News



"Sons of Anarchy"

Have you heard of “Sons of Anarchy” ?
If you have, you already know this critically acclaimed drama series that is averaging 4 million viewers each week, making it one of the top-rated shows on cable -- and the surprise hit of the season when it outranked Jay Leno last week.
If you haven’t, tune in to FX on Tuesdays at 10pm and you’ll discover this new TV series from the executive producer of “The Shield” : “… an adrenalized drama that explores a notorious outlaw motorcycle club’s desire to protect its livelihood while ensuring that their simple, sheltered town of Charming, California remains exactly that. Charming….”
 
And now, to all of you “Sons of Anarchy” fans or not, watch it on December 1st !
Bob Thiele, music supervisor of the show, selected three of Pat’s original songs - Just Fillin’In, Let me Live Long Enough and City Lights - to be featured in the season’s finale. Yes !
 
Bob was introduced to Pat’s music by Kurt Sutter, creator of “Sons of Anarchy” who heard Pat a few weeks ago performing at the Sonny Barger 71st birthday party at the Buffalo Chip in Cave Creek.
 
Under Bob Thiele Jr.’s direction, the show’s soundtrack has become a powerful and integral part of the series. Nominated for a Primetime Emmy for “Sons of Anarchy” Theme Music, Bob Thiele said : "… The music featured is thematically very important to the show… I approach all the music with a specific identity in mind, the same way a label might develop its artist roster. It has been so gratifying to find new, independent artists and use their music or pair them with the right songs to create a signature sound for the show…."
 
Besides FX, “Sons of Anarchy” is broadcasted by Super Channel in Canada, Showcase in Australia, Bravo in United Kingdom, M6 in France, Sky in Italy, TSR1 in Switzerland, BeTV in Belgium, TV 2 in Denmark and more… You can also watch it online here : www.fxnetworks.com/

Tuesday December 1st at 10pm on FX, spread the word !




"Honky Tonks & Heartaches"

Pat's music is now played on WDVR FM, thanks to Tom Wardle and his show "Honky Tonks and Heartaches".
"Honky Tonks and Heartaches" features exclusively independent artists who are recording real country music, and won't be heard on any of today's major market, so-called 'country' stations. Many of these 'unknowns', and their music, have become 'known' to, and very popular with, WDVR listeners. Justin Trevino, Jimmy Eaves, Ron Crites and Frankie Miller are but a few who have been Tom's on-air guests. In 2002, Tom Wardle received the Twangtown USA award for "USA Country DJ of the Year" and "USA Country Radio Show of the Year". In 2003, he was chosen for the "Country Radio Station of the Year" Award by Airplay International in Nashville.
Like Tom says "If it ain't traditional, it ain't country!". Thank you Tom !
You can read what Tom wrote to Pat here ...


Roots Country Chart

For his 32nd consecutive week on the Roots Country Music Chart, Pat is making his way up! He made it to number 8 on the top 50 this week, way ahead of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, among others...
More and more US radios are picking up his songs, directly downloadable from the Radio Submit website, and the word is spreading by itself!
The most played are "She's Kind", from Pat's "It's My Life" CD and "A Good Night in Cave Creek" from his "Some Like it Country".
Interestingly enough, from the start, radio stations have always chosen to play Pat's originals first rather than the cover songs that he recorded. This only confirms what so many of them have already stated: he is a great singer AND songwriter !

More radio news, good and bad, the good one first: "...last Friday, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) announced that CBS, Clear Channel, Entercom Communications and Citadel Broadcasting, agreed to pay a combined 12,5 million to settle investigations into whether they received secret payments to play certain songs. The four radio station owners also separately agreed to set aside 4,200 hours of free radio time for local and independent musicians..." (source: fcc.gov)
So please, jump on this good news and request Pat's music to your local commercial radio station! They probably can dedicate a small portion of these 4,200 hours to your favorite singer!!! (Wishful thinking!)

The bad news now: "...The survival of all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are more than four times what satellite radio pays and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site..."(source: Pandora.com)
These new rates will, as usual, benefit the Licensing Organizations like BMI or ASCAP that collect these royalty fees but very seldom redistribute them to the independent publishers and musicians who are not lucky enough to be in the Top 20 of Commercial radios - meaning, who are not played 30 times a day by thousands of radio stations, generating tons of royalty fees.
Although Pat's music has been played hundreds of times on internet and independent radio stations paying royalty fees for the past year and a half, there has been no redistribution of money to him whatsoever!
Not surprising in our greedy world, but just unfair that such a decision will shut down many great internet radios and subsequently the opportunity for indie musicians to be heard by people like you.
If you'd like to act, just click here to go to the SaveInternetRadio website.

A very sad note now. Chris Pavie, who was instrumental in the first tour of Pat in France, passed away. He was a dedicated fan of Marty Robbins and immediately became Pat's fan the first time he heard him. He was organizing the Berck Country Festival in France and it's thanks to him that Pat was able to perform over there on the 4th of July 2004, making on that occasion faithful fans and great friends. Thank you Chris, and goodbye.

For those of you who didn't check it yet, there are now free ringtones available on this site (see home page), working with any cellular phones providers (yes, including Verizon!) but restricted to US and Canada only. Sorry !



Top 25 !

Indie-Music.com, one of the most important resource on the internet dedicated to promote, help and support independent artists (indie), has just released its "Best of 2006 - Top 25 Artists" in its monthly online Magazine. Here is how the magazine's editors describe their criteria :"...With thousands of songs posted on Indie-Music, choosing the Top 25 Artists with MP3s on the site was a daunting task... We screened the songs and chose artists based on performance, production and song quality. We also factored in song popularity based on website plays, chart positions, and listener ratings..."
Enough with suspense and introduction, PAT IS ONE OF THE TOP 25 !
His song "It's all Coming Back" was posted on Indie-Music website at the beginning of 2006. This led to Pat's CD "It's my Life" being reviewed by one of Indie-Music's writers this past summer. But this great news was totally unexpected!
Traditional country is certainly not the leading musical trend these days. So being chosen among thousands of songs and artists of ALL categories is an even bigger achievement. Pat is definitely the best of all!
If you would like to visit Indie-Music website, just click here : www.indie-music.com
Bestof2006


Pandora

Pat will be soon becoming part of the American cultural heritage ! In the next edition of the "Encyclopedia of American Country Music", written and published in Germany by Hans Brauchle, Pat's bio will be included along with more than a thousand biographies of those who made yesterday and today's American country music. This encyclopedia is the most extensive and detailed one published in Germany , which is the second market in the world (after the USA) for country music. Let's just hope that this will be followed soon by its American counterpart !

Back home now, where "Bud's Pearl" is number 5 in the November Top 20 tcmradio chart !

Another interesting news and interesting internet radio : Pandora. Pat's music has been recently included in Pandora's database. If you don't know it yet, here's how it works:   when on Pandora.com, you just type the name of one of your favorite songs or artists and let Pandora work. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of recordings - new and old, well known or not - to find songs with musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates your customed made radio station. For instance, if you enter "Pat James" as your favorite artist, you'll end up with a playlist made up of Pat' songs, George Jones', Moe Bandy', George Strait', Randy Travis' and others. You can even refine your taste as it goes and create up to a hundred different stations. Since its debut, in November 2005, more than three million people have signed up. It's completely free but only available within the United States.

Two more reviews are posted, check them out ! And don't forget to check the "radios" page, as there are many out there that are well worth listening to !


New Song !

Hurray for Pat's MySpace friends ! They reached the number of 4000 yesterday and it keeps on growing. Since the beginning of August, Pat' songs on MySpace have been played more than 12,000 times by his friends who are also writing tons of great comments to show their appreciation. Probably one of the most compelling was written by Bridgette, a 17 year old girl from Kentucky : "... Wow ! your music is awesome, my dad and I both actually love it - we never agree on anything -...". Pat's music fills the gap between generations ! Who's going to say that traditional country, especially when Pat sings it, has no appeal to young crowds ?!
If you'd like to check Pat's MySpace site, just click here : MySpace.com/patjamesus

More good news : for those of you who read Pat's latest interview and worried about him quiting writing, don't worry anymore ! Almost at the same time his interview was published, Inspiration knocked at Pat's door. And, as he knows how well to do it, he came up with a great heartfelt new song that he's been singing at the Buffalo Chip for everyone's enjoyment.

The usual follow-up of the TCMRadio Top 20 : from #8 in September, "Bud's Pearl" is #7 in October.

RamRadio, another great internet radio station, dedicated to "real" country music, started playing "City Lights" last week. Listeners voted, and "City Lights" came up #6 in the radio Top 30 of the week. To be noted : Pat appears in a very good company in the RamRadio's playlist. His song is played just after Gary Allan's and right before Alan Jackson's and Merle Haggard's... Could be worse !


Top Trax Chart !

Just a quick update on Pat's position on the charts : for his 9th month of presence on the Top 100 Trax Chart, Pat has moved up from #29 in June to #11 in July !
The Top 100 Trax Chart is America's only "Real Country" Music Airplay Chart compiled from play lists submitted exclusively by radio stations in the United States.

And as a follow-up of July's tcmradio Top 20, "Bud's Pearl" moved up from #19 in July to #15 in August.

As a last word : "a big welcome" to all of the new Pat James News' subscribers coming from MySpace.com !


TCM Radio & Golfing...

First, take a look at the website. You'll find some new stuff (sorry, no new song for now!) that we hope you'll enjoy. Among other features, there is a new section with Pat's video clips, and a brand new review from Indie-Music.com. It took them six months to write it, but it was worth the wait.

You can take a listen to tcmradio too. This radio is owned by Dusty Owens. He was signed in 1953 to an exclusive writer's contract by Fred Rose of the Accuff-Rose Publishing company in Nashville and had four hits on the charts in the following years. Among them is "Once More", recorded over 100 times by artists such as George Jones and Dolly Parton, and officially placed in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville in 1971.
Now that you know who Mr. Owens is, you'll surely appreciate what he has been saying about Pat on his radio for the past five months. Not only he keeps on saying how great of a song-writer Pat is, but he introduced "Bud's Pearl" on his monthly top 20 in June (as number 20) and is keeping it there in July (as number 19). Further more, he fell in love with "She's Kind", and has been playing it for the past four months. So, listen to tcmradio.com if you feel like having an hour or two of real traditional country!

And last but not least : for those wondering what Pat does when he's not working at his music, look at the picture below and you'll know! Pat's latest passion is golfing. He started to play two years ago and, like any of his past endeavor, he's getting better and better at it everyday. This picture portrays him with the Three Bars Feed and Tack Team at the Fiesta Days Golf Tournament 2006 in Cave Creek, Arizona. They didn't win but they had fun! And if you never saw Pat without his cowboy hat and boots (and jeans), he's the one on the far right of the picture.


Three Bars Feed & Tack, Will B. Dunn, T. Wiltbank & E. Sparrow
High Sonoran Style Magazine


Pay-for-Play

For those of you curious to know how the music industry works, and especially how the Indie Artists ( like Pat ) can or cannot make it and why, the following news - which is a very good one - will be quite enlightening...This give us the opportunity to thank again all of the DJs and radio stations that are playing Pat's music because of its quality, and its quality only.

..." State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced a settlement with UMG Recording Inc., ("Universal") the world's largest record label company, to end its pervasive "pay-for-play" practices. Under terms of the settlement, Universal, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal which owns Island Def Jam, Interscope, Universal Motown Recordings Group, Uni-South, Universal Nashville and Verve, has agreed to stop making payments and providing expensive gifts to radio stations and their employees in return for "airplay" of particular artists' songs.....

... "Consumers have a right not to be misled about the way in which the music they hear on the radio is selected," Spitzer said. "Pay-for-play makes a mockery of claims that only the 'best' or 'most popular' music is broadcast."

... For example, the program director at WBEE (Rochester, NY) asked Uni-South to pay for a $2,500 laptop computer for the station in exchange for the station adding two songs, one by Joe Nichols and the other by McHayes. At Uni-South's request, the station provided a false letter stating that the computer had been sent as part of a promotion, even though the station simply retained the computer for its own use..."

You can read the full article at Music Industry News Network :


Ringtones !

Now you can put Pat's music on your phone ! You can get Pat's ringtones by clicking on the "ringtones" button on the home page of this site. Hope you'll enjoy it ! Unfortunately, ringtones are not carried by Verizon yet, but it should happen within the next month.
Now a quick update on Pat's rank in the music charts : he is still moving up in the Roots Americana/Country Report, from #34 to #30 this week.
He also moved up in the Top Trax Chart, the one tracking only traditional country music as played by US radio stations. He was #77 in February and moved up to #66 in March.
And finally, he just made his entry in the Internet Only chart, which reports the most played country artists over the internet, worldwide. Pat is #207 for the 1st to 15th of April period.
So, still a lot of work to do, but he's getting there !


"All Things Country"

Breaking news : Pat will be featured on Rowena Muldavin's radio show "All Things Country" on ClassicHeartland radio. The show will start airing this Saturday April 8 at 5pm, and will repeat Sunday April 9 at 10pm, Wednesday April 12 at 7pm and Friday April 14 at 5am. This schedule is made out for US Central Time zone.
 
Go to : ClassicHeartland.com  and listen to Pat' show !


Roots Country

A great news confirming the introduction of Pat among the well-established and up-and-coming country artists : the Roots Country Music Chart has ranked "Some like it Country" #48 for the week of February 15. It is the first week for the album and a new entry to this music chart, just before Randy Travis, listed #49 !


First time in the charts !

Pat is in the music charts ! He is - for the first time ever - in the November 2005 Top Trax USA Airplay Chart, the America's only "Real Country" Music Airplay Chart, compiled from playlists submitted exclusively by radio stations in the United States. He is #85 (of a list of 100), the #1 being Merle Haggard, and #86 Buck Owens...


Digital Downloads

The English translation of 2 Swedish CD reviews are now on this website...

Pat's CDs are now available for digital downloads. 15 companies have been delivered so far and more are coming. Here they are : Apple ITunes - MusicNet (AOL, Yahoo, Tower, Virgin) - LiquidDigitalMedia (Wal-Mart) - Sony Connect - QTRNote - MusicNow - Next Radio Solutions - Tradebit - MSN Music - PassAlong - Rhapsody - NetMusic - Puretracks - AudioLunchbox - BuyMusic.
Because it takes to these companies from 2 weeks to 3 months to get the CDs up, you might not find them everywhere yet.  Patience !!


The Best of the Valley !

"The Rep's Best", the Arizona Republic annual guide to the best of the Valley, has just voted Pat James and his band "The 2005 Best Country Band " :
 
..."There are plenty of bands in the Valley that cover the latest country-pop out of Nashville, but precious few toe the traditional line.
Phoenix native Pat James writes and plays music inspired by his hero, the story spinning singer Marty Robbins, as well as Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams and Eddy Arnold.  Pat James and his four piece band, including pedal-steel standout Danny Sneed and fancy fiddler Mike Cirillo, full up the dance floor at Cave Creek's Buffalo Chip saloon with their lively mix of originals and classic covers"...