New Music From Terri Clark Coming Soon

Terri Clark has a new album set for release later this month. Roots and Wings will be available digitally starting July 26, followed by a physical release on Sept. 13.
This is the star’s first new music since her 2009 album The Long Way Home.
The Canadian born singer produced the new collection, and co-wrote almost all of the 10 tracks. For the songs she teamed with top-notch co-writers like Kristen Hall, Tia Sillers, Tom Shapiro, Jim Collins and Jim Rushing. She also recruited Alison Krauss, Sonya Isaacs, and Hall for backing vocals.
Recorded at studios in Nashville and Toronto, Clark tapped all-star session musicians including Kenny Greenberg, Stuart Duncan, Andrea Zonn, Glen Worff, Bryan Sutton and Dan Dugmore.
Roots and Wings is available for pre-order at her website.

Since debuting in 1995 with hit “Better Things To Do,” Clark has charted 11 Top 10 hits, and won numerous awards. She has received the fan-voted Canadian Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year honor eight times, and won two Juno Awards.
Roots and Wings track listing:
“Wrecking Ball” (Terri Clark, Tia Sillers, Victoria Banks)
“Breakin’ Up Thing” (Terri Clark, Kristen Hall)
“The One” (Terri Clark, Tom Shapiro, Jim Collins)
“Northern Girl” (Terri Clark, Kristen Hall)
“Beautiful and Broken” (Terri Clark, Kristen Hall)
“The Good Was Great” (Terri Clark, Tia Sillers, Deric Ruttan)
“Lonesome’s Last Call” (Terri Clark, Jim Rushing)
“Smile” [featuring Alison Krauss] (Terri Clark, Karyn Rochelle)
“We’re Here for a Good Time” (Ramon McGuire, Brian Smith)
“Flowers in Snow” (Terri Clark, Kristen Hall)

CMA Music Festival TV Special Adds Star Power

Alabama with Brad Paisley onstage at LP Field. Photo: Donn Jones / CMA


Star appearances on the CMA Music Festival television concert special keep stacking up. Performances added to the lineup include Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Alabama with reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year Brad Paisley; The Band Perry at LP Field; a late-night jam with Luke Bryan, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow; Josh Turner singing with Idol champ Scotty McCreery; Gretchen Wilson partying with Big & Rich; and Alan Jackson performing with Zac Brown Band.
CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock airs Sunday, Aug. 7 on the ABC Television Network.
Elsewhere during the special, cameras follow McCreery and Lauren Alaina at their first CMA Music Festival appearances; Lady Antebellum field questions submitted by fans; as well as candid interviews with Taylor Swift and Shania Twain.
Previously announced performers include Lauren Alaina with Martina McBride, Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson, Sara Evans, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, and Keith Urban.

Hot Events at the Hall

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has an excellent line-up of events over the next few weeks, starting tomorrow night (7/9) with Stealing Angels at the Hot Nights at the Hall concert series. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., followed by the performance at 7:00 p.m.
One highlight will be a program at RCA Studio B featuring a discussion with Elvis Presley‘s famed sidemen Harold Bradley, David Briggs and Norbert Putnam. Legends of RCA Studio B: Conversations with All the King’s Men takes place Tues., Aug. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Museum’s educational mission. Tickets here.
On Saturday, July 9 at 2:00 p.m., the Hall presents a special session celebrating the release of I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow. Performers Peter Cooper and Eric Brace assembled an impressive cast of musicians and guest singers to re-record the songs from Hall’s 1974 masterpiece.
Session player James Burton will be honored on Sat., July 23 at 1:30 p.m. His guitar playing shaped country music on classics by Merle Haggard (“Mama Tried”), Emmylou Harris (“Two More Bottles of Wine”), and Jerry Lee Lewis (“Rockin’ My Life Away”).
Museum members will be admitted free to some of these programs. Details at countrymusichalloffame.org.

Tour News From Taylor, Reba, Vince and Amy

Swift onstage in the UK earlier this year.


Taylor Swift is rescheduling a string of concert dates due to illness. Over the weekend she postponed her concert in Louisville, and now she has added dates in Charlotte and Atlanta to the list. Swift has bronchitis, and is under doctor’s orders not to perform.
“It breaks my heart to miss out on this weekend’s shows with my friends in Charlotte and Atlanta,” said the star in a statement. “I would never cancel if I thought I was physically able to perform these shows. I am so sorry to the fans, but I look forward to seeing you when we come back through your towns, which we will do.”
She will resume the Speak Now tour July 14 in Montreal. Swift is slated to play 98 shows in 17 countries this year.
• • • • •
Reba will embark on the All The Women I Am tour Sept. 1 in Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Joining her on select dates on the 31-city arena run will be special guests The Band Perry, Steel Magnolia and Edens Edge. Ticket and pre-sale details at Reba.com.
• • • • •
Amy Grant and Vince Gill will perform at the Ryman Auditorium on Dec. 20 and 21. Tickets for The Twelve Days of Christmas go on sale July 8 at 10:00 a.m. via ryman.com.
 

SoundScan Mid Year Wrap '11

There are numerous ways to dissect the meaning of country music sales through the end of the second quarter 2011. But perhaps these few lines of Nielsen SoundScan code tell the story best…
Country Music Album Sales (Physical/digital)
2004—77,912,000 units
2007—62,696,000
2009—46,130,000
2010—43,718,000
As one can see, there has been a 44% country album sales drop during the six years from 2004 through 2010. So when we say that YTD the first half of 2011 is down only 1.8% (from the previous year), the above numbers might temper any joy you are feeling. Watching the country album business melt away, almost 45% in six years is painful by anyone’s yardstick.
The bleeding hasn’t stopped, but it has slowed. Digital album sales, which are included in the above totals are also rising as a share of total album sales. YTD country digital album sales are up 29.9% and the share of country albums that are purchased in the digital format has grown to 20.2% as compared with 15.3% a year ago. (All genre digital album sales are 32.3% of total album sales up from 27.4% at this time last year.) The difference between 20.2% and 32.3% makes it clear that a larger percentage of country fans still prefer the CD format over digital.
We should note that track sales are beginning to reach critical mass, even among country fans. Country digital track sales YTD 2011 are at 73.578 million. Dividing that total by 10 to create track equivalent albums adds about 7.35 million additional albums, enough to put the year’s totals in positive territory.
Scanning The Charts (SoundScan revised its charts after the first charts were released. The chart numbers below have been updated.)
Jason Aldean is on fire, in case you hadn’t noticed. His latest, My Kinda Party is No. 1 again this week with scans of almost 48k and total album scans of 1.45 million. Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem” is No. 1 on the Digital singles list, downloading over 127k copies this week, plus he has a total of five songs on the country digital tracks 100. Justin Moore’s strong second week sales slid back a modest 54% (less than expected), remaining above the 30k level and placing him at No. 3.
The Voice judge Blake Shelton, aka “Honey Bee” needs a separate paragraph to describe everything selling in his camp. Shelton’s Loaded: The Best of … package flies up 183% to No. 4 this week with almost 25k units, hopefully as a precursor to his new album, Red River Blue which hits bins next week. Shelton also has four digital tracks on the Digital Country tracks chart!
American Idol stars also finished high in this weeks country album stats, although they were missing when the charts first arrived earlier this morning. Scotty McCreery debuts at No. 2 with over 40k units sold and Lauren Alaina debuts at No. 6 shifting over 20k units.
Independent Country Album Highlights
>>Dolly Parton debuts at No. 11 with scans slightly below 11k;
>>Colt Ford (No. 20; 4.4k) and Aaron Lewis (No. 21; 4.1 k) remain in the Top 20.
 

Artist Manager Politics—Building The Dream

Like frontier scouts taking early American settlers west, the artist manager must navigate his/her clients’ careers through the tangled opportunities that have become today’s entertainment industry. The digital era has given rise to a robust grid involving print, TV, radio, social networks, marketing and so much more. It has also lowered many barriers to entry. Recording music no longer requires astronomical budgets; an artist’s Facebook page is free. New young talents are getting discovered on YouTube singing into a cell phone in their bedroom. And yet, sometimes the old cliches still ring true—the more things change the more they stay the same. Country artists reaching for the brass ring of mainstream success still must walk many of the same trails traveled by the artists that came before them.
To get some firsthand perspective MusicRow spoke with the heads of two fast developing new management companies, Marion Kraft Owner of Shopkeeper Management and Jason Owen, Owner of Sandbox Entertainment. The two have many things in common: they each worked for larger firms before deciding to form their own company, they are both recent additions to the CMA Board of Directors and they both quickly built rosters with high profile, successful clients. Their comments below prove they have another trait in common, they are fiercely loyal and protective of their artists.

MR: Is being a manager what you expected?
Marion Kraft:
There are a lot of misconceptions about what managers do. I was lucky because I came into the management world by default. I worked as a stylist and an artist assistant. I was able to go on tour and experience many different angles of what people do, so by the time I became a day-to-day manager with a band, I mostly knew what was expected.
Jason Owen: Coming from the label side and recently getting into management, I had no clue about exactly what was required. Sitting in my label chair I’d think, why is this manager taking so long to call us back with an answer? I felt like it should have been easier for them—until I stepped into this role, and started to see it from their side.





Jason Owen with client Shania Twain. Photo: Jonathan Frazier






MR: How picky are you about who you choose to work with?
Marion: I only sign clients that can sing. [laughs] I have to feel something. When you are a smaller outfit you only have limited time to succeed. Something I learned while being a day-to-day manager for bigger companies is that the more clients you have, the less focus you can put on individual people. With large rosters you establish a favorite and start spending more time on that person. When I went on my own, I had only one client—Miranda Lambert. We forged a close working relationship. Miranda trusts me to sort through details, but at the end of the day she decides her own career and is very active and involved in what she wants to do. But back to choosing artists, of course everyone is picky, but the good news is everyone has different tastes.
Jason: Both manager and artist should be picky because they’ll be working together 24/7. It’s like a shotgun wedding—short on the engagement and long on the marriage. It’s about a relationship. It’s about a belief and trust in each other to get the job done. Sometimes you have to follow your gut and take the leap and see where it takes you. In other cases, it’s like any relationship, it just takes time and work.
Marion: Ideally, I like my clients to write their own music and record other people’s songs too which keeps them tied into the songwriter’s community which is important. If they have a message and can say it a certain way then we truly discover who this artist is. That revelation is important for fans to connect with the artist and feel like they aren’t being sold smoke and mirrors. I want to be part of building careers for artists that matter. They may not matter to everyone, but they do to me and hopefully to enough people to build their dreams into a career.
Jason: It’s the artist and managers responsibility to grow the brand from the beginning even if it is a new baby act. You start to see where your tentacles lie and how to build the brand in the right way.
MR: Are artist’s careers like pieces on a chess board that need to be orchestrated?
Marion: If there was a formula everyone would use it and all artists would be successful. We don’t create the brand, we enhance it. Each person comes with their own special identity—musically, performance wise and looks wise. You’ve been given some raw diamond. I don’t like to manufacture around it, I like to foster it. See what surfaces naturally, allow the true spirit of that person to come out and then help develop it. When artists are a little younger you also get to be part of assisting in their development as a human. Within two years you will know if it is something important for our format or any format or not.
Jason: I have plans for each artist, but it’s one thing to create and another to execute. It’s just as important to allow the career process to evolve. Often we guide the trip by maneuvering around obstacles and adjusting to life. I’m a quick-thinking problem solver. That’s my biggest tool set, I guess. That and my awesome staff. Our jobs as managers in large part are about the bigger picture, but it’s often the tiny details that we deal with. Handling those details is all about problem solving and doing it fast.





Marion Kraft with clients Chris Young, Miranda Lambert and Josh Kelley.






MR: Jason you have a diverse roster. How do you stay focused on what to do for each of them?
Jason: I currently represent three artists. Shania Twain is already an established brand and obviously a superstar. She’s been gone for a long time and now is coming back in a big way. For her it’s about bringing the brand back out front. To do this we created a TV docu-series for OWN, a book and her Las Vegas residency. Our goal with all of these new areas for Shania is to tie them to new music. With Little Big Town, the key to moving this exceptionally talented group forward is to expose them to as many people as possible. They’ve had some great radio hits and mind blowing performances on the road. The work ahead is mostly about guiding their process and keeping everything filtered through the eye of the brand, and engaging opportunities that will deliver the most exposure. My third client, Casey James is a brand new artist—a fresh slate, in the studio. From the American Idol perspective, his TV experience offers a chance to start working from an established fan base. But it’s simply icing on the cake, Casey is very talented and fans will flock to his music anyway. Marion has dealt with the same situation—both Miranda and Chris Young came from music competition shows. She’s used those platforms to her artists’ advantage, but not as the focal point of their brand and it has worked exceptionally well.
MR: Not long ago the label was the bank and provided the tons of cash necessary for career building. They had all the leverage. Today?
Marion: Record labels today are partners. There is none of this unequal sense about it. Perhaps in the ’80s and ’90s when labels were running things everyone needed to be close to the money to make things happen. But labels realized now they needed better artist access and working closer with managers was the way to achieve that. The manager best understands what their artist is willing to do. There are pros and cons for working with and/or without label support. But the labels I deal with offer a really good support system for me. With baby or developing acts it’s about educating people. There are many talented artists that can sing. Our job is to lift our artist out from the crowd. My chances are pretty good with a big record label since I get maybe 100 people talking about the artist right away. I look at them as an extension of my staff, but I don’t have to pay their salaries. Are there  certain artists that aren’t going to get label deals that should have a career? Yes, and they will find other career avenues. I am especially excited about this time we live in. You can make music, videos, etc. inexpensively. But regardless, you truly have to have talent to get to the next level. When artists realize how much work it takes to make their dreams come true, it quickly eliminates the posers. With radio, Internet, TV there are so many places that need to be worked.
MR: Are there boundaries or off limit times between artists and managers?
Marion: It’s like any relationship, almost a marriage with your office wife or husband. No, I don’t get calls a 3 a.m. Do I get calls at midnight? Sometimes, but it is usually something important. It’s about common sense and if you sign an artist that has some, you’re better off.
Jason: I do get calls at 3 a.m. sometimes, because I have an artist that lives in Switzerland so we have to deal with time zones, but I don’t have rules. Luckily I have clients that won’t call at those late hours unless it’s urgent.
MR: How far will you inject yourself if you believe your artist is making a bad decision? Can you do it without creating bad feelings?
Marion: Artists hire you because they trust you and you develop a track record working together. Ultimately, you’d try to stop them from bad choices, but I’ve never had that sort of problem with any of my clients. We never seem to be arguing about do this or don’t do it. They know they have the final say so it’s more like a conversation and we lay things out. Then, if necessary we deal with any repercussions it generates. But I really don’t have any crazy horror stories.
Jason: Yes, it comes down to mutual trust. If I take something to an artist and they say, “No,” very rarely will I come back and ask again unless I really feel it’s important.
Marion: Miranda has one rule, it’s very simple. If I ask her for something that I know she probably doesn’t want to do, she understands I wouldn’t take it to her if I didn’t think it was absolutely important. So she looks at me and says, “You really think it is important for me to do this?” If I say, “Yes,” then she says, “OK.” It’s important to give artists the freedom of realizing that not everything is a career changing moment. Considering the workload we put on them, it’s also important to build a private life for them. Chris Young told me when we started working together, “I don’t need any down time, I work all the time.” I still built in some time off for him because everyone needs to feel refreshed and start over. Recently Chris said to me, “You know I’m really looking forward to those ten days.” So we are their career guidance counselors, and a little bit their mother, father and best friend. But I’m a big believer in having a 10% buffer where you want to know they are happy, but not the inner workings of what goes on. That’s what their friends and family are for. Protecting their privacy helps them trust you with their careers.
MR: With Facebook, Twitter and photo phones everywhere, can a superstar artist have a private life?
Jason: Yes, they can have privacy. Shania made the decision to speak publicly about some events in her life. She wrote the book. She has been extremely private for her entire life, but reached a point where she wanted to tell the story in her words. And there is something freeing about that. She had nothing to prove, but wanted to set it out so it never had to be asked again and we won’t discuss it again after this run. It was a hard decision to make. Hard for me to let it go because I have been with her for ten years maintaining that privacy. But as we went through this journey together and specifically within the press in the last few weeks it freed me as well.
Marion: One reason why our clients trust us with their business is because we protect them and keep their world private. But sometimes we purposely pull out a certain piece of that life and publicize it—in a controlled manner, like Jason did with Shania. For example, with Miranda’s wedding we didn’t want 50 people taking pictures of the bride and posting them. Instead we gave up 12 images that both Miranda and Blake felt good about.
MR: What about picking partners and partnerships?
Marion: Birds of a feather flock together. Miranda and I have worked together the longest of all my clients. We wanted to develop a team that felt like family, people we care about. The youngest in our group has been with us over four years. For a road crew with 15-20 people that’s a good track record. In our world privacy and confidentiality are very important and I attract people that understand that concept. If you are drawn to this, add something valuable, and are real, we are going to let you in to become part of the team.
MR: What’s a day in the life like for you?
Marion: You make plans but it’s never what you thought it was going to be. Physical fitness is an important day starter, then I usually talk to the agents to see what is going on. I don’t tour with my artists, but when a record comes out or there’s a TV performance, I go. Any photo shoots I cover. When something may alter the brand in any way I want to be there to help avert anything that may go sideways. Someone needs to be there that can make a decision on the spot.
Jason: I do my note taking at night. I lay in bed, turn the TV off and my head just spins thinking of everything that is on my plate over the next few days plus potential ideas. I like to handwrite in a notebook. In the morning I also start at the gym then go into the office to return calls, emails, etc. Then there are artist planning meetings. Lately, I’ve been doing more traveling than when I was at Universal.
MR: What are your favorite tools?
Marion: People. If you have an established artist that everyone wants a piece of then the phone rings and you just answer it. If you have a baby act, then you are the one dialing. And that’s why in the end people are your tools because the country format is so supportive. We are all so proud of our artists, format and our fans. So we help one another and let each other’s baby acts tour along with our bigger acts. I’m very proud to be part of the country format in this community because it is awesome. Anyone you call that you need something from, they may not be able to do it for you, but they are going to give it their best shot.
Jason: That’s it. I have a lot of great relationships with people I like to bounce ideas off. For example, I share offices with Clarence Spalding and sometimes look to him for advice or an opinion. I do the same with Luke Lewis. Sometimes having fresh eyes on something that’s got you feeling boxed in is key. The community side among managers is terrific.
Marion: Sometimes it is as simple as asking, “I’m filling a position, you have in your company, what is the salary range?” We all have separate companies, but it is nice to have some consistency. And we’re lucky to have a group of experienced managers we can call like Clarence and Doc McGhee for example.
MR: Is management a good way to get rich quick?
Marion: If you are in it for the money it’s not the right job for you. Be there for the passion and because you can bring business sense, industry experience and creativity. It’s left brain and right brain. You must be detail oriented, have an overview, be able to plan short term and adjust quickly. I never came into the music industry for the money. I was just hoping to make a living at it.
Jason: I’d been with Universal Music for 9 years. I thought about management and was approached by acts from time to time, but I wasn’t ready. Then in my last year, Shania asked me to manage her. I couldn’t say no. During my tenure at UMG I handled her marketing and all of her publicity. The opportunity just felt right and I knew I could be successful. I’d come to a point in my career at the label where it was time to decide if I wanted to continue working for a large company or step out on my own. It was an incredibly hard decision to make for all the reasons you would think, but for me the hardest part of that decision was leaving my long time friend and mentor, Luke Lewis. He was incredibly supportive of me throughout my years at UMG and the support has not stopped since I left. It was also hard leaving the incredible staff of friends that make up UMG. I quickly learned that setting up a new business is not easy. It makes you appreciate all the little things that a large company handles for you, like IT, phones, payroll, etc. But when it’s all set up it gives you pride to say to yourself, “I did this.”

Lady A Leads Fall Line-Up

Lady A on the set of the video for "Just A Kiss."


Lady Antebellum leads the fall release schedule as Own The Night is the first major album poised for holiday sales. Hitting shelves Sept. 13, there are high expectations at the cash register for the follow-up to the band’s 5x worldwide platinum Need You Now.
Need You Now won five Grammys and spawned the multi-week No. 1’s “Need You Now,” “American Honey,” and “Our Kind of Love.”
Own The Night is Lady A’s third Capitol Nashville studio album, and is available for pre-order at the band’s website.
Boding well for success, lead track “Just A Kiss” is the band’s fastest rising single to date. Directed by Shaun Silva, the video was filmed in locations across the globe and follows the romantic journey of a young couple. See it here.
In other Lady A news, Hillary Scott has announced her engagement to drummer Chris Tyrell. She tells People.com that “Just A Kiss” was inspired by the couple’s initial meeting in early 2010 while they were touring with Tim McGraw. Tyrell is currently on the road playing with Edens Edge.

Facebook Counters Google+ With Skype

Facebook will integrate Skype video chat into its social network service which now has over 750 million users worldwide, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“We’re using the best technology out there for video chat with the best social technology,” Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said during an event at the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.
The timing for this announcement comes almost in response to Google+ which also has a group video chat feature, known as Hangouts.
Microsoft recently paid $8.5 billion for Skype last May, and is also a minority investor in Facebook.
Here’s a great characterization of what is happening from Stephen Foley of England’s The Independent:

In the blue corner, the world’s largest social networking site. In the red, yellow, blue and green corner, the mightiest search engine. Expect this one to go the full 12 rounds. Facebook just got hit with a vicious right-hook from Google, which launched a rival social network it calls Google+ and which early users say – with some surprise – doesn’t suck.
But Facebook is readying a doozy of a counterpunch… it is about to launch video chat. Not satisfied with its 750 million users sharing every thought and every photograph with their friends, now Facebook hopes we will come to its site to connect face-to-face, too. The idea is to integrate the internet telephony pioneer Skype, with its 170 million regular users, into Facebook, making the social-networking leader even more useful (and, therefore, hard to leave) than it is already.

Better find a comfortable seat, this fight could take a while…
 
 

Industry Ink Wednesday (7/6)

Eminem’s album Recovery set a record today (7/6) as the first release to sell one million digital album copies in the U.S. When it debuted in 2010, the project was an instant success. It was the best-selling album of 2010 in the U.S.
Recovery has now sold more than 5.7 million copies worldwide, propelled by No. 1 singles “Not Afraid” and “Love The Way You Lie,” featuring Rihanna.
• • • •
Steve Moore of CMA, and Lucia Folk of CMT are among the participants in the upcoming class of Leadership Nashville. More than 225 people applied for the nine-month program which starts in September. Forty executives were accepted.
• • • •
Voting for the second ballot of the 2011 Canadian Country Music Awards closes Wednesday, July 13 at 5:00pm EST.
• • • •
Music publicist Tricia Whitehead has joined the Brentwood office of Bob Parks Realty as an agent. She can be reached at tricia@housesarefun.com.
• • • •
CNN has cancelled Eliot Spitzer’s show. MR readers will remember Spitzer for cracking down on radio payola during his time as Governor of New York.
• • • •
Choreographer Robert Royston of XCEL Talent Agency has been working with Gloriana for its new video. Royston is also the official choreographer for CMT’s Next Superstar, and is currently staging shows for Edens Age, The Band Perry, and Steel Magnolia.
• • • •
The Harry Fox Agency has announced a licensing deal with Cricket’s Muve Music service. HFA will license Muve Music on behalf of affiliated music publishers by clearing songs for limited digital downloads, ringtones and ringbacks.
• • • •
Indie Connect has opened a Nashville chapter at 2720 Old Lebanon Rd., Suite 108, Nashville, TN 37214. The membership-based organization headed by Vinny Ribas offers networking, workshops and seminars. More at IndieConnect.com.
• • • •
Blue Star Families is seeking artists in Nashville to tape PSAs about suicide prevention in military families. Interested artist reps can contact Rebekah Gleaves Sanderlin at 910-527-9076 or rsanderlin@bluestarfam.org.

3rd Sunday At Doak's Reaches Milestone

by Jane R. Snyder

Doak Turner


On July 17, 2011, Doak Turner will welcome aspiring and accomplished members of his Music City family into his home for the 100th session of the 3rd Sunday @ 3 gathering. This milestone celebration will be quite an achievement for a six-feet-one-inch “small town boy” who was born in St. Albans, West Virginia. After many trips to visit, he made his destined move to Nashville in 2002.
New in town and missing the kinship of Sunday dinner with his family, Doak invited a group of songwriters to his West Meade home with their guitars and casseroles-to-share in tow. On that first Sunday, more than 30 people showed up.
In 2011, you are likely to find 50 to 75 creative folks, and often many more. Asked to describe the festivities Doak does so without any hesitation, “Friends are made, songs are played – it’s Sunday dinner with your musical family.”
For this energetic songwriter, entrepreneur, and facilitator, Turner’s humility always remains in the forefront. “I’m a poster child for God sending smarter people to help you on your journey and I’ve been very blessed.” And those who know Doak agree, he too can take a lot of credit for what he has contributed to Music City.
Besides 3rd Sunday @ 3, Turner also created NashvilleMuse.com, a weekly e-newsletter that highlights singer-songwriter gigs and events around town. Collaborating with Will Carter, they established MusicStartsHere.org, a unique resource with more than 300 video interviews with performers, songwriters, music publishers, musicians, vocal coaches, and image consultants. When new songwriters first hit town they are often advised to simply, “Call Doak!” After a warm welcome, he will refer them to these Websites for a crash course on Nashville. Music has always been his focus and Doak’s memories are quite vivid.
“My family wasn’t musical, but I’ve always been around music. I always loved radio. In maybe ‘65 or ‘66, I saw my first concert. We were sitting stage left at the original Charleston Civic Center for Frankie Valli and The 4 Seasons. I sang every song. I was only about six or seven, but I begged my mama to take me. I still have the ticket on the wall in the living room!”
Following a lifelong love of music, and particularly lyrics, Doak started writing his own songs in 1989. “I would always buy the albums that had lyrics. I remember when I was about 10 or 11, one day after cutting the grass. I took the money my grandmother gave me and I went to the local record shop in St. Albans, West Virginia. I went up and put a quarter in the jukebox because I wanted to know what he was saying in ‘These Eyes.’ ‘These eyes have seen a lot of love, but they’re never gonna see….’ I played that thing three times to figure out what he was saying in that bridge. Those things stand out.”
His 3rd Sunday @ 3 happening has created musical roots for a whole new generation of performers and songwriters. Friends have been made. Co-writers have discovered one another and gone on to co-write great songs. Performers who were once shy first played their songs in Nashville at 3rd Sunday @ 3. A few of them have since signed record deals. One couple Doak introduced wound up at the altar.
What has brought Doak Turner this far in his own journey? The words he needs are few, “Persistence and faith. My heroes are the people who persisted, the people who never give up. It’s so much harder now, for songwriters and artists, from the 80s and 90s when it was flourishing. You could walk on Music Row and people were looking for songs. Now the walls are so much tougher to get through.”
The walls may be tougher, but Doak has done everything he can to make the journey easier for other songwriters. And, if you haven’t met him yet, just pick up your guitar plus a casserole-to-share and head on over to Doak’s place.