Dierks Bentley, Lee Brice Added To Troy Gentry Foundation Nashville Concert

A star-studded concert, billed as “C’Ya On The Flip Side” has added Dierks Bentley, Lee Brice, Colt Ford, Tracy Lawrence, Ray Scott and Darryl Worley to the line-up of performers initially announced. The concert is set for Jan. 9, 2019 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. Previously announced artists performing at the all-star concert event include Jimmie Allen, Halfway to Hazard, Chris Janson, Dustin Lynch, Eddie Montgomery, Justin Moore, Craig Morgan, Jon Pardi, Rascal Flatts, Jeffrey Steele, and Neil Thrasher. Blake Shelton and SiriusXM The Highway’s Storme Warren will co-host.

Presented by Grogan Jewelers by Lon, the concert will benefit The Troy Gentry Foundation, the Opry Trust Fund, T. J. Martell Foundation, Make-A-Wish, The Journey Home project and scholarships and instruments for music education in Kentucky schools.

The foundation pays tribute to the late Troy Gentry, known has part of the duo Montgomery Gentry. Gentry died in a helicopter crash in Medford, New Jersey on Sept. 8, 2017, just hours before a scheduled performance. He was 50.

Tickets for “C’Ya On The Flip Side” are available via thetroygentryfoundation.org, ticketmaster.com and opry.com.

Russell A. Jones Jr. Adds Associate Attorney Grayson Jones

Grayson Jones

Grayson Jones has joined the Music Row Law Office of Russell A. Jones Jr. as an Associate Attorney, where she will focus on entertainment and intellectual property law.

Jones is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, where she was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She minored in Music Industry studies at the USC Thornton School of Music.

A Nashville native, Jones is a 2018 graduate of Belmont University College of Law and a member of the Tennessee and the Nashville Bar Associations.

Between undergraduate and law school, she worked for three years in creative licensing and strategic marketing at Columbia Records’ Creative Agency in Los Angeles where she focused on creative collaborations between artists and brands, film, television, and video game licensing, and content integrations.

Grayson Jones can be reached at gjones@jonesshowlaw.com.

CAA Signs Dave Cobb

Entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has signed music producer and four-time Grammy winner Dave Cobb. Cobb most recently served as a music consultant and producer of the A Star Is Born soundtrack, which topped the charts for three consecutive weeks and remains in the top five after seven weeks in release.

The news comes on the heels of Cobb’s win at the 2018 CMA Awards for Single of the Year (“Broken Halos”) with Chris Stapleton. Nashville-based Cobb previously co-produced the triple-platinum album Traveller for Stapleton and the 2017 follow-ups From A Room: Volume 1 and From A Room: Volume 2. From A Room: Volume 1 was honored with the 2018 Grammy for Best Country Album, the 2017 CMA for Album of the Year, the 2018 ACM Album of the Year, and the 2018 Billboard Awards Top Country Album. He also produced the award-winning records The Nashville Sound (2018 Grammy winner) and Something More Than Free (2016 Grammy winner) for Jason Isbell, and the critically-acclaimed Metamodern Sounds In Country Music for Sturgill Simpson.

Cobb’s recent work include projects for Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Bruce Springsteen, Elle King, Zac Brown Band, Anderson East, The Revivalists, Brent Cobb, Ashley Monroe, Bob Weir, Amanda Shires, Colter Wall, Lori McKenna.

Tucker Beathard Pours Career Struggle, Newfound Creative Freedom Into Debut Album

Tucker Beathard

On Friday (Nov. 30), singer-songwriter Tucker Beathard will release his debut full-length album, Nobody’s Everything. The album, the first of a double album project released via his own Mother Tucker Records, also marks his first independent release—and a creative resurgence following a lengthy struggle with his former label.

In September 2015, it was announced that Big Machine Label Group had signed Tucker Beathard to its (now defunct) Dot Records imprint. The son of hit songwriter Casey Beathard, Tucker was a singer and songwriter in his own right, a fact he was eager to share with country music fans.

His debut single, “Rock On,” was released the next year and nearly reached No. 1. His six-song EP, Fight Like Hell was released the same year, containing both “Rock On” and the follow up “Momma and Jesus.”

Ironically, the EP’s title would come to represent the next chapter of his career. As Beathard commenced work on his full-length project, his own vision for his music began to diverge from that of his label.

“Being in the situation I was in, it wasn’t as easy to put out music that I wanted,” Beathard tells MusicRow Magazine. “I understand [my music] was different from everything, and I understand why and how it can come across as scaring certain people. It’s a unique sound, and there are a lot of genres that make up the music that I want to make.”

Beathard did something few newcomer artists would do: he walked away from his record deal.

“It wasn’t a pride thing, but a passion thing,” he says. “I guess at the end of the day, I wanted to really feel like I could be myself and I knew it just wasn’t working out where I was. No hard feelings or anything, but I just felt like it wasn’t my place to be,” he says of his former label home.

While Beathard was undergoing a legal battle to extract himself from his label contract, some of his bandmates also jumped ship.

“It isn’t easy having people who aren’t seeing what you are seeing, creatively,” he says.

Tucker says he wasn’t certain of the next steps to take.

“I went through a tough emotional dark place in life and was just trying to have faith that it was all going to work out. It’s not a quick and easy process getting out of contracts and whatnot, and there was just a lot of hurt and built up emotions.”

That’s when Ryan Tyndell, a co-writer of Beathard’s, made an offer.

“Ryan said, ‘Once you are able to, let’s spend a week recording and see what happens.’ After that week when I got to go in and do that, it couldn’t have come at a better time for me. It was the best therapy ever.”

Beathard, along with Tyndell and Jordan Rigby, holed up in a barebones basement recording studio, working up new songs as well as re-tracking some older material, meshed with Beathard’s fresher, rawer sound.

This time, Beathard’s recordings were more off the cuff and gritty. On tracks like “Leave Me Alone,” “Brother,” “Hate It,” and “This Life,” Beathard’s voice is infused with all the hurt, pain and confusion he’s processed over the past few years.

“Everything we were making was such a step up from anything I had been able to do before,” he says. “It’s a whole new thing. Even if I had owned every master, I wouldn’t have used it. I still would have done it this way.”

At the end of the six-month process of recording, sifting through material and honing in on the tracks that best expressed Beathard’s vision, they found they had more than enough for an album—so they made the project a double album. Nobody’s Everything represents the first half of the project, and Beathard co-wrote every track.

“We looked back and realized it was 18 songs deep, so we figured we would break it up to make it a bit easier for people to process,” Beathard says. “It’s my way of trying to get people to understand who I am and it’s my way of relating to people. I made sure I’ve covered every side of me that I have in my catalog. Everything I needed to say, whether it is about being hurt, being in love, whatever it is.”

 

 

Beathard says the second half of the double album will represent “a kind of light at the end of the tunnel. There is a shift between the two, which is cool, but the whole album is cohesive.”

In August, Beathard inked a new publishing deal with Little Louder Music, and despite his newfound creative freedom, he is still open to working with a label.

“I think it definitely worked out and now I’ve learned a lot about myself as an artist and about the business. I have more of an understanding of what I’ll sign and what I won’t. At the end of the day I want the best way to reach out to as many people as possible. I know 100 percent the great things labels can offer, but I have more of an understanding as I go through these new offers to see if we can come to some agreement I feel comfortable with.”

Nobody’s Everything Track Listing

1. Ride On
(Tucker Beathard, Bob DiPiero, Jason Gantt, David Lee Murphy)

2. Leave Me Alone
(Tucker Beathard, Shane Minor, Lindsay Rimes)

3. Somethin’ to Say
(Tucker Beathard, Dan Isbell, Reid Isbell)

4. Picture to Prove It
(Tucker Beathard, Dan Isbell, Jason Gantt)

5. Brother
(Tucker Beathard, Dan Isbell, Jonathan Singleton)

6. Fight Like Hell
(Tucker Beathard, Casey Beathard, Dan Isbell, Jonathan Singleton)

7. Hate It
(Tucker Beathard, Casey Beathard, Dakota Moniot, Will King)

8. This Life
(Tucker Beathard, Michael Hardy, Angelo Petraglia)

9. How Gone Will I Go
(Tucker Beathard, Joe Whelan, Will Lamb)

Carrie Underwood Inducted Into Oklahoma Hall Of Fame

Pictured (L-R): Bryan White, Carrie Underwood. Photo: Oklahoma Hall of Fame

Checotah, Oklahoma-native Carrie Underwood was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame’s 91st class at the official ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018, at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel & Convention Center. Underwood’s friend and fellow Oklahoma-born country artist Bryan White presented the country superstar with this honor.

Others in the 91st class include Jon R. Stuart, Mo Anderson, Paul Allen, Charlie Christian, David Rainbolt, and Ree Drummond. Induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame is the state’s highest honor with 698 individuals that have been recognized since the first class in 1928.

Pictured (L-R): Mo Anderson, David Rainbolt, Ree Drummond, Paul Allen, Carrie Underwood, Jon R. Stuart. Photo: Oklahoma Hall of Fame

Carrie Underwood. Photo: Oklahoma Hall of Fame

Kane Brown Breaks Into Top Five, Kevin Welch Reigns On MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart

MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart

Kane Brown sure had a lot to be thankful for last week at his Thanksgiving dinner. As a songwriter, Brown rose 17 spots this week to No. 3 on the MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart, boosted by five of his co-written songs, “Lose It,” “Homesick,” “Good As You,” “Weekend,” and “Baby Come Back To Me.” Some of these songs also helped fuel the ascent of Chase McGill to No. 4 and Will Weatherly to No. 7.

As an artist, Brown’s album Experiment debuted at the top of the Billboard Top Country Albums chart as well as the Top 200, making him the first male country artist in 24 years to do so with a sophomore release. Brown also dethroned Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant To Be,” the record-breaking, 50-week No. 1, with his “Lose It” on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

SESAC’s Kevin Welch enjoys his fourth week atop the MusicRow chart with Laura Veltz still on his heels.

The weekly MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart, published every week, uses algorithms based upon song activity according to airplay, digital downloaded track sales and streams. This unique and exclusive recent addition to the MusicRow portfolio is the only songwriter chart of its kind.

Click here to view the full MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart.

Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen To Perform At Country Thunder Alberta

Jason Aldean, Jake Owen, Miranda Lambert with The Pistol Annies, Terri Clark, Lauren Alaina, Roots & Boots featuring Sammy Kershaw, Aaron Tippin and Collin Raye, Shawn Austin, Meghan PatrickJimmie Allen, Jordan Davis, Leaving Thomas and the Hunter Brothers will all perform on the Country Thunder Alberta, set for Aug. 16-18, 2019.

“Alberta has embraced this festival since-day one, and Calgary has become a special city for us,” says Country Thunder Music Festivals CEO, Troy Vollhoffer. “Prairie Winds Park is a magical place that creates an incredible vibe. The artists love to look out to see the fans packed all the way to the top of the hill. We’re thrilled to return with this line-up for these amazing country music supporters.”

Kelsea Ballerini, The Chainsmokers Set For Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Performance

Kelsea Ballerini and The Chainsmokers will join forces for a special collaboration to ring in the New Year on the upcoming Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2019 show on ABC Dec. 31. Foster the People, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai, Charlie Puth, Ciara, and Macklemore with Skylar Grey are also set to perform on the annual countdown celebration.

Ryan Seacrest will return to host from Times Square for his 13th year, with live onsite reporting by actress Jenny McCarthy. Lucy Hale also returns to host the 3rd annual Central Time Zone celebration from New Orleans, providing viewers with exclusive performances and interviews leading up to the midnight countdown. This year’s show marks the 47th anniversary of America’s biggest celebration of the year and will include over five hours of performances and reports on New Year’s festivities from around the globe.

“For 47 years, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve has been America’s biggest and most watched party of the year,” said Mark Bracco, Executive Producer and Executive Vice President of Programming & Development, dick clark productions. “We’re thrilled that Ryan, Jenny, Ciara and Lucy are back to help America usher in the New Year, along with a stellar lineup of the year’s hottest musical artists.”

Paradigm Acquires Dale Morris & Associates Touring Business

Kenny Chesney. Photo: Allister Ann

Paradigm Talent Agency and Morris Higham Management have entered into an agreement to bring Dale Morris & Associates, their artist-driven in-house touring arm, together with Paradigm.

As part of the deal, agents Mike Betterton and Nate Ritches become part of Paradigm’s Nashville team, bringing eight-time Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney; reigning ACM and CMA Group of the Year Old Dominion; EMI Records Nashville’s Brandon Lay; and Warner Music Nashville’s Ryan Griffin and Walker County.

They join Paradigm’s music roster that includes Kacey Musgraves, Ed Sheeran, Halsey, Coldplay, Janelle Monáe, Shawn Mendes, Phish, Margo Price, Tiësto, Lorde, Dave Matthews Band, Sturgill Simpson, Imagine Dragons, Tori Kelly, Gucci Mane, Sara Bareilles, The Lumineers and Alessia Cara.

In addition to the touring business, Paradigm will work in conjunction with Morris Higham Management (MHM) to create unique and compelling opportunities for the MHM management clients. By offering a broadened network and enhanced resources to their roster, the collaboration will expand their focus globally.

“Dale Morris and Clint Higham’s beliefs and values perfectly align with our art and artist philosophy at Paradigm. They are unique, independent pioneers who share our unwavering focus on the artists we represent and the art they create,” said Sam Gores, Chairman & CEO of Paradigm. “Our cultures complement one another perfectly. We both have a fierce commitment to our artists, and we will be utilizing the combined strengths and resources from both companies to push this partnership into new territory.”

“I have always believed you put the artist and the fans first,” says founder Dale Morris. “When you make that the priority, stay connected to the business and keep it your focus, you can do things people say are impossible. We’ve always gotten in the trenches, bringing the acts to the people, and we’ve built careers that last for generations.”

“In today’s world, where global reach is needed and music delivery changes daily, having the strongest team possible is critical to continue growing,” said Morris Higham co-head and CMA Manager of the Year Clint Higham. “We have always thought outside the box, taking Kenny to stadiums and building Old Dominion without a record deal. To me, this affords us a much bigger box to think outside, and that’s everything Dale Morris & Associates was built on.”

Heather Morgan’s Authentic ‘Heart’ Is Anything But Borrowed

Heather Morgan

After writing songs about love and loss for artists including Brett Eldredge (“Lose My Mind,” “Beat of the Music”), Dierks Bentley (“I’ll Be The Moon”) and Kenny Chesney (“Sometown Somewhere”), singer-songwriter Heather Morgan recently released a collection of self-penned songs–but this time, it was Morgan behind the mic relating her own stories with unmistakable authenticity.

The recently-released project, Borrowed Heart, is the result of a three-year process of discovery and transparency–and as the saying goes, it all starts with a song.

“I write a lot by myself at night, and I’ll save those songs for later,” Morgan tells MusicRow Magazine. “They are just ideas I will get, and sometimes I’m a little bit protective of them, I guess.”

Much of the album found its genesis in The Smoakstack, producer/engineer Paul Moak’s studio in Nashville’s Berry Hill area. Morgan began collaborating with Moak in 2015.

“It feels like you are in London in the ‘70s and Beatles are about to walk in or something,” Morgan says of the studio’s heavily carpeted studio, adorned with chandeliers, shelves of drums and walls lined with guitars.

“Paul had all these amazing guitars and I think there was one that had birds on it—an old vintage guitar. I started playing the beginning of ‘A Hundred Miles’ and he was like, ‘What is that?’ I didn’t know and I just had this chorus from this line: I need you to be far away, 100 miles in every direction. So when we wrote it and he sent me the demo, it felt so raw and so special. There was just something about writing songs in the place where we would end up making the record,” she muses. “It was a bit of a foreshadowing that I didn’t even know was going to happen.”

“A Hundred Miles” would be one of 12 gems included on Borrowed Heart. Another Moak collaboration, “We Were A Fire,” convinced Morgan the timing was right to step into her own as an artist.

“It just felt like I was supposed to sing these songs,” she says. “It was like, ‘Oh, we need to do a record.’ It took me like a month to actually email him because I was intimidated—he’s so cool—but when I did email him, he was like, ‘I’ve been waiting for this email.’”

Hope And Healing In Joshua Tree

While the aforementioned songs were born of collaboration, others including “Your Hurricane” and “Highway Robbery” are solely from Morgan’s own pen. Two years ago, Morgan was still smarting from a broken romantic relationship. She booked a trip to Joshua Tree, rented an AirBNB, and spent time sifting through the emotional remnants in classic songwriter style, using her music as therapy and healing.

“I dated somebody and it just didn’t end beautifully,” she recalls. “Before I ever even had that experience, I had written in a journal that I really wanted a song to sound like my own and that was in 2015, before I ever even knew the person that would be part of the heartbreak, which is so weird looking back. I found the journal when we were making the record and this journal entry that said I’m longing for a song that feels like my story. Then I went through heartbreak and ended up in Joshua Tree having one of the most personal experiences of my life. It was such a full-circle moment.”

The morning she wrote “Your Hurricane,” she woke at 5 a.m. to watch the sunrise.

“It was perfect weather and there was no one around. It was just desolate and quiet and it felt like such a gift to be in the desert and wrestle with this song,” she recalls. “It was really beautiful because I practiced being in that feeling and being repetitive in what I was trying to write. I call it ‘unraveling,’ and I already kind of knew what I wanted the song to be, but I have to get there. I picture a ball of yarn and it’s like straightening it out.”

While some tracks were written specifically for the project, others, such as the Ross Copperman co-write “Fall Like Rain,” were previously pitched to other artists.

“That’s the song that actually never came out, but Trisha Yearwood recorded it, but then she didn’t put an album out,” Morgan recalls. “It kind of bummed me out that I never got to hear it, but it’s a song that always stayed with me and I always loved playing it.”

Emboldened by her work with Moak, and the creative outpouring in Joshua Tree, Morgan returned to Nashville. She still had a few internal hurdles to face before fully committing to her solo album.

Morgan is no stranger to the studio–she’s offered background vocals on albums from Dierks Bentley, Brett Eldredge and Jordan Davis, among others–but she gained strength and courage to put her own voice front and center from watching powerhouse vocalist Adele.

“I went by myself and saw her perform in London in March 2016. I remember thinking that was one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen because there was so much emotion in her voice alone. When I got back from Joshua Tree and went into the studio, I was just like, ‘I need to get this heartbreak out of my heart. It needs to go somewhere.’ I remembered seeing that show and thinking, ‘I need to put everything into this and let this be where the feelings go.’”

 

 

As a hit songwriter, Morgan was torn about investing time in recording her own music, precious time that could be used to write potential hits for other artists. She credits her publisher Sony/ATV, and songwriting friend and mentor Lori McKenna (who co-wrote the album’s title track and the exquisite “Arms of a Lion”) with helping Morgan gain the confidence to commit to her own music.

“Thankfully Sony/ATV was very supportive and thought it was a very important part of my journey. Troy Tomlinson gave me so many examples of songwriters, like Guy Clark, who wrote for others and made their own records that he is such a fan of.

“And Lori is such a major part of why I was even able to finish the record and why I didn’t give up on it when it was tough,” Morgan says. “It’s such a balance trying to write and do this at the same time. She told me how important it is to have this time to write for myself and make this album. She was like, ‘It’s going to be so worthwhile when it is done.’ I think she said something like, ‘The world needs this record and you need to make it.’ I have known her for about six or seven years now, just through writing, but seeing how her life is, she gets to make records and write with amazing artists and then she tours and then she has the perfect balance of it all together. That has always been my goal to just follow in her footsteps and have my art represented in my own album but I love writing with other people so much. It’s like having two loves.”