TEXAS TUNES: Combine two timely trends--mail-order marketing...

TEXAS TUNES: Combine two timely trends--mail-order marketing and music from Texas--and you get Texas City Music, a record catalogue that offers albums by Lone Star State artists ranging from Bob Wills to Lyle Lovett, Buddy Holly to George Strait.

The twist is that it’s issued by MCA Records, marking one of the first forays by a major label into the world of home shopping.

“We’re certainly always looking for new ways to make our (back catalogue) more attractive,” says Paula Batson, MCA’s senior vice president of public relations. “Mail order is something we’ve been interested in investigating, so this seemed like a good pilot project.

“There was an article in Texas Monthly magazine on Texas music, and there were so many MCA records in it--we realized there was such a richness of Texas music on the label, and we wanted to come up with a way to put all this music together in some kind of form and make it available to consumers.”

The 28-page catalogue also includes albums from the MCA-owned Decca, Dot and ABC labels, as well as product from some Texas-based independents. Most of the items are in print, but “Texas City Music” returns to circulation some long-unavailable albums by Doug Sahm and Delbert McClinton.

And according to Bruce Resnikoff, senior vice president and general manager of special markets and products, this could be just the beginning: “If we experience the success that we feel we’re going to have with this project, our vaults are filled with music from Texas artists in every genre of music, and we’d like to continue to tap that resource.”

The catalogue can be ordered by calling (800) 4-TX-TUNE.