You’re invited to the 11th Annual Mountain Stage NewSong Contest live performance finals. The 2012 contest winner will be presented with the opportunity to record an album at the beautiful Echo Mountain Recordings in Asheville, North Carolina with hit producer Iestyn Polson, who has worked with the likes of David Gray, Patti Smith, and David Bowie. The EP will be released on the Brooklyn-based NewSong Recordings label. In addition, the winner will perform on an internationally broadcast Mountain Stage (NPR) show, perform at Lincoln Center, appear at the 2013 Sundance/ASCAP Music Cafe, and a fully-funded album release pr/publicity campaign from the Press House sponsored by PledgeMusic.   NewSong is an independent music organization that works to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music and levels of skill. NewSong identifies the truly exceptional artists within this community and works closely with them to develop their careers and introduce their music to a broader, international audience. For more information visit www.newsong-music.com. Below are the twelve finalists who will perform on October 20th. The matinee ‘semi-final’ round (noon-2 pm) will close with a set by 2009 NewSong Contest winner Reed Waddle, and Leah Siegel of Firehorse will appear courtesy of PledgeMusic, closing the evening ‘Award Round’ as the judges determine this year’s grand prize winner. GENERAL ROUND FINALIST GENERAL ROUND FINALIST GENERAL ROUND FINALIST Carter Sampson Fayetteville, AR Ben Kyle Minneapolis, MN Dawn Mitschele San Diego, CA INTERNATIONAL WINNER NORTHEAST WINNER SOUTHEAST WINNER Robyn Sherwell London, UK Lora-Faye Brooklyn, NY Carolina Story Nashville, TN INTERNATIONAL WINNER SOUTHWEST REGIONAL WINNER WEST REGIONAL WINNER Barnaby Bright Mission, KS Tom Meny Buda, TX Coby Brown Los Angeles, CA EARLY BIRD FINALIST EARLY BIRD FINALIST ‘PEOPLE’S CHOICE’ FINALIST Jeffrey Martin Eugene, OR Jeremy Current Brooklyn, NY Melissa Mitchell Anchorage, AK And a special thanks to our partners Mountain Stage, Echo Mountain Recording, PledgeMusic, ASCAP, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Arts Brookfield, WFUV and Global Positioning Services for helping to make this opportunity possible for these twelve deserving artists. Check out their sites by clicking on their logos below. Hope to see you at Lincoln Center! All the best, Gar Ragland Director & Co-founder NewSong Music Group ‘Where Great Artists Are Discovered’ www.newsong-music.com

GENERAL ROUND
FINALIST

Congratulations to these remaining 2012 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest General Round Finalists!

Carter Sampson Fayetteville, AR

Ben Kyle Minneapolis, MN

Dawn Mitschele San Diego, CA

These three artists will be joining the other finalists below on Saturday, October 20 in New York City for the live performance finals,
a FREE show held at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ David Rubenstein Atrium.

INTERNATIONAL WINNER	NORTHEAST REGIONAL WINNER	SOUTHEAST REGIONAL WINNER
Robyn Sherwell London, UK	Lora-Faye Brooklyn, NY	Carolina Story Nashville, TN
MIDWEST REGIONAL WINNER	SOUTHWEST REGIONAL WINNER	WEST REGIONAL WINNER
Barnaby Bright Mission, KS	Tom Meny Buda, TX	Coby Brown Los Angeles, CA
EARLY BIRD FINALIST	EARLY BIRD FINALIST	‘PEOPLE’S CHOICE’ FINALIST
Jeffrey Martin Eugene, OR	Jeremy Current Brooklyn, NY	Melissa Mitchell Anchorage, AK

Once again, thank you to all the talented artists who have participated in this year’s Mountain Stage NewSong Contest. It just keeps getting better – and more fun – with each year we put this thing together.

And a special thanks to our partners Mountain Stage, Echo Mountain Recording, PledgeMusic, ASCAP, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Arts Brookfield, WFUV and Global Positioning Services for helping to make this opportunity possible for these twelve deserving artists. Check out their sites by clicking on their logos below.

Hope to see you at Lincoln Center next month.

All the best,

Gar Ragland
Director & Co-founder
NewSong Music Group
‘Where Great Artists Are Discovered’
www.newsong-music.com

 

NewSong Music would like to congratulate Melissa Mitchell, a West regional round finalist of the 2012 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest for being this year’s ‘People’s Choice’ winner! Nearly 10,000 votes were cast during this years run of the ‘People’s Choice’ voting round. Hailing from Kasilof, Alaska  Melissa received the most amount of votes of all regional finalists, and will be joining the already selected six regional winners, the two Early Bird winners, and the three soo-t0-be-determined General Round winners (scheduled to be announced Friday, September 28th) in New York City at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for the final ‘Award Round’ on Saturday, October 20th. 

 NewSong Music and Mountain Stage would like to thank everyone who entered the contest and all who voted for contributing to the success thus far of this year’s contest!

For Immediate Release.

September 18, 2012. Asheville, NC. Brooklyn based NewSong Music Group and Asheville’s Echo Mountain Recording  announce that NewSong has opened an office in Echo Mountain’s internationally recognized and prize winning recording facility. Located in the beautiful and music-rich haven in the mountains of western North Carolina, this will serve as NewSong’s southern outpost.

The Asheville office is being headed by producer and NewSong director and co-founder Gar Ragland, a native North Carolinian. “I’m very excited with this development,” says Ragland. “It’s great to be here in Asheville and back in North Carolina after so many years. Asheville is such a creative and vibrant community, and we’re looking forward to contributing to its cultural and entrepreneurial fabric in many different ways.”

NewSong Music is an independent music company founded in 2001. Its mission is to build and service a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music and levels of skill, and to identify the truly exceptional artists within this community. It then works closely with these talented artists to develop their careers and introduce their music to a broader, international audience. The Asheville office will complement NewSong’s office and studio facility in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood.

NewSong’s programs include the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, its annual performance and songwriting competition produced in collaboration with National Public Radio’s Mountain Stage show, a record label (NewSong Recordings), and an artist management division. It also produces and  curates concerts with partners that include Arts Brookfield and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York and the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC.

NewSong and Echo Mountain’s partnership first originated in the spring of 2012 with Echo Mountain’s sponsorship of the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest. As sponsors, Echo Mountain will host the recording of the fully-funded grand prize album awarded to this year’s overall winner of the contest. The winner will be determined at the live performance contest finals held on October 20, 2012 at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

The winning album will be produced by Iestyn Polson, whose credits include David Gray, Patti Smith and David Bowie. And it will be released on NewSong Recordings.

“We’re really excited to have NewSong join the Echo Mountain family,” says Jessica Tomasin, the studio’s manager. “We have a great group of creative businesses that occupy the top floor of our API studio.  We help each other out, bounce ideas off of each other, and are always looking for ways to collaborate. The partnership with the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest is just one of many projects that I’m sure we will work on together.”

“One goal in working closely with Echo Mountain is to facilitate access to this premier recording studio to   emerging artists in the NewSong community,” says Ragland. “In addition to bringing this year’s grand prize winner of the NewSong Contest to Echo Mountain, we aim to bring other talented artists here as well, and collaborate on new initiatives to promote and celebrate great artists and music.”

To learn more about NewSong Music, please visit newsong-music.com
To learn more about Echo Mountain Recording, please visit echomountain.net

For media inquires, please contact:

Lauren Stockner
NewSong Music
lauren.stockner@newsong-music.com
718-788-0323

Jessica Tomasin
Echo Mountain Recording
jessica@echomountain.net
828-232-4314 x300

Congratulations to the following 2012 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest Regional Round Winners!

These talented artists were selected from among our strongest ever group of regional round finalists, and will be joining us on Saturday, October 20 in New York City for the live performance finals, held at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Thank you to all of this year’s regional round finalists. And don’t forget, the People’s Choice voting is still going on so get your votes in … you may vote one time in each of our six regions.

INTERNATIONAL	NORTHEAST	SOUTHEAST
Robyn Sherwell London, UK	Lora-Faye Brooklyn, NY	Carolina Story Nashville, TN
MIDWEST	SOUTHWEST	WEST
Barnaby Bright Mission, KS	Tom Meny Buda, TX	Coby Brown Los Angeles, C

MOUNTAIN STAGE NEWSONG CONTEST – DEADLINE TO ENTER IS SEPTEMBER 15.

Want to join these artists in New York in October at Lincoln Center? Introduce us to your music by submitting to the 11th Annual Mountain Stage NewSong Contest by September 15. Click here to enter.

4 September 2012. Winston-Salem, NC
MEDIA RELEASE –

The Hanesbrands Theatre at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts is proud to again partner with Brooklyn, NYC based NewSong Music to present another season of a series that features new emerging music artists.

The series showcases some of the most talented emerging performing songwriters from across North America.

2011-12 performers included The Sweater Set, Arthur Alligood, Farewell Milwaukee, and The Honey Dewdrops.

This year’s performers announced to date include: Raleigh, NC resident and Mountain Stage NewSong Music Contest General Round Winner Roger Gupton, (Friday, September 21), Western Carolina native and folk roots phenomenon Malcolm Holcombe (Saturday, December 15), and Amy Speace (Saturday, January 19), a protegé of Joan Baez and Judy Collins.

All shows begin at 8:00 PM.

NewSong Music is an independent music organization based in Brooklyn, New York. Its mission is to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music and levels of skill, while identifying truly exceptional artists within this community and introducing their music to a broader, international audience. The standout talent NewSong works with is discovered primarily through the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performing songwriters.

Each year, the grand-prize winner of the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest receives a performance on an international broadcast of NPR’s Mountain Stage show, as well as a recording project produced by one of the premier producers in the music industry. The project is then released and distributed on the NewSong Recordings label. The 2010 winner Amber Rubarth’s prize-winning album was produced by Grammy-winning producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Norah Jones, Tom Waits) and 2011 NewSong Contest grand prize winner Arthur Alligood hit the studio this past winter with award winning producer Mikal Blue and renowned musicians Jim Keltner (John Lennon, George Harrison, Bob Dylan), bassist Leland Sklar (James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne) and guitarist Michael Ward (Ben Harper, the Wallflowers).

To learn more about this year’s contest and to submit (the deadline is September 15), please visit mountainstagenewsongcontest.com.

NewSong also holds showcases at various locations across the country. These concert productions feature the cream-of-the-crop of our NewSong alumni, including former contest winners and label artists. Recent series include the NewSong Series @ Bryant Park (NYC), the Summer Plaza Series presented by the Arts World Financial Center (NYC), and the NewSong Emerging Artist Series @ Lincoln Center in the David Rubenstein Atrium (NYC).

NewSong Music’s Fall Winter 2011-12 Emerging Artist Showcase Series Lineup – presented at The Hanesbrands Theatre at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts

	Friday, September 21 @ 8 PM / $15 NewSong Music Emerging Artist Showcase www.newsong-music.com Roger Gupton w/ The Genuine Roger Gupton writes songs that thrum with both hope and melancholy. A 2010 general round winner of the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, Roger’s melody-driven writing style draws comparisons to such iconic tunesmiths as Carole King and Paul Simon. With the focus on “a hushed and honeyed tenor voice,” his performances eschew histrionics and embrace the song. Roger will be performing with his band. Vimeo Video of Roger Gupton’s song See Through You performed July 2011 at the Pour House in Raleigh, NC: Click here to purchase tickets. ——————————————————-
	Saturday, December 15 @ 8 PM / $15 NewSong Music Emerging Artist Showcase www.newsong-music.com Malcolm Holcombe Born and raised in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, Malcolm Holcombe is being recognized by the contemporary U.S and European folk/americana community as a performer of national stature, and an uncommonly unique guitarist/vocalist about whom Rolling Stone magazine says: “Haunted country, acoustic blues and rugged folk all meet [here]…” Malcolm’s 2011 CD, To Drink the Rain, came in at #5 on the Roots Music Report for Top 100 most played folk albums of 2011! YouTube Video of Malcolm Holcombes song Down in the Woods from his 2011 release To Drink the Rain performed at the Music Fog ranch house during the 2011 Cherokee Music Festival in Texas. ——————————————————-
	Saturday, January 19 @ 8 PM / $15 New Song Music Emerging Artist Showcase www.newsong-music.com Amy Speace “Amy Speace sounds uncannily like a 21st Century Joan Baez, her timbred voice full of genuine emotions…the record soars with salient vocals and poetic lyrics,” writes The Classic Rock Examiner in its review of Nashville singer-songwriter Amy Speace’s third album, Land Like A Bird(Thirty Tigers). After releasing two well-received albums on Judy Collins’ Wildflower Records, Bird is Speace’s first record since migrating south from her longtime home in the NYC area. Amy Speace’s path to songwriting may not have been a straight line, but like many journeys, has been better for the winding way. Born in Baltimore, Amy grew up the oldest of 4, moving homes and states every few years, learning early about comings and goings, and finding solace in music very early. After graduating from Amherst College, she moved to Manhattan to study acting, toured with The National Shakespeare Company for a few years until a bad breakup and a $50 pawn shop guitar sparked a late-blooming songwriting burst. An appearance at an open mic led to a regular gig at The Bitter End, which led to an independent release of her first songs and in 2005, a chance encounter with Judy Collins’ manager changed her life. Judy Collins signed Amy to her own Wildflower Records label in 2006, releasing Songs for Bright Street. The Killer In Me followed in 2009, with a rare duo appearance by Ian “Mott the Hoople” Hunter, who brought her to the UK for his Acoustic Tour. USA Today called her “a rising star”, NPR named the title track from Killer “Song of the Day” and wrote “her velvety, achy voice recalls an early Lucinda Williams.” In 2010, John Platt of NYC’s premiere AAA radio station WFUV named Amy’s song “The Weight of the World” in the Top 5 of his list of the “Best Folk Songs of the Decade,” a song that Judy Collins herself would record and call “one of the best political folk songs I’ve ever heard”. In 2009, Amy shifted landscapes, moved south to Nashville, and beginning the writing of her latest album Land Like A Bird. Produced by Neilson Hubbard, it features guest vocals by Kim Richey and is already receiving the best reviews of Amy’s career. “Amy Speace is the perfect torchbearer for the unconscious cool of true Americana” (Houston Press). Amy will also be seen in the upcoming documentary “Nothing Can Hurt Me: The Big Star Story”. Vimeo Video for Amy Speace song ‘Weight of the World’ from her 2010 EP Into the New

——————-
——————-

Richard Emmett
Chief Operating Officer
Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
305 W. Fourth Street – Suite 1-C
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
# 336-722-2585 x 1111
remmett@intothearts.org
Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts
Hanesbrands Theatre

August 28, 2012. The 2012 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest regional finalists have been announced! Congratulations to the following artists, whose live performance videos are now live on our website, where fans can vote for their favorite artist and video in each of our six regions. Click here to watch and vote.

Ten regional finalists were selected in each of the NewSong Contest’s six regions. Judges will select one winner for each region, who will then advance to the live performance competition finals held on Saturday, October 20 (the final weekend of CMJ) at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

 Additionally, the regional finalist who receives the most votes for his or her video will advance to the October 20 finals as the NewSong Contest’s ‘People’s Choice’ finalist.

The final deadline to enter this year’s 11th Annual Mountain Stage NewSong Contest is September 15. Click here to enter.

INTERNATIONAL FINALISTS Amy Campbell – Toronto, ON Ariana Gillis – Vineland, ON Breagh Mackinnon – Sydney, NS Deane James – Donegal, IE Dennis Ellsworth – Charlottetown, PE Gabrielle Papillon– New Glasgow, NS Lindsay Ferguson – Wakefield, QC Robyn Sherwell — London, UK Shannon Lyon – West Vancouver, BC Steven MacDougal – Donkin, NS   WEST FINALISTS Adam Brock – Portland, OR Anna Carow – San Francisco, CA Brittney Bouchard – Los Angeles, CA Coby Brown – Los Angeles, CA Dada Nabhaniilananda – Los Altos, CA Justin Farren – Sacramento, CA Melissa Mitchell – Anchorage, AK Mike Benecke – Los Angeles, CA Midori & Ezra Boy – Santa Rosa, CA Parker Ainsworth – Venice, CA   SOUTHWEST FINALISTS Alexander Bommer – San Antonio, TX Alicia McGovern – Salt Lake City, UT Andy Hackbarth – Denver, CO Boris McCutcheon – Ojo Sarco, NM Drew Kennedy – New Braunfels, TX Jeff Matey – Sugar Land, TX Lisa Richards – Austin, TX Nicolette Good – San Antonio, TX North of Autumn – Dallas, TX Tom Meny – Buda, TX   MIDWEST FINALISTS Barnaby Bright – Mission, KS Brad Cole – Chicago, IL Jacob Latham – Bloomington, IN Jaymie Jones – Omaha, NE Kari Lynch – Grand Rapids, MI Kate Diaz – Chicago, IL Mary McAdams – Ankeny, IA Mindy Braasch – Guysville, OH Shane Martin – Independence, MN Troy Castellano – Harris, MN SOUTHEAST FINALISTS Alan White – Adams, TN Carolina Story – Nashville, TN Dana Cooper – Nashville, TN Granville Automatic – Atlanta, GA Katie Basden – Nashville, TN Paulo Franco – Richmond, VA Sean Waterman – Atlanta, GA The Whiskey Gentry – Atlanta, GA Trouvere –Nashville, NT Valorie Miller – Asheville, NC   NORTHEAST FINALISTS Alan Semerdjian – New York, NY Bjorn Quenemoen – Brooklyn, NY Ed Romanoff – Brooklyn, NY Eljuri – New York, NY Jason Myles Goss – Brooklyn, NY Jenee Halstead – Somerville, MA Jennifer Greer – Somerville, MA Jesse Terry – Mamaroneck, NY Lora-Faye – Brooklyn, NY Rachael Sage – New York, NY

HOW TO ENTER Our own safe, secure submission platform Mail-In ReverbNation sonicbids THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT TO THE 2012 MOUNTAIN STAGE NEWSONG CONTEST IS SEPTEMBER 15, 2012.

2011 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest grand prize winner Arthur Alligood and his Nashville-based band will be performing at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the world largest performing arts center in the world. Arthur will perform at the David Rubenstein Atrium for the August 23 Target Free Thursday concert.

A 2013 performance at the world renowned Lincoln Center, home to the NYC Ballet, Metropolitan Opera, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and NY Philharmonic is one of the new additions to the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest list of grand prizes this year.

Other prizes this year include:

• A fully-funded album produced by lestyn Polson (David Gray, Patti Smith, David Bowie), recorded over 10 days at beautiful Echo Mountain Recording and released on the NewSong Recordings label
• A live performance on National Public Radio’s highly acclaimed Mountain Stage show
• An appearance at the 2013 Sundance/ASCAP Music Café
• A fully-funded album release pr/publicity campaign from the Press House, sponsored by PledgeMusic.
• Published interview and album review by American Songwriter magazine

Click here to enter the 2012 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest.

July 13, 2012. New York, NY. NewSong is proud to announce its new partnership with American Songwriter. In an effort to further accomplish NewSong Music’s goal of providing exceptional emerging talent with career propelling opportunities, the winner of this year’s Mountain Stage NewSong Contest will be interviewed by American Songwriter and receive a published review of the contest’s grand prize album in the magazine.

“We’re very excited about our new partnership with the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest. This is a once in a lifetime chance to launch an artist’s career. American Songwriter has always supported the “Craft of Music,” and we’re eager to bring this unique opportunity to our audience.” – Jamie Younger, Marketing Director, American Songwriter Magazine

Now in its 27th year American Songwriter has a readership of approximately 90-95,000 per issue and 150-200,000 unique visitors to AmericanSongwriter.com each month. Its mission is to provide unparalleled inspiration to the masses of passionate music fans and songwriters alike. Through insightful, everyday language, building the best media brand in the world covering the creation process and the stories behind the artists whose livelihood is “The Craft of Music.””

The American Songwriter App for the iPad official launched May 25th, 2011 and can be downloaded for free here. Features of the App for iPad include:

• Embedded music videos;
• Streaming music tracks from featured artists;
• Exclusive artist photo galleries;
• The ability to purchase songs directly from iTunes;
• “The Muse,” featuring a highly curated list of 30 staff-picked songwriters to check out.

As part of the NewSong-American Songwriter partnership, American Songspace is also hosting submissions to the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest on its  American Songspace site.

“We’re very excited about this new partnership,” says NewSong Director Gar Ragland, “as it brings a lot of promotional value to this year’s grand prize winner and the fully-funded album that he/she will get to record with producer Iestyn Polson (David Gray, Patti Smith, David Bowie) at Echo Mountain Recording. It’s the perfect complement to our other grand prize offerings by helping build the profile of them all.”

Other prizes include:

• A 2013 performance at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
•  A live performance on National Public Radio’s highly acclaimed Mountain Stage show. Known for debuting artists such as Ryan Adams, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Alison Krauss and more.
•  An appearance at the 2013 Sundance/ASCAP Music Café.
•  A fully-funded album release pr/publicity campaign from the Press House, sponsored by PledgeMusic.