When Nashville songwriter and aspiring Americana star Jennifer Brantley met with famed producer Bil VornDick (Bob Dylan, Bela Fleck, Alison Krauss), they both knew they were onto something special. Brantley's captivating voice and evocative songwriting combined with VornDick's Grammy-winning ear to produce Break Down, an album that quickly found its way into the country music buzz factory, bolstered strongly by a burgeoning online audience.
Brantley leveraged the Web to generate excitement about her music, and then set out to replicate that excitement in the real world. Her song "I Need A Place" quickly climbed to the top of GB's Folk/Country charts, and her other songs were similarly voted up the ladder on numerous music sites. This produced enough momentum to get attention and airplay from radio stations around the country, as well as great gigs and positive press. She has now sold thousands of albums and played for thousands of people all over the U.S., quite the achievement for an independent artist.
"We use the Internet to get a buzz, but getting out and playing as much as you can makes a big difference," Brantley told us. "We try to use the Internet to get people out to shows. The live shows are where you really get most of your CD and merch sales, and this is where you build your mailing lists."
Her other advice for aspiring GB artists: "Write, write, write! Some criticism is worth listening to and I had to let go of my ego many times! Don't give up on your dreams. Work on your skills at guitar, vocals or whatever it might be."
She concluded with the bottom line: "Songwriting is key. It all begins with a song, as they say here in Nashville. Once you get your music down there are lots of opportunities out there for promotion, like Garageband.com."
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