HillBilly Brand’s Weblog

We are almost there, this week we shipped out orders to 3 stores in Nashville and 25 Tractor Supply Company stores scattered throughout the country. The complete list of retailers that will be carrying our products can be found here. Product should be hitting the shelves about the middle of next week.

Wish us luck!

Hey Y’all! I finally got them all up. I don’t have captions on all of them yet, but you can see them at www.hillbillybrand.com, scroll down to the bottom and click the Photo Gallery Button! Let me know what you think. For those of you who like to visit us on MySpace, I have them up there too, go to www.myspace.com/hillbillyhotties and click on our picture, that will take you to our photo albums. If you have pictures of you or someone you know wearing HillBilly gear or with a HillBilly Hottie, please send them to use at customerservice@hillbillybrand.com. We’ll make sure they get posted.

- The Colonel

Wow!!! What a week last week. Despite having our Kick-Off party bumbed by ABC Television shooting a video (which we were at) and the CMA shutting down out autograph table. We still had an unbelievable week. We met lots of great artists, saw some of our old friends, and made some new ones.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and rushed to get everything ready for opening on Thursday. Wednesday afternoon we met with Royalty Records from Canada and met one of their artists who we have been promoting, Craig Moritz. Wednesday night we went to the ABC video taping and then we hung out with our good friend Shy Blakeman at Losers in Nashville. There we ran into the Muzik Mafia’s Shannon Lawson.

We got down to Riverfront Park first thing Thusday morning. We had a huge line up of artists for signing autographs and we were ready for them. First up was our friends we met last December in Vegas, Toby Keith’s newly signed band, Trailer Choir. We love these guys and so will you. Not only are they one of the coolest bands out there, they really love their fans. Nikki Lee came by to sign autographs before her performance at Fuel. Our local country star, Amber Leigh was up next and she brought most of her band with her. We’ll have pictures with the Amber Leigh Band Gnome up here pretty soon. I went over to Fuel to catch Nikki’s performance and met singer/songwriter Corinne Chapman. Corinne is both beautiful and talented. She’s an excellent songwriter and an incredible singer. Corinne is now officially a HillBilly Hottie. Artists signings continued with Kristen Clark, Jorrin Tyler, Shelby Horner, and Cutter Lee. Then the CMA shut us down. We had to send Ridge Runner, Indian Rodeo, Ray Scott and Mark Chesnutt home. Mark Chesnutt was very cool about it and next year when we get out autograph table approved, we’ll have Mark back out. I spent the rest of the day cancelling the artists I had booked.

Thursday night was a whirlwind tour of downtown. I met Jewel Hanson, the writer of Trailer Choir’s new single, “Off the HillBilly Hook”, which is available on iTunes now.

To be continued…

We are proud to announce our 2008 CMA Music Festival (Fan Fair) HillBilly Brand Autograph Schedule. We’ve arranged for a fantastic selection of artists to sign autographs in our booth located at Riverfront Park on June 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th. The HillBilly Brand vendor tent is situated directly in front of the Riverfront stage in vendor row. Artists will be available for signing autographs at this location according to the following schedule:

Thursday June 5
 10:30am Nikki Lee
 11:00am Trailer Choir
 12:00am Jorrin Tyler
 12:30am Shawna Lynn
 1:00pm Kristen Clark
 1:30pm Shelby Horner
 2:30pm Cutter Lee
 3:00pm Ridge Runner (Jeff Workman)
 3:30pm Josh Newcom (Indian Rodeo)
 4:00pm Mark Chesnutt
 4:30pm Ray Scott
 
Friday June 6
 10:00am Skyla Spencer
 11:30am Kim McAbee
 12:30am Amber Rhodes
 3:00pm Rick Monroe
 4:30pm Jorrin Tyler

Saturday June 7
 10:00am Rhonda Towns
 10:30am Veronica Ballestrini
 11:00am Diana Leigh Allen
 11:30am Kim McAbee
 12:00am Stephen Cochran
 12:30am Eric Durrance
 1:00pm Holly Bakehorn
 1:30pm Rachel Farley
 2:00pm Billy Childers
 3:00pm Marthia Sides
 4:00pm Jessica Cayne Urick
 5:00pm Muzik Mafia’s SWJ

Sunday June 8
 12:00pm Todd O’Neill
 1:00pm Rachel Williams
 2:30pm Cutter Lee

HillBilly Brand, Inc. is a clothing and apparel production company located in the Greater Fort Lauderdale, Florida area. HillBilly Brand was established in 2005 to develop relevant clothing for the country music lifestyle. For more information about HillBilly Brand products, please visit www.HillBillyBrand.com.
 

Its almost here! Country Music’s biggest event of the year, CMA Music Fest. HillBilly Brand is about to invade Nashville from June 4, 2008 through June 9, 2008. On June 4th starting at 8:30, join us at Fuel on 2nd Avenue for the 2008 HillBilly Brand CMA Music Fest Kick-off Party. The HillBilly Hotties will be there, all of our products will be available and lots of live Music from Nikki Lee, Amber Leigh, Shy Blakeman, and some very special guests that we are not allowed to mention yet. Meet the HillBilly Nation and enjoy the start of what will be an incredible week of fun and entertainment.

On June 5, 6, 7, and 8, please join us in front of the Riverfront stages at our booth. Stop by and get a free HillBilly temporary tattoo. We will have artists signing autographs at our booth all weekend. We’ll have a list and schedule posted very soon.

Haven’t had enough music at the end of the day and aren’t going to LP Field to see the stars? Head out to see HillBilly Music’s artist line up at venues all over Nashville. We’ll get a list with dates and times posted right here in the next couple of days.

Hope to see you there, if you would like more information or would like us to include you on our HillBilly Music Performance Schedule or if you would like to book some time at our booth to sign autographs, please email The Colonel at keith@hillbillybrand.com.

This past Tuesday night was our last M.A.F.I.A. Tuesday at Boston’s on the Beach. For this last event, the Muzik Mafia sent down part of their army and what an incredible experience! The Mafia sent us Jon Nicholson, Shannon Lawson, Damien Horne, Rachel Kice, and SWJ.

We’ve met Damien Horne and Shannon Lawson at previous M.A.F.I.A. Tuesday events, but having them back and having them together was really amazing. Unless you have been to a Muzik Mafia event and have seen more than one of their artists at a time, you do not have a full appreciation for how talented the Mafia members are. Not only are they each incredibly talented individuals, but when they work together they really put on an amazing show. It is almost like they just know what each other is thinking. From SWJ “spittin’ shit” and Damien Horne Freestyling about HillBilly to Jon Nicholson’s unique blend of Blues and Soul and Shannon Lawson’s Southern Soul, you are guarenteed to be amazed and thoroughly entertained. For your visual entertainment, the beautiful Rachel Kice will astonish you with world class style in her paintings.  All told, the last M.A.F.I.A. Tuesday event was by far the most incredible.

After the show we got a chance to hang out on the patio with the Muzik Mafia while they jammed. If you think their live stage performance is cool and you get an appreciation for how talented the artists are, you are in for another surprise in a jam session. Jon Nicholson and Shannon Lawson were workin’ together with Jon playing his guitar while Shannon showed off his amazing voice. When you hear these guys without the benefit of a mixing board or an amplifier you truly realize why they are signed artists and the rest of the world is not. The Mafia needs to change their assertion that Rachel Kice is the only non-musical member of the Muzik Mafia. She took Jon’s guitar and not only is a skilled guitarist, but can also SING. Time to change the web site guys! The biggest surpise that I had is how beautiful SWJ is. I’ve seen many pictures of her and always thought she was cute, but up close and personal, all I can say is WOW (and she looks really cute in the HillBilly cowboy hat too)! I think I have a little crush on her (don’t tell my wife).

We tried to hang with the Mafia as long as we could, but at 4 a.m. we decided we should get home because we all had to work in the morning (we all ended up calling in sick). I am sure they went on much later (or earlier depending on how you look at it) than we did. All told, I can’t wait to see them again. My wife and I won an auction for a trip to Nashville for Mafia Tuesday and it can’t come soon enough.

The last South Florida M.A.F.I.A. Tuesdays event is going to be held at Boston’s on the Beach in Delray Beach, FL. The Muzik Mafia is sending down Jon Nicholson, Shannon Lawson, Damien Horn, SWJ, and Rachel Kice to end the Music series that was started by Mafia member Shy Blakeman this past February. This should prove to a fantastic event.

If you can’t make it to the show, HillBilly Live will be broadcasting live starting at 9:00pm on Tuesday April 29th. You can watch the show at HillBilly Live. HillBilly Live is made possible by Camstreams.com

I had the very distinct pleasure of joining Cowboy Troy for dinner last night. The first thing you notice about Cowboy Troy isn’t that he’s a black man that sings country music or that he’s as big as a professional football player, but it is how comfortable he makes you feel around him. Speaking with Troy is like speaking with a family member. Troy is incredibly forthcoming and open and freely shares his personal life and experiences with those around him. We discussed everything from professional wrestling to life with his 10-month old triplet boys.

Cowboy Troy was our latest special guest at M.A.F.I.A. Tuesdays. Last night had to be our best night yet. Amber Leigh sounded great last night and busted out a new song or two singing one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs, “Our Song”. Shy Blakeman was up next with the Bad Jesus Brown Band and they killed just like they always do. I think Cowboy Troy raised performance bar a bit because everybody put a little extra energy into the show.

Cowboy Troy took the stage about 10:30. I had not had a change to catch Cowboy Troy in a live performance and to be perfectly honest, I was a bit skeptical as to how good CT’s music would be live because I assumed there was a bit of post-production work that goes into his albums. I could not have been more off base if I had tried. Last night, backed by the Bad Jesus Brown Band, Cowboy Troy caused quite a ruckus with his performance. It was incredible!!!! It is really a great performance and even if you are not a fan of his music, he is well worth trying to get out to see. I promise you will not get a typical country music performance and if he doesn’t get you pumped up, you need to see your physician because there is something wrong with you. I can’t wait to see CT again real soon.

If you are a Cowboy Troy fan, check out his Hick Chick line of clothing. If you get a chance to meet CT, make sure you tell him the HillBilly Boys say Hey!

Hey y’all. I want to tell you real quick about our newest promotional endeavor. We are heavily promoting Asthon Shepherd (and her MySpace Page). I am sure you have heard her on the radio and you may have seen the recent Yahoo! News Story about Ashton. The bottom line…She’s HOTTTTT!!!!! Not only is she a HillBilly Hottie, her music is great too.

We were approached a couple weeks ago by her distributor to see if we wanted to get involved with helping to promote her new album. HillBilly Music said Hell Yeah! Click the banner below and you can download some of her music for FREE! Make sure to pick up her new album soon.