Cowboy Militia founder Jason Trosper (left), and partner Joe Bob Smith (right), present Josh Abbott with his new trailer.
CM signs Josh Abbott Band in partnership with record label
Cowboy Militia has teamed up with Ambiance Artists of Austin, Texas, in a cross-promotional relationship that benefits Texas music fans and rodeo and extreme sports fans.
Together with Gilley's Dallas and Cavender's Western Outfitters, Cowboy Militia presented the Josh Abbott Band with a new trailer (pictured), and will outfit the band and four others on the road. The partnership will drive more country music fans to rodeo and Western wear - and vice versa - through Abbott's band and Ambiance's five other hit-making Texas country music artists, including Whiskey Myers, Ben Danaher and bands fronted by Kyle Bennett, Charlie Shafter and Rich O'Toole.
Texas music, a brand of alternative country, began in the 1970s with Willie and Waylon but resurged in the late 1990s and has exploded in popularity as Pat Green and others have crossed over into Nashville.
"It'll be around a very long time," said Ambiance co-founder Bruce Kalmick, who booked the Randy Rogers Band's first show. "We're expanding outside college to where Texas music festivals are getting huge. The things Cowboy Militia is doing with high school rodeo - that's the market. Everyone wants a piece of that."
Kalmick, who noticed Cowboy Militia at a festival because of its early artwork and unique logo, calls the brand "innovative" and said "it's priced more competitively than others of its kind. I think it's going to be the must-have brand."
Josh Abbott, 29, is described by his agent as a "good ole West Texas boy." Abbott's material is new and edgy, but at live venues he can't help but cover a little Don Williams or Steve Warner, too. His fiddle player grew up in a rural town with just six classmates.
"The heritage of Texas is in us all; it's in our blood," said Cowboy Militia founder Jason Trosper, a fourth-generation rancher and team roper. "The history associated with Texas is cowboy history, and Texas music upholds that heritage."
For more information, visit www.ambianceartists.com.
