Most of my influences were traditonal country artists, Faron Young, Marty Robbins, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, George Strait and Kenny Rogers. Others were Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, The Everly Brothers, Johnny Rivers, and Chuck Berry
I am a singer songwriter currently residing in Music City, USA. I worked as an entertainer most of my life, and now I am pursuing a career in songwriting, something I have worked at, and studied for most of my life.
I classify my style as mostly country, a little easy listening, and a little old rock and roll.
In August of 2007, I set up a computer recording studio, and purchased a Boss Br-1600 to produce my own demo's and songs on. On the newer songs I play almost all the instruments except the drums. I have learned to play a little lead quitar, a little bass, and even less keyboard, it isn't great stuff , but I find I am adequate enough to finally insure the listener hears the song the way I meant for it to sound.
A reviewer of my first album once said " It's kind of strange, his style of music is timeless. The songs he writes are songs you could have heard 20 years ago, or you could hear played on the radio today, and they are the kind of songs you could hear 20 years from now." Not only did I consider it quite a compliment, but I too think it's the best way to describe my material.
All these sites contain different songs I have written and recorded and I hope you will stop by and say hello. Leave a comment and let me know you were there. You will also find many other Independant artists there as well for your listening enjoyment.
Recent Major News
from: Billy Darnell Music
Date: 09/31/09
Subject:Announcement of a revamped web site and Promotion strategy ( www.billydarnell.com )
Billy Darnell Music would like to make all Country Music Fans, Radio Stations, and Dj's aware of our revamped web site, along with what we feel will be a new innovative, improved marketing, and promotional concept.
For the past two years we have promoted Billy's music using a more traditional Strategy, and though we made some major progress, we believe it is time for a new promotional concept. We believe this new concept will help us to grow the fan base much quicker, and at the same time, it alleviates a lot of issues we have had to struggle with in the past.
We have redone the Home page to focus more directly on the singer/songwriter than country music in general. The old appearance was clouded with distractions, that though they were relative, they really took away from the focus of the site. There were numerous pages that made the site look complicated, and quite large.
We have updated the Bio page to better reflect current accomplishments.
On the old site there were 14 different pages, we have deleted some of those pages, and added two others. We have reduced the number of pages to just 9. There will now be a page dedicated to personal appearances, and one that contains licensing information for any artist that might consider recording one of Billys songs.
The most recognizable change is to the Albums page. It is this page that best reflects the major shift in our marketing, and promotion strategy. In the past we have offered Billy's CD's and songs, through several different venues, at the average industry price. After much thought and consideration we believe the new concept will help us to build a fan base much quicker, and allow Radio Stations, and DJ's, unlimited access to Billys Music, thus increasing exposure to the world wide audience.
Under the new concept, Country Music Fans, Radio Stations, and Dj's will be able to download Cd's, ( Complete with the original art work for replicating the packaging.) or individual songs, from a download link, "FREE" of charge. Anyone can now listen completely to the music without risk. Nothing ventured, nothing lost. We refer to this concept as new, it is new to us, though several other artists, and bands, have implemented this strategy and had great success with it.
Instead of a purchase price, though it is not required to download the music, we are asking those people who like the music for donations to keep the music coming. If you downloaded the CD and only liked 2 or 3 songs on it, and you enjoy them enough to keep them, and listen to them, make a donation that reflects that. If you don't care for the Cd at all, that's ok too.
Using this system allows the listener to keep only the music they enjoyed, and donate an amount that they think is fair in return. No donation is too small, or required.
In the past Radio Stations, and DJ's, had to wait on the next comp from our distributor, or the next email containing the newest release. Under the new concept they will no longer have to wait. Another problem with the email system is many times their mail boxes are already full so they never received the song, we wont be adding to that burden in the future. Another issue that complicated distributing music to some Radio Stations, and Dj's, was the fact that in some countries they are required under "Anti Piracy" laws, to have a hard copy of the CD on site if they play the music from it. They now will be able to download the original art work and create a hard copy to keep on file.
The most innovative concept is that we also have put in place a way for record shops world wide to offer the Cd's for resale. It is based on a shared expense, shared profits strategy. We paid the expense of producing the music and the art work for the cover, they can now download that, and reproduce unlimited quantities for sale. Their expense would be the cost of reproducing the packaging. In turn we would place a minimum suggested retail of $10 on the CD, and split the retail 50/50, and they would only be required to pay for the product they actually sell. The retailer would be required to submit pertinent data for follow up and in return he would receive a written license to distribute agreement from Billy Darnell Music. A more detailed description is available on the albums page at the site.
One of the major stumbling blocks for many independent Artists is how to achieve world wide distribution of their CD's. We realize this concept probably wont work for a Wal-Mart, or a Sam Goodie's type of operation, but their are hundreds, if not thousands, of small retailers out there that might embrace this concept, in an attempt to increase their product line, have a unique offer, and increase their profits. It's those people we hope to entice with this offer. It will be totally based upon the "Honor" system, and that could be a problem, however, we feel that most business people that struggle, as we do, to make an honest dollar will be just that, honest.
Thank you for your time, and please feel free to post this announcement on your boards, or forward it to anyone you may feel has a need to know. We appreciate any assistance you can give us to help get the word out about this unique effort. Any way you could assist us with that would be deeply appreciated.
We appreciate all your support in helping us to get the word out.
Billy Darnell Music
FREE DOWNLOADS OF BILLY'S MUSIC ARE AVAILABLE HERE:
Hi my friend, I want to thank you for the birthday wish, so sweet of you to take the time out to send me. All is great here in my part of the world, and I hope it is with you there in Tenn. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Billy with your family and friends. God bless you, Sweet~Doll
Stopping by to wish you a fantastic week!!! Hope all is going great with you!!! Check my schedule to see if I am coming to your town on the 2nd leg of my radio tour!!! Check out my newest single Whipping Post on Texas radio NOW!!! I also hope to see you out at Rowdy Bucks in Crosby Texas Saturday November 28th 2009 9:30 The show will also be streamed live from www.susanhickman.com Check it out if you cant make it!!! Hope to see you there!!! Love, ~Susan Hickman www.susanhickman.com www.reverbnation.com/susanhickman www.twitter.com/susanhickman
BILLY,
I JUST WANTED TO STOP BY AND SAY HELLO AND LET YOU KNOW I AM
THINKING OF YOU MY SWEET FRIEND. I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT FRIDAY AND A
WONDERFUL LONG HOLIDAY WEEKEND. I HOPE YOUR LABOR DAY WEEKEND GOES
WELL FOR YOU AND YOU HAVE A GREAT TIME. REST, RELAX, HAVE FUN AND
JUST SIMPLY ENJOY YOURSELF. I HOPE YOU GET TO SPEND LOTS OF TIME WITH
YOUR FAMILY, LOVED ONES AND FRIENDS !!! BEST WISHES TO YOU. I HOPE
THE WEATHER COOPERATES FOR YOU SO YOU CAN FULLY ENJOY THE LONG
WEEKEND. TAKE CARE, BE SAFE BUT MOST OF ALL HAVE LOTS OF FUN
CELEBRATING !!!
LOVE & HUGGSSS.....BONNIE
Online Now!
