artist recruitment became an exercise of sending out emails to artists who resonated with Joey’s dad. He sent out hundreds of emails to established, award-winning, indie artists, telling Joey’s story and his vision for Joey’s Song. Many emails went unanswered; however, within weeks, dozens of artists answered and a portion of those responses formed the artist list for the first few volumes of Joey’s Song. While the artists on our CDs may not be artists that are heard on the radio every day, they represent a group of artists who are deeply respected by other musicians. Today when we approach an artist to ask them to donate a track, they invariably scan down the list of artists who have already donated and say, “Oh my gosh, you have Gurf Morlix (insert Steve Forbert, Rosanne Cash, Steve Wynn, Jon Dee Graham, Mark Olson or any number of other artists), I love Gurf.” Over the first four years we have worked really hard to build relationships with the artists, management teams and record labels. Joey’s Song has become a trusted member of the music industry and these relationships are now leading to artists and managers introducing us to other musicians who will one day donate a track and allow us to continue to produce Joey’s Song CDs. The clearing process is an interesting and sometimes frustrating endeavor. In order to get the legal rights to use a song, we need to get agreement from not only the artist but also the songwriter(s), management, label and publisher(s). The good news is that every single song on the Joey’s Song series has been given to us on a gratis basis up to this point. The bad news is that we also have a number of tracks that artists have agreed to donate, but that one of the other entities have not approved, leaving us with some songs we are not legally able to use. Over time we have gotten better at working with the artist up front to choose songs that have the best chance of making it through the

clearing process. tDB: What can you tell us about your new release “Joey’s Song: Country” and the artists on the CD? KB: We are very excited about the latest installation in the Joey’s Song Series, Joey’s Song: Country. It represents our continued commitment to recruit the highest quality artists, and also is our first CD with artists that the casual radio listener will recognize. Combined, Montgomery Gentry, Aaron Tippin, Kevin Sharp, Blackhawk and the other artists on this CD boast numerous #1’s, more than sixty Top 40 hits, and dozens of CMA/ACM nominations/ awards. Joey’s Song: Country will also introduce music fans to some up and coming country artists like Maddy Rodriguez (winner of the International Acoustic Music Awards and the UK Songwriting Competition 2012, Country Category), Bryan Edwards (co-writer, “If She Could See Me Now” from Jason Aldean’s CMA of the Year album

“My Kinda Party”), McKenna Faith (CMA Music Festival and Blake Shelton Cruise performer) and more! This also marks the first time an artist has been so moved by our cause that they have written and recorded a song specifically for Joey’s Song! The Montgomery Gentry song, “Summer Is Here”, was co-written by Troy Gentry and Eddie Kilgallon and the entire band had a hand in its’ recording. It is a fun, upbeat, song celebrating the arrival of summer, and will be a real treat for all the Montgomery Gentry fans out there. tDB: Joey’s Song has been very successful recruiting artists. What about Joey’s Song has made that possible? KB: We believe we are unique from other charities that use music to raise awareness and money for a cause for a number of reasons. Most charity CDs are comprised of artists and songs that have been previously released and that people are already familiar with or are tribute, cover, CDs. Joey’s Song CDs