Dear ND Friends,
Music City Roots: Live From The Loveless Cafe has been on the air now for four years, and it has been an incredible adventure and privilege to curate a nationally-recognized showcase for artists of integrity and mastery who are working in or passing through today’s Nashville. We’ve heard folks we admire say we’re doing a good job and that Roots is an asset to Music City and to the new independent music business. Jerry Douglas (our hero) said we’re tapping the spirit of the early days of the Grand Ole Opry. Mayor Karl Dean has called Roots a must see show for tourists visiting Nashville. Our friend John Oates said he comes “with full faith that whomever is performing will be amazing.” That validates our mission, so we deeply appreciate it. We also deeply appreciate you, those who’ve been with us from the start and those who’ve joined the bandwagon.
Now, for the first time, we are turning to you, our friends and believers, for contributions to our operating overhead. We’ve definitely learned how much it costs to do this show the way we think it ought to be done, cutting no corners, including the multi-camera, professionally directed webcast, Tony Scarlati’s gorgeous photography (evidence above), quality audio and hospitality for our artists and their teams. We give all of our content away, through local live radio, webcast, syndicated radio, YouTube and the 24/7 streaming RootsRadio.com. The ten dollar ticket at the door for a live Loveless show goes to the artists that night, as it should. Our wonderful sponsors cover about 80% of our production costs. We are confident that our community can easily make up the rest and put us on solid ground for the long term.
Speaking of tickets, our fund raiser is called the Buy A Ticket Campaign. We’re calling on you to buy at least a ten dollar virtual “ticket” at our website as your contribution to keeping MCR on the air and free. We’d appreciate it if you could offer more, and it will be clear how to do that when you visit our Donate page. If everyone who enjoys Roots on the web, the radio or TV contributes just that small amount each year, we’d be able to fully cover our costs and expand our mission.
Go here to donate $10 or more: http://www.musiccityroots.com/donate
Thank you sincerely and Happy Holidays,
Craig Havighurst and the Music City Roots team.
(Jim Lauderdale, MCR host, and the McCrary Sisters, on Music City Roots. Photo by Scarlati.)
