I got the following email (name removed)

Hello,

I am curious as to whether or not you would be interested in doing a review or adding my new album to your playlist.  You can access my music through the following sites and I would be more than happy to send you a copy of the cd.

www.cdbaby.com/nameofartist

www.myspace.com/nameofartist

www.nameofartist.com

Look forward to hearing from you.

Seems very straightforward and polite, right?  Polite, yes.  Effective, no.  I will not visit this artist’s cdbaby site.  I will not visit this artist’s myspace page and I will not go to this artist’s website.  Am I some kind of monster?  I think not.

The first rule for getting airplay on folk radio is to follow the submission guidelines of each station (see article above).  My submission guidelines can be found here and here.  On both of those pages, I have this text:

Don’t send me an email invitation to visit your website and listen to your music.  I barely have enough time to preview the physical disks I receive as well as the other audio files I’ve been asked to download.  If you send me a direct link to files to download, then I can download them and listen at my convenience.  Honestly, I will forget to visit your website, but I will click on a link to download an mp3 directly.

Bottom line – I don’t have time to visit the myspace or cdbaby website of everyone who asks, especially if you ask in such a way that gives me no compelling reason to do so.    I have a limited time to spend previewing music, and I state upfront that I owe that time to people who send me disks and who follow my instructions.  For more information on what artists do wrong (and, conversely, what you can do right), please see the article linked above, and if you’re seriously interested in airplay on Festival Radio, please follow my instructions.  I have plenty of music to play – I can always throw on another Woody Guthrie tune.

That’s right, b’gosh and b’gorrah, the annual salute to All Things Celtic is now playing through shortly after St. Patrick’s Day.  You’ll hear a wide variety of  freeform Celtic music from AfroCelt Sound System to Zoe Mulford, from Enya to Enter the Haggis, including the following:

• Traditional jigs and reels
• Celtic rock
• Progressive
• TechnoCeltic
• And much, much more.

#.  Artist – Track – Album

1. Strawbs – Lay Down - A History of Progressive Folk
2. Moody Bluegrass – Ride My See Saw – Moody Bluegrass
3. Jessie Murphy In The Woods – In The Woods - Eight Belles
4. Sharon Shannon – The wild west wagon train – Saints & Scoundrels
5. The Roe Family Singers – My Poor Son - The Earth and All that Is In It
6. The Handsome Family – After We Shot the Grizzly – Last Days of Wonder
7. Michael Martin Murphy – Wildfire - Buckaroo Blue Grass II
8. Chuck Brodsky – The Come Heres & The Been Heres – Two Sets
9. Brad Colerick – Leave It All Behind - When I’m Gone
10. Alyse Black – Blood and Wine – Hold Onto This
11. Jed Marum – Broom of the Cowdenknowes – Lonestar Banjo
12. The Kennedys – Life Is Large – Positively Live!
13. Wild Carrot and the Roots Band – Blue Bottle Tree – Crowd Around the Mic
14. Switchback – The Mayfly Dance – Ghosts Of The River Folk
15. Rachel Harrington – Shoeless Joe – The Bootlegger’s Daughter
16. Feufollet – Je M’en Vas Dans Le Chemin – Cow Island Hop
17. Elizabeth Nicholson & Stringed Migration – Lord Thomas – Fly Not Yet
18. The Cottars – Fare Thee Well, Northumberland & the Purple Wave – Feast
19. Cat Stevens – Morning Has Broken (1971) – The Very Best Of Cat Stevens
20. Trillium – Jenny Lind Polka/Swedish Polka – Crossing the Stream
21. Pete Seeger – Peat Bog Soldiers - Live In ‘65
22. Jer Coons – I Want You Back (Jackson 5 cover) – Bonus Track
23. Jakob’s Hollow – Skylah’s Lullaby – The Legend of Bobby the Kid
24. Catherine MacLellan – Take a Break – Water in the Ground
25. We’re About 9 – Maryland, 1987 – Paperdust :: Stardust
26. Trillium – Schule Agra (Johnny’s Gone For a Soldier) – Crossing the Stream
27. Rachel Kilgour – Cheap Grace – 2008-2009 Music to Life Finalists
28. Marie Knight – A Little More Faith – Let Us Get Together: A Tribute to Reverend Gary Davis
29. Bill Miller – Eagle Must Fly Free - Raven in The Snow
30. Marc Cohn – Silver Thunderbird – The Very Best Of Marc Cohn
31. Laurie Lewis – Tell Me True – Blossoms
32. The Kennedys – Gypsy Rose – Songs of the Open Road
33. Jake Shimabukuro – While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Best of Woodsongs Volume Three
34. Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band – Eyes On The Prize – Live In Dublin
35. The Blind Boys Of Alabama – People Get Ready – Higher Ground
36. The Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues – The Best of The Waterboys 81-90
37. The Duhks – Du Temps Que J’Etais Jeune – The Duhks
38. Switchback – Stellar Jay’s Wing – Ghosts Of The River Folk
39. Silly Sisters (Maddy Prior and June Tabor) – Rosie Anderson – No More to the Dance
40. Loreena McKennitt – Full Circle - From Istanbul To Athens
41. Janis Ian – Baby, I’ve Been Thinking – Classic Protest Songs from Smithsonian Folkways
42. Flook – On One Beautifull Day – Haven
43. Eilen Jewell – I’m Gonna Dress In Black – Sea Of Tears
44. The Byrds – He Was A Friend Of Mine (Previously Unissued Live Version – Mono) – There Is A Season
45. Anais Mitchell – Before the Eyes of Storytelling Girls – Hymns for the Exiled

Artist – Track – Album

1. Nanci Griffith – You Were On My Mind – Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back To Bountiful)
2. Trillium – Schule Agra (Johnny’s Gone For a Soldier) – Crossing the Stream
3. Peggy Seeger – Gonna Be An Engineer – Three Score and Ten
4. Trillium – Jenny Lind Polka/Swedish Polka – Crossing the Stream
5. The Mad Maggies – Luna Marie – Crazed and Enthused
6. Leo Kottke – Morning Is The Long Way Home – One Guitar, No Vocals
7. The Greencards – Lonesome Side Of Town – Viridian
8. Steve Martin – Calico Train – The Crow – New Songs For The Five String Banjo
9. Richard Shindell – State of the Union – Not Far Now
10. We’re About 9 – Maryland, 1987 – Paperdust :: Stardust
11. Mustard’s Retreat – Hard Times Come Again No More – Back to Back
12. Susan Werner – Misery and Happiness – New Non-fiction
13. Suzie Brown – Over & Done – Side Streets
14. Sonia and Disappear Fear – Tango – Tango
15. Kate Campbell – Trains Don’t Run From Nashville – Songs from the Levee
16. Toni Price – #1 – Sol Power
17. Susan McKeown and Lorin Sklamberg – Enniscorthy Fair – Saints and Tzadiks
18. Kathleen Edwards – Copied Keys – Back To Me
19. Rosanne Cash – Tennessee Flat Top Box – Hits 1979-1989
20. Brad Colerick – Leave It All Behind – When I’m Gone
21. Sloan Wainwright – Every Grain Of Sand – Rediscovery
22. Mick McAuley and Winifred Horan – The Cafe Milou Jigs – Serenade
23. Josh Ritter – You Don’t Make it Easy Babe – Hello Starling
24. Johnsmith – The Times They are A-Changin – Gravity of Grace
25. Ben Bedford – The Cherry Mine – Land of the Shadows
26. Jessica Fichot – Le Grenier – Accordion Babes 2010
27. 10,000 Maniacs – Stockton Gala Days – Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure & Unknown Recordings (Disc 1 – The Most Popular Recordings)
28. Kim and Reggie Harris – Done Wit’ Driver’s Dribbin’ – Get on Board: Underground Railroad and Civil Rights Freedom Songs Volume 2
29. Julie Miller – All my Tears – Broken Things
30. Jake Shimabukuro – While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Best of Woodsongs Volume Three
31. Silly Sisters (Maddy Prior and June Tabor) – Rosie Anderson – No More to the Dance
32. Bob Dylan – Most Of The Time (alternate version, Oh Mercy) – Tell Tale Signs
33. Alison Krauss & Union Station – The Lucky One – Live
34. Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band – Eyes On The Prize – Live In Dublin
35. Battlefield Band – Three Brothers – Zama Zama …try your luck…

Keep listening and rating the songs, crimestoppers.  If you use the Live365 player, use the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons to make your votes.  Songs people like really do stay in the playlist for longer, so your vote counts.  Vote early and often.

1. Because my playlist is, indeed, a thing of awesome beauty and wonder and it should be shared with the world.
2. Because I want the artists I play (and their labels, and their publicists, and their fans, etc.) to know that I’m playing them.