Spring has been in-the-air now for a while and Summer fast approaches, I hope that the sun is shining for you and that your "seeds" are growing - along the lines that you would like to see.

Record production includes a number of facets and features, one of which is the actual "pressing" of the vinyl. Our records are all pressed in Nashville by United Record Pressings, who have been in the business for many years. I have had the opportunity to visit their offices on four occasions; sometimes just to say "hi" and - on other occasions - to meet with some of the people who are responsible for making plastic-music!

The situation with vinyl production is quite interesting. A few years ago, many people were worried about what would happen when the few remaining pressing plants - stopped producing. At that time, with the appearance of CDs and other digital formats and with the decision - by most High Street shops - to stop stocking 45 RPM 7 inch vinyl singles (and 33 RPM 12 inch vinyl albums); it seemed that it would just be a short time before Square Dance Records vanished from the shelves!

However, as Cris Ashworth (the C.E.O. of United Record Pressings) explained to me, in recent years the High Street stores have started to offer vinyl versions of new music - in response to public demand. This has meant that Cris has had to, buy more pressing machines, take on more of the process, employ more staff and institute a 24/7 working practice to meet demand. For more information on this subject, you could read the Story Of Vinyl that is shown on the information drop-down menu on the home-page.

THIS MONTH'S NEW MUSIC:
During May we will be releasing five pieces of music; all of which will be new MP3 versions - of tunes from our back catalogue that have been previously released in vinyl. One of the MP3 releases features a tune that has been "unavailable" for many years.

Unfortunately, due to a "backlog" at United Record Pressings our May vinyl releases will now be appearing as part of the June issue. Although United treat us very fairly, we sometimes suffer as a consequence of our relatively small pressing requirement. To be fair, we are very pleased that United are able to accommodate us at all, in view of the recent up-turn in the demand for popular vinyl!

Our releases are the MP3 files of "I Want To be Back Home In Nashville" - although listed on last month's Hanhurst's tape - was omitted due to "technical problems". This tune features Lars-Göran Börgel on the called track and has been "Out-Of-Print" in vinyl for several years. The second tune is the last of our "old library" of tunes - "Hey Baby" with Jack Borgström on the called side. Third is "Yesterday" featuring the calling of Carsten Nielsen. Number four is "Valley Of Love" called by Kenny Reese. The final MP3 release is a double instrumental hoedown/patter tune - "Sooty / Sweep". All of the above tunes have previously only been available in vinyl but as we now have the MP3 licences, we can offer them to you in the MP3 format, along with all of our new music. These can be purchased on-line from our Exclusive Master Stocking Distributor Hanhurst's Tape and Record Service at www.Dosado.com/Sir.htm

FUTURE RELEASES:
As mentioned above there has been a small "hiccup" with production of new vinyl, this month. However, we shall be releasing three new songs in June; these are listed on the Future Releases link and can be purchased from www.Dosado.com/Sir.htm.

We are planning to provide streaming audio samples of the future releases on the Future Releases link. These should soon be available - keep an eye on that page!

To guarantee that you receive your copy of each new release - as soon as it becomes available, check out our Standing Order Offer.

RECENT RELEASES: (Full details on the Latest Releases link)
In the April Best Sellers listing, we have both of our releases, for that month, listed in the top five. This is a terrific performance as there were a total of 15 new vinyl releases on the tape. Our Best Sellers for April were: "Heaven" (SNOW - SNW 902) featuring Wil Stans, from Holland, on the vocal and the double instrumental Hoedown/Patter "Kettle-Of-Fish / Bucket-Of-Worms" (STING - SIR 518). Check out all of our releases on the Latest Releases link. To buy all of our music and to hear the older tunes try the Buy The Music and Listen To The Music links.

Go Squareful! - Paul Bristow (Owner and Producer Sting and Snow Records)