Josh Turner‘s Haywire received a gold certification from the RIAA for the month of March. Christian artists made a strong showing for March certifications as well, with four acts receiving nods for Gold singles during the month.
Among the songs reaching Gold status with singles in March were For King & Country‘s “The Proof Of Your Love,”) Mandisa‘s “Stronger,” MercyMe‘s “Greater,” and Tasha Cobb (“Break Every Chain” Live.)
Reba McEntire will receive the Chairman’s Award for Sustained Creative Achievement from the Music Business Association during the Music Biz 2017 Convention’s awards luncheon on May 18 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.
The Chairman’s Award for Sustained Creative Achievement, which recognizes superior and continuing artistic achievement within the industry, dates back to 1964. Past winners include Buddy Guy, Lionel Richie, Brian Wilson, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Chicago, Quincy Jones, Carlos Santana, Rod Stewart, Liza Minnelli, Kenny Rogers, Dionne Warwick, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Garth Brooks, Lena Horne, Billy Joel, Nat King Cole, Leonard Bernstein, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, and many more.
“Reba fully embodies the essence of the Chairman’s Award, which honors immensely talented artists whose creative contributions truly stand the test of time and keep evolving,” said Fred Beteille of Facebook, Chairman of the Music Biz Board of Directors. “She is the first female country artist to receive this Award from Music Biz and we are thrilled to honor her. With an inspirational album released this February, and another summer of her classic Las Vegas concert series with Brooks & Dunn queued up for June — not to mention a new TV pilot — Reba is going strong after four decades in the business.”
“I am very grateful, getting to do what I love to do after all these years at the level I get to do it. When I first started out I didn’t have enough imagination to even dream about all the wonderful things I’ve gotten to do along with all the great people I have gotten to meet,” said McEntire. “Thanks so much to Music Biz for this award and to my loyal fans for the support throughout the years that has kept me going. I can’t wait to see everyone in Nashville!”
The luncheon will also feature awards presentations honoring Adele (Artist of the Year), Maren Morris (Breakthrough Artist), Lukas Graham (Breakthrough Artist), the Hamilton Original Cast Recording and Mixtape albums (Outstanding Achievement Award), and Paula Abdul (Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award).
Pictured (L-R): Bob DiPiero, songwriter; Jody Williams, CMA Board President-Elect and BMI Vice President of Writer/Publisher Relations; Bill Simmons, CMA Board President and partner at The Fitzgerald Hartley Company; Tony Conway, Conway Entertainment Group President; Sally Williams, CMA Board Chairman and Opry Entertainment Senior Vice President of Programming and Artist Relations, General Manager of the Grand Ole Opry; Stacey Schlitz, SchlitzLaw Founder; Schlitz; Jackson; John Huie, CAA Nashville Co-Head; Terry Calonge, Richards & Southern, Inc. CEO; Jim Beavers, songwriter; Joe Galante, Galante Entertainment Chairman; Steve Buchanan, Opry Entertainment President; and Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. Photo: John Russell / CMA. [Click photo to enlarge]
Reed will be inducted in the “Veterans Era Artist” category, while Jackson will be inducted in the “Modern Era Artist” category. Schlitz will be inducted in the “Songwriter” category, which is awarded every third year in rotation with the “Recording and/or Touring Musician Active Prior to 1980” and “Non-Performer” categories. Reed, Jackson, and Schlitz will increase membership in the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame from 130 to 133 members.
Jackson and Schlitz were on hand for the announcement. Reed, who passed away in 2008, was remembered by daughters Seidina Hubbard and Lottie Zavala.
Hosted by Hall of Fame member and 12-time CMA Awards host Vince Gill, the announcement was made in the Rotunda of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. Hall of Fame members including Alabama, Bobby Bare, Bobby Braddock, Charlie Daniels, Connie Smith, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Jo Walker-Meador attended the event.
Pictured (L-R): Hall of Fame members Vince Gill; Jo Walker-Meador; Alabama’s Randy Owen; The Oak Ridge Boys’ Joe Bonsall; Alabama’s Teddy Gentry; Charlie Daniels; Schlitz; Jackson; Connie Smith; Alabama’s Jeff Cook; The Oak Ridge Boys’ William Lee Golden, Richard Sterban, and Duane Allen; and Bobby Bare. Photo: John Russell / CMA. [Click photo to enlarge]
Vince Gill announces the 2017 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees during a press conference Wednesday in Nashville. Photo: John Russell / CMA
Don Schlitz is announced as the “Songwriter” inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame during a press conference Wednesday in Nashville. Photo: John Russell / CMA
Lottie Zavala (l) and Seidina Hubbard honor their late father, Jerry Reed, as he is announced as the “Veterans Era Artist” inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame during a press conference Wednesday in Nashville. Photo: John Russell / CMA
Fans anxious for long-awaited new music from Chris Stapleton will be excited to know that the singer is releasing not one, but two albums this year. The first, From A Room: Volume 1, is due out May 5 on Mercury Records Nashville. The album is the first new music from Stapleton since 2015’s breakthrough, double platinum monster smash Traveller, and comes exactly two years to the day since that album’s release.
Stapleton’s new project takes its name from Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, where it was recorded during the winter of 2016-17. Once again produced by Dave Cobb, Volume 1 features eight originals as well as a rendition of the Willie Nelson classic “Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning.” Other songs include the tune Stapleton just premiered on the ACM telecast, “Second One To Know,” as well as the album’s first single, “Either Way.” Among the writers who contribute songs to the new project are Mike Henderson, Casey Beathard, Craig Wiseman, Shawn Camp, and more.
The new album, which is available now for preorder digitally and in bundles, features Stapleton on vocals and guitar, Cobb on acoustic guitar, Morgane Stapleton on harmony vocals, J.T. Cure on bass, Derek Mixon on drums, Mickey Raphael on harmonica, Robby Turner on pedal steel, and Mike Webb on keys.
From A Room: Volume 1, will be followed by a second collection of songs from Stapleton, From A Room: Volume 2, which will be released later this year.
Stapleton will no doubt be performing the new material on his All American Road Show tour, which runs through November and features Brothers Osborne, Lucie Silvas, Anderson East, Brent Cobb, Margo Price and Marty Stuart as special guests. Seven new dates were recently added to the tour, which go on sale at LiveNation.com this Friday, April 7.
From A Room: Volume 1 Tracklist:
BOBBY KARL WORKS THE ROOM
Chapter 558
There are listening parties all the time on Music Row, but there is only one Chris Stapleton.
Which explains the big turnout at RCA Studio A on Wednesday evening (April 5). The singer-songwriter-guitarist with the brawny, searing, blue-eyed-soul vocal delivery presided over a throng of well wishers as he previewed tunes that will be on From “A” Room, Volume 1, which drops on May 5.
“This is a few more people than we had last time,” Stapleton drawled dryly. He held a listening party in the same spot exactly two years ago when he introduced Traveller.
MusicRow’s Sherod Robertson recalled that at the Traveller party, everyone had to be quiet while Stapleton recorded the album’s final track, live in the studio during the festivities. Of course, Stapleton nailed it in one take. Since then, he and the collection have collected truckloads of awards and encyclopedias of praise.
“Thank y’all for coming: It’s free tacos-and-beer night at RCA,” the downhome star continued. “We camped out here for a couple of months and recorded a few things.
“You’re probably thinking, ‘Shut up and play some music.’”
So he did. We heard again the pounding rocker “The Second One to Know,” which he had introduced on Sunday’s ACM telecast. The room was completely hushed during his devastating, anguished ballad “Either Way,” recorded with only his acoustic-guitar accompaniment.
Another highlight was Stapleton’s mournful, slow treatment of the Willie Nelson 1983 hit “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning.” The album opener, “Broken Halos,” was smoldering and soulful.
The set ranged from the outlaw stomper “Them Stems” to the deep blues grooves of “Death Row” and “I Was Wrong,” from the honky-tonk wailer “Up to No Good Livin’” to the moody meditation “Without Your Love.”
In addition to the new CD’s title and nine-song set list, the “big reveal” was that Stapleton has actually recorded two new albums.
“There is going to be a second one in December,” he announced. Presumably, this will be titled From “A” Room, Volume 2.
The lucky listening-party attendees included Craig Wiseman, Shawn Camp, Mike Henderson, Steve Buchanan, Debbie Carroll, Mark Hartley, Ben Vaughn, Morgane Hayes Stapleton, Jed Hilly, Sally Williams, Jay Williams, Cindy Mabe and Cindy Watts.
Mingling media mavens included Shanna Strassberg, Barry Mazor, Hunter Kelly, Lisa Konicki, Tom Roland, Ken Tucker, Phyllis Stark, R.J. Curtis, John Marks, Charlie Cook and Chuck Aly. Adding their wits to the lively proceedings were Dan Rogers, Gina Keltner, Mike Sistad, Leslie Fram and Tom Lord.
The presence(s) of Rogers, Keltner, Williams and Buchanan made me wonder if this guy is being prepped for Opry membership.
Attendee Bart Herbison reported that the NSAI is involved in two documentaries about songwriter issues. One is being produced by Marcus Hummon. One is in the works by Butch Spyridon.
As Stapleton indicated, this was, indeed, free tacos-and-beer night. We had our choice of soft tacos filled with chicken, cheese or veggies. The make-your-own nachos table held spiced ground beef, melted cheese and sauces to load onto your corn chips. The bar specialties were Mexican beers and tequilas.
One unexpected delight was the fact that producer Dave Cobb has collected cool historic photos taken of artists in Studio A and is displaying them in his office there. I told him about one I have of B.B. King posing with me in Studio A, many years ago.
Shreveport, Louisiana native Jacob Davis fell in love with the Baton Rouge culture and music while studying environmental science and geology at LSU, and he’s bringing that soulful swagger into his debut album for Black River Entertainment.
“I’m obviously putting that degree to good use,” he quipped. “I had always played music and grew up with all different styles. The culture, the music, it’s infectious.”
Though Davis had taken up guitar at age 15 and performed during college, he didn’t take the direct route to Nashville. Instead he took a job working on an oil rig, for a Texas-based oil company.
“I knew about two weeks in that I’d made a mistake,” Davis recalls.
The gig was lucrative, and his parents requested he stick with it for a year, reasoning that if he still wanted to quit after a year, he could leave and go to Nashville.
“A year to the day, I quit. I moved to Nashville six years ago.”
Davis began co-writing, eventually finding his way into writing rooms or on the road with songwriters and artists including Forest Glen Whitehead and Kelsea Ballerini.
“She’s such a star but she had a lot of my old demos and she liked my songs and voice. She’s just a music fan in general. I started opening shows for her,” recalled Davis. One of those opening gigs at Joe’s Bar in Chicago earned the interest of former Black River General Manager Greg McCarn and current Sr. VP, Radio Promotion Mike Wilson.
“I had 20 minutes to open and I didn’t play a single cover,” said Davis. “They asked why, and I said, ‘I only have 20 minutes. I don’t have time to play somebody else’s songs.’”
In 2016, Davis signed a publishing deal with Black River Publishing. One month later, he was signed as an artist to Black River Entertainment.
His debut single, “What I Wanna Be” was written with Forest Glen Whitehead and Adam Hambrick.
“It’s about a guy who is telling someone that he’s crazy about what he wants to be,” said Davis. “There’s a line in the song that goes, ‘Put some pancakes on your plate.’ It’s probably one of my favorite lines I’ve ever written, because you remember it.”
During his visit to MusicRow, Davis also performed acoustic versions of tracks “Back Me Up” and “James Brown,” a signature song that he infuses with horns, backup singers, and a soulful New Orleans style on his upcoming album.
“It’s been a dream to make this record. We took some risks with production, like a falsetto part that I had never done before, or a rapid-fire lyric in the chorus I had never done before.”
Davis’ ultimate goal is to make music that is not only memorable, but enduring.
“In country music, the genre is already broad and continues to broaden. When you’ve got everybody from Sam Hunt to William Michael Morgan, there is a lot of space there that can get filled up. A lot of new acts coming out, so if you are a newcomer, you better come with something different, because it’s easy to get lost. And when you look back at the songs you remember from certain eras, it’s always the music that was different for the time. That’s what I want to do.”
Jacob Davis with MusicRow staffers.
Pictured L-R (front row): Frank Rogers, Erik Belz, Daniel Novick (Savur Threadgold LLP).
Pictured L-R (back row): Brian Bradford (Sr. Director of Administration, Spirit Music Nashville), Daniel Hill (President, Spirit Music Nashville), and AJ Burton (Vice President, Fluid Music Revolution).
Spirit/Fluid, the Nashville-based joint venture between Spirit Music Group and Frank Rogers’ Fluid Music Revolution has signed songwriter/producer Erik Belz to an exclusive publishing deal.
“We are thrilled to have Erik Belz join the Fluid Music Revolution team,” said Rogers. “Erik brings a unique perspective to writing and producing and I can’t wait for the Nashville and the rest of the world to hear his talents!”
“Erik’s ability to write various genres really intrigued Frank and I. Not only do we think Erik will be a threat in the Nashville market, we also believe that with the help of Spirit Music’s worldwide reach, Erik’s future will be just fine,” said VP, Fluid Music Revolution AJ Burton.
“I am beyond thrilled to be working with Frank, AJ, Eric [Hurt] and everyone else at Fluid/Spirit. They have been very supportive of my musical vision from the very beginning and I can’t wait to see what we all do together. Nashville is an amazing city and I’m looking forward to spending more time working there!” said Belz.
Belz is a songwriter and producer born in Memphis, Tennessee and raised in Los Angeles, California. His songs have been cut by artists such as Pitbull, Austin Mahone, Lia Marie Johnson, Metro Station and Jez Dior to name a few. In 2015, Erik produced and co-wrote Lia Marie Johnson’s single “Moment like you,” which peaked at #2 on the iTunes dance chart. Erik’s music has appeared in such shows such as CSI and Scorpion. Belz has been working professionally as a freelance producer since graduating from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in 2010.
Rogers is a multi-platinum producer and songwriter who has won Billboard’s Hot Country Producer of the Year award five times. He’s also co-written several country hits, including four Hot Country Songs No. 1’s (“I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)” by Brad Paisley, “Alright” and “This” by Darius Rucker and “Backroad Song” by Granger Smith).
Universal Music Group and Carrie Underwood celebrated their new worldwide recording agreement with a special toast during the Academy of Country Music Awards weekend in Las Vegas.
Pictured (L-R): The HQ’s Ann Edelblute, Universal Music Group Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge, Carrie Underwood, Universal Music Group Nashville President Cindy Mabe, Universal Music Group Nashville Chairman and CEO Mike Dungan. Photo: Jordan Strauss
Kane Brown and Jason Aldean had plenty to celebrate during the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. Aldean was named Entertainer of the Year for a second year. Brown was nominated for New Male Vocalist of the Year. The two artists will tour together this summer as part of Aldean’s They Don’t Know Tour, which launches in April.
Pictured (L-R): Kane Brown; Teri Watson, Sr. Director of Radio & Entertainment, St. Jude; Jason Aldean
New Country, Z100 is celebrating its 8th consecutive record-breaking year for fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This year’s Country Cares Radiothon, held March 30-31, netted $293,567.12 for St. Jude. That includes a record-breaking 5,626,512 pennies in the Quest for a Million Pennies and $32,825 from the on-air auctions in March. “LoCash Unplugged for St. Jude” also raised a record $32,000 in November.
In Z100’s 23-year partnership with St. Jude, fundraising contributions have totaled $3,445,624.93.
Pictured (L-R): Dave McKenzie, Josh Gass, Tracy McSherry-McKown, Shawna Matthews, Ryan Patrick, Kent Zimmer
Lori Liggett
Cumulus Media-Nashville has promoted Lori Tournay Liggett to General Sales Manager of its music stations including country stations WKDF and WSM-FM, in addition to WQQK.
Liggett has more than 27 years’ experience in radio promotions, sales and management. She joined Cumulus Nashville in 2015 as General Sales Manager for WQQK. Prior to that, she was with CBS Detroit, where she was General Sales Manager for AMP (Top 40). Liggett also held positions with Crain’s Detroit Business and CBS Radio-Detroit’s WDZH (Smooth Jazz) and WWJ-AM (News Radio).
Allison Warren, Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus Media-Nashville said, “We have been fortunate to have Lori leading WQQK and have seen first-hand her ability to strategically lead a sales team, and find creative and compelling solutions for advertising partners. Lori is an innovative, well-respected sales manager with a proven track record of nurturing sales talent and driving growth. She has a keen understanding of both local and ad agency business and I’m thrilled to have her leading our Music stations WSM-FM, WKDF and WQQK.”
Liggett said, “I am honored to lead the WQQK, WSM-FM and WKDF sales team. Broadcast and digital media is constantly evolving, and Cumulus Nashville puts local client solutions, employee development and our communities at the forefront of everything we do. I look forward to continuing these efforts.”
Cumulus’ radio properties in Nashville include: WWTN, WQQK, WKDF, WSM-FM, WGFX, and Titans Radio Network.
Shannon McNally’s new album Black Irish, due out June 9 on Compass Records, includes several songs penned by producer Rodney Crowell, along with some of her personal favorites by Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, J.J. Cale, The Staple Singers, and Robbie Robertson. The Memphis-infused collection stirs up blues, country, soul, rock, folk, and pop into a tasty stew of emotions, and features backing vocals/harmonies by Emmylou Harris, Elizabeth Cook, and Wendy Moten.
Recorded in Nashville, the album includes the leadoff track “You Made Me Feel For You,” penned by Crowell, and was born out of a need McNally had to pull herself up out of a particularly blue time in her life when she was dealing with a divorce and her mother’s terminal illness.
“I had no vim or vigor in me for a couple of years,” she admits. “But Rodney and I started this really wonderful thing of just lobbing song titles back and forth. And I just sat at a table and learned about a dozen tunes, my favorite covers, anything to spark a fire in this really dark turn.”