Rocketown Records was always marketing itself as a family.  The marketing line when I signed, in fact, was “Feels like family.” The guys who came up with and spread that line didn’t like it much when Chris Rice once quipped jokingly after being given an order of some kind “Feels like a record label.”

Truth is it did feel like a record label.  We weren’t born into it; we signed contracts.  We gave over more than 90% of our CD price to Rocketown Records and its partners in business.  My mom’s never asked for that kind of change.

But it’s also true that at a larger label I doubt I could walk into the head of marketing’s office and say, “I’ve got an idea” and be taken seriously.  Nor could I call the president on his cell phone to ask a quick question.  Nor would he likely visit my wife and I in the hospital when having a kid.

Most of the time Rocketown felt like friends pretending to be family and feeling weird and strangely guilty about being a record label.  Seeing Ginny this past weekend in Ireland made me miss that whole time in my life and everyone who was a part of it. 

Ginny calls me “Puffy” and I call her Gowens – pronounced “Joe-ins.” Neither of us remember where these names came from.  It’s just the kind of weird thing family does to one another. Maybe those marketing guys were right after all.  Sorry, Chris.

Here are some pics from our show together in Belfast taken by Irish blogger Connor.

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Thanks for the pics, Connor and the good laughs, Ginny.