2016 MusicRow Awards: Producer Of The Year Nominees

The five nominees for MusicRow’s Producer of the Year contributed to some of the best music coming out of Nashville during the eligibility period (May 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016).

Finalists for the 2016 MusicRow Awards, Nashville’s longest-running music industry trade publication honors, were revealed earlier this month.

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES:

Dave Cobb earned two Grammys this year—as producer of Chris Stapleton’s Traveller (Best Country Album) and Jason Isbell’s Something More Than Free (Best Americana Album). Cobb was also at the helm of Sturgill Simpson’s 2014 acclaimed project Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. On the 2016 Southern Family compilation, Cobb worked with Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown, Brandy Clark, and more. His other projects include A Thousand Horses’ Southernality featuring their No. 1 country single, “Smoke.”

Zach Crowell worked alongside fellow nominee Shane McAnally to co-produce Sam Hunt’s breakthrough album Montevallo, which has been certified double platinum. The producer-songwriter received 2015 ACM nominations for production work on Montevallo as well as Hunt’s single, “Take Your Time.” Additional Hunt hits co-produced by Crowell include “Leave the Night On,” “House Party,” and “Break Up in a Small Town.” Crowell produced two tracks on Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller album, including the single, “Heartbeat.”

Dann Huff worked extensively on Thomas Rhett’s new album, Tangled Up, and produced his ACM Award-winning single, “Die a Happy Man.” Huff also produced Maddie & Tae’s “Girl in a Country Song,” alongside Aaron Scherz. One of his longest working relationships has been with Keith Urban, including the hit single, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16.” Huff also has production credits in 2015 with Hunter Hayes’ The 21 Project and Billy Currington’s Summer Forever.

Eric Church took the country industry by surprise when he dropped the Jay Joyce-produced project Mr. Misunderstood on the eve of the 2015 CMA Awards. The project spawned the MusicRow Award-nominated single “Record Year.” Joyce also produced six tracks for Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller project, including lead single “Smoke Break.” Other credits include Zac Brown Band’s “Homegrown,” Brothers Osborne’s breakthrough hit, “Stay a Little Longer” and Little Big Town’s award-winning “Girl Crush.”

Shane McAnally protégé Sam Hunt has been burning up the country sales chart with his project Montevallo, which was certified double-platinum by the RIAA and produced with fellow nominee Zach Crowell. Additionally, McAnally solely produced Old Dominion’s debut project Meat and Candy, featuring the No. 1 single “Break Up With Him.” He has also worked on Kacey Musgraves’ 2015 album Pageant Material and tracks from Jake Owen’s upcoming project.

The MusicRow Awards will be presented at a private ceremony at BMI on Wednesday, June 29. Winners are determined solely by MusicRow subscribers. See the final nominees.

Voting closes on Tuesday, May 24 at 5 p.m. If you do not have a subscription, you may subscribe to receive your ballot.

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Jessica Nicholson

Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at jnicholson@musicrow.com.

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