Hallmark Chooses Seattle Band for Saint Patrick’s Day Music Card

Perennial iTunes Favorite The Irish Experience Plays Morrison’s Jig

March 5, 2008 — SEATTLE – The creative minds at Hallmark made a sound choice to use a Seattle band for one of their music cards. The Irish Experience plays a traditional Irish song on the whimsical St. Patrick’s Day card which is out in stores now. Hallmark claims that Americans exchange about 9-million Saint Patrick’s Day cards annually which could bode quite well for the local group.

The selection of Joe Bowbeer’s band was a complete surprise. “Pretty much out of the blue, someone from Corbis contacted me about using the song, Morrison’s Jig,” says Bowbeer. Turns out one of the creatives from Hallmark heard the song on iTunes. Corbis handles licensing for Hallmark and one of their representatives found Bowbeer’s information on the band’s MySpace page.

The band was paid a usage fee for an initial printing of the card and could earn more should more cards be sold. “This is certainly not something we expected,” says fiddle player Bowbeer, “but it sure is an excellent way to get the music out there.” The band is rounded out by guitarist Tom May and bass player Tom Hotchkin. The song, Morrison’s Jig, was recorded on the band’s self-titled album which came out in 2003. The band is a perennial favorite on iTunes, reaching the top ten in the “World” genre in both the album and song categories.

The band formed in 1996 to entertain Seattle pub crowds on Saint Patrick’s Day. They perform Celtic and Appalachian music on traditional and electric instruments.

This entry was posted on March 6, 2008 at 4:25 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.