Find Out Who Your Friends Are

I've been meaning to write about this for weeks now, and it's old news, but it was SO exciting when Tracy Lawrence got a #1 song with "Find Out Who Your Friends Are." If you missed the controversy - and I'm not sure how much of it got out to the public, and how much just played out on Music Row, but there is a version of the song, which we occasionally play on XM, that includes Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw. I personally LOVE that version of the song.

The single that was released to radio was Tracy's solo version, but when the full album came out and programmers got their hands on the bonus track, a lot of places did what we did and started spinning it.

Now... things move slow on the music charts, and REALLY slow when you're on an indie label. That song was on the chart for MONTHS. Finally - it made it to the top 5, actually leaping over Brad Paisley on it's way to #1. And that, my friends, is when the $^!# hit the fan.

I'm sure you can google and get the full text, but SonyBMG, the biggest baddest record label conglomarate in Nashville, sent a cease & decist letter from their lawyer to radio programmers telling them to STOP playing the version that included their artist, Kenny Chesney.

Now let me tell ya... there ain't nothing stopping a PD from playing Kenny Chesney singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in heavy rotation if it's on a CD that is commercially available.... Even in the crazy world of satellite radio, where DMCA regulations tell us how many songs how often by any given artist, we can play a bonus track off any album that has a barcode. The big bad record label was not only wrong -- they looked like the bad guys for picking on Mr. Independent Record Label.

Tracy's publicst is a long time friend of mine, and she told me that programmers were so outraged that her phone was ringing off the hook and the radio stations increased spins. Some places played the song several times back to back, or at the top of each hour. The next day, Sony BMG sent an apology - but it was too late... the spin increase pushed the song to #1. Tracy Lawrence definitely found out who his friends were.

At any rate... I've been reminded of this experience over the past few weeks as we've gone through the roller coaster ride of selling our home. I have awesome friends. People here in Nashville, like Dianne, who is everything from my cleaning lady to Delaynie's second mom, and Mark, who gave me invaluable mortgage help, and Jennie and my entire Sunday School class who has kept praying that this house sells.

And then there are all of you, across the country. Some of you I only see once a year, like Pammy or Paula, and some of you are here often enough that YOU NEED TO MOVE HERE *cough*cough*youknowwhoyouare*cough* but you're all very dear to my heart. I love you for listening to my panicky emails, for reading my therapy sessions disguised as blogs, and for the sweet emails or IM's or comments you leave here. Y'all are the best!

Ok, I'll try to contain my sappy-ness, but I have to give you Example #797 of why you guys are awesome:

My dad brought back a school project from Australia that was for a young girl who was the daughter of one of his customers there. She's about Delaynie's age, and totally stole dad's heart. The basic idea was that the kids traced an outline of themselves and decorated it, and then sent them around the world. As the flat versions of themselves travel, they send back postcards and momentos to the class so they can learn about the places they're traveling. So Flat Emily came back with dad, eventually making her way to Nashville, and then to Florida, (she went to Disney World!) and then to Boston... where Paula introduced her to another friend.

Really... I don't know what I'd do without y'all, on crazy hectic rotten days like today, you still find ways to make me smile!!!

Thanks for asking about Delaynie, it was a rough day and evening but she's sleeping now. They wound up doing a bunch more work than we were expecting while they had her sedated. My mouth is better tonight (had them fix something today while I was waiting on her and it helped) and I haven't touched the liquor cabinet at all. (although I really need to pack it!) Our closing scheduled for 9am tomorrow got postponed (not really a shock after everything else these buyers have put us through) but I'm hopeful it WILL get done in the next 48 hours.

Sleep well friends!