Slideshow: Brent Anderson, Josh Turner, Will Hoge, Glen Campbell

Brent Anderson Lunch at 3rd & Lindsley
Sea Gayle Records/Arista Nashville newcomer Brent Anderson debuted music from his upcoming album at an industry lunch and showcase at 3rd and Lindsley on Fri., Sept. 16. At radio now, “Amy’s Song” officially impacts on Oct. 3.

Pictured (L-R): WKDF Director of Promotion Marie Miscia; WSIX PD Jon Anthony; Anderson; Arista Nashville Regional Promotion Mgr. Tyler Waugh; WKDF APD/MD Matt Bradshaw; and Arista Nashville Regional Promotion Mgr. Lauren Thomas and Promotion VP Lesly Tyson. Photo: Alan Poizner

Will Hoge and Glen Campbell at GAC
Nashville singer/songwriter Will Hoge ran into the legendary Glen Campbell at the GAC studios recently. Hoge was there to tape a segment for On the Streets that will air Sept. 27, the same day he releases Number Seven (Ryko). He is also promoting the new single and video, “When I Get My Wings.” Hoge kicked off his headlining tour over the weekend in Athens, GA.

Glen Campbell (L) and Will Hoge (R)

Josh Turner Helps Education SCORE
MCA Nashville’s Josh Turner performed at the first-ever SCORE Prize (State Collaborative on Reforming Education) event at the Ryman Auditorium earlier this month.

MCA Nashville’s Josh Turner met up with Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and SCORE CEO Jamie Woodson at the Ryman Auditorium.

She’s Country Tour To Feature Newfield and Tatum

Heidi Newfield

Paradigm Talent Agency and 343 Agency are partnering on an all-girl country genre club tour aptly titled, She’s Country. Presented by Pendleton Whisky, the first 13 dates will feature Heidi Newfield and Bridgette Tatum plus special guests.

“Heidi and Bridgette both bring high-energy performances and a ‘let’s party’ attitude that are perfectly suited for these venues,” says tour co-producer and Paradigm Nashville co-head, Mike Snider.

Sponsor Pendleton Whisky, launched in 2003, is marketed by Hood River Distillers of Hood River, Ore., and available nationwide. “Pendleton Whisky’s ‘Let’er Buck’ slogan is borne from the bold spirit of independence and hard-work ethic of the American cowboy and cowgirl,” says Tia Bledsoe, Director of Marketing for Hood River Distillers. “Heidi and Bridgette encompass that same spirit. They aren’t afraid to let loose and give their all in everything they do on and off the stage.”

“I have partnered up with a few good friends, Pendleton Whisky, and my crazy talented girl, Miss Bridgette Tatum,” says Newfield. “Together we’re throwing a party in your town. We want every one of our club tour shows to be overflowing with people who are rowdy, whiskey drinking, country music lovin’, not scared to have a damn good time kind of people.”

Initial She’s Country Tour dates
Nov 2 – Little Rock, AR – Revolution Music Room
Nov 3 – Dallas, TX – Glass Cactus
Nov 4 – Katy, TX – Mo’s Place
Nov 5 – Helotes, TX – Floores Country Store
Nov 6 – Austin, TX – Midnight Rodeo
Nov 9 – Nashville, TN – LOCATION TBD
Nov 10 – Wichita, KS – Denim & Diamonds
Nov 11 – Des Moines, IA – Krazee Kafe
Nov 12 – Kansas City, MO – Denim & Diamonds
Nov 16 – Memphis, TN – Newby’s
Nov 17 – Starkville, MS – State Theater
Nov 18 – Jacksonville, FL – Mavericks
Nov 19 – Atlanta, GA – Peachtree Tavern

Industry Ink Thursday (9/29)

Warner Music Nashville hosted its final Pickin' on the Patio of the season on Sept. 22. Entertaining guests was new act The Farm (comprised of Nick Hoffman, Damien Horne and Krista Marie). The stripped-down acoustic showcase included their songs, “Home Sweet Home,” “Sweet Sweet Sunshine” and “Fresh Off the Farm." Pictured (L-R): New Revolution's Rob Dalton, Dave Kirth, and Renee Leymon; manager Bob Mitchell; Nick Hoffman; New Revolution's Andy Elliott, and Maurisa Pasick; WMN's John Esposito; Krista Marie; Damien Horne; and New Revolution's Doug Baker.

Mike Severson

• • • Way Out West Records has tapped radio promo man Mike Severson to serve as VP Artist Development, Promotion, & Marketing. He has 17 years of music industry experience in Nashville, including promotion and marketing positions at MCA Nashville, Rounder and Midas Records. In addition, Severson has also worked at All Access and spent five years in radio in Tulsa. He will continue his role with World Vision as an artist consultant for the country music format.

Shawna Russell is the label’s flagship artist, with more additions planned for the coming months. Severson can be reached at mike.wayoutwest@gmail.com and (615) 496-6023.

• • • Buddy Cannon’s offices have moved. Cannon Productions can now be reached at 2801 Bransford Ave., Nashville, TN 37204.
Phone is (615) 383-2124 and email is budro@comcast.net.

• • • Several Nashvillians contributed to the new Fab Fan Memories project featuring songs and stories about The Beatles. Included are The WannaBeatles, Janis Ian, Phil Keaggy, and more. Grammy winner Dennis Scott produced the project with fellow WannaBeatles members Bryan Cumming, David Toledo and Nathan Burbank.

• • • Big Machine Records and Colonial Candle have partnered for a boxed gift set including a CD of holiday songs and a “Holiday Sparkle” candle.

Jess Meuse (L) signed a management agreement with Guest House Studios Pres. Tony Buenger (R). They are pictured at The Bazel Group offices with Shirley Hutchins/The New Penny Group, who administers Muese’s catalog.

 

 

Familar Faces Grace “Most Beautiful” List

Cover girl Julianne Hough.

Nashville Lifestyles’ “25 Most Beautiful People” list includes several familiar faces from Music Row.

“To celebrate 12 years of Nashville Lifestyles, I cannot think of a more fitting personality than Juilanne Hough for our cover. Like the magazine, she has grown in so many ways, with the release of Footloose showcasing even more of her talents and interests,” explained Publisher Stacie Standifer.

Ranking among the most lovely are GAC’s Suzanne Alexander, singer/songwriters Jay O’Shea and Sherrie Austin, Christian artists Jason Crabb and Andrew Fromm, Luke Bryan’s wife Caroline Bryan, and entertainment journalist Heather Byrd. Each of these people and many more wer profiled and photographed for the new issue. See it at nashvillelifestyles.com.

McBride Orchestrates ELEVEN; Songwriter Agency Signings; and Marlee Scott Visits CMA

Tune in to watch Martina McBride sing the National Anthem at the Oct. 2 NFL Football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets, broadcast on NBC at 8:30 PM EST. The contest also kicks off NFL Breast Cancer Awareness which will continue throughout October and be highlighted with pink ribbon decals on the game balls and pink equipment worn by the players. Fans treated McBride’s last single, “I’m Gonna Love You Through It,” as an anthem for breast cancer survivors and their supporters. McBride is also getting ready to shout, “All Aboard” as she prepares to launch her new album Eleven by taking an Amtrak train across America and making 11 stops along the way. Set to travel from L.A. to N.Y.C. McBride will meet with fans and breast cancer survivors plus perform three mini-concerts in select train stations.

Skip Ewing

>>The Songwriter Agency has signed singer/songwriters Ira Dean, Skip Ewing and Rebecca Lynn Howard for bookings. The Agency was founded by Paul Compton and Randy Harrell in 2010 and books a roster of country, Christian, pop and rock music songwriter/performers. For more info visit www.thesongwriteragency.com.

>>Big Ride Entertainment’s Marlee Scott visited the CMA Sept. 29, to perform several songs for the staff including her debut current single “Beautiful Maybe.” The song is currently climbing MusicRow’s CountryBreakout chart and his risen to No. 62. Scott recently released a dance mix of the country single that has been sent out to clubs, DJs and dance instructors.

(L-R) Big Ride Entertainment's Kim Leiske; CMA Senior Manager of Membership & Balloting, Brandi Simms; AristoMedia Group President and CMA Board member, Jeff Walker; InstiGator Entertainment President, Gator Michaels; Marlee Scott; CMA Chief Executive Officer, Steve Moore; CMA Senior Coordinator of Member and Industry Relations, Betsy Walker; and Big Ride Entertainment's Gerry Leiske. Photo: Christian Bottorff/CMA

 

 

New UMG Artist Builds Team

ASCAP gathered Drake White and his team members recently to celebrate his signing to Universal Music Group Nashville. The songwriter/artist is working with producer Jeremy Stover. He is signed to Vector Management and EMI Music Publishing.

Pictured (L-R): Tom Luteran (EMI), Brian Wright (Universal), Ross Schilling (Vector), Jeremy Stover (producer), Laura Wright (EMI), Drake White, LeAnn Phelan (ASCAP), Ben Vaughn (EMI), Randy Grimmett (ASCAP). Photo: Jessica Draper

NBN SoundLand: A Whirlwind Experience

by Daniel Podolsky

It was a whirlwind of sights, sounds, lessons, and people. From the Opening Reception at TPAC until My So-Called Band’s closing set, Next BIG Nashville’s SoundLand Music Festival carried over a hundred local and national acts through a very strong schedule of invaluable experiences.

Chancelleor Warhol performs at 12th Avenue Block Party. Photo: Jess Williams

The diverse talent lineup that spanned 11 downtown Nashville venues varied in genre and clout. On one end of the spectrum was the hot-fire spitting Yelawolf, a recent addition to Eminem’s Shady Records—to the Costello-laced dance-rock of Evan P. Donohue, who played the festival for the second year in a row. “Along with the headliners, we give new bands an opportunity,” noted Jason Wilkins, CEO and Creative Director of the Festival since its inception.

This year’s take on the event—which had been known as “Next Big Nashville” from the start in 2006—was a decidedly smaller, more focused event than 2010’s incarnation. Accordingly, the name shortened to SoundLand. “[Wilkins] made a smart decision doing fewer venues and fewer local bands,” remarked Donohue. “It kind of tailors it down to one, concise, really good weekend of shows instead of kind more spread out. I think he did a good job.”

Aside from some of the “field trips”—information panels ranging in focus from music supervision to fan-funding to the state of A&R—all the venues were conveniently located with proximity to downtown.

The festival kicked off Wednesday night with a VIP “SXSW Mixer” reception at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. A trio of performances from Jonny Corndawg, Dawes, and M. Ward, followed at the War Memorial across the street.

Thursday was the festival’s first full day. Field trips started at the Belcourt with a panel that showcased the team behind the success of The Civil Wars (more here). After the second panel, “How Brick & Mortar Labels Monetize Free Music,” the crowd split. At the NBN Registration House, The Low Anthem and Justin Townes Earle conducted Songwriter Sessions. At the same time, a more professional crowd could be found at the Recording Academy building for a legal discussion on the repercussions that a 1970s change in copyright law will have on the catalogs of labels in the coming few years.

Thursday night’s shows used seven separate stages across town. Reptar kicked off the night at the 12th Avenue Block Party stage, which serves as the anchor to an arsenal that also includes stages at 12th & Porter and Mai across the street. Block Party events here seem to happen every now and again, the most recent being a Three 6 Mafia Show in July. But here one can find the weakest link of the festival. It was Mai. The staff was overbearing, and the sound system is poorly equipped to handle a real band (or anything more than one man and his MacBook Pro, for that matter). The venue layout feels great for a sold-out crowd, but when attendance is dismal, it feels open and awkward. On a night where fans had so many choices, many chose somewhere else.

The Ettes perform at The Basement. Photo: Jonathon Kingsbury

Friday was the busiest of the four days, utilizing every venue besides the War Memorial and the Neuhoff Stage. Third Man Records was a popular destination. Alabama Shakes, Hans Condor, PUJOL, and Human Eye, all put on great shows for crowds that were more curious than energetic. Hilariously offensive (or offensively hilarious) Neil Hamburger closed out the night, the sole comedian on the SoundLand bill. Repeating any of his jokes in this article may be in bad taste, but I will say that I pre-ordered the limited, Black & Blue vinyl copy of Hamburger’s set. I look forward to playing it for future house-guests that have trouble knowing when it’s time to leave.

Nearby, Mercy Lounge and Cannery Ballroom were in constant play. Just south at the Basement you could find a great lineup that was capped by The Ettes. The Station Inn was packed all weekend, and concluded their night with a “Super Jam,” featuring The Apache Relay, Roman Candle, and Evan P Donohue. Across town on 12th, Yelawolf wrapped up one of the greatest rap lineups Nashville has seen in a while.

Nashville’s valuable but oft-ignored hip-hop scene was prominently featured at SoundLand, showcasing a blossoming community of artists and talented people. When asked about the state of Nashville hip-hop, Aaron Miller, of Boss of Nova, responded, “If you’d have asked me that five years ago, I would’ve told you that it was shit. But honestly, in these last five years, people like Chancellor Warhol, and Call It Dope!, and Dee Goodz, and Openmic, and Rio [have] opened it up for Sam & Tre. I’d be willing to bet that in the next five years, because of everything that’s coming out of Nashville right now… you’re gonna see the music business itself change.” Boss of Nova performed a set at Mai for their second SoundLand appearance. Miller also performed with Chancellor Warhol at the 12th Ave. Block Party Stage.

JEFF The Brotherhood performs at the Neuhoff Factory Stage. Photo: Steve Cross

Saturday was the Festival’s last, but definitely not least. The day was anchored by The Neuhoff Factory stage, a pop-up venue in Germantown that on any other night could be the setting of a developing story on the nightly news. JEFF The Brotherhood electrocuted the crowd to headline the venue’s lineup, but not before many of Nashville’s finest got their turn. The Black Belles played their fourth-ever show, while the Third Man Rolling Record Store sold tri-color copies of their newest single. Those Darlins rocked out. And Royal Bangs, Jessica Lea Mayfield, The Apache Relay, and Tristen, made for a great day in the sun.

Cheer Up Charlie Daniels began an A-List Saturday night for Nashville talent at Mercy Lounge. 12th & Porter and The Basement had great lineups of their own. Waiting backstage at Mercy for the final set of the weekend—a 20th anniversary rendition of Nirvana’s Nevermind by local cover band My So-Called Band—the week of so much amazing music started to take its toll.

It was approaching 1 am Sunday morning, and I had slept about 6 hours since Wednesday. People say you can’t have too much of a good thing. I didn’t have too much—I just needed a rest. And besides, it wasn’t a good thing. It was a great thing. It was Nashville.

The Civil Wars Case Study

(L-R): moderator Christopher Moon, Shawn Fowler, Asha Goodman, Lori Kampa and Charlie Peacock. Photo by Kevin Brown

The industry took note when the first album from indie act The Civil Wars debuted with sales of 25K units. In the almost eight months since, Barton Hollow has passed the 180K mark, currently averaging more than 3K per week (Nielsen Soundscan).

The band’s team members discussed the success story last week at one of SoundLand’s educational Field Trips, held at The Belcourt Theater. The Civil Wars weren’t attendance; about that time they they were taking the stage in London, opening for Adele at Royal Albert Hall.

Producer Charlie Peacock explained that The Civil Wars came to him as a group poised to break through. Particularly, they needed no help honing their sound. “It was already fully formed,” he said. “I just had to take a picture of it.”

Joy Williams and John Paul White had experience on their side; both had been working solo careers when they were paired randomly at a songwriting camp. That collaboration led to The Civil Wars.

Prepping the album release, the band spurred good word of mouth by giving away free copies of a live recording and selling a successful EP. Their team orchestrated radio and touring efforts, which were fueled by the hard work of Williams and White. Via a special agreement with Dualtone, the label’s Lori Kampa promoted the band to radio without signing them.

Around the February 1 release, The Civil Wars scored a visit to The Tonight Show and stepped up to the plate with a sizzling performance (see video below). Helping secure that slot was publicist Asha Goodman of Sacks & Co. “It was a dream band to work,” she said. “There were so many compelling things going on.”

Not the least of which was the music. Attorney John Strohm, who also counts rising artist Bon Iver as a client, says that what both his indie success stories have in common is undeniable music.

Even The Civil Wars’ team was a little surprised by the debut week. Shawn Fowler of Tone Tree Music had distributed physical copies to indie record stores, but the big debut left shelves empty for two weeks. Eventually the project grew to big box outlets. To date, it has sold about 70% digital and 30% physical.

Panelists report that five genres are now claiming the act, including country, where the band is up for a CMA award, and has a video in rotation on CMT.

After the release, Strohm received several calls from major labels. The attitude, he said, was generally, “Congratulations, now you’ll be needing our resources.” But The Civil Wars passed, preferring the flexibility, ownership/control, and boosted income of life outside the label system.

“It was an experiment,” sums Strohm. “But it was successful, so it was encouraging.”

Paisley Wraps “H2O II Tour”

Brad Paisley’s H2O II: Wetter & Wilder World tour concluded Sunday night (9/25) in Raleigh, NC. Paisley’s 2011 tour played to over 1,079,436 fans in 52 markets including five stadium shows and eight European performances.

Paisley closed his last show of the H2O II tour by inviting the tour special guests to the stage for an encore performance of “Alcohol.” Special guests on the H2O II: Wetter & Wilder tour have included Blake Shelton, Jerrod Niemann with Sunny Sweeney, Edens Edge, The JaneDear Girls and Brett Eldredge. Scotty McCreery also joined Paisley on stage for the final H2O II show.

Next up, Paisley co-hosts the CMA Awards with Carrie Underwood, where they will perform their No. 1 duet “Remind Me” for the first time on live national TV.

Details about Paisley’s 2012 tour are forthcoming.

Jerrod Niemann in Raleigh, NC with (L-R) WQDR morning show personality Janie, and WQDR PD Lisa McKay

Country’s Album TEA Party

The largest and final sales quarter of 2011 is almost upon us and the list of planned album releases is mostly revealed (except for a few possible last minute surprises).

The above graph is intended to help readers quickly grasp how album sales are trending. Last week for example (week ended 9-18-11), country hit its highest YTD gain of the year showing an increase of 9.8%.

This week the YTD country number has ebbed slightly to 9.6%. (Last year for the week ended 9/19/2010 country was ahead 4.5%.) Unlike last year’s jam packed release schedule, the upcoming album calendar doesn’t seem to have as many blockbuster artists as last year. Lady Antebellum recently hit stores with first week numbers of 347k and LeAnn Rimes’ new set was released this week. Upcoming product is due over the next few months from Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Martina McBride, Toby Keith, Vince Gill and Miranda Lambert. Of special note will be the just announced Nov. 21 release of a special CD/DVD live set from Taylor Swift.

Turning Tracks Into TEA (track equivalent albums)
For 2011, digital country track downloads YTD total 109 million. (Unfortunately Nielsen Soundscan did not release this number for 2010.) Calculating TEA albums (10 tracks = 1 album) country track sales account for about 10.9 million more albums. YTD country album sales for 2011 total 28.1 million through the week ended 9/25/11; so if one adds the 10.9 million TEA sales it would equate to almost a 40% increase!

Why do we still measure country sales only in terms of digital and physical albums? What about tracks? Business is a lot better than the graph at the top of the page would have you believe, if you don’t ignore track sales…