The Smart Choice for Country Music fans … a free CD

Northumberland, England - April 2007 - Smart Choice Music is a UK company making an impact on the country music scene by supporting and developing new talent from the USA, and revitalising interest in traditional country music in Europe. SCM have just released a CD which features legendary vocalists George Jones and Merle Haggard … and the good news for country fans is that anyone can pick up a copy of the album for free!

Smart Choice Music marked the second anniversary of the opening of their specialist Mail Order music store with the release of a 16 track sampler CD packed full of music from up-and-coming international Country and Americana artists, with a few familiar names added in for good measure.

SCM is committed to supporting and developing country music to help breathe new life into a genre that has had its fair share of critics in recent years. Their plan is simple; to encourage the record-buying public to take a chance on buying a CD by new artists they may only have heard briefly on the radio or read about in a review.

Smart Choice Music provide free press advertising for artists without major record label support, and they produce their own sampler albums without asking for any financial contribution from the artists, something which is almost unheard of in the music industry.

Their new CD features the country giants Jones and Haggard, together with BBC Radio 2 favourite Gretchen Peters, and the evergreen Texas troubadour Eric Taylor. New, young artists such as Elizabeth Cook and Sunny Sweeney who are reviving traditional country are featured, as are alt.Country rockers Loomer and Gina Villalobos, who are building a solid following in the UK.

Copies of Smart Choice Music Sampler No.2 are included free on the cover of the May edition of the UK’s leading Americana magazine, Maverick, but if anyone wants to get in touch with the friendly staff at SCM they will happily send out a copy to anyone who asks!

Smart Choice Music include all the mainstream and traditional acts in their catalogue, allowing country fans to get hold of imported CDs by their favourite artists … but everyone buying a CD gets a copy of the sampler album included with their order, bringing new music to their attention.

Smart Choice Music was launched at the 2005 Americana Music Association convention in Nashville Tennessee. SCM opened the store specifically to provide a UK outlet for independent musicians, giving them equal promotion opportunities alongside more established label-supported artists. SCM have an in-house web and print design facility, and they have in the past booked, managed and promoted UK tours by American artists. Smart Choice Music Sampler No.1 was released in June 2006, and the free giveaway ‘sold out’ within a few months.