When I first heard Owsley's self-titled debut release back in 1999, my first thought was "Holy shit!"
My next thought, upon seeing that he was signed to Giant Records, was "Oh shit!"
While the label had been founded in 1990 as a new venture between industry heavyweight Irving Azoff and Warner Brothers, by 1999, one too many ill-fated MC Hammer and Jeremy Jordan albums had led to a mass layoff of much of the label's promotional/marketing staff.
In 1998, the label beefed up its Nashville office in hopes of becoming a legitimate player in the exploding "new country" scene. Naturally, one of their first signings was the decidedly un-country Owsley.
Granted, as a struggling artist, sometimes all you want is to get your foot in the door. Thus, if signing to a subsidiary label like Giant is the only way to gain access to Warner's enviable distribution and marketing network, well, by golly, you take that chance.
The downside, of course, is that not long after the ink dries on your record contract, you see everyone who'd been so eager to sign you mere moments ago suddenly rushing into meetings to continue planning the year-long multi-tiered marketing campaign for the first new Steely Dan studio album in twenty years and suddenly you're left hoping for a left field miracle like one of your songs being used in a high profile Apple commercial or perhaps a Meg Ryan rom-com.
When it doesn't happen, you're left to wonder how all that initial excitement could dissipate so fast, leaving you feeling like a "major label recording artist" in name only.
Meanwhile Tal Bachman's "She's So High" is in heavy rotation on every radio station in the country and goes Top 20.
When it doesn't happen, you're left to wonder how all that initial excitement could dissipate so fast, leaving you feeling like a "major label recording artist" in name only.
Meanwhile Tal Bachman's "She's So High" is in heavy rotation on every radio station in the country and goes Top 20.
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shoulda been a contender