Cindy Wilt Colville, champion of songwriters and developer of emerging talent, passed away on Thurs., July 10th. She was 58. Cindy was diagnosed with advanced adenocarcinoma (lung cancer) in October and while she had been in failing health for a number of months, she was cared for and surrounded by her husband, mother, extended family and countless friends.
Cindy Lea Wilt was born in Lincoln, Maine to the late Rev. Dr. Lloyd Wilt and Lois Wilt who survives her. She graduated from the music school at Houghton College and went to New York City to do urban ministry and met her future husband, Bruce Colville, whom she married (a couple of decades later).
In 1985, Cindy Wilt moved to Nashville to become a singer. She landed a receptionist job at Lorenz Creative Services. From her receptionist desk she moved to production manager for Greg Nelson who was producing records for Sandi Patty, Larnelle Harris, Steve Green and many other artists. She worked on the first four albums by Steven Curtis Chapman.
In 1993 she was recruited to run Benson Music Publishing and five years later she began a nine-year run as Vice President of Word Music Publishing. Cindy has long been associated with the songwriting and performance career of Matthew West. She met him when West was 19, created a songwriting internship for him and later signed West to his first publishing contract. Besides Matthew West, Cindy Wilt signed Joel Lindsey, Jason Ingram, Clint Lagerberg, Pete Kipley and Jason Walker (among others) to their first publishing deals and worked extensively with Sue Smith, Cindy Morgan, Tony Wood, Sam Mizell, Ross King and many others.
After a brief foray into artist management, Cindy started her own music publishing and songwriting development company (CWC Creative Music) eventually signing two writers Kip Fox and Rachel Barrentine. In the last six years she has taught and developed hundreds of early career songwriters, traveled and led workshops across the country, became a fixture with the Christian Musician Summit’s Songwriting Boot Camp, was a proud board member of the Gospel Music Association and coordinator of the song track for the Immerse Training Conference and led her own songwriting intensive retreat near Nashville. Starting in 2009, she organized and facilitated the ASCAP Foundation’s Christian Songwriters Workshop.
ASCAP has announced its intention to extend their Songwriter GPS Program for songwriters in the Christian market as a memorial to Cindy’s work and legacy. Her husband asks, in lieu of flowers, that memorial gifts and donations be made in her name to Church of the Redeemer (Anglican): 920 Caldwell Lane, Nashville, TN 37204.
A funeral service will be given by Church of the Redeemer on Wednesday, July 16 at 10:00 a.m. The service, with a reception to follow, will take place at Grace Community Church: 5711 Granny White Pike, Brentwood, TN 37027. All are welcome.
For fifteen years, every Sunday night, Cindy ministered to and loved “her girls” at Tennessee Prison for Women. As far as she was concerned, it was the best thing she ever did.
Besides her husband and mother, Cindy Wilt Colville is survived by two brothers, Kendall and Timothy (Rukabuza) Wilt, loving in-laws, three nephews, eight nieces, many cousins and the friendship of everyone in the Christian Music business.

When Carrie Underwood starred as Maria von Trapp in the musical production The Sound of Music Live! on NBC in December 2013, the live musical’s airings brought in 44 million viewers. Now, the production has garnered four nominations for the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, which were announced Thursday (July 10) by The Mindy Project‘s Mindy Kaling and The Voice host Carson Daly.
The Sound of Music Live! earned nominations including Outstanding Music Direction, Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Special Class Program, and Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.
The ambitious undertaking, which also starred Stephen Moyer, Audra McDonald, Christian Borle and Laura Benanti, cost an estimated $9 million to stage.

NBC’s The Voice (which features charismatic coach Blake Shelton) was another big nomination winner, netting 10 Emmy nominations, among them Outstanding Reality Competition Program (which it won last year) and Outstanding Interactive Program.
Season 7 of the musical competition, which will feature coaches Shelton, Adam Levine, Gwen Stefani, and Pharrell Williams, is slated for Fall 2014.
HBO’s Game of Thrones ruled the Primetime Emmy nominations with 19 total nominations, followed by FX’s Fargo (with 18) and American Horror Story: Coven (17), AMC’s Breaking Bad (16) and HBO’s The Normal Heart (16). The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards will air live on Monday, Aug. 25 beginning at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, and will be hosted by Seth Meyers.

Show Dog-Universal artist Joel Crouse will release his debut studio album, Even The River Runs, on Aug. 19. The Jamie Houston-produced project features Crouse’s songwriting on each of the 10 tracks. His latest single, “Don’t Tell Me,” was co-written by Crouse, Houston, and James Dean Hicks.
“I’m very excited for everyone to see who I am through this record and to follow my journey in life as I write about it,” shares Crouse.
 Track Listing for Even The River Runs

Inspired by their new hit “Dirt,” Florida Georgia Line has launched the Dirt Campaign to benefit Habitat for Humanity.
“Dirt” is the lead single from FGL’s sophomore album, due out on Republic Nashville this fall. The project was produced by Joey Moi.
Teaming up with Omaze and WarpSpeed, FGL has set out to raise at least $100,000 for the Dirt Campaign.
Fans are asked to donate when they enter for the chance to win a trip for two on FGL’s “This Is How We Cruise.” The 4-day cruise will set sail from Miami, Florida on November 8, 2014. For various donation levels, campaign supporters will receive fun items, including autographed merchandise.
To donate and join the Dirt Campaign, visit www.omaze.com/fgl.
FGL is currently on the road as direct support for Jason Aldean’s Burn It Down Tour.