Now Forward Music Signs Brooklyn Indie-Folk Label City Salvage Records to Two-Year Distribution and Marketing Deal

Woodstock, NY, November 20, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Now Forward Music, Inc., a multidimensional music firm in Woodstock, NY, has signed Brooklyn-based indie-folk label City Salvage Records to a two year, development friendly distribution and marketing deal. Paul Curreri, Devon Sproule and label founder Andy Friedman – New Yorker cartoonist at the forefront of the Brooklyn Country movement – are among the artists whom will be marketed through Now Forward Music’s Kindred Rhythm imprint.

Andy Friedman & The Other Failures’ new album, Weary Things will be the centerpiece of the first batch of releases coming out on January 27, 2009. Friedman, whose urban brand of country music earned him a national reputation as the “Hillbilly Leonard Cohen” (Athens News), an "Erudite Redneck" (Boston Globe) and “the King of Art Country” (Minneapolis City Pages), has been promoting and selling “Idaho,” the album’s first single, on tour since September, in which time he has hit dozens of markets across the South and along the East Coast. Conqueroo has been contracted for the project’s publicity, and an Americana radio campaign is also planned.

Friedman has emerged as the most visible figure in the Brooklyn Country movement, with over 80 live performances around the USA each year, including a headlining show at this year’s Brooklyn Country Music Festival at Southpaw in Park Slope. The title track from Freidman’s previous release, ‘Taken Man,’ earned a #30 spot on the New York Post's `2007 Best Songs To Download in 2007’ in the company of major pop acts in all genres. Taken Man, previously available on the road and on-line, will now be re-released to brick-and-mortar retail at mid-price, simultaneously with Weary Things.

Another road-tested gem from the City Salvage catalog will also be released on January 27: The Velvet Rut by Paul Curreri. MOJO gave the album 5 Stars (* * * * *), hailing it as a “Superb fifth album from Virginia’s best kept secret. . . his talent had time to mellow and ripen, but these songs still sparkle like stars on a cold night.” Paul Curreri is a brilliant songwriter, guitarist and vocalist; and he is also a hyper-creative producer, bringing a distinctively modern edge to the otherwise vintage sound palate of many of the label’s releases.

In May, City Salvage/Kindred Rhythm will release the new album by Devon Sproule. Rolling Stone has proclaimed that “Sproule’s vocal and lyrical beauty is unmatched,” and she has recently appeared on the world renowned TV program Later…With Jools Holland. Devon Sproule is an incredibly gifted songwriter, with a roots-y feel, and a unique perspective (she was raised on a commune, for starters). Her most recent City Salvage release, the critically acclaimed Keep Your Silver Shined will also be re-issued this year under the new arrangement.

Led by Grammy-nominated producer, singer-songwriter and president of Now Forward Music, NFM will work with City Salvage to expand their marketing reach and distribution; one key element will be making its catalog and new releases available in stores through Now Forward’s Kindred Rhythm imprint, which is distributed by Koch Entertainment Distribution.

City Salvage and Kindred Rhythm will celebrate the release of Andy Friedman & The Other Failures’ Weary Things – and the reissue of the recent titles by Friedman and Curreri – with a special show at Brooklyn’s Southpaw club on January 27 featuring performances by both artists. Andy Friedman will also perform a handful of East Coast dates through the end of the year, including one with Devon Sproule on December 15 (Union Hall, Brooklyn). In February, Friedman will return to the West Coast, and then return to the Southern states in support of the new album. A SXSW showcase is in the works for mid-March, and Friedman will end up in the Midwest by spring in support of the new album.

City Salvage got its auspicious start with Andy Friedman, an accomplished artist and a regular contributor to The New Yorker and other major publications, putting out a book called ‘Drawings and Other Failures’. When his friend Paul Curreri had finished his first album, the two agreed to put it out on City Salvage and through personal appearances, touring, and promoting, built a real entity out of the City Salvage Records brand. Soon after came Devon Sproule and in 5 years time, an impressive roster and catalog had been built.

For more than a decade Now Forward Music has been marketing jazz, electronic and world music for Dreyfus Records, a prominent indie known for artists such as Jean Michel Jarre, Michel Petrucciani, Ahmad Jamal and Roy Haynes. NFM has orchestrated major campaigns in blues (the comeback of Ike Turner), folk (John McCutcheon, Demolition String Band), and R&B (Mandrill). The company manages Jack DeJohnette's wonderfully eclectic label, Golden Beams; Groovin' High (Roy Hargrove; Roberta Gambarini); and Thelonious Records, among others.

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