The pieces of Grassroots Music, started ten years ago by Kirby Trapalino and recently bankrupt, have been picked up by Weston Entertainment. Owner of significant interest in Rhythm House, True Tunes Music Magazine, 3.1 Productions and The Sound Kitchen, Weston Entertainment now has posession of one of the largest names in distribution for independant Christian music (http://www.grassrootsmusic.com/).

The fallout from this transaction has already begun to hit. Kirby is quoted as saying:

The men of Weston are very Godly gentlemen who acted out of a desire to see the vision of Grassroots carried forth. Although they are not in a position to assist Grassroots Music, Inc. in covering its prior debts, they are in a position to pick up the pieces and try to make the business model viable moving forward. The hope is that what Weston will be able to do with the assets in strengthening the original vision is much better than what would have happened had no one stepped forward to pick up the "machinery" of Grassroots for the good of the artists. I'm sure you can imagine the alternative to this path would have been undesirable for all parties involved-- the utter demise of what we worked so hard for 10 years to build on behalf of the artists.

Kirby strongly emphasizes that he did not make a profit on this deal and the failure of Grassroots resulted in his personal bankrupcy.

Some of the former Grassroots artists take issue with the fact that Weston will not be covering Grassroots' previous debts. Caleb Carruth, on his message board, has stated:

Weston got a good deal, because they get to keep the great name recognition, workforce, infrastructure but are able to do away with the debt. Again, I have to say this...They are profiting off of the backs of the very musicians they pretend to represent. In no way can I see this as remotely resembling God honoring. Of course, maybe I'm biased because I'm one of the countless musicians who is owed thousands of dollars. I will go out on a limb here, and say that if these men truly were "very Godly gentleman", they would pay the debts that their company owes.

Carruth also characterizes Weston as "a multi-million dollar company that owns real estate investments, restraunts, the largest sound studio in the South East, and sports complexes."

Kirby remains with Weston as an independant consultant, and some of Grassroots' former staff is also being hired. To read more on this story, as well as more from Carruth's point of view, visit his message board here.