Country trio Levon has come a long way from playing for tips outside Nashville’s popular Pancake Pantry, to inking a joint recording agreement with Sony Music Nashville’s Columbia Nashville imprint and with Epic Records.

The trio, which includes lead vocalist and guitarist Michael David Hall, as well as vocalist/bassist/percussionist Jake Singleton and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Ryan Holladay, takes its name from The Band’s Levon Helm, as well as Elton John’s 1971 track “Levon.”

Levon released their five-track EP in May; producer Jamie Houston also lent co-writing duties to each of the tracks.

Singleton and Hall met while playing in two different bands and both working at restaurant Wild Ginger in Franklin, Tennessee’s Cool Springs area. Holladay joined the group a year later.

Hall’s stint at Wild Ginger also led to the writing and inspiration of their current single, “Ms. Marianne.”

“I was serving tables in Cool Springs, which happens to be the cougar capital of the world,” he says, as he recalls waiting on a female customer in her 50s. “The conversation escalated from ‘What kind of sushi do you like?’ to her asking where I would want to go on a date the next day. She was about 53 years old and I didn’t care at all because she was breathtaking. Our producer Jamie thought it was pretty funny. The day I was going on the date I told him, ‘Jamie, I’m going to cougar town.’ We started kicking around song ideas. Sometimes serving a table will lead to a pretty magnificent date.” And a hit song.

During a recent visit with MusicRow staff, the trio offered performances of several tracks, including “Wired” and “Runaway Love,” a song Hall calls one of his personal favorites.

“It’s got a ‘70s harmony-oriented groove,” Hall says. “It really captures the band’s spirit.”

The band has been traveling the country, performing acoustic showcases for radio station programmers. The trio says keeping things “lean and mean,” playing acoustically and relying on their signature harmonies, has proven a successful strategy for letting programmers and fans see the trio’s true essence.

“When people see us, they really get to hear three singers play these songs. In some cases we might have only five minutes to sound check. The more stripped down we’ve been, the more it’s helped us in these crazy performance scenarios. We get to lean on each other a lot and make sure the vocals are present.”

Earlier this year, Sony Music Nashville’s Randy Goodman and his team brought Levon in as one of the newest members of the Sony roster.

“We were auditioning around town and they instantly wanted us to stay ourselves and that from the get go was the selling point,” Hall says. “This town is so competitive and there is not a night you can go out and not see people more talented than you. We are on cloud nine and we want to take that playing for tips, hard work mentality and make it as big as we can.”

FGL House Eclipse Party

Delta Rae, SiriusXM’s JR Shumann and Storme Warren and The Valory Music Co.’s General Manager George Briner got their sun gaze on at the FGL House eclipse party yesterday (Aug. 21) in Nashville.

 

The Grand Ole Opry Celebrates Total Eclipse With Sold-Out Shows

The Grand Ole Opry hosted five shows over the weekend plus an Opry Plaza Party on Sunday (Aug. 20) in anticipation of the historic 2017 Total Eclipse. Little Big Town, Darius Rucker, Wynonna, and Charles Esten were among the performers who celebrated the once-in-a-lifetime event.

Good Morning America’s chief meteorologist Ginger Zee and The Weather Channel’s Jen Carfagno participated in the Opry’s guest announcer series Sunday evening before covering the eclipse on Monday (Aug. 21). The Opry’s eclipse celebration continued Monday with a Total Eclipse Plaza Party featuring Levon and Ashley McBryde.

 

Chris Lane Garners Gold With Smash Single “For Her”

Chris Lane‘s current single “For Her” has officially been certified gold by the RIAA. Lane was surprised with shiny new hardware recognizing the track’s 500,000 sales and streams by CMT Hot 20 Countdown hosts Katie Cook and Cody Alan just minutes before he hyped up the sold-out crowd at the Wrigley Field stop on Florida Georgia Line’s The Smooth Stadium Tour 2017 on Aug. 12.

“It was a dream come true to play Wrigley Field, and for Cody and Katie to surprise me with the GOLD plaque honoring ‘For Her’ was more than I could have ever imagined,” said Lane. “I’m so thankful that this song impacted fans as much as it did me the first time I heard it.”

 

Tegan Marie Brings Down The House With Opry Debut

Warner Music Nashville’s newest addition, Sweety High’s rising star Tegan Marie, made her dreams reality when she debuted at the Grand Ole Opry last Friday night (Aug. 19). Just hours after announcing her label signing, the 13-year-old vocalist stepped onto the Opry stage to perform two originals for the full house, “Keep It Lit” and “Roots.”

Sally Williams (GM, Grand Ole Opry; Sr. VP Programming & Artist Relations, Opry Entertainment), Dan Rogers (Sr. Director of Marketing, Grand Ole Opry), John Esposito (Chairman and CEO, WMN), Lisa Ray (VP Brand Management, WMN), Brad Bissell (agent, CAA), Frank Simonetti (Co-Founder and CEO, Sweety High) and Veronica Zelle (Co-Founder and CCO, Sweety High) congratulated her on a stellar performance.

“Playing the Grand Ole Opry was the most amazing thing I have done in my entire life,” said Marie. “Everyone there was so nice. It was beyond a dream come true.”

 

Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers Visit CMA Offices

Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers treated the CMA staff to a special acoustic performance and meet and greet on Aug. 17 as part of the organization’s recurring Live@CMA series. The Grammy Award-winning trio performed a handful of their No. 1 hit songs including, “All The Gold In California,” “Houston (Means I’m One Day Closer To You),” “Broken Lady,” and more. Following the performance, Larry, Steve and Rudy mingled with CMA staffers talking country music history and 62 years of the Gatlin Brothers.

 

Mitchell Tenpenny Celebrates Birthday With Surprise Party

Riser House Records, Shore Fire Media, and various songwriters, producers and friends celebrated artist Mitchell Tenpenny’s birthday last Thursday (Aug. 17) with a surprise party.

Elyse McKenna has been named Chief Executive Officer of Thiel Audio. McKenna first joined the company in March 2017 as Director of Strategic Partnerships. Her focus in her new position is on the rollout of the company’s first wireless streaming speakers for the home, the AURORA Home and the AURORA Tour, as well as the promotion of Thiel Studios, the company’s showroom and event space in Nashville.

McKenna has a 14-year background in marketing and business development, with positions at Applauze, Crowdsurge/Songkick, and Topspin. Prior to joining Topspin in 2013, she founded and served as president of Welcome Mat Entertainment and Modern Family Music, where she managed a variety of clients including Young Buck, Compassion International and TD1. She also established the Nashville office of Sparkart South, a web development agency headquartered in Oakland, CA, and also held held marketing and publicity positions at Third Coast Artist Agency, Brite Entertainment, Greg Oliver Agency, and L.A.B. Media following her move to Nashville in 2002.

“Thiel Audio has a 40-year history, and I’m humbled and honored to grow the brand and deliver quality products that come with that legacy,” said McKenna. “The team around me at Thiel is dedicated to delivering both outstanding sound and beautiful design. The Aurora products hit the sweet spot for people who want to have speakers anywhere and everywhere in their lives without compromising on aesthetic or on sound quality. With the increase in connectivity in wireless products and the use of voice activated technology, we only see the market for these products growing.”

Sony Music Nashville has re-signed Chris Young to its RCA Nashville imprint.

Under Young’s first recording agreement with Sony Music Nashville, the Murfreesboro, Tennessee native amassed nine No. 1 singles, multiple ACM, BBMA, CMA, CMT, GRAMMY and RDMA nominations and 16 RIAA Gold and Platinum certifications across six albums.

Most recently Young released “Losing Sleep” the lead single from the RCA Records Nashville artist’s hotly anticipated seventh album due later this year.