In addition to her ongoing commitment to childrens’ entertainment, BopStar-PR founder/president Mary Lenore Arsenault is strengthening her company’s long-standing ties to the alternative country market as well.   She will be kicking off 2006 with a national campaign for James Talley, godfather of the Americana movement, who is reissuing his pivotal Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got A Lot of Love album on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, as well as a national campaign for author David McGee’s biography, Steve Earle: Fearless Heart, Outlaw Poet, the first major critical analysis of the music and career of one of the most important singer-songwriters of his generation. 

Arsenault’s pedigree as a top-flight alt-country publicist is earned honestly: she worked for it. In 1994 BopStar was retained as the Canadian publicist for Little Dog Records, the label founded by Dwight Yoakam’s producer/guitarist/co-writer/alter ego Pete Anderson. Little Dog’s first Canadian artist, Jim Matt, received the most media exposure ever accorded a debut artist/album in the history of Canadian country music, including the April 1995 cover of Country Music News, Canada’s largest circulation country publication. In 1996, when Be-Bop opened its New York office, Anderson then retained the firm for U.S. representation leading to features on Anderson and his label in a variety of top-drawer publications, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and a Cover Story at Acoustic Guitar and a 10-page feature in Guitar Player.   In subsequent years the client roster has featured a number of critically lauded, country-influenced singer-songwriters, including Oh Susanna and Jonatha Brooke. Most recently BopStar helped initiate the buzz on New York City-based Kieran McGee, a 23-year-old roots-oriented singer-songwriter who has generated the sort of critical plaudits reserved for more established artists. As a result of an aggressive grassroots PR campaign, McGee was signed to Stanton Street Records in 2004.

 “Musically this is where I’m at,” Arsenault says. “I’m a lyric person, and a song person, and alt-country strikes me as the most fertile field right now for meaningful songwriting. I’m looking forward to building BopStar’s roster in this area and helping position some worthwhile artists to get their just due.”