JUST IN: Music Industry Journalist Robert K. Oermann To Be Honored At Music Row Storytellers Event

Robert K. Oermann

Benefiting Nashville-based non-profit Music Health Alliance, Music Row Storytellers will feature music industry historian and journalist, Robert K. Oermann on Monday, October 29 at the Wellspire Center (907 Gleaves St., Nashville, TN 37203). Valet parking will be provided.

A 6:00 p.m. cocktail reception will be followed by a 6:30 p.m. program honoring Oermann. The evening will be filled with laughs and stories from Robert K. and surprise guests who’ve been part of his career.

Tickets are available for purchase here for $75.00 (fees included).

Music Row is lined with stories, but few people have witnessed as many – and have as many to tell – as Robert K. Oermann. Since arriving in Nashville 40 years ago, “Bobby Karl” has documented, chronicled and helped tell countless tales of the people, places and events that give Music City its moniker. He’s a natural and deserved choice as this year’s Music Row Storytellers honoree.

Music Row Storytellers is an event designed to honor people who stand the test of time in telling the stories that make the music industry so fascinating – the journalists, interviewers, reporters, show hosts and others who’ve lived, breathed and witnessed these moments alongside the music-and decision-makers of Music Row.

Robert K. Oermann’s love of music can be traced back to his Pittsburgh childhood, when he clerked in his grandmother’s record store. He moved to Nashville in 1978 for a job with the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum.

His freelance writing put his byline into such publications as Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Esquire, TV Guide and – in the early 1980s – the pages of an emerging newspaper called USA Today (as its first country-music reporter and critic). A dozen years with the daily Tennessean made him a Music City staple, as he evolved to become the community’s go-to journalistic source, critic, commentator and tastemaker. His entertaining singles reviews – an anchor of MusicRow magazine since its inception in 1981 – have made him a music-industry must-read.

As the author of eight books, the host of the hit podcast Children of Song and a creative force in film and TV documentaries, he has chronicled America’s musical culture for decades, sometimes in collaboration with his wife, Mary A. Bufwack. Liner notes, artist bios and interviews created by Robert K. have breathed life into the careers of innumerable artists, musicians, songwriters and producers. He has served and continues to lend his expertise and perspective to numerous organizations – The Recording Academy, the CMA, the Nashville Public Library, Leadership Music and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame among them. He is also a spokesman for Music City as a convention speaker, a mentor to students and a frequently televised commentator.

Simply put, Robert K. Oermann is a Music Row “Storyteller.”