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VP Records Vice-President Cristy Barber - File
'Reggae's Gone Country' achieves new heights as the first Jamaican album to hit Billboard's Country Album charts.
The compilation album hits Billboard's Country Album charts for the first time this week at No. 65. The album also charted in the No. 2 position on the Billboard Reggae Charts.
The Reggae's Gone Country album features top Jamaican artistes doing covers for classic country music, an idea that came about two and a half years ago when Cristy Barber, vice-president of marketing and promotions at VP Records, decided that the idea would give reggae a much-needed push. The album was released on August 30.
For Barber, making the Billboard Country Album Chart is an overwhelming experience and one that was not expected. "It's historical, it's groundbreaking and it just goes to show what I've always been saying that reggae music is the most popular music in the world," she told The STAR.
The album features 14 covers of popular country favourites in a joint effort from VP Records and Warner Music Nashville. Acts featured on the album include young stars like Romain Virgo, Duane Stepheson, Tessanne Chin, Etana, Tarrus Riley as well as veterans Freddie McGregor, Beres Hammond, Sanchez and more. According to Barber, getting exposure for some of the artistes on the album has been one of the major aims of the project.
She said, "There was a jumbotron picture of Romain Virgo and Larry Gatlin from the launch at Breezes in Times Square in New York for three days during the big Labour Day weekend that was an amazing look. When I told Romain about it, he was choked up. It was amazing, that is what it's all about, exposure. Right now, the digital downloads for the album are going beyond our expectations, the top downloaded single is Busy Signal's The Gambler. This is the biggest compilation album for the year for VP."
According to Barber, the reggae community in the US and locally have embraced the project and she says a number of persons are just beginning to hear the album, so there is more to come. She told The STAR that there is still a lot of work to be done in promoting the album which she and her team are prepared to do. "I wanna go for No. 1, we're gonna push the sales campaign online so we can go higher up or even to maintain the position we're at right now," she said.
A part two to the Reggae's Gone Country could possibly be in the works for the future which Barber says she would love to happen.
