(Nashville, TN – Aug. 26, 2010) Nashville-based marketing and promotions firm, The AristoMedia Group, is continuing its run of successful DownCast campaigns with recent projects from superstar Taylor Swift and the nationally televised flood benefit concert, Nashville Rising.

A video content distribution service created jointly by The AristoMedia Group and Travis Television Productions, DownCast is a media delivery platform that provides high-quality entertainment news content to online, print, radio and television-based media outlets. Since 2009, DownCast has distributed new release campaigns for a number of Country music artists, including Jamey Johnson, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Sugarland, Josh Turner and others. In recent months, the service has distributed exclusive content for Taylor Swift’s single, “Mine,” and behind-the-scenes footage from the nationally televised Nashville Rising benefit concert and fundraising event held in Nashville.

“The beauty of the DownCast service is that media outlets get free access to a set of downloadable, high-quality files that can be used as-is for broadcast television use, streaming purposes, or any number of different formats,” says AristoMedia President Jeff Walker. “We’re just now starting to see the uses DownCast has beyond music industry applications, as well. It’s exciting when you consider the possibilities out there.”

The AristoMedia Group and Travis Television Productions launched the DownCast service in July 2009 as a comprehensive tool to distribute free, broadcast-quality video content, audio clips and press materials to thousands of media outlets around the world. The system allows outlets on-demand access to the files on a secure, password-protected server. The DownCast service expanded its capabilities in 2010 to include distribution of promotional materials for print media, such as author Andy Andrews’ best-selling release, “The Heart Mender.”

For more information about the DownCast service, visit: www.AristoWorks.com/DownCast. To sign-up and receive DownCast campaign notifications, email Christy Watkins at Christy@AristoMedia.com.

About DownCast:
DownCast is a video content distribution service created by The AristoMedia Group and Travis Television Productions in 2009. The service provides thousands of media outlets with free access to broadcast-quality video files, audio clips, press materials and more. Artists including Jamey Johnson, Joe Nichols, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Sugarland, Josh Turner and best-selling author Andy Andrews have used DownCast to create customized campaigns and promote new release projects.

About The AristoMedia Group:
Nashville-based media, marketing and promotions firm, The AristoMedia Group, is comprised of several distinct departments: AristoVideo (Video Promotion), Aristo P.R. (Publicity), AristoWorks (New Media), AristoVision (Christian Video Promotion), Marco Promotions (Secondary Radio Promotion) and Marco Club Connection (Dance Venue Marketing). The company celebrated its 30-year anniversary in 2010. Visit www.AristoMedia.com for more information.

About Travis Television:
Travis Television (TTV) is a Nashville-based television production company that specializes in the field of entertainment, producing stories and segments for major television shows such as Entertainment Tonight, the BBC, GAC & Access Hollywood and many others. TTV provides camera crews and production services to most major television networks, including the Disney Channel, CBS, VH-1, MTV, Comedy Central and more. TTV also produces many music-related, promotional projects in-house. For more information, visit www.ttvonline.com.

The artist lineup includes JAMIE O’NEAL, ANDY GRIGGS, JOE DIFFIE, DOUG STONE, Louisiana native and country star, SAMMY KERSHAW and local favorites MARK ADAM MILLER, DAVID ST. ROMAIN AND CHRISTIAN SERPAS AND GHOST TOWN.

Designated charities: Friends of the Fisherman Fund, the Barrier Island Restoration & Development Society, and the Recreational Fisheries Research Institute .

“We’re so glad to host this benefit concert in Plaquemines Parish to help the fishermen, their families, coastal restoration, and the damage to wildlife habitats caused by the oil spill,” said Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser. “It’s so important that we keep the focus on our coast until all fishermen are made whole and our wetlands are restored. This family-friendly concert will help bring attention to each of those mentioned thanks to the musicians, organizers, and volunteers who are helping put the benefit concert on.”

The event is free to the public and sponsors will be afforded an opportunity to visit with all of the performers. Corporate sponsorships are still available for the event and begin at every level. Those interested in sponsorship packages should contact 504-577-0477 or jettie@bellsouth.net .

National artists are arriving on Friday to see the impacts of the oil spill. To schedule an interview or story opportunity, contact Jettie Watson at 504-577-0477 or jettie@bellsouth.net .

“That’s Me”
“Rollin’ On

A classic return to form and a brave new direction, Burning the Day refuses to be put on pause, stays in your car for weeks on end, and the songs cannot be turned on low. The album feels like a late, warm summer’s afternoon drive with the top down that ends up lasting long after the sun goes down. Burning the Day is their third release on UMG Nashville, and Randy Rogers Band is out to leave a lasting mark with collection of 11 rock-country fire-branded songs.
The Texas-born-and-bred crew, who earned their road-warrior reputation in bars and dives across the American West, still spends more than 200 days on the road a year, breaking attendance records at venues on each tour. But they aren’t just hitting red dirt dens anymore, they’re opening for the likes of Willie Nelson and The Eagles, and landing spots on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Late Show With David Letterman. Their two previous albums debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Country Chart and in the Top 5 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart. They earned two ACM Vocal Group of the Year nominations and were named Country Album of The Year in Playboy magazine for their last studio effort. All of these signs point to success, but on the road map of the band’s career, their route has yet to take them to a major win on country radio—that changes with Burning the Day.
Randy Rogers Band lays it all out on the line with this album. “This is an important album,” Randy Rogers reiterates. “I wrote more songs for this album than on any previous record. The rest of the band was writing a song a week as well; we really made an effort to bring as much to the table as we could before going into the studio.” On top of songwriting, they continued their relentless touring schedule, while several of the band members, including Randy himself, started families.
Teaming up with Grammy-award winning producer Paul Worley, RRB carried their work ethic and friendships into the studio to be tested. “Paul really put me under the gun,” Rogers says, “He pushed me to focus more than ever on my songwriting.” Worley also embraced their style, “Paul was pretty excited that we were actually a band. He was fired up about our approach; with everyone in the band writing and filling out their-own parts.” Rogers exclaims.
In the studio, Worley often threw out the adage, “if you think too much, you stink,” to the guys and encouraged the band to bring the electricity of their stage performance to the studio.
RRB never shies away from a challenge. We went to a practice studio to work up the songs with Paul for 6 to 7 hours a day at SoundCheck in Nashville. After a few weeks, we took ‘em back to the road and started to play them live—the roots of this band are in the road,” Rogers explains.
Burning the Day is an album built not only with sweat of the band, but also alongside their fans. Anyone familiar with the group knows of their dedication to the people they tirelessly tour in front of. It’s natural, almost reflexive, that RRB would want to see what works for their community of diehards before hitting the studio again.

“Interstate” (R. Rogers & S. McConnell) kicks off the album like the magic hiss of a lighted fuse before a burst of summer fireworks.

“Interstate” stands out as a driving song that scorches the blacktop with Brady Black’s signature fiddle and a Rogers led anthemic chorus and harmonies. The crowd’s response was immediate. “Crowds are already singing along to it,” the band reports. “The day after Sean and Randy wrote it, we knew we had something special,” says guitarist Geoffrey Hill.

“Too Late for Goodbye” (R. Rogers & S. McConnell) makes a strong run at “break-up song of the year.” It’s a tune that will howl through many car stereos on their way out of the driveway, kicking up clouds of dust and gravel. The song’s raw and direct storytelling are pushed upward by the energy of one of the band’s best studio performances to date. “Too Late for Goodbye” signals a theme for the rest of the album in terms of songwriting making it the perfect choice as the lead single for the record.

Rogers and the band set out to write an album filled with real country songs from start-to-finish. Their aim is true, to write about relationships, about loves lost and regained, about joy and sorrow and the poetry of life that unfolds in front of us everyday. They’re songs that cause synapses to fire, especially at their shows.

“Steal You Away” (J. Middleton, M. Mulch & M. Mulch) elicits yet another unique reaction from the crowd. Bass player Jon “Chops” Richardson illuminates, “We heard this song, and we were blown away. It was something we didn’t have written for the record; we had rockers, two-steppers, but this is a great ballad: a guy sees a girl with guy who doesn’t deserve and think, ‘I should just take her away.” The band attests they’ve seen it happen—during the song, from the stage—a number of times already. Any song that’s gets under folks skin like that is a keeper.

“Just Don’t Tell Me the Truth,” is quite possibly one of Rogers’ proudest moments on Burning the Day because he got to write it with one of his heroes, a master songwriter if there ever was one, Dean Dillon. Sung from the perspective of a man who can’t let go, but knows it’s over, sends chills and tugs all the right heartstrings; it’s like it fell off an old jukebox.

Yet Burning the Day’s strength rests not solely in the individual songs, but again, on the entire album. It’s an album that can be started any point, and you’ll keep on listening till the very end, then hit repeat.

An authentic country band like RRB doesn’t rely on radio singles or a good run of download and ringtone sales, they create traditional country albums overflowing with narratives and emotions, and songs that stand up on their own; It makes for an album stacked with songs that could each be released as singles, rather than easily forgotten fluff. It’s a traditional way to look at writing albums; it’s a way that often times can be more time-consuming because the process requires weaving strands of heartache and elation through each song, rather than bookending an album with a couple singles.

Burning the Day is an album meant for old and new fans alike. It offers a taste of their live show: moments where a chorus sweeps you away, singing along word for word, and verses with consummate attention to personal imagery and songcraft.

It’s all on the line here. Randy Rogers Band put everything they’ve got into Burning the Day. It represents the years of hard work, hard livin’ the band members have put themselves through to make genuine, unflinching rock-country music. Everything is under the hood in this machine and waiting for the listener to turn that key—RRB guarantees a wild ride.RANDY ROGERS BAND

When the Randy Rogers Band’s last project debuted as the most-downloaded country album on iTunes, plenty of the industry “insiders” on Music Row were left scratching their heads: Who are these guys?

The Nashville elite may not have known about the five-piece band, but much of America already did. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them alongside such artists as U2 and the Stones in its list of Top 10 Must-See Artists in the summer of 2007. They earned $2.5 million—a staggering total for a still-developing act—on the tour circuit in a single year. Willie Nelson, the Eagles, Gary Allan and Dierks Bentley all picked them as opening acts for their concerts. And more than 2,200 people showed up and bought the bands album at an appearance at Wherehouse Music.

The fans’ exuberance was shared by USA Today, which praised the band for having “loads of grit, swagger and heart.”

The Randy Rogers Band built its audience by combining forces: It’s a dynamic live act centered around songs that fit the rowdy, party vibe of the concert circuit, but their songs also say something.

That’s particularly true in the new album, The Randy Rogers Band, in which a dozen persuasive tracks give the listener plenty of reasons to want to down a celebratory brewski. But the songs also maintain a depth that makes them powerful and provocative even beyond their edgy arrangements and tough-guy sound.

Invariably, the songs are about people making choices and dealing with the consequences they bring. That’s the case in the opening “Wicked Ways,” in which a string of wild endeavors leaves an out-of-control adult in need of redemption. It’s true in “When The Circus Leaves Town,” where a performer comes to terms with the emotional crash that accompanies the conclusion of a pumped-up show. It’s even a tenet in “One Woman,” a ballad that finds a former playboy recognizing his old choices and behaviors were a shallow pursuit next to the promise and solidity that stand before him.

“These songs are definitely true, and they’re relatable to many different life situations that I’ve either gone through in the past or will go through in the future,” Rogers, the lead singer and primary songwriter, says. “I just tried to create believable characters and relatable characters. I hear from fans that we really have helped them in real-life situations when they’ve applied the songs to their everyday life. That’s what I strive for in the songs that I write.”

“We’re not old, but we are getting a little bit more mature,” bass player Jon Richardson asserts, drawing laughter from the rest of the band. “We’re trying to be more mature, anyway. And that’s something that we can write about a little more naturally now instead of ‘Here’s a song about how much fun I had’ or ‘Here’s a song about a girl.’ That’s probably just a natural progression of our own lives being reflected in our songs.”

Indeed, the Randy Rogers Band is confronting the same questions about relationships and identity that face many of the college students and young adults that form the centerpiece of the group’s audience. The balancing act between work, home and recreation is a difficult one—even tougher for an ensemble that spends more than 200 days annually on the road.

“All the guys, except for Jon, are married or soon to be married,” guitarist Geoffrey Hill observes. “Les [drummer] and I both have kids. So sometimes it feels like you’ve really gotta struggle to fit all that into your life, I guess, but it’s kinda part of the game. I always said that I play music for free, and I get paid to leave the family behind and go on the road.”

That requires a constant rededication to the group, a commitment the five members have repeatedly made since the current lineup coalesced in 2003.

The Randy Rogers Band’s status as a group has occasionally confused its audience, which sometimes assumes Rogers is simply a solo artist. It’s the same issue that acts such as Huey Lewis & The News and Edwin McCain have battled, though one that doesn’t concern RRB all that much.

“I don’t think it’s an issue at all,” fiddler Brady Black asserts. “I think when we got together, Randy had already had a band, and his name had been out a little bit, and so we just kind of went with it.”

“That,” Black smirks, “and he owned the van…”

Actually, the name came rather innocently. Rogers had developed a following, he played open-mic nights, impressing club owner Kent Finlay enough to offer Rogers his own regular night, as long as he found a band to back him.

That group might have taken his name, but Rogers—who’d had previous experiences as a guitar player in another band—had no interest in being just a one-man show.

“I always wanted everybody to be equal, not only financially but also input-wise and creatively,” he says. “When we started the band, I pledged to them that I would work every day as hard as I could and try to get us down the highway a little further if they would sign up with me and share in some of those sacrifices, and I think from that day on, everybody pretty much quit their alternative jobs, and kinda gave 110 percent to the band.”

The Randy Rogers Band took the same slot that George Strait and the Ace In The Hole band had once occupied at Cheatham Street, appropriate since the band used the same sort of inner motivation in building its sound as Strait did a generation ago.

Their music is hardly the same. In contrast to Strait’s pure-country aesthetics, RRB combines that traditional country sound with a rollicking, swagger influenced by rugged sounds from such diverse sources as Waylon Jennings and Stone Temple Pilots. But, as Finlay recognized, there’s an authenticity and honesty to the band that parallels Strait’s personal manifesto.

“In a way, George was a little bit out of the box for Nashville when he debuted,” Rogers notes, “I think George Strait, when he first hit town, he knew who he was, and I think that’s partly why he has been so successful throughout his career. If there’s a correlation between the two of us, I think that we definitely have a sound and we know who we are.”

The Randy Rogers Band further distinguishes that identity in its self-titled album, the band’s second release since signing with Mercury Nashville. Produced by longtime admirer Radney Foster, who’s successfully maintained alt country integrity while writing mainstream hits for the likes of Sara Evans and Keith Urban, sessions for The Randy Rogers Band took place at Dockside Studios, a bayou location in Maurice, Louisiana, that’s also been the breeding ground for projects by B.B. King, Mavis Staples, Keb’ Mo’, Levon Helm and Mark Knopfler.

“We shut ourselves up for 10 days and had a band-camp set up,” Richardson observes. “There weren’t any distractions. It wasn’t like we were all goin’ home every night and comin’ back the next day. We were just living and breathing it for 10 days or so. We were just completely absorbed by it.”

The consequences of that choice are just as absorbing for the listener. The album ranges from the hypnotic country of “Buy Myself A Chance” and the first single, “In My Arms Instead,” to the propulsive buzz of “Never Be That High” to the painful conclusion, “This Is Goodbye.”

Rogers’ various performances reflect the wide-ranging influences that snapped together in the process, evoking at times the sneer of Steve Earle, the soul of Bakersfield’s Monty Byrom (formerly of Big House) and the vulnerability of Keith Urban.

With its infectious hooks and daring attitude, the album underscores the iTunes popularity of the Randy Rogers Band, its critical appeal and its significance on the nation’s concert circuit, where they’ve broken attendance records at numerous clubs across the heartland. Even Kenny Chesney, who consistently places among the top-selling tours, saw the group’s blue-collar connection when he covered Rogers’ “Somebody Take Me Home” for the album The Road And The Radio.

Each of the five members recognizes his contribution to the Randy Rogers Band’s overall unity, and they repeatedly make choices—creatively and personally—that keep that all-for-one-and-one-for-all solidarity intact.

The “All About Tonight” Come-On Contest and promotion consists of a unique online and dance club component. In the online contest, fans call in to a special hotline at (615) 942-0746 (615) 942-0746 and record their best pick-up lines, which Shelton reviews each week. The winning submissions are announced on Blake’s Tuesday Take Six Webisodes, with winners receiving a Reprise Records prize pack containing autographed Blake Shelton swag. Callers who record a message also receive a link to download “All About Tonight” for free.

The contest, organized by Marco Club Connection and held in more than 200 Country dance venues across the country, was originally geared towards club patrons, but exploded in popularity when Shelton began posting about it on Twitter and Facebook. Warner Music Nashville subsequently expanded the contest so that online fans could participate through the singer’s official website at www.BlakeShelton.com. Listen to this week’s winning online submission here.

“The ‘All About Tonight’ Come-On Contest is a unique effort to involve fans at the club level, built around Blake’s well-known sense of humor and active fan base,” says Kelli Cashiola, VP of Brand Management, Warner Music Nashville.

As part of the dance venue promotions, clubs are hosting their own in-house “All About Tonight” Come-On Contests in August. Club-goers will have the opportunity to deliver their favorite pick-up lines in front of a live audience, who will then vote on the best submission for a chance to win an official prize pack. Details of the club contests vary from venue to venue.

“The feedback that we’re getting from our clubs is that they’re having a really great time with this contest,” says Club Connection Manager of Venue Marketing, Bobbe Morhiser. “People are getting a kick out of hearing their pick-up lines on Blake’s website, which range from hilarious to corny to a little racy, and then there are some that are just plain confusing. They’re all entertaining, though!”

“All About Tonight” is Shelton’s debut single from his forthcoming SIX PAK release, All About Tonight, due out Aug. 10. The song follows “Hillbilly Bone,” which won an Academy of Country Music and CMT Award and features Shelton’s longtime friend, Trace Adkins. “All About Tonight” is currently a Top 10 hit on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.

To hear all of Shelton’s fan submissions or get an embeddable widget for your site, visit www.MarcoClubConnection.com or www.BlakeShelton.com.

About Marco Club Connection:
A division of secondary radio promotion company, Marco Promotions, Club Connection specializes in marketing dance club singles to nightclubs and dance venues across the country. Club Connection maintains a national database of more than 240 venues and world-renowned dance instructor contacts, reaching more than 200,000 club patrons each weekend. For more information, visit: www.MarcoClubConnection.com.

Bristol, Tennessee, is a town best known today for its motor speedway. But, historically, its real claim to fame is as the birthplace of modern Country music. For it was there that Ralph Peer first recorded The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers – creating what is today known as “the big-bang” of Country music. Charlie Allen was born there into a family steeped in Country music. Allen’s mother, Louise Bouton was a regular on WCYB radio’s “Fun and Farm Time,” and she is a member of the Bristol Hall of Fame. His father, Charles D. Bouton, was an artist manager.

Singing and performing was the family business, and Allen and his brothers, William and Robert, learned from the best. Just as some mothers give their child a toy to play with, Allen’s mom gave him a broom, and taught him to pretend that it was a microphone. Eventually, he would learn to play the guitar, piano, steel guitar and drums. When most of his friends were getting on a school bus, Allen was getting on a tour bus.

Allen’s uncle, Jim Harless, was also in the music business in Ft. Worth, Texas. It was there, at age seven, that Allen began to hone his skills as a singer and performer with his family at the legendary Panther Hall. The stage was his classroom, and his teachers were the pillars of Country music; Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, Jr., Waylon Jennings, and Jerry Lee Lewis, are just a few of the touring performers that Allen fronted for, and worked with. It was during this time that Allen signed his first recording contract with Decca Records.

By age fifteen, Allen was fronting his own group, The Bouton Brothers. They appeared on various television shows in the Bristol and Kingsport area, opening for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Charley Pride and others. He also hosted his own television show, sponsored by Martha White.

Later on, Allen was signed to Parc Records, an independent label and publishing company with offices in Orlando, Florida, and Nashville. Parc, and their affiliate, Parc Studios, boasted a stellar list of clients such as The Backstreet Boys, ‘N Snyc, Britney Spears, and Mariah Carey, among others. Commuting between Nashville and Orlando, Allen wrote and recorded many songs, including “Better Said Than Done,” co-written with Earl Thomas Conley. That song garnered Allen his first critical acclaim from Music Row’s toughest critic, Robert K. Oermann, who has been an ardent supporter of Allen ever since. He also made fans of the nationally syndicated radio show hosts, John Boy and Billy, who had this to say: “We believe that Charlie is destined for stardom. He has a heart as big as Tennessee and a voice to match it.”

Presently, Allen is signed to indy label, River Run Records, and has recently completed the album, That Was Then, This Is Now. His current single, “See If I Care” is currently climbing the charts.

In a recent interview, Allen summed his career up: “When you write a song – especially when you have a ‘hook’ that speaks to people’s hearts, well, that’s the thing that keeps you going.”
It is this real, and genuine down-to-earth attitude, coupled with a phenomenal talent that will keep Charlie Allen’s voice on the radio for a long time to come

So far, 2009 has been a banner year for Charlie Allen. The Manchester, Tennessee, native has seen his music gain acceptance around the world, and his media visibility has never been higher. In January, he made a promotional appearance at MIDEM in Cannes, France, and performed an invitation-only showcase event at the Gibson Guitar Studio in London, England. And, he just celebrated his second #1 single in Europe. Recently, he was a featured guest on a special Memorial Day edition of the FOX News show, Geraldo at Large and currently is preparing for his second appearance at the mega festival, Bonnaroo, in June.

Allen’s new single, “Proof” is from his CD, That Was Then, This Is Now, about which Music Row scribe Robert K. Oermann recently stated, “I have made no secret of my respect for this artist. He’s proudly country, and this groove-saturated drinking song is one more feather in his cap.”

Allen hails from the east Tennessee town of Bristol, which is credited with being the birthplace of modern country music. (It was there that Ralph Peer first recorded The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and others, creating what is now referred to as “The Big Bang” of country). Allen has been performing since childhood, when at age 7, he was singing onstage at Panther Hall in Ft. Worth, TX., and appearing in concert with iconic artists such as Hank Williams, Jr., Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn and Jerry Lee Lewis, among others.