THE Jolly Boys, the Jamaican mento band that has gained fame in the USA and Europe, will get more key US media exposure this summer when they play on the popular Howard Stern Show and appear on NPR public radio, the Sunday Observer has learnt.

According to band manager Jon Baker, both gigs are part of a 12-month promotional campaign in the USA that will also take the group of mostly 70-odd year-olds to the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival.

“Every month we will be going into the market to undertake live shows, radio and TV. This commences in June after they complete the Sade tour,” Baker told the Sunday Observer.

Currently, the band has the highest charting new album on the US-based Billboard Reggae Albums chart at number 4, with global sales reaching some 40,000 units in Europe. Contextually, most reggae albums sell under 5,000 units.

The group’s latest album, Great Expectation, was released in Europe in 2010 and in the US this month. It features contemporary cover versions, including Grammy-winning artiste Amy Winehouse’s Rehab. The mento album has received rave reviews and topped many reggae charts in Europe since its release.

Its success has resulted in The Jolly Boys taking mento across the globe, performing at some of the major international music festivals while opening for jazz singer Sade.

Asked if he was surprised by the band’s relative US chart success, Baker said, “To be frank, I am far from happy yet at our chart success. When we start performing on some of the late night talk shows, which I hope will be confirmed imminently, then I hope to see some big moves on the charts and their US profile. We broke them in the UK on TV, you may recall, not radio.”

Replying to the Sunday Observer’s query about estimated global album sales to date, Baker said they were not too impressive. “I think this is a result of the ever-declining physical sales situation globally,” he reasoned. “I would say around 35,000 – 40,000 units for Europe to date; too early to give figures for North America at present.”

Sunday Observer: Any other plans for the Jolly Boys?

Baker: “We are getting some wonderful inquiries for private performances from celebrities and corporations alike in some of the most exotic locations you can imagine, so we will be fulfilling some of these bookings.

“We have a 13-part reality show launching this summer in Jamaica and on Caribbean TV, directed by Rick Elgood of Dancehall Queen fame.

“We are completing a feature-length film based on the story of the Jolly Boys, titled It’s Never Too Late. Our goal is to screen at the film festivals in 2012 with a theatrical release in late summer/fall of the same year.”

Baker also revealed that the band will tour three continents this year and is set to release a classic mento album this fall “so people who like the Jolly Boys can go into the mento experience deeper, now that they have enjoyed the modern mento renditions”.