Chris Stapleton, Shawn Mendes, P!nk To Honor Dolly Parton At MusiCares Person Of The Year Concert

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Chris Stapleton, Shawn Mendes, Norah Jones, P!nk, Mark Ronson, Leon Bridges, and Lauren Daigle will perform at the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute concert honoring Dolly Parton on Feb. 8, 2019. Additional guest performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Parton, who will close out the evening’s performances, is being honored as the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year, in recognition of her significant creative accomplishments and longtime support of many charitable causes. Proceeds from the annual Person of the Year tribute, now in its 29th year, provide essential support for MusiCares, the charity founded by the Recording Academy that ensures music people have a place to turn in times of financial, medical, and personal need.

The MusiCares Person of the Year gala will begin with a reception and silent auction offering an exclusive selection of luxury items, VIP experiences, and one-of-a-kind celebrity memorabilia for bidding guests. The reception and silent auction will be followed by a gala dinner, a live auction, a tribute concert featuring renowned musicians and other artists, and the award presentation.

Past MusiCares Person of the Year honorees include: Tony Bennett, Bono, Natalie Cole, Phil Collins, David Crosby, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Gloria Estefan, Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Don Henley, Billy Joel, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Carole King, Paul McCartney, Luciano Pavarotti, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, Lionel Richie, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, and Neil Young.

Luke Combs, Chris Janson, Jake Owen To Join Luke Bryan’s Crash My Playa Fiesta

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Luke Bryan’s Crash My Playa – 5th Year Fiesta has added Luke Combs, Chris Janson, and Jake Owen as performers for the destination event taking place Jan. 23-26, 2019 in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

Bryan will headline two of the four nights, Combs will headline one night, and Thomas Rhett will headline one evening, along with performances by Dustin Lynch and Lauren Alaina. Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

The event’s host resort, the Barceló Maya, is sold-out with limited packages remaining at one of three other carefully selected tropical resorts. At all locations fans will enjoy all-inclusive food and drink, 24-hour concierge service, convenient nightly shuttle transportation to the main stage performances, daily onsite activities, offsite adventures like visiting Chichen Itza, zip-lining, and ATV tours, excursions including day trips to Tulum, official Crash My Playa 5th Year Fiesta merchandise packages, and more.

 

Chris Young Heads To UK In 2019 With Losing Sleep World Tour

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Chris Young is heading back across the pond to the UK in 2019 for several limited engagement dates as part of his “Chris Young Losing Sleep World Tour.” Headlining stops are planned for Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London in May, and tickets for the shows go on sale Friday, Nov. 23 at chrisyoungcountry.com.

The RCA Records Nashville artist made his inaugural trip to the UK in 2013 and has toured there four of the last six years. Special guest on the UK leg of the “Chris Young Losing Sleep World Tour” dates is Lindsay Ell.

Chris Young Losing Sleep World Tour 2019 UK Dates:
Sunday, May 5: Manchester, England Manchester Academy
Monday, May 6: Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow O2 Academy
Wednesday, May 8: Birmingham, England Birmingham O2 Academy
Thursday, May 9: London, England London Eventim Apollo

Women’s Music Business Association Reveals Officers, Award Winners

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Pictured (L-R): 2019 WMBA Officers: Emily Bukowski, Lauren Simon, Mary Larimer Rochelle, Charlene Bryant, Mallory Allgood, Kelsey Wise, Thalia Ewing

WMBA, The Women’s Music Business Association, held their annual Wonder Woman Awards on Nov. 8 at Le Sel. Members and alumni of the organization ranging throughout all areas of the music industry gathered to celebrate members’ accomplishments and to announce the new officers for the upcoming year. The event recognized several outstanding women in the organization:

Award Winners:

Wonder Woman Award: Charlene Bryant, Sony Music Entertainment
MAC Award: Jessica Valiyi, Sony Music Entertainment
Extra Mile Award: Kelsey Wise, Big Deal Music Group
Unsung Hero Award: Robin Earl, Gray Earl Productions
Movin On Up Award: Dana Dickie, Warner Music Group
Ambassador Award: Maddy Sundquist, MADKAT Management
Spirit Award: Mary Larimer Rochelle, Paradigm Talent Agency
Big Sister Award: Liz Motley, Motley Media
Rookie Of The Year Award: Katie Maifeld, VER

WMBA 2019 Officers:

President: Lauren Simon, Big Machine Label Group
Vice President: Charlene Bryant, Sony Music Entertainment
Secretary: Emily Bukowski, Big Machine Label Group
Treasurer: TBA
Events & Education Co-Chairs: Mary Larimer, Paradigm Talent Agency
& Mallory Allgood, Big Machine Label Group
Membership & Marketing Co-Chairs: Thalia Ewing, BMG Rights Management
& and Kelsey Wise, Big Deal Music Group

Officers were elected by current WMBA members and they will begin their terms in January 2019.

Pictured (L-R): Charlene Bryant, Jessica Valiyi, Ellen Mundy, Lauren Simon

Tom Roland Honored With 2018 CMA Media Achievement Award

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Pictured (L-R): Tom Roland, Bill Anderson at “The 52nd Annual CMA Awards,” on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Photo: Jamie Schramm/CMA

Billboard journalist Tom Roland was presented with the 2018 CMA Media Achievement Award backstage Wednesday, Nov. 14 during The 52nd Annual CMA Awards at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Country Music Hall of Fame member and three-time CMA Awards winner Bill Anderson addressed journalists during the CMA Awards press conference, surprising Roland with the honor.

In presenting the 37th recipient with the award, Anderson said to press conference attendees, “Even the pros look to Tom Roland. He’s one of country music’s bedrock authorities.”

“At every significant juncture in my life, some song was there to act as comfort, to punctuate the joy or to assure me that I wasn’t entirely alone,” said Roland. “Music is really important, and to get an award for simply trying to convey little pieces of how it works—or how it’s made and marketed—is awesome. And surprisingly meaningful. Much appreciation for this!”

After writing about country music for more than 35 years, Roland is one of the genre’s most trusted experts. For the last eight years, he’s worked as the editor and lead writer for Billboard’s weekly newsletter, Billboard Country Update.

Roland spent seven years as the senior music writer for Nashville’s daily newspaper, The Tennessean, wrote thousands of hours of network radio programs for Westwood One and the United Stations Radio Networks, and compiled credits in The Hollywood Reporter, The Orange County Register, Country Music magazine, Country Weekly and GACtv.com, among others. He spent four years as the music consultant for CMT’s game show, The Singing Bee, and he’s authored two books—The Billboard Book Of Number One Country Hits and the Diamond Rio autobiography Beautiful Mess: The Story Of Diamond Rio. Roland also contributed to a Country Music Foundation reference book, The Encyclopedia of Country Music.

Perhaps the most important piece of his career puzzle is RolandNote.com, the Ultimate Country Music Database. With 60,000 events from country music history catalogued, it’s an ever-growing resource that’s frequently used by Nashville journalists as a key fact-checking source.

The CMA Media Achievement Award recognizes outstanding achievements in the media as they relate to country music. Print and Internet journalists, columnists, authors, and editors; television writers, producers and bookers; and syndicated radio reporters are eligible to win this award. A task force of industry publicists nominates a slate of five candidates for consideration by CMA member publicists. The publicists select the winner, which is presented to the CMA Awards and Recognition Committee and then approved by the CMA Board of Directors.

Tennessee Entertainment Commission, Recording Academy Launch Scoring Incentives Program

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The Tennessee Entertainment Commission (TEC), with support from the Nashville and Memphis Chapters of the Recording Academy, has launched a new Scoring Incentives Program for companies producing original music scores for films, television, video games, and other digital media projects in Tennessee.

TEC’s scoring incentives offer up to a 25 percent rebate on qualified expenditures for music scoring projects that spend at least $50,000 in the Nashville area or at least $25,000 in other parts of Tennessee. The rebate covers costs for musicians, producers, engineers, recording studios, instruments, and other qualified expenses.

More than 6,725 Tennesseans work in the recording industry across nearly 1,100 businesses. Tennessee has the highest concentration of musicians, music directors, and publishers in the United States. It also has the second-highest concentration of sound engineers.

“We are excited to launch Tennessee’s first music-focused incentives program,” said Tennessee Entertainment Commission Executive Director Bob Raines. “Scoring has been a growth sector of Tennessee’s music industry in recent years. It is our goal to make Tennessee the No. 1 destination for these types of media projects and to create high-quality job opportunities for Tennessee musicians and engineers, while expanding our existing production infrastructure.”

“As the home to so many talented working music creators, this new incentive further emphasizes Tennessee’s dedication to music and the composers who create some of our favorite soundtracks,” said Daryl P. Friedman, the Recording Academy’s Chief Industry, Government & Member Relations Officer. “More than a decade in the making, we thank Gov. Bill Haslam, the Tennessee Entertainment Commission, and the leaders of the Academy’s Nashville and Memphis Chapters for creating more opportunities for music creators across all sectors of the recording industry.”

“It only makes sense for us to leverage Tennessee’s unparalleled concentration of music talent and production services to attract additional music scoring projects,” Raines added. “As Tennessee attracts more scoring projects through TEC’s new program, it will allow our creative class and content creators to showcase their superb quality to audiences across the globe.”

“I have always wished that the arts were better supported in America, and this incentive gives me hope that this is happening,” said John McBride, owner of Blackbird Studio in Nashville. “There is a substantial amount of work in the field of orchestral recording for not just music projects but also films, television, and gaming. Nashville is the perfect place for this recording to be produced. We have state-of-the-art studios, producers, engineers, composers, arrangers, and players. I believe this will increase the incentive to use Nashville as a focal point in future orchestral productions, which is great for both the players and production people involved, as well as the entire state of Tennessee. This city has world-class production capability and we need to show the world.”

Weekly Register: Kane Brown, Zac Brown Band Top Country Sales Charts

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Country Albums

As previously reported, Kane Brown topped both the country albums and overall Top 200 albums chart with the debut of his sophomore Sony project, Experiment, according to Nielsen Soundscan. The project moved 124K (105K album only). Brown’s previous self-titled album is at No. 5 (with 12K), giving him two albums in the top 5 this week.

Luke Combs‘ This One’s For You is at No. 2 with 22K, followed by Dan+Shay‘s self-titled project at No. 3 with 14K. Chris Stapleton‘s Traveller is at No. 4 with 13K.

Country Streaming

Kane Brown. Photo: Joseph Llanes

Kane Brown also tops this week’s country streaming chart (again), as “Heaven” continues to reign at the chart’s zenith. This week, the song was streamed  7.19 million times. Dan+Shay‘s “Speechless” is at No. 2, with 7.17 million streams. Brown’s “Lose It” is at No. 3 with 7.12 million streams. Dan+Shay’s “Tequila” is at No. 4 with 6.8 million streams, followed by Chris Stapleton‘s “Tennessee Whiskey” at No. 5 with 6.2 million streams.

 

Country Digital Song Sales

Zac Brown Band tops this week’s digital song sales chart with “Someone I Used To Know,” garnering 16.6K. Luke Combs’ “She Got The Best Of Me” is at No. 2 with 11.2K. Dan+Shay takes the third and fourth slots, with “Speechless” at 11K and their previous single, “Tequila,” at 9K. Brett Young’s “Mercy” is at No. 5 with 7K.

Warner Exec, Hit Songwriter Eddie Reeves Passes

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Eddie Reeves

Longtime Warner Bros. Records Nashville executive Eddie Reeves died on Sunday, Nov. 18, in Texas.

Reeves, 79, had a varied music business career, having worked in song publishing, as a recording artist and in personal management prior to his record label leadership. He was also a hit songwriter.

He was a native of Amarillo, Texas, who began playing guitar and writing songs as a high school student. He attended the University of Texas in Austin. Reeves formed a band there called The Nighthawks, and it recorded two singles for the Dot subsidiary Hamilton Records.

In 1964, Reeves went to New York to be the representative of Norman Petty Productions. While on the East Coast, he was hired as a song plugger, recording artist and songwriter by United Artists. Most of his career over the next two decades took place in L.A.

In 1968, he joined UA’s Los Angeles office. During his subsequent tenure with the publishing company, he worked with such singer-songwriters as Billy Edd Wheeler, Andy Kim and Mac Davis. His own songwriting career took off around this same time. His co-written “Rings” was initially a 1971 hit for pop’s Cymarron and country’s Tompall Glaser & The Glaser Brothers. The song was revived by Lobo in 1974. Reeves co-wrote “All I Ever Need Is You,” a pop hit for Sonny & Cher in 1971 and revived as a country duet by Kenny Rogers & Dottie West in 1979. He also co-wrote the Ray Charles 1971 hit “Don’t Change On Me.”

In 1974, Reeves was hired as a West Coast vice president at Chappell Music. While with that firm, he signed a then-unknown Jim Ed Norman, among many other singer-songwriters.

He launched his own music publishing company, Quixotic Music, around 1977. His sideline business, Eddie Reeves Music, managed such pop stars as Kim Carnes and Jules Shear.

After a hiatus from the industry, Eddie Reeves moved to Nashville. Jim Ed Norman was now the head of the Warner Bros. Records Nashville division. He named Reeves as General Manager of the Warner-Nashville office in 1984.

Eddie Reeves became a Warner vice president in 1989 and an executive vice president in 1999, when he retired. He became a board member of the CMA and was a 1991 graduate of Leadership Music.

Following his retirement, he moved back to Texas. He died in Houston after a brief illness. Eddie Reeves is survived by his wife Lena, and three children. Arrangements are pending.

Country Radio Personality Bobby Bones Wins ‘Dancing With The Stars’

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Bobby Bones, Sharna Burgess celebrate their Season 27 Dancing With The Stars win.

iHeartMedia country radio personality Bobby Bones scored an upset victory Monday evening (Nov. 19), as he and dance partner Sharna Burgess won the 27th season of Dancing With The Stars.

Monday’s live finale found Bones and Burgess as one of the four remaining couples, competing against Alexis Ren and Alan Bersten, Milo Manheim and Witney Carson, and Evanna Lynch and Keo Motsepe.

Shortly after being named the Season 27 champion, Bones said, “Thank you to the people, thank you to Sharna for making all this possible.”

After his win, it was announced that Bones, along with Mary Lou Retton, Joe Amabile, Juan Pablo Di Pace, John Schneider and Manheim, has joined the Dancing with the Stars: Live! A Night to Remember tour, which begins Dec. 15.

Big Loud Records Adds Candice Watkins In VP Role

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Candice Watkins

Big Loud Records has added Candice Watkins as the label’s new VP, Marketing, effective Monday Nov. 26.

“I am excited to be joining the Big Loud family,” shares Watkins. “I have long admired Clay [Hunnicutt], Seth [England], and all the Big Loud partners as they have built this great company marked by smart and innovative team members, forward-thinking strategies, and extremely talented artists. I can’t wait to jump in with my new team and do what Big Loud does best.”

After beginning her journey at Boston’s Northeastern University and Los Angeles’ USC, Watkins’ Nashville career stops include Red Light Management, mobile marketing and promotion company Mozes Inc., Borman Entertainment as Keith Urban’s day-to-day manager, Martingale Entertainment managing Hunter Hayes, and her own company, First22, a consulting firm that she continues aimed at pastors, public speakers, and worship leaders.

Her most recent role was as the Senior Director of Marketing & Artist Development at Universal Music Group Nashville, overseeing a quarter of the label group’s roster including Dierks Bentley, Lady Antebellum, Shania Twain, Vince Gill, Lauren Alaina, Kip Moore, Kassi Ashton, Mickey Guyton and more. There she developed and executed full marketing plans and campaigns, acting as a central hub for the label group.

“We couldn’t be happier with the rapid growth of Big Loud Records in the last few years,” says Big Loud partner Seth England. “One of the most exciting parts of that is getting the chance to hire the progressive executives of tomorrow. Candice Watkins is the epitome of what we look for when adding teammates. She is an effective and forward thinking executive. She will make us better. I’m thankful she chose to join us on our mission.”

Big Loud Records President Clay Hunnicutt agrees, highlighting Watkins’ instincts and big-picture vision as it relates to the company’s innovative business model.

“Candice is an incredible talent that we are VERY lucky to have join the Big Loud family,” says Hunnicutt. “With her knowledge, experience, and approach, she is the perfect person to continue taking our organization and artists to the next level. We know we’ll look back years from now and see this day as a pivotal moment!”

Watkins can be reached at [email protected].