The Social Freelancer: Media, Music, TV & Film

Desire is KEY. If you don’t have a true desire to create something of value or learn a new skill, chances are you won’t do the work necessary to “make it happen”. You know how it goes, you get excited about an idea and “toy” with it, get bored, then move on to something else. It’s an infatuation as compared to “true love”.

Discipline is crucial and my most difficult challenge because it is required to take something (anything) from a “I wish I could be a _______(writer, musician, performer, gardener, cook etc…)” to
“I AM a writer” or “I AM a singer.” or “I AM a ________.” (insert endeavor of your choice).”
Read more…

TRACE RELATIONS RELEASES DEBUT CD WITH SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDING AUGIE MEYERS AND SHAWN SAHM OF TEXAS TORNADOS AND DALLAS’ BLUES MASTER HASH BROWN

TRACE RELATIONS is just that, all of vocalist Tracy Ready’s musical relations. ‘PROSPERITY STREET’ is a unique listening experience encompassing Rock, Blues, Jazz and Americana styles. It’s twelve tracks of Texas groove guaranteed to improve your mood, produced by Sal Salvador and Tracy Ready.

Why Wait? Get on down to ‘PROSPERITY STREET’ > Download available NOW HERE > TRACERELATIONS.COM/MUSIC ! SUPPORT INDIE MUSIC! GROOVE ON…

READ the Press Release >>> Read more…

Recently, a blues “purist” who I like and respect said (apologetically) about our debut CD release “Prosperity Street”:
“It’s just not my cup of tea.”

Great! It’s honest, and that’s cool.
Creative projects such as music, painting, film, photography, sculpture, etcetera are best, in my opinion, when they are true to themselves. That’s all I tried to do with the record and feel its an accurate representation, musically, of who I am.

Read on and check out the MUSIC, maybe it’s your “cup of tea”!>>> Read more…

I have been doing a lot of blues, boogie and roots music surfing online lately. Below are links to seven excellent sites I have discovered for insight on the MUSIC.

The list is not “scientific”, “all encompassing”, “definitive” or any of those fanciful terms, just spots I like for the music I love. If you are a fan of blues music and its history, I’ll bet you’ll enjoy them as well.

What’s your favorite? Any others you would like me to know about? Hope so! Comment below if you please… Thanks!

Willie Dixon courtesy The Willie Dixon Fan Club

The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits.
- Willie Dixon

Shuffle on to these seven sites for history and music for the soul. >>> Read more…

“I see you watching me like a hawk. I don’t mind about the things you talk. But if you touch me something’s got to give. I live the life I love and I love the life I live.” ~ Willie Dixon
Read more…

Dallas, TX (Aug. 16, 2011) A rocked up remake of Doug Sahm’s 1974 landmark track “Groover’s Paradise” has been released. The track is available at Trace Relations Band Official Site. “Groover’s Paradise” is one of four tracks released from the band in advance of their full length CD “Prosperity Street” coming in December, 2011.

The song was arranged and performed by vocalist Tracy Ready and guitarist Kevin Lewis of Trace Relations Band with Shawn Sahm of Texas Tornados, a tribute to his father, the late Texas music pioneer Doug Sahm.

GROOVER’S PARADISE

Read on for the story behind the track >>> Read more…

Today’s post is a showcase of indie musicians who really “get it” about Social Media. One month ago, I posted this article > Let’s Stick Together: Share to Become 1 of “My Top 5 Socially Smart Indie Musicians”.

In it, I asked indie artists to help spread the word about my band‘s upcoming CD release, with the promise that I would post an article highlighting indie musicians who responded and whose music I genuinely respect.

It had to be Top 7! Read more…

A Crash
You were seeing the beauty of the Swiss Alps up close and personal in a private helicopter. A rogue crosswind slammed the chopper into the side of the mountain with no warning. Miraculously you find yourself outside of the wreckage, the only survivor and basically unscathed, save a few bumps and bruises. This is the way we wake up each morning.

Rescue in the Alps - photo courtesy DataLife Engine

Let’s face it. Nothing is easy, especially trying to promote original music in a world of shrinking budgets, a stagnant live music scene and the proliferation of free online music sources. If you are trying to make music, record it and get people to listen, it’s clear you have to work a whole bunch of channels (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc…) to make anything happen.

Vocalist Tracy Ready, Photo by Rick Moore

HERE”S THE DEAL FOR INDIE MUSICIANS AND BANDS: Read more…

June 22, 2011 – Trace Relations Debut – For Immediate Release

In today’s San Antonio Express-News, Music Writer Jim Beal wrote this story about the project > The Music Beat: “Prosperity Street” beckons

A project 12 years in the making, Trace Relations sets to release their debut studio CD “Prosperity Street” on November 2, 2011.

Trace Relations - The Band

Debut tracks “Prosperity Street” (with music video) plus a Trace Relations original “Open Mind, Open Eye” were released June 15, 2011 and are available now at> Trace Relations official site.

The song “Prosperity Street” and the video feature the band and special guests Augie Meyers and San Antonio’s famed West Side Horns.

SEE VIDEO “Prosperity Street”, READ ON, GROOVE ON… Read more…

“Sittin’ on the corner of Prosperity Street, wonderin’ where my next meal’s coming from, Yesterday I was rakin’ in the coin, today I’m just a poor old bum.” – Augie Meyers, from “Prosperity Street”

A lyric so timely for the economic conditions of 2011, who would guess it was written in 1975?

Trace Relations debut with their arrangement of “Prosperity Street” with special guests Augie Meyers and The West Side Horns:

This track available for download now > Trace Relations Official Site

About Prosperity Street
READ ON, GROOVE ON>>> Read more…

As a kid, I was into music. I was fortunate to grow up listening to a musical stew brewed up by my older brothers and their friends whose taste was, let’s say, “diverse”.
The Beatles, Cream, Harry Chapin, Led Zeppelin, Zappa, and Little Feat shared a room sometimes with Count Basie and his Orchestra, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and BB King. Out back on the patio? Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, Charlie Daniels Band and the Edgar Winter Group.

Willie Dixon courtesy of The Willie Dixon Fan Club