Downtown Jacksonville has a sound and there’s a place to go to hear it.
The Elbow is preparing the second volume of Amplified, a compilation of Northeast Florida’s best recording artists.
The idea is to show a cross-section of what Jacksonville’s music scene sounds like. It’s a mission that fits well with The Elbow, a marketing co-op that unifies Downtown’s entertainment district.
“One of the best things we can do for The Elbow is put this kind of stuff out,” said Grant Nielsen, Elbow media manager. “People told me after the first release, ‘If you weren’t doing this, Jacksonville wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.’”
Amplified’s first iteration, released in spring 2014, revealed a mix of hip-hop, bluegrass, indie-folk, punk-rock, alternative-folk and jam-funk artists.
Among those featured were popular local bands like Grandpa’s Cough Medicine, Inspection 12 and Nielsen’s own band, JacksonVegas. The Elbow distributed 2,600 of the free CDs.
“That’s huge. No local band is selling 2,600 CDs in the local market,” Nielsen said. “I think this next one is going to be even bigger.”
In 2014, Inspection 12, an indie rock-punk band, was putting together its first album in 12 years. But it moved up by six months the release of its single, “Ole You,” in order to be part of the first Amplified volume.
It was in support of The Elbow movement, said band member Peter Mosley.
After years of no music in the urban core, The Elbow’s restaurants and venues have given young people a reason to come back Downtown.
“I have a lot of respect for the people who did that and I was excited to contribute our music back to this cause,” Mosley said.
Jacksonville hip-hop band Universal Green was just getting started when The Elbow and One Spark launched.
Being part of the first Amplified volume gave the group a way to get its voice out to Jacksonville, said band leader Darryl Green.
Green started the group for his brother, Artez Burney, who is the composer of much of the group’s works. Universal Green gave Burney, who is epileptic, a creative outlet.
“Jacksonville is a treasure trove of talent that just needs a little exposure,” Green said. “The CD is a way for people to hear someone they might not have known about.”
For the first Amplified, local artist outreach was low-key. This time, Nielsen has advertised broadly.
“We’ve gotten high-quality submissions from bands I hadn’t heard of, which is amazing for me,” he said.
To qualify for the compilation, artists must live in Jacksonville, perform Downtown and submit an original work released from April 2015 to April 2016.
The Elbow plans to distribute Amplified Volume II at this year’s One Spark festival.
Artist applications are available on theelbowjax.com. Visitors can also download Amplified Volume I from the website.
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