Nashville To L.A.: CMHoF's All For The Hall

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Actress and singer-songwriter Rita Wilson hosts the fundraiser for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and is joined by Holly Williams and newcomer Cam Ochs as surprise guest performers. Photo: Brandon Clark/ABImages

Pictured (L-R): Vince Gill, Holly Williams, Nancy Wilson, Ann Wilson, Emmylou Harris, Rita Wilson and Jason Mraz. Photo: Brandon Clark/ABImages


Los Angeles’ Club Nokia welcomed a star-studded, eclectic lineup of artists for the All For The Hall fundraising event benefiting the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The event took place Tuesday, March 4, and featured music from Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Heart, Jason Mraz, Holly Williams, and Cam Ochs.
Gill performed Merle Haggard‘s “I Can’t Be Myself,” his own “Whenever You Come Around,” and the Buck Owens classic “Together Again,” with Harris lending her signature harmonies. Harris offered “Home Sweet Home,” from her 2011 album Hard Bargain, as well the Gillian Welch song “Orphan Girl,” and a cover of “Tears In Heaven,” the Eric Clapton ballad penned by Will Jennings. Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart gave a stirring rendition of their hit “Dog & Butterfly.”
Mraz performed his hits, “I’m Yours” and “I Won’t Give Up.”
One of the guests for the evening was actress and singer-songwriter Rita Wilson, who performed “You’re Still Gone,” which she co-wrote with Nashville writers Jessi Alexander and Jon Randall Stewart.
The audience was delighted by the performers’ renditions of many of their hits, and the performers relished opportunities to add a few somber selections to the mix. “I love singing sad songs,” said Ann Wilson. “I guess if you sing too many in a row, the audience starts going, ‘Ahhhhh,'” Harris stated, “We can’t get enough sad songs,” to which Wilson replied, “You can’t beat a good ol’ dying song.”
Williams performed “Waiting on June,” about the life and death of her maternal grandparents, Warren and June White. “She’s one of my favorite singers and songwriters around these days,” Gill praised Williams.
“Nashville is this amazing town, with this great songwriting community, and it also has this incredible museum,” Rita Wilson said, stating that she is drawn to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s collection of stage wear designed by Nudie the Rodeo Tailor. “I hope if you do plan a trip [to Nashville], go there and see the museum.”
Gill closed the show with a rendition of the James Taylor song “Bartender’s Blues,” which was later a hit for George Jones. The two-hour performance resulted in a standing ovation for the performers.

[Updated] Rounder Opens Nashville Headquarters

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rounder records11Rounder Records has settled in to its new headquarters in Nashville. Leading the team is President John Virant, who made the move from the label’s previous home base in Boston. Joining the company is Music Row veteran Tracy Gershon who will serve as VP A&R alongside VP A&R Scott Billington.
Additionally, Gershon continues her role working with artists Natalie Stovall and The Drive, and Ella Mae Bowen, in conjunction with Red Light Management.
Also on board at Rounder’s Nashville office are Sr. Director of Promotion Howard Frank and Project Manager Liza Levy. Director of Publicity Regina Joskow will retain her role from her base in New York City.
Rounder’s new offices are located in the Gulch at 1209 Pine Street, Suite 100, Nashville, TN 37203.
The move was first reported by MusicRow in September 2013.
Rounder is the recording home to artists Alison Krauss & Union Station, Mandy Barnett, Steep Canyon Rangers, Dailey & Vincent, and more.
Concord Music Group, which purchased Rounder in 2010, also encompasses jazz, soul and speciality imprints including Prestige, Fantasy, Milestone, Riverside, Specialty and Stax Records, and Hear Music, a partnership with Starbucks.
Rounder Records was founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Marian Levy, and Bill Nowlin.

Jesse Willoughby Joins Kobalt

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Jesse Willoughby

Jesse Willoughby


Kobalt Neighbouring Rights (KNR) has appointed Jesse Willoughby Business Development Manager. He will represent KNR in the US, managing and further developing relationships with existing clients, as well as identifying and adding new clients to the KNR roster.
Based in LA, he will report to KNR’s Managing Director Ann Tausis in London.
Willoughby brings with him over eight years of experience in performing rights from his various roles at ASCAP. Most recently he was Director for the pop/rock membership and, prior to that, Associate Director for the Nashville membership.
Tausis said of the appointment, “We’re happy to welcome Jesse to the Kobalt family. His experience in the performing rights sector, and particularly in relationship management, will be hugely valuable as we look to take KNR further forward in the US – a market which is notably more complex when it comes to Neighbouring Rights.”
Willoughby added, “I’m very excited to have the opportunity of joining a company with the global impact of Kobalt. The reputation of the company precedes it, and I look forward to being part of the KNR team and contributing to its ongoing success.”
Based in London, Kobalt Neighbouring Rights is a separate limited company operating as part of the Kobalt Music Group.

AT&T U-Verse Launches Country Deep Tour

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Jana Kramer

Jana Kramer


AT&T U-Verse will bring a few of Country’s favorite artists to stages across the nation with The Country Deep Tour presented by AT&T U-Verse. The tour launched Feb. 28 in Columbus, Ohio, and will visit more than 20 cities.
David Nail and Jana Kramer are set to headline the tour, with Kramer headlining the first leg of the tour, and Nail headlining the second leg of the trek. Canaan Smith, Austin Webb, and Sam Hunt will open the shows.
David Nail

David Nail


Shaun Silva‘s Tacklebox Films has been brought in to shoot behind-the-scenes/hometown content to edit into tour episodes that will be added to AT&T U-Verse’s Country Deep platform.
Ticket and show information is available at att.com/country.
 
 

John Oates Prepares For Album Release, Rock Hall Induction

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John Oates is preparing for the release of his latest solo project Good Road To Follow (PS Records / Elektra Records) on March 18, 2014. What started as a yearlong series of digital singles has culminated in a three-disc set of EPs aptly named Route 1, Route 2, and Route 3.
Oates collaborated with renowned music makers on the cross-genre project including Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas, Jim Lauderdale, and Hot Chelle Rae. The lead single “Stone Cold Love” was written, performed and produced with OneRepublic front man Ryan Tedder.
“Almost every song was recorded with a different producer and a different co-writer, so I got to step into the worlds of so many creative and inspiring people,” said Oates. “I reached out to the songwriters, musicians and producers that I respect and asked them if they would work with me on one individual song. Each song became an intense and focused creative experience…it was a pure collaboration from beginning to end.”
Oates, a part-time Nashvillian, will be inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10 as part of Hall & Oates. The ceremony will be at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Other inductees include Cat Stevens, Nirvana, Kiss, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel, Andrew Loog Oldham, Brian Epstein and The E Street Band.

BMI teamed with Warner Music Nashville to present a BMI Legends Session with John Oates at CRS on Feb. 21. Oates talked about writing some of Hall & Oates biggest hits, including “Sara Smile” and “Out of Touch,” as well as his upcoming project, Good Road to Follow.
 Pictured (L-R): CRB’s Charlie Morgan, CRB Board Member Mike Culotta, BMI’s Dan Spears, John Esposito, Warner Music Nashville, John Oates, BMI’s Jessica Frost, XM Sirius’ Charlie Monk, and Clear Channel Media’s Clay Hunnicut. Photo: Rick Diamond

BMI teamed with Warner Music Nashville to present a BMI Legends Session with John Oates at CRS on Feb. 21. Oates talked about writing some of Hall & Oates biggest hits, including “Sara Smile” and “Out of Touch,” as well as his upcoming project, Good Road to Follow.
 Pictured (L-R): CRB’s Charlie Morgan, CRB Board Member Mike Culotta, BMI’s Dan Spears, John Esposito, Warner Music Nashville, John Oates, BMI’s Jessica Frost, XM Sirius’ Charlie Monk, and Clear Channel Media’s Clay Hunnicut. Photo: Rick Diamond

[Updated] Lifenotes: Lorna Flowers

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Lorna Flowers

Lorna Flowers


[Update, 12:19 p.m.]

The funeral service for Lorna Flowers will be held Friday, March 7, 10 a.m., at Congregation Sherith Israel Cemetery, located at 2111 15th Ave North, Nashville, 37208.
[Original Story, 10:36 a.m.]
Songwriter Lorna Flowers died Wednesday, March 5.
Flowers found success on the European Country radio charts during her career, and wrote with songwriters including Bob Welch, Roger Cook, John Peoppard and many others.
She moved to Nashville in July 2004 after nine years of visiting three times a year and building a network of great writer, publisher and artist connections.
In 2007, Flowers had a chart-topping song in Australia with Lucie Diamond‘s “Don’t Even Think About It” and had her first U.S. cuts with Kathy Chiavola and Heather Wilkins.
Flowers had produced demo projects since 1997, and was a co-producer on Sue James‘ UK debut 5 Stars and the Moon. She was producer for Blue Orchid‘s UK release of “Slow Down For A While,” which gained a Best Album nomination at the UK Country Radio Awards in 2004.
She performed in UK/Europe on tours and festivals with Charley Pride, Gail Davies, George Hamilton V, Rivers Rutherford. In 2012, she made her debut on the prestigious Pensacola and Frank Brown International songwriter festivals. Flowers also set up her own demo production company, Lorna Flowers Productions.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized at this time.

First Round of ACM Awards Performers Announced

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acm-awards-logo111featuredACM Award nominees Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, George Strait, Keith Urban, and The Band Perry were announced as the first performers for the upcoming 49th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.
Bryan and Shelton return this year as co-hosts. As previously reported, in addition to Bryan’s ACM Awards performance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Bryan will take part in a performance with Florida Georgia Line at the 4th Annual ACM Fan Jam via live remote at the Mandalay Bay Events Center during the awards show.
The show is set to be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 6 on CBS Television Network.

Spotify Acquires The Echo Nest

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spotify225Spotify will acquire music intelligence company, The Echo Nest. 
The Echo Nest was created as part of research work that automatically understands audio and textual content of music and is used to fuel music data solutions including playlists, fingerprinting, and audio analysis.
Music services including Clear Channel’s iHeartradio and MOG, as well as editorial, video, social media networks (bbc.com, MTV, VEVO, Yahoo!), and large brands (Coca Cola, Microsoft) use The Echo Nest platform and solutions to build smarter music experiences.
“We’ve been fans of The Echo Nest for a really long time and are honoured to have their talented team join Spotify,” said Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO, Spotify. “At Spotify, we want to get people to listen to more music. We are hyper focused on creating the best user experience and it starts with building the best music intelligence platform on the planet. With The Echo Nest joining Spotify, we will make a big leap forward in our quest to play you the best music possible.”
The Echo Nest will continue to operate out of its headquarters in Somerville, Mass., and will also continue to operate in San Francisco. The Echo Nest API will remain free and open to support its developer ecosystem. The developer community will remain a priority for the combined companies.
 

Industry Ink (3/6/14)

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SOURCE, an organization of women executives in Nashville’s Music Industry, held its monthly Members Luncheon at ASCAP on Feb. 27, 2014. Guest speakers were Lon Helton and Joe Galante.

Pictured (L to R): Lon Helton (Host of Country Countdown USA, Editor & Publisher of Country Aircheck), Lyndie Wenner (Director/MSO PR Nashville), Joe Galante (Galante Entertainment, Former Chairman BMG Music, FLO {thinkery} and Stacy Schlitz (Schlitz Law). Photo Credit: Denise Fussell

Pictured (L to R): Lon Helton (Host of Country Countdown USA), Lyndie Wenner (Director/MSO PR Nashville), Joe Galante (Galante Entertainment, Former Chairman BMG Music, FLO {thinkery} and Stacy Schlitz (Schlitz Law). Photo Credit: Denise Fussell

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Darius Rucker

Darius Rucker


Darius Rucker‘s album True Believers (Capitol Records Nashville) has shipped more than 500,000 copies, and has been certified Gold.
The album features the singles “True Believers,” “Wagon Wheel,” “Radio” and Rucker’s current single “Miss You.” “Wagon Wheel” earned Rucker a Grammy award for Best Country Solo Performance.
Rucker will be joined by Corey Smith in April as part of Rucker’s True Believers Tour.
 
 
 

                                                         • • •

city fireCity Fire American Oven & Bar is set to take the place of Music City Flats in the Gulch, and will open Thursday, March 6.
Music City Flats closed last fall; the restaurant had taken the place of Urban Flats. City Fire American Oven & Bar’s menu will include soups, sandwiches, cocktails and entrees. The restaurant and bar is located at 610 12th Ave. S., Nashville, Tennessee, 37203.

• • •

Bonnie Brozick

Bonnie Brozick


Northwind Records has hired Bonnie Brozik as Director of Promotions. Brozik previously spent time at Webster PR, Absolute Publicity, and at Powerhouse Entertainment.
Brozik can be reached at 615-473-6549 or at [email protected].

'TIME' Praises Music City As 'Red-Hot Town'

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Nashville111“It’s like high school with money. We all know each other. We know the spouses. We know the dogs. Our kids go to school together.” That’s how Sony Music Nashville CEO Gary Overton describes Nashville’s tight-knit music community in the Time.com article extolling the reasons new residents are flocking to Music City.
Touting Music City as “The South’s Red-Hot Town,” the article offers several stats cementing Nashville’s enviable status. Nashville had the strongest employment growth of any large city since the Great Recession; it is the second-fastest-growing U.S. city in 2013. The cost of living is cheaper than the U.S. average by 13 percent, and office vacancies fell from 12.3 percent to 10.4 percent last year, marking one of the 10 biggest declines in U.S. markets in 2013.
According to the article, the city’s economic success stands on what Tommy Frist, a son of Hospital Corporation of America’s (HCA’s) founding Frist family, calls “the four buckets” of employment stability in health care, entertainment, higher education and government. In addition, there is the livability factor. “Nashville is a soulful city in a way that Charlotte or Atlanta just don’t seem to be,” says Frist. “The vibe is cool, but it’s warm and comforting too.”
Many prominent Nashville residents contributed to the article, including Taylor Swift, Belmont University’s Don Cusic, and Vanderbilt chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos.
The article appears in the March 17, 2014 issue of TIME.