I've never been in the market for anything baby-related, but it's like this product was made for me.  I love it, so I share it with you, in hopes that some lucky infant will be spared having a pastel birth announcement adorned with ducks, bunnies and elephants.

Ladies and gents, I present to you: Rattle-n-Roll, the home of Hatch-style gig poster as life announcements.  Behold!


 

First of all - ingenious copywriting, right?  "All kids are born rockstars" and "the coolest kid in the world...yours".  Who doesn't want to claim THAT?  Second of all - hello, it's a gig poster!  No dancing frogs or Pooh Bear anywhere.  

This is one I particularly like.  You might find it comfortably familiar, if you were alive in the '90's and have what I will call (with prejudice) good musical taste:


If that wasn't familiar, we need to have a serious music intervention, but I digress.

Hatch Show Print and its unique gig posters have been a staple around Nashville and beyond since 1879.  That's 131 years if I've done the math correctly. (No guarantees there. Just sayin'.)  It's one of the oldest working letterpress print shots in America, responsible for the ubiquitous look of show posters for multiple generations. 

Hatch'swebsite states "What started,innocently enough, as a way to get ink off old woodblocks has evolvedinto a highly specialized art form."  The look was an instant hit with the country, gospel, jazz, and blues scenes of the time, and remains popular with top acts in modern music.  Refusing to limit itself to gig posters, Hatch produced a significant amount of of product advertising including Nike, Taylor Guitars, and Jack Daniel's; minstrel shows, circuses and carnivals; silentfilm and "talkies"; auto and boat races; rodeos, and animal shows.  Oh my!

The Smithsonian says "Pure artistry and masterful composition are what make Hatch posters partof the story of American art and culture. Snappy graphics, punchytitles, humor, and irony are what make them irresistible."  Yes indeed.