Wren Hollis · COMPASS Dashboard
A strategy snapshot for the "County Line" rollout: two self-released EPs behind them, a monthly listening-room residency, a single out in October, and a Texas triangle tour to book by spring.
Wren Hollis
Learned harmony in a Lubbock church pew and songwriting in a Ford Ranger. Two EPs in, self-managed, day job at a print shop, songs written on lunch breaks. Quiet songs with grit under the fingernails.
Channels & Contact
- Webwrenhollis.example
- Instagram@wrenhollisdemo
- Mailing list640 subscribers
- Emailwren@wrenhollis.example
Headline Metrics
The COMPASS
Next Up
Priorities Right Now
1 · The County Line Rollout
The single is tracked. What remains is the unglamorous part: lock the master by Sep 11, shoot the cover in the alley behind the print shop, and run the 9-week campaign without missing a week.
2 · The Residency As Engine
Every residency night feeds the mailing list. The clipboard by the door has outperformed every other tactic. Target: 640 subscribers to 800 by release week.
3 · Book The Triangle
First regional tour, in planning. Rooms held or pitched by January, routed and confirmed by spring. New Mexico rides along if the routing holds.
Craft
The instrument and the hand. Church-pew harmony instincts, a writing practice with two registers, and a recording approach that treats 400 dollars like a genre choice.
Skills Inventory
| Skill | Level |
|---|---|
| Harmony Singing | Strong |
| Songwriting | Strong |
| Rhythm Guitar | Solid |
| Live Performance | Solid · 62 shows |
| Flatpicking | Working on it |
| Home Demo Recording | Working on it |
The Two Writing Registers
Concrete
Caliche dust, folding chairs, gas-station coffee. The song names the object and lets the object do the feeling.
Dry
Deadpan lines that land a beat late. Never mystical, never hustle. If a lyric sounds like a motivational poster, it gets cut.
Production Chain
The chain is small on purpose. Sam Ordoñez (invented for this demo) produces and engineers at Corner Room Recording, a converted garage in South Austin. Nita Crowe (also invented) mixes. Mastering is a single trusted contact, booked per song.
The 400 dollar budget is a constraint that became a sound: live takes, few overdubs, tape-warm and unfussy.
Recording Plan
"County Line" was cut mostly live in one long Saturday: guitar and vocal together, brushed drums, pedal steel like heat shimmer, group vocals from whoever was in the room on the last chorus.
The next single gets chosen from the candidate pool after tour routing settles, and gets the same treatment: one day, one room, 400 dollars, no rescue-it-in-the-mix thinking.
Output
The release map: two EPs out, one single on the calendar, and a candidate pool for what comes next. No album talk until the tour is booked.
Catalog · Released
| Release | Format | Songs | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caliche | EP · self-released | 5 | Out |
| Yard Sale Gospel | EP · self-released | 6 | Out |
| County Line | Single | 1 | Oct 9, 2026 |
"County Line" · 9-Week Campaign
| Weeks | Phase | What actually happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | Tease | Tailgate clips, lyric fragments, the pedal steel by itself |
| 4 to 6 | Pre-Save | Link live · residency push · mailing list drive to 800 |
| 7 | Release | Oct 9 · release show at The Tin Lantern |
| 8 to 9 | Sustain | Live take video · playlist and press follow-ups |
| After | Convert | Tour announce rides the single's tail |
Candidate Pool · Next Single
Mile Marker 71 · Box Fan Summer · Persimmon Tree · Second Shift · Caliche Reprise.
EP or album: a future decision. One single at a time until the tour is real.
The Single Campaign · 5 Phases
Money
Envelope budgeting across three tiers (Perfect, Good, Minimum), scaled to a self-funded run. The numbers are small because they are real-shaped. Actuals are tracked live in the HQ.
Per-Single Budget Envelopes
Six-Month Operating Envelopes
Projected Inflows
Live · Door and Merch
- TypicalDoor take per show$120 to $340
- TypicalMerch net per night$60 to $180
- MonthlyTin Lantern residency nightdoor + merch
- Oct 9"County Line" release showbest night of the year, planned
Streaming Royalties · Modest by Design
- NowMonthly royalty baseline, both EPssmall
- → rampSlow climb as singles stack↗
- RealityThe door pays for the songs, not the streamsfor now
The day job stays until the tour math says otherwise. That is a plan, not a failure.
Presence
The brand world: one visual register, four equal-weight fan archetypes, two writing registers, and the lines that carry it all.
Palette
The Four Fan Archetypes · Equal Weight
The Front-Row Regular
Knows the residency schedule better than Wren does. The mailing list exists for this person.
The Craft Listener
Values the make of a thing: the take, the room, the brush on the snare. Notices the group vocal is one mic.
The Homesick Texan
Lives in another city now and hears the feed store and the county road in every verse.
The Sunday Driver
The widest door in. Wants a song for the drive, not a thesis. "County Line" lives here.
The Two Writing Registers
Concrete
Caliche dust, folding chairs, gas-station coffee. Objects first, feelings by implication.
Dry
Deadpan, plainspoken, never mystical, never hustle-culture. Short sentences.
Tagline Library
KPI Baseline · Demo Calendar, Aug 2026
Admin
The infrastructure beneath the music: registrations, platforms, and the small crew that makes the work happen.
Registration & Infrastructure
- Sole proprietorship filed
- Separate business checking account
- PRO membership
- SoundExchange
- Distributor account
- Spotify for Artists
- Apple Music for Artists
- Mailing list platform + door clipboard
- Website live
- MLC registration
- Merch print run for release week
- Tour insurance quote
Team & Crew
Confirmed
- Wren HollisArtist · self-managed
- Well Made PlaysManagement systems · this dashboard
- Sam Ordoñez (invented)Producer · Engineer
- Nita Crowe (invented)Mix Engineer
- Dell Hartigan (invented)Pedal Steel
To Be Determined
- Mastering engineerBooked per song
- Drums (brushes)TBD for tour
- Tour booking helpTBD · self-booked for now
- Merch table volunteerUsually whoever owes Wren a favor
Stage
Live as the proving ground, built out in stages. Near-term, the duo for listening rooms; later, a trio with brushed drums for the triangle tour. 62 shows in, all self-booked.
Live Build-Out
Near-Term · The Duo
The residency configuration. Quiet enough for a listening room, cheap enough to tour. The "County Line" release show runs this lineup plus friends on the last chorus.
Later · The Trio
Built out for the Texas triangle tour. Slightly bigger rooms, same restraint. No band bus fantasies on this budget.
Shows
| Show | City | Date | Config | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Tin Lantern · residency | Austin | 2026-08-21 | Duo | Confirmed |
| The Tin Lantern · residency | Austin | 2026-09-18 | Duo | Confirmed |
| "County Line" Release Show · The Tin Lantern | Austin | 2026-10-09 | Duo + friends | Confirmed |
| Triangle tour · Dallas, Houston, San Antonio · rooms in pitch | Texas | Spring 2027 | Trio | Planning |
| New Mexico add-on · if routing holds | NM | Spring 2027 | Trio | Possible |
Signature Format
Scene
The map of neighbors and doors: sonic coordinates, amplification targets, and the lanes to pitch. Every name below is invented for this demonstration.
Sonic Coordinates · Invented References
Anchors
Cotton Row Revival (harmony anchor)
Mabel Route
The Standpipe Brothers
Ada Lammert
Adjacent
Dry County Strings · The Feed Store Sessions · Panhandle Hymnal
Tape-warm acoustics, brushed drums, pedal steel like heat shimmer.
Amplification Targets · All Invented
| Name | Reach | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dust & Twang · playlist | 28K | Best-fit editorial lane |
| The Folding Chair · blog | 11K | Covered Yard Sale Gospel kindly |
| Texas Triangle Tapes · video series | 9K | Tour-adjacent pitch |
| Panhandle Public · regional radio show | 7K | Lubbock hometown angle |
| Porch Light Hour · community radio | 4K | Live session invitation pending |
Venue & Pitch Lanes
Venue
The Tin Lantern (invented East Austin listening room): the home-base proving room and the residency host.
Pitch Lanes
- Listening-room circuitFor the Front-Row Regular and the Craft Listener. The tour is built on these rooms.
- Editorial playlists · alt-country and Americana"County Line" pitched 4 weeks ahead of release.
- Regional press and radioHometown-kid angle for Lubbock, new-voice angle for Austin.
Decision Gates & Risk
Pre-committed logic and a live watchlist: the guardrails that keep the rollout and the tour plan on course.
Budget, mailing list, master lock, and tour-routing triggers, each with pre-committed if/then logic. When a threshold is crossed, the next move is already mapped.
Key Decisions & Deadlines
| Decision | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Lock the "County Line" master | Sep 11, 2026 |
| Announce the release show | Sep 18, 2026 |
| Merch print run ordered | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Choose the next single from the pool | Nov 2026 |
| Triangle rooms pitched or held | Jan 2027 |
| New Mexico add-on go / no-go | Feb 2027 |
Risk Register · R1 to R6
| ID | Risk | Status |
|---|---|---|
| R1 | Master slips past the Sep 11 lock | Active |
| R2 | Print-shop shifts collide with tour routing | Watching |
| R3 | Mailing list stalls short of the 800 target | Watching |
| R4 | Recording spend creeps past the 400 dollar envelope | Watching |
| R5 | Triangle rooms unbooked by spring | Active |
| R6 | Residency draw plateaus | Watching |