry around the first of this year. Here is her blog:
"
To everyone who has supported me over the years,
You have traveled many miles to watch me sing. You have stayed out way too late to see the end of the show. You have donated your hard-earned money to help me make an album. You have shared, commented on, and liked countless posts. Some of you have been with me from the beginning, and some have jumped on board somewhere along the way. All of you may have noticed a decline in social media activity and gigs lately. I’m writing now to tell you why.
There is an over-used, clichéd, quote of murky origins that says something like, “the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.” After six summers of playing cover gigs with my band, hoping that the constant playing and exposure would start pushing my career to the next level, I have finally come to the conclusion that fronting a cover band is not the right path for me. There are three more shows with my band on the books – 1/27/17 at Willie McBride’s Hoboken, 3/24/17 at Willie McBride’s Hoboken, and 3/31/17 at Willie McBride’s Branchburg. We’d love to see you out at one of them.
The Rachel Allyn Band has achieved a lot. We’ve opened for a lot of huge artists, played for some incredible audiences and in some bucket-list venues, we’ve traveled all over the east coast, we’ve played on the radio, and we’ve gotten songs on TV. We’ve also had a lot of disappointment. In 2016, numerous exciting prospects fell through. It’s been difficult, but ultimately eye-opening and informative. It’s time for me to focus exclusively on my songwriting and original music. [More on what this means for me at another time.]
Warren, Shawn, Chris, and Nicole, the band that has been with me for a few years now, are still going to be the Rachel Allyn Band going forward. Each of them has graciously expressed interest in continuing to participate in my original music career. Warren and I will continue writing together and steering this ship as a team.
I am entering 2017 with confidence in my decision, a bunch of new material already in the works, exciting ideas and plans for new projects and pathways to success, and optimism that some hard work will bring new opportunities my way. So I’m not going anywhere, the band is not really going anywhere, but things are going to be different. And it’s going to take a little time.
I hope that you will bear with me during this transition. I’m so thankful you have all come this far.
I love singing. I love writing songs. I love playing music. I’m hoping that these coming changes will allow me to do those things more authentically and successfully."
Let's face it...many venues will only hire bands that play cover music. The singer may throw in an original or two, but in management's minds, people come to see the familiar. And a poster I came across indicated that Rachel and her band were still playing mostly covers. The most recent time I saw her and her band, December 2014 at the local restaurant/pub Pavinci's, there were some essential originals, but mostly cover songs. But it's not just her; another local talent, Paul Czekaj, who plays regularly at the local Bells Mansion in Stanhope, plays hits from the 1950's and 60's, he had to wait until last summers WNTI Summer stage to play his fine originals.
So, Rachel has addressed the problem, after, as she states, that 2016 was a year of near-misses, including a quarter-final standing in a radio station contest. Time to retool. But.....how?
Granted, I am not an expert on how an artist should promote themselves, but from a music fan standpoint, here are a few things that Rachel needs to do.
1. As she mentioned, can the places that allow just for covers. She has three albums out of (mostly) original material. She needs to find a place that is a breeding ground for new acts. What about some New York City venues? Hegazy, the band comprised of twins Omnia and Leila, have attracted some buzz by playing at the Bitter End there. So why can't Rachel?
2. Relocate to Nashville. As much as I love to see Rachel performing here in the Garden State, New Jersey isn't exactly a Country Music hotbed. Yes, we had Juice Newton and Eddie Rabbitt, but that was close to forty years ago. She had to have gotten some experience in her college years there, perhaps that is the place she needs to go. Much like an aspiring actor or actress going to New York or to Hollywood, if you want a country music career, Nashville seems like the local place to go.
3. Tour the Country. I know you probably need a record company to finance a tour, and although Rachel has played and opened for an impressive list of headlining acts, they are just when those artists come into this area. If she could land a second or third spot on a national touring bill, that would give her some really good exposure.
4. Release singles and videos. Since her Do It Yourself set came out, she has not, to my knowledge released any singles or video from them. She has promoted her album as a whole. While it would be great that her albums catch on, remember we are in the age of streaming and downloads. Most of those tracks are singular in nature, the era of the comeback single is here. And if you want to sell an album, why not emphasize one song that radio would play and rally around. I myself, had to pick what I thought would be good tracks to feature off of Do It Yourself and Next Year's Girl. Like Christina Taylor has done with her new set, with a lead-off single and video, this is what Rachel needs to do as well.
I may add that Rachel, at least once, has tried out for The Voice but hadn't made it past the audition stage. She has said that if she reaches her late 20's, she'd try for American Idol, but of course, that show is no more. To be honest, that may not be the way to go anyway, since artists, once the season is over, mostly fade into oblivion anyway.
I wish Rachel Allyn and her band the best of luck in their proposed new direction. And like I've done the last six and a half years, I will be keeping tabs on her and following her. She chose music as her life and nothing would please me more than if she broke through!
TOP OF THE SNS POPS: Rihanna last week made some history. Her latest, "Love on the Brain" moved from 13-8 on the Billboard Hot 100. This became her 30th top ten hit, only the third artist ever to achieve this. The others? Madonna with 38, and The Beatles with 34. On SNS, the song holds at #1 for a second week. Phoebe Ryan knocks on the door to the #2 position with "Boyz N Poizn". Some big moves into the top 20 includeChristina Taylor, Saint Motel and the Palms.
Debuts this week are headed by Electric Guest, who had a big SNS hit in early 2012 with the Smokey Robinson-sounding "This Head I Hold", back with "Back for Me"; follow-ups to SNS hits with Declan McKenna and the DMA's; Dropkick Murphys, the Irish-American party band with a cool cover of the standard "You'll Never Walk Alone", Blondie with their first album in over a decade; and some other journeyman acts like Old 97's and Parquet Courts, and finally the latest from Lady Gaga.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
February 26, 2017
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE:
"Love On the
Brain"
Album: Anti
( 2 weeks at #1)
|
7 |
| 2 | 5 | Phoebe Ryan - Boyz n Poizn | 10 |
| 3 | 3 | Wild Belle - Our Love Will Survive | 14 |
| 4 | 4 | Capital Cities - Vowels | 12 |
| 5 | 2 | Jake Owen - If He Ain't Gonna Love You | 16 |
| 6 | 11 | Ed Sheeran - Shape of You | 4 |
| 7 | 6 | Jim James- Same Old Lie | 9 |
| 8 | 7 | Michael Kiwanuka - One More Night● | 20 |
| 9 | 12 | The Knocks and Matthew Koma - I Wish (My Taylor Swift) | 11 |
| 10 | 19 | Foxygen - Follow the Leader | 4 |
| 11 | 8 | Maybird - Turning Into Water | 15 |
| 12 | 15 | Pretenders - Holy Commotion | 10 |
| 13 | 17 | The XX - On Hold | 8 |
| 14 | 20 | Rachel Allyn - No Second Chances (Tennessee) | 7 |
| 15 | 16 | Adele - Water Under the Bridge | 7 |
| 16 | 27 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Move"
Album: saintmotelevision
|
5 |
| 17 | 40 | The Palms - Push Off | 3 |
| 18 | 9 | Sam Roberts Band - If You Want It | 14 |
| 19 | 41 | Christina Taylor (Taylor Centers) - Don't Look Good in Your T-Shire Anymore | 3 |
| 20 | 10 | Calvin Harris - My Way | 12 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod.
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