Caroline Davis Joins Watkins College

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Caroline Davis has joined Watkins College of Art, Design & Film as Director of External Relations and Assistant Director of Development. In her new role she will handle the school’s communications and media relations as well as contributing to special event, fundraising and alumni services efforts.
Davis’ previous experience includes stints with Performing Songwriter magazine, BMI (both in Nashville and Los Angeles) and the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau.
She is an alumna of Vanderbilt University and also did graduate work at USC’s school of cinematic arts. She is currently on the board of Leadership Music.
Contact her at 615-277-7403 or cdavis@watkins.edu.

Bright Joins Diane Richey Promotions

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Diane Richey Promotions has announced the addition of Katie Bright to its staff. Bright was most recently part of the celebrated morning team The House Foundation with Gerry House on WSIX/Nashville, which she joined in 2010. Prior to that, she spent five years at WAXX in Eau Claire, Wisconsin where she co-hosted mornings with George House. Reach her at richeypromokb@comcast.net.

Chrisman Launches New Promotion Company

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Veteran radio promoter Ann Chrisman has opened Ann Chrisman Promotions, where she will specialize in secondary promotion to MusicRow and Billboard Indicator stations.
Most recently with Diane Richey Promotions, Chrisman originally opened her own promotion outfit in 1993 after leaving Disc Jockey Records. She joined Richey in 2001, where she worked with artists from Capitol Records, Lyric Street, Show Dog-Universal, Broken Bow/Stoney Creek, and more.
“I am thrilled and excited to make this announcement,” says Chrisman. “I am looking forward to this new chapter of my career!”
Reach Chrisman at 615-587-0674 or ann.chrisman1@att.net.

AMA Visits Big Apple For Announcement

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The Americana Music Association will present this year’s Honors & Awards Nominee announcement at an invitation only media event in New York City on May 23rd. The nominees are usually announced in Nashville, but according to AMA Executive Director Jed Hilly, “With all the critical acclaim that we have garnered in recent years, we felt that our next move was to reach out to National media to focus more spotlight on the genre and community. Mayor Karl Dean has confirmed to attend and speak as have some key members of our artistic community including Levon Helm (who is bringing his Dirt Farmer quartet), Rosanne Cash, Jim Lauderdale and The Civil Wars, just to name a few.” Helping to make the New York announcement possible are Gibson, BMI and Nissan.

However, the AMA’s Fall event will take place in Nashville as usual. “We have no plans to move,” says Hilly. “Our Festival, Conference and Awards show will be here in Music City, where it belongs, the week of October 12-15.”

Eye On Idol (5/13/11)

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Well, that was a surprise, wasn’t it?
I feel confident saying that very few people saw last night’s (5/12) American Idol elimination of James Durbin coming. Especially not James. He gave typically splendid performances of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and Leiber/Stoller’s “Love Potion No. 9” on Wednesday (5/11) that were roundly praised by the judges, adding to his incredible season-long momentum.
In fact, he was the only one of the remaining four this week who hadn’t been in the bottom vote-getters a single time. I figured he would sail right on to the finale, scoop up a record deal regardless if he won or lost and carve out a decent career playing his endearing brand of pop metal. And maybe he still will–he’ll just get to do it a little sooner than expected.
But that’s been one of the exciting things about this season of Idol: it’s anything but predictable. People who I figured would last deep into the competition have exited very early (Pia Toscano), and people who I swore would be toast early on have proven themselves to be worthy competitors (Hayley Reinhart).
That means the final three are Hayley, Scotty McCreery, and Lauren Alaina, which all but guarantees a country singer the win.
Follow me on this one: both Scotty and Lauren are undoubtedly Nashville-bound after the show. There’s the possibility that we end up with an all-country finale, and I’ll hazard a guess that Scotty would come out victorious in that matchup. Either way, it’s a win for Nashville. Maybe we even get a feisty “Jackson” style duet out of the deal.
But here’s the more likely reality show scenario. There’s a good chance Scotty and Lauren are currently splitting the country vote, which actually might give Hayley the edge to beat one of them and get into the finale. At which point all the country voters will put their differences aside and rally around whoever is left, completely obliterating Hayley.
In theory, anyway. There’s still a chance I may have to eat my words two weeks from now.

Aldean Tour Dates Sell Out

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Jason Aldean



 

Jason Aldean’s amphitheatre My Kinda Party Tour has recently sold out three shows a week in advance, including the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Indianapolis, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in St. Louis, Mo. and the Jiffy Lube Live in Washington, DC for a total of over 66,000 tickets sold for the three dates.
“It is exciting to see Jason’s shows selling out, but the fact that they are selling out a week in advance is nothing short of amazing,” said Brian O’Connell, Live Nation’s President of Country Touring. “Jason is taking his rightful place at the top of the touring world in all genres as a major superstar.”
Visit www.jasonaldean.com for more information.
Aldean has been nominated for the 2011 CMT Awards, where he leads the nominations with four for Video of the Year and Male Video of the Year for “My Kinda Party,” Collaborative Video of the Year for “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson and Best Web Video of the Year for “My Kinda Party” Live from the CMT Webcast. He is scheduled to perform on the June 8 live broadcast.
Additionally, Aldean’s fourth album which was released on Nov. 2, continues to hold strong in the No. one spot on the Billboard Country Albums chart selling nearly 30,000 copies again this week.

Friday Notes: MuttNation, Hayes and Brooks, The McClymonts

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Lambert’s MuttNation Raises $300,000

Miranda Lambert recently returned to her native Texas to host the 4th Annual “Cause For Paws Benefit,” held at the Festival on the Square in Tyler. More than 7000 people packed the downtown area to enjoy the music of Miranda and special musical guests, Stoney LaRue and Josh Kelley. Through ticket sales, sponsorships and live auction items, the event raised almost $300,000. Proceeds will go toward MuttNation, Lambert’s foundation that supports animal shelters, and the Humane Society of East Texas. Since she started the foundation, The Humane Society of East Texas has become a no-kill shelter.
In addition to volunteering at the local shelter, Lambert adopted her dog Delilah there, who joins her other rescue animals Jesse, Waylon, Delta Dawn, Cher, Black Betty, Virginia Bluebell and cats Shelley, Maxine, and Suzie Q as well as a host of farm animals.

 

Hunter Hayes Plays Alongside Kix Brooks

On a recent listener cruise with KMPS, Atlantic/WMN artist Hunter Hayes sat alongside Kix Brooks to play some tunes for fans.

(L-R): Hunter Hayes, KMPS PD Becky Brenner and Kix Brooks.

 

The McClymonts in USA for National Tour and New Release

Australia’s award-winning country trio, The McClymonts, are back in the USA with a brand new single and video, “Wrapped Up Good,” from the group’s forthcoming US release. The video will world premiere in heavy rotation on CMT Pure on May 16 and the single will be available at country radio in June. Producer Nathan Chapman helms the recording, along with sisters, Brooke, Mollie and Sam. The trio will begin a national touring schedule in June and plan to relocate to Nashville as they move forward with their country music career.

Legal Aid Hosts Music Row Breakfast

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(L-R) Andrew Kintz and Bryan Bolton, SunTrust Bank


The Legal Aid Society hosted its 2nd Annual Music Row breakfast on May 25 at Sunset Grill. The gathering is intended to facilitate a time for socializing and hearing about some of the organization’s work. The Legal Aid Society has provided free civil legal services to families with nowhere else to turn. Sponsors for the breakfast included Avenue Bank, Burr & Forman, KraftCPAs, Loeb & Loeb, Milom Joyce Horsnell Crow PLC and SunTrust.

Top-Paula Barnes, Burr & Forman LLP; Kevin Doherty, Burr & Forman LLP; Below-Craig Hayes, Shackelford Zumwalt & Hayes; Becky Harrell, KraftCPAs PLLC


The event host committee included Vic Alexander, Josh Brackin, Jeff Bradford, John Briggs, Dorothy Campbell, Kevin Doherty, Tim DuBois, Chris Farren, Craig Hayes, Kyle Lehning, Steve Markland, Mike Milom, Robert K. Oermann, Kerry O’Neil, Stacey Schlitz, Thom Schuyler, Bob Sullivan and Sharon Reavis Woodson.
Legal Aid Society is a private, non-profit organization that provides free legal services to people with low income. They do not take criminal cases only civil cases – cases where you yourself will not be sent to jail.
LAS  has eight offices that serve 48 Tennessee counties. Its offices are in Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Oak Ridge and Tullahoma. Information about the organization’s financials and programs can be found here
 

ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass Prepares For Launch

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Bluegrass aficionados looking to hone their pickin’ chops should take note. Aspiring and established players will now have a chance to learn fiddle, banjo, mandolin, bass and guitar online from the pros with the launch of the Academy of Bluegrass.
The Artistworks Academy of Bluegrass will consist of the following instructional schools: Banjo with Tony Trischka, Guitar with Bryan Sutton, Fiddle with Darol Anger, Bass with Missy Raines, and Mandolin with Mike Marshall. Each school contains hundreds of beginner, intermediate and advanced video lessons.
Students will have the opportunity to send their instructor video of themselves playing and receive personal feedback and instruction in return. School is expected to launch in June 2011.

Benefits: Chattanooga Concert; Golf Tournaments

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Jacob Lyda and Mallary Hope will be performing at a Chattanooga concert hosted by WRCB Channel 3 and radio partners US-101, 103.7 KISS-FM, My 98.1, and Rock 105 to raise money for local Red Cross relief efforts. Called Coming Together After The Storm, the event will air May 21st from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., live from the Tennessee Aquarium in Downtown Chattanooga. The public is invited to come down to the outdoor pavilion between the two sections of the aquarium for the free concert. Lyda experienced the storm damage personally as he and his parents both have homes damaged by the recent tornado outbreak. This is the second relief effort organized by Channel 3 and its radio partners. Two days after the storm, listeners and viewers filled four tractor trailers and donated $20,000 to Operation: Good Neighbor.

(L-R) Mallary Hope, Jacob Lyda

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The 14th annual Audio Masters Golf Tournament to benefit the Nashville Engineer Relief Fund is set for May 26-27 at the Harpeth Hills Golf Course in Nashville. Registration is still open. Proceeds from the event benefit NERF, which was established by the Nashville Section of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) to provide financial support to engineers in the Nashville area who experience a medical or other life crisis. For more information visit www.theaudiomasters.org.

 

 

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Charlie Daniels and Phillip Pulmer will host the 13th annual Phillip Fulmer and Charlie Daniels Golf Classic. The tournament is a fundraiser for The Jason Foundation, a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the awareness and prevention of youth suicide. It is scheduled for May 17 at the Hermitage Golf Course in Old Hickory, Tenn.