Roots, Toots n' Hoots Blog

Thanks for the greetings

Jeffrey Remz  |  December 23, 2011

I'm beginning to feel very very popular these days. I mean, Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts, Randy Travis, Kix Brooks, Steve Aar and a few others have seen fit to send me Christmas greetings. It's always great to hear from strangers at the holidays, right?

Fortunately, these folks aren't in need of any last minute, year-end tax-deductible contributions. Nope, they're just looking for some fans or to reassert their connection with their fans.

For those who aren't the recipient of such highly personalized email greetings, the basic outline is that there's a photo of said country artist with highly unique greetings, such as "Happy Holidays from XX XX." In fact, the greetings from Aldean and Brooks look remarkably suspicious in origin - they're the exact same.

Travis includes ways to buy some of his items, such as his holiday CD, or attend one of his upcoming gigs.

Rascal Flatts included a greeting and videos: "Rascal Flatts and everyone at RascalFlatts.com would like to wish you and your family a very happy holiday season! This year was filled with great memories on the road and we would like to thank you for your continued support and love. We wouldn't be anywhere without you! Be sure to check out 4 special videos we created for you during our Holiday break below. Hope to see y'all next year on the Thaw Out 2012 Tour!"

By the way, Taylor girl, how come no greetings from you? I mean, I spread the love about your big time gig at Gillette this summer and was all over "Speak Now." Okay, it seems like everyone else was also. No hard feelings on my end.

I guess these folks aren't all that pluralistic in nature because they're all assuming that I celebrate Xmas. One recommendation for building your fan base - go after folks in other religions who don't celebrate Christmas. Yes, there are Jewish country music fans - even in Israel (that was the subject of a previous column). Probably Muslims. Even atheists (hey, while country and bluegrass clearly have Christian elements, the money is still green).

Anyway, thanks for the greetings to those who remembered me at this time of year. I'm going for the bigger picture here - may all, whether music fans of our ilk or not, have a peaceful holiday season. Enjoy those close to you or sit down with a good CD and listen to those songs and artists that make you feel good. And then get ready to do it all over again next year.