BlogRodeo Recap – January 2013 – Country Music News Blog

Well, it came and went; the inaugural BlogRodeo country music collaboration event. The posts were great, the turnout was astounding and the twitter chat was a chart-topping success! No, really… we topped the Twitter Trending list for over an hour with the #BlogRodeo hashtag, which is no small accomplishment for ANYONE.

I personally would like to thank each and every blogger, fan and artist SO MUCH for your participation! It’s easy to forget that while we work and play in our own little corners of the internet, we are still part of one very large and supportive family. I cannot WAIT to see what we accomplish in February’s BlogRodeo event.

Now on to the nitty gritty! At the beginning of the year we reached out to fellow bloggers and asked one simple question: What are we most excited for in 2013? The answers we got back in the form of posts on each participants’ blog were as varied as the blogs themselves, so after sharing our posts, we took to Twitter to get a little more in depth on our predictions. (Note: With so many people chiming in, it’s difficult to cover everything, so for the full list of BlogRodeo tweets and stats check out #BlogRodeo on Twitter.)

With over 200 unique participants posting over 1,200 tweets, and reaching almost 1.5 MILLION followers, here’s what Country Music Bloggers see happening in 2013:

TopTrending — #BlogRodeo Takes Over Twitter

New artists to watch out for this year:
Pistol Annies – While they’re not exactly new, they’re certainly establishing themselves as a full act on their own rather than a side project of the participating artists.
Connor Christian – Nobody in today’s chat could deny the presence of the Connor Christian fanbase! Bloggers and country fans alike just kept slippin his name off their tongue (or tweets) like so much honey in a cloverfield.
Backroad Anthem – This Ozark country favorite jumped in and participated in the BlogRodeo, did a few interviews with some of our fellow bloggers and ourselves, AND pulled off a handful of killer shows all in the last few days. Dedication and participation like that is what it’s going to take to get to the bigtime and we think these guys’ve got it!
A few honorable mentions go out to Rose Falcon , Kacey Musgraves, Katie Armiger, Whitney Duncan, Thomas Rhett and Tyler Farr. It seems quite a few of these have been on the cusp of mainstream success for a while, but they’re all poised to make some big noise this year.

Hottest Headliners:
Kelli Pickler – Now it’s been a bit since we’ve heard anything REAL big out of little Miss Pickler, but we’re all waiting with baited breath. She’s got the talent, and the strong and loyal fanbase so we can only guess that she’s being really careful about her next move.

Randy Houser – CMNBlog calls Randy Houser’s new album “the bomb”, while UrbanCountryNews says the new project’s one to get, with the song “Like A Cowboy” being their favorite because of the great lyrics and CMTT Hopes it gets him the attention he deserves

Gary Allan – OfficialUKCM Threw Gary Allan’s new release “Set You Free” into the conversation, stating “Its such a brilliant album – just got hooked from listening to first track!” while UrbanCountryNews says “The whole Gary Allan record is fantastic. Early contender for my year-end favorites list!”

Of course much fuss was made over Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Little Big Town, and David Nail, but we’ve been sure of their star power for a while now.

Biggest Festivals:

The frontrunners for most anticipated festivals of the year start with the brand new Thunder On The Mountain which is hosted in the hills of the Ozark mountains here in Arkansas this coming June. We’re also excited to see how successful the Country2Country festival is at expanding Nashville’s reach across the pond.

Sidenotes:

Other points that came up during the chat included the urge to keep the Americana influence right up on the surface of our new music, and the bad taste Blake Shelton’s recent comments on this topic left in our mouths. We also touched base on the idea that a series of Crossroads tours wouldn’t be a bad idea as long as we leave Jessica Simpson, Kid Rock & Gwyneth Paltrow are never considered for a spot. The pairings would have to make sense.

Once again, thank you to everybody who participated in the posting event and #BlogRodeo Twitter Chat! Individually we are all unique and impassioned fans with a small say in supporting our favorite artists. Together WE are the middle ground where fans & artists meet. Stay true to both & the marketing gimmicks go by the wayside. Stay tuned for details on the next event. For the full list of BlogRodeo tweets and stats check out #BlogRodeo on Twitter.

Cheers!
~WC~