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Shooting Star 4:250:00/4:25
ABOUT NETCOM MUSIC
Netcom Music was founded in 1999 by partners and half-brothers, Raymond Clawson and Bill Pursell. Ray was a long-time entrepreneur and businessman from Houston, TX who moved to Cartersville, GA and Bill was a classically trained musician from Oakland, CA. who moved to Nashville in the 60’s performing as a session player, arranger, composer and later went on to become a Doctor of Music at Belmont University in Nashville.
In 1994, Ray and Bill started exploring the possibility of working together and starting a music company. At the time, Ray firmly believed the internet would be the future of the music business and as a result, a few years later Netcom Music was officially formed in October,1999.
The first Netcom Music project was “The Goodyears of Music,” a rollicking and wistful collection of instrumental standards with Bill Pursell on piano, Craig Nelson on bass and Buddy Harman on drums. That project was released in 1999 and still stands the test of time. Next up was the album “Millennium,” a remake of Bill’s hit record from 1963, “Our Winter Love” and a beautiful original composition he named for his daughter, “Laura’s Song.” The recording session was historical; some of the same musicians who played in the 1963 session for Columbia returned to the legendary Bradley’s Barn for this one - Harold Bradley on guitar, Boots Randolph on saxophone and Buddy Harman on drums. Millie Kirkham and others from the Anita Kerr Singers provided background vocals. Ray and Bill picked other song chestnuts that Bill and Ray each liked. They finished with an instrumental Bill wrote exclusively for the album, “A Time Remembered.”
In 2000 Netcom Music brought vocalist and songwriter Laura Pursell to the company with her first album she had started working on in California “It Had to Be Swing.” She then recorded the album “Unkissed.” This project was created with a total of 17 previously unrecorded songs from some of Nashville’s best-known songwriters. In the summer of 2000, the album “Unkissed” was released. The single “What Only Love Can Do” written by Randy Warmer and Dean McTaggart was well-received by radio in 2001.
Netcom Music immediately began production on a Christmas album “That’s What Christmas Used to Be,” fifteen holiday songs, including 2 originals, “That’s What Christmas Used to Be”, the title track, and “Under the Mistletoe.” Lively, timeless arrangements created by Bill Pursell.
By the summer of 2001, Netcom Music had produced five albums in the span of two years. In late 2013, Netcom, after working with their existing and back catalogs only, got back into recording new music once again. Laura Pursell wrote lyrics for an original tune, “The Very Last Dancehall Left in LA,” and Bill Pursell wrote the music. Nine additional songs were selected thus creating the album “The Very Last Dance Hall Left in L.A.” and was released in 2015.
In 2018, Bill’s wife Julie, passed away from vascular dementia, and he wanted to honor her memory and her life with an album. He penned music and lyrics to a haunting orchestral piece, which he named “Lilacs (Lost in Time).” The album started coming together in August 2019, with Bill and Laura back in the studio to record 3 songs, “Sweet Dreams,” “Motherless Children,” and of course, “Lilacs.” More songs were chosen and Bill began working on the arrangements into 2020. Bill finished the arrangements on “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,” “Convince Me,” a new song that Netcom discovered many years ago but had not recorded yet, “Faraway Places,” and “Every Love.”
Tragically, Bill Pursell passed away from Covid on September 3, 2020. Ray and Laura, were determined to finish this album for Bill and went back into Ocean Way Studio in Nashville in January 2022. They recorded the four tunes
Bill had arranged, as well as three more, including “Tender Wish,” the last piece of music Bill had ever written and, in the summer of 2020, presented that song as a gift to his brother Ray and his new wife Kay.
The album titled “Lost in Time (A Tribute to Bill Pursell)” is a dedication to Bill Pursell and the title track “Lilacs (Lost In Time)” is a tribute written by Bill for his wife Julie. The album was released in April, 2023.
Netcom Music has since recorded and released new product with Laura Pursell while continuing to pursue additional avenues for international music distribution and building on their rich catalog of music.