Arthur Alligood
When ASCAP member Arthur Alligood sent in his submission for the 2011 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest earlier this year, he was in the same spot as countless other singer-songwriters who bravely struggle to make a living by making music. “For the last 10 years I have tried to make music my career,” Alligood explains via e-mail. “At some points I have been a full-on traveling songwriter. During other seasons I had all but quit touring to get a college degree, become a husband and father, etc…After taking many paths, I find myself having come full circle and working as a touring songwriter again. Entering the NewSong Contest was for me a way to extend myself as an artist.”
A few months after entering, Alligood got the news that he had been selected as a finalist. So he packed up his guitar, left his hometown of White House, Tennessee and traveled to New York, where he and the other 11 finalists would perform in front of a panel of judges at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden.
“I got home from New York on Sunday and I still can’t believe the result. I won the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest!!” reads Alligood’s blog post from October 25th, 2011, five days after he took the NewSong grand prize. His winnings include a live performance on the internationally broadcast Mountain Stage radio show on NPR and an EP recorded with ASCAP producer Mikal Blue (Jason Mraz, Colbie Caillat, James Blunt) and released on NewSong Recordings. “I got a chance to talk to [Mikal Blue] before the finals round of the contest,” gushes Alligood. “He seems like a genuine guy who is serious about making good records. I feel this opportunity could be a catalyst for my career…I definitely want to make the most of it.”
Alligood’s victory marks the tenth year that the Mountain Stage NewSong contest has unearthed the crème de la crème of singer-songwriter talent. NewSong’s director and co-founder Gar Ragland explains its humble origins: “Ten years ago, NewSong Music partnered with NPR’s Mountain Stage to produce a small annual music festival outside of Washington, DC that celebrated performance and songwriting. The NewSong Contest was a ‘sidestage’ program of the festival, and our first contest featured 100 musicians. This year, we had over 2,000 entries from around the world.”
As Ragland tells it, there are a few distinctive elements that have helped the music community embrace the NewSong Contest over the past decade. “We take great care screening our entries…it’s important that we never let talent ‘fall through the cracks.’ …Our relationship with our contestants is an ongoing one, and extends long after each year’s winner has been announced. For example, our record label exists to promote and release recordings from exceptional artists we identify through the NewSong Contest…Finally, the top prizes we offer to the grand prize winner – an EP produced by a top-notch producer and an appearance on NPR’s Mountain Stage show – are truly substantive opportunities that do in fact push our winners’ careers to the next level.”
ASCAP member Amber Rubarth experienced those opportunities firsthand. Rubarth was the grand prize winner of the 2010 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, earning her the chance to record an EP with Jacquire King, the Grammy-winning producer of her favorite album, Tom Waits’ Mule Variations.
“We set out to record six songs instead of the five,” Rubarth says. “In the end we recorded eight songs in the studio, then Jacquire came out to San Diego with me to record a ninth which I co-wrote with Jason Mraz, and also wrote a new song called ‘Rated Ours’ all together the next day.”
Amber Rubarth: A Common Case Of Disappearing from NewSong Music on Vimeo.
NewSong Recordings released the resulting full-length, A Common Case of Disappearing, on September 30th. In its first week, the album rose to #13 on the iTunes singer-songwriter chart. NewSong is actively pitching the album for film/TV licensing, and working on getting the album released internationally. Ragland tells us that “as a result of working with Jacquire, Amber is now co-writing with the Court Yard Hounds (featuring Martie Maguire and Emily Robison from the Dixie Chicks) for material to go on their next record, which is being produced by none other than Jacquire King!”
“The other parts of the contest were wonderful as well,” says Rubarth. “Getting the opportunity to perform my music on NPR Mountain Stage was truly a dream come true…working with NewSong Recordings has been good too. They are passionate about finding new music and presenting it; they also invited me to perform at the Lincoln Center Atrium in NYC as part of a new partnership in presenting shows they recently started. Overall it’s been an incredibly dreamy experience.” And to think, she found out about the Contest from an ad on the ASCAP website.
Of course any songwriting contest will be a boon for its winners. But music and music careers aren’t made in isolation, and NewSong’s recognition of the social aspect of making music benefits even those entrants that don’t win. “We place community and networking above the competitive aspects of our contest,” explains Ragland. “NewSong is a community of talented emerging artists, and our goal is to identify and connect these artists with one another through the contest.” Alligood recognizes that, too: “What I really enjoyed about the contest was the communal spirit that was present among all the contestants. Even if I hadn’t won it would have been worth the plane ticket to meet all the other talented artists and to make new friends. The grand prize seems to me to be the icing on the cake.”
While it’s too soon to tell whether Alligood’s NewSong experience will be just the thing to propel him to singer-songwriting stardom, it’s already given him a huge boost to his confidence in the future. “I am still humbled at the thought of winning,” the modest songwriter writes. “Some days it feels like someone else’s story, but then I realize it is mine. [I’m] truly excited about what’s around the bend.”
*****
The NewSong Music website: www.newsong-music.com
Arthur Alligood on the web: www.arthuralligood.com
Amber Rubarth on the web: www.amberrubarth.com
