RushMore by Robin Stone

****ARTIST INFORMATION

WHO IS SHE? Skinny, funky, white chocolate! As a native Clevelander, Stone has grown in her grassroots following from grabbing singer/songwriter, to an explosive full band, to record label owner, to producer. She tours the country non-stop. With her first release, My Heart, she made her mark and has her sophomore release, RushMore catching the media. Stone's campaign has made waves across over 1,000 national and international

radio stations, charting along the way. CD's are available in stores and on-line now at www.SheLovesYouRecords.com!

WHAT DOES SHE SOUND LIKE? Wrap your ears around this: She mixes doses of neo-soul, funk and jazz in her acoustic groove of guitar, bass, drums, percussion, and cello with a touch of horns. It's the energy of Dave Matthews delivered with the elegance of Natalie Cole. She will grab you with her intelligent music and her incredibly crisp and unique voice, versatile and true.

WHY DOES SHE MATTER? Because she is putting on a show you'll remember and standing out from the crowd.

WHERE DOES SHE FIT IN? This award winning multi-intrumentalist/ producer/songwriter is paving the way for new artists with memorable, sweeping, rockin', groovin' music. This is a brand new thing for the Pop Rock Genre.

WHAT IS SHE DOING? The She Loves You Records staff worked on a radio campaign for the title track from RushMore entitled "No Fool". It hit over 1,300 national and international radio stations in January, 2004 and spun well. SLY is also working on expanding Stone's tour route by working with several new agencies in booking in new and proper markets. Her Publicist, Mike Farley, has launched a media blitz that has been very successful in getting the new record covered as well as full coverage in each tour stop. Larry Koval, Stone's Distributor, is expanding the stores that carry Stone's records and heading up a new program to solicit the licensing of Stone's music for Recording, Movie and Television. Robin Stone herself has added a new artist to her record label, Alexis Antes and also produced her new album, "All Come Down". Stone is also working with her Web Master to create a marketing program to increase on-line sales of her records and to build a separate home that is easy to connect with, interact with and obtain information quickly and easily for Stone's fans. Stone is even hosting a new TV show! Everyone is busy in SLY town.

WHO IS HER BAND? The Robin Stone Band consists of former Ohio Players back up bassist, Tiger McGee, a talented engineer, professional guitarist and keyboardist for more than 20 years, Tyler Owen, and a seasoned band of drummers in Joe Rohan, Bob McKee and Drew Rothman.

Music's Bottom Line said "[Stone's] voice and guitar playing were flawless, and her stage presence conjured up images of female rockers like Sheryl Crow and Tara McLean."

**** THE RUSHMORE STORY

Q: Is this a Cinderella story?

A: Absolutely. While I slaved to pay for every red cent of my first record, My Heart, a friend of mine literally gave me the money to record RushMore. My Executive Producer from NYC, Andria Petito, she rocks.

Q: WOW! That's crazy! Did you spend it well?

A: I'd like to say we partied from November 2002 to March of 2003, but I spent almost all of it well. Unfortunately I wasted much of it trying to find the right musicians, which I thought I already had. I hired a drummer that came in without a high-hat stand. While I should have fired him on the spot, he was a friend of my co-producer's, so I gave him a chance and rented a high-hat. He hadn't rehearsed a note! We wasted 7 or 8 hours and got nothing. I told him he should come back and make up for his blunder and he agreed, only he didn't show up for the next two sessions, which I had to pay for. I had several experiences like that, two drummers didn't show, others were unrehearsed, but I ended up with the best musicians in the world for the rest of the record.

Q: You said your co-producer?

A: Yes, I produced my first record and used my current co-producer as my drummer. Shawn D. Appleton is extremely talented. He lives in Sacramento now. I used his expertise on the production side for RushMore and we did a fine job together. He's the bomb.

Q: Give me one great thing that came from recording this record?

A: That's easy, my engineer, Tyler Owen, who I literally met a couple weeks before we started recording at Closer Look in Cleveland, became one of my very best friends and my band mate! He has thousands of people ask him to play in their bands, but he actually asked me to be in my band. I was like what? He told me this was the first material he has heard that made him want to play again, that really spoke to him. I still don't know what to do with that comment, but smile. To boot, he won't even let me pay him!

Q: That's outrageous. So what is the material about?

A: It's about life. Struggles we go through, some from a humorous point, others from dead seriousness. It's about faith, about challenging yourself personally, it's about change, it's even about death. I like to think it is intelligent and stimulating music. Dave Matthews, Joni Mitchell, Carole King kind of music. You are going to take something away with you because you'll relate to it somehow. It's written for you and for me.

Q: Death?

A: Yeah, my mother died right before I graduated from college and I have finally written a couple songs about that experience. In fact, "Bury Me" is a song about her funeral in the frozen snow of December. I literally wrote that song as we were finishing the record. I made up the melody as I was recording the vocals. It was weird, refreshing, challenging and by doing so, it came out so perfectly to me. I was so glad I stretched myself and forced it out. It is now one of my favorite songs. I have to admit that I put it to a cool jazzy upbeat so I could get through singing it.

Q: That sounds amazing. Speaking of Jazzy...

A: I love Jazz! I really love to take pop rock and acoustic songwriting and slam it into jazz and funk, neo-soul and groove. Paula Cole does that so well. There is a Christian singer named Crystal Lewis who you would swear is a 300lb black choir singer, yet she's about 5'1", 100lb white girl. I do vocal training to her music. Someone came up to me after a show once and said "your music is so good, the lyrics and stuff, but where did you get all that groove?" My band was next to me, (two black guys) and I said, "oh, I fell into a bucket of bleach when I was little." I thought they were going to pee their pants. We always joke about me being black inside.

Q: Speaking of all that, how did you come to record "Inner City Blues" by Marvin Gaye?

A: I do an Erykah Badu cover tune as well. I just love all that stuff. If it moves me I listen to it. I am not sure, maybe I did fall into a bucket of bleach? I had been thinking on that song for a long time, we started to do it live and I never thought I could do the song "justice" so to speak, I just had fun doing it and people talked me into recording it... I took the bait and here we are. The feedback has been good. I hope it's acceptable. It was for no political reason.

Q: So did you write the arrangements on RushMore?

A: Yes, I play a few instruments so I hear a lot of things and can translate them to myself and other players. That helps. I am hard on everyone, but probably drums the most. In fact, Coach, Bootsy Collins' drummer, played on my record and basically for a million other famous bands and he said I was by far the hardest producer he had to work with because I knew every stroke I wanted played out on the drums. I took that as one of the best compliments I had ever received.

Q: How did RushMore get its name?

A: It's not about the mountain, I always say. The title track is about letting life get in the way of your inspiration, your faith and destiny. If you are a spiritual person, it's about getting too busy and distracted for "god" to speak to you and resolving it by trying to accomplish more. The song seemed to be a focal point, a great groove and a good representation of what I am about, so it became the record.

Q: Is that the message?

A: Well, I think the overall message is moving people through music, but moving the heart and soul, the mind and the feet. My band is so much fun to watch. This music is so much fun to do that you gotta come and see the band after hearing the record. Having it delivered to you from the stage is the icing on the cake.

Q: So why should I buy this album if I am not convinced by now?

A: For starters the quality and musicianship is top notch. It was recorded by the best, mixed by nationally recognized Mark Owen, and mastered at Sterling by Chris Athens, who said it was in the top 5% of music he works on (as he compared it to P Diddy's new record that he was mastering the same day). All that is well and good, but I would buy it because it's different, new, fun to listen to on the surface, it's got a lot of beat, good licks and movement, but below the surface there is so much content. It's a record you can definitely listen to multiple times and learn more each time. Hopefully it's a record that grows on you the way you want it to, like a new shirt that's stylish, yet it breaks in and becomes comfortable, and then your favorite.

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