Melissa Spillman Launches Management, Artist Development Venture FREETOWN Music Group

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Melissa Spillman

Melissa Spillman has announced the launch of management and artist development company F R E E T O W N Music Group in Nashville. Previously with Neon Cross Music and Capitol Records Nashville, Spillman will combine her experience in A&R, producer management, production coordination, and artist development to create a company that fosters and develops creative freedom and mainstream success.

F R E E T O W N’s roster includes country artists Tyler Dial and Catie Offerman, Nashville pop-rap artist Ellrod, producers Marshall Altman, Dan Fernandez and Brett Boyett, and songwriter/producer/author Jeremy Spillman and The DeVine Devils novel and soundtrack.

“I get to occupy a unique space in Nashville as a professional who can bring high-level experience to both producer management and artist development,” Spillman says. “I think opportunity in the entertainment industry is only broadening, and starting my own company gives me the autonomy and mobility to pursue success with artists and producers I can be personally invested in. I get to work with creators who are grateful and excited to do what we do, and I can’t think of a better group of people to partner with.”

Spillman’s most recent success was as the head of publishing and production of Neon Cross Music, the publishing company that’s home to Brandon Lancaster, lead singer of breakout country band LANCO, the soulful singer/songwriter Devin Dawson, and producer/writer Andrew Petroff. Additionally, she has managed and coordinated recording projects for producers Jay Joyce, busbee and Mikey Reaves for artists Eric Church, Little Big Town, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, The Head and the Heart, Brothers Osborne, and many more.

Spillman can be reached at [email protected].

 

CMA Foundation Commits Over $300K To Advance Partnership with Metro Nashville Public Schools

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The CMA Foundation is continuing its long-standing commitment to Metro Nashville Public Schools by investing more than $320,000 to support initiatives aimed at ensuring the success of music teachers and students across the district. Metro Schools is receiving a direct grant award of $205,000 as well as funding for a landmark music needs assessment survey that will help shape the future of music education in Metro schools. This investment brings CMA’s support of music teachers and education in Nashville to almost $12 million since 2006 – making it one of the largest local, private investments in the district’s public-school system.

“The CMA Foundation is one of our most valuable partners and their funding support helps provide excellence in music education in our schools, in a city known for quality music, and that’s an amazing benefit to our students,” said Dr. Shawn Joseph, MNPS director of schools.

Funds for the 2019 grant award were raised through the CMA’s annual CMA Fest, held in Nashville each June. This grant award will be used to provide side-by-side coaching for music teachers, private lessons for students, and sheet music for choral music programs. The CMA Foundation will also recognize 10 teachers in Metro Schools as one of the Music Teachers of Excellence. Each teacher recognized will receive a $2,500 award and $2,500 will be awarded for each teacher’s school music program.

“Music education has proven to be an effective and invaluable tool for academic achievement and social development,” said Tiffany Kerns, executive director, CMA Foundation. “Now, more than ever, we need to invest in our young people to be the creative, collaborative, free-thinking future our country needs. Through the power of music, we are able to come together and ensure all students have access to music education and our administrators have the support they need to cultivate a thriving program in their community. Expanding our partnership with Metro Nashville Public Schools and working collaboratively on building a strong strategy for sustainability allows us to not just support those in our own backyard, but also help develop a strong model for resources and giving that can be mirrored across the country in our giving and impact.”

The CMA Foundation works to enrich music programs across the country, investing over $25 million to ensure all students have access to a quality music program.

CCM Star Sarah Gaines Dead At 59

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Sarah Gaines

By Robert K. Oermann

Dove Award-winning gospel singer Sarah Gaines, 59, died on Jan. 17, following a struggle with cancer.

As a member of the duo Billy & Sarah Gaines, she regularly topped the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) charts in the 1980s and 1990s. She went on to have a solo career as a children’s entertainer.

Sarah was one of seven children raised in a gospel-singing household in Hampton, Virginia. She and Billy began singing together in 1974 and married in 1977. They sang lead in a group called Living Sacrifice in 1977-80. The act performed on TV’s The 700 Club in 1978.

Working as a duo, they performed in churches, at Christian music festivals and in coffeehouses. One early reviewer praised them as having, “the voices of angels.”

In Virginia, Sarah home schooled their children while Billy worked as a custodian. In 1985, they gambled their life savings on a move to Nashville to break into the music business. Billy took a job as a security guard until his songwriting earned him a publishing contract in Music City. Benson signed the duo and issued Billy & Sarah Gaines as the act’s debut LP in 1986. It yielded “Come Drink at My Table,” “You Are Faithful,” “In His Eyes” and “Risen in Me” as top-10 CCM hits. Sarah’s solo performance on the collection was “The Part That No One Sees.”

The team’s He’ll Find a Way was released in 1988. It contained the No. 1 CCM hits “Always Triumphant” and “How Great His Heart Must Be.” Those first two albums were performed in a pop style. For 1990’s Friends Indeed, Billy and Sarah reverted to the r&b sounds of their youth. “While You Wait” and the album’s title tune became big hits. No One Loves Me Like You (1991) and Love’s the Key (1993) rounded out their Benson contract.

Other Christian-radio favorites by Billy & Sarah Gaines included “Right Here at Home,” “The Same All the Time,” “God’s Amazing Love” and “I Found Someone.” They also had a hit BET video, “That Is Why.” They won a Dove Award for their participation on the 1994 project Generation to Generation. They had three other nominations for gospel’s highest honors. Sarah and Billy also became go-to backup vocalists for Amy Grant, CeCe Winans, dc talk and other CCM stars.

Donna Summer’s producer Michael Omartian became Billy’s cowriter in 1995. The couple signed with Warner/Alliance Records. With Omartian producing, Come On Back was issued in 1996. Anointed, CeCe Winans and Chris Willis provided backing vocals on this critically acclaimed album. In 1997, Sarah and Billy appeared on TNN’s Sam’s Place TV series taped at the Ryman Auditorium and on the TBN special Pat Boone’s Gospel America.

In the 2000s, the couple split up. Sarah went back to college to study early childhood education. She operated a series of successful daycare businesses and was a foster parent.

Her solo albums were geared to a young audience. They included Miss Kitty and the Neighborhood Play Place (2006) and Miss Kitty’s Neighborhood Christmas Show (2007). She emerged as a songwriter on these. Son Jason Gaines produced the records.

Last August, Nashville’s gospel community gathered at an event titled “Love Through Giving” to raise funds for Sarah’s cancer treatments. Among those participating were Juan & Lisa Winans, Angelo & Veronica, Alvin Love, Billy Gaines and CeCe Winans.

Sarah Gaines is survived by sons Nathan and Jason, by daughter Rachel Hockett and by two grandchildren. The funeral was held Saturday at Born Again Church on Trinity Lane. The family requests that memorial donations be made to her church’s building-fund campaign — Church on the Rock Nashville (www.cotrnashville.org/donate) — and/or to Grace Works Ministries (www.graceworksministries.net).

Joey Ebach and Ryland Fisher Sign With VibeCity Music

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Front Row: (L-R:) Ebach, Fisher. Back Row: Chuck Floyd, VibeCity’s Clay Mills and Marty Dodson, Jim Zumwalt

Joey Ebach and Ryland Fisher have both joined VibeCity Music as staff writers. Ebach and Fisher are the first songwriters signed to VibeCity Music.

“I have been mentoring writers for many years through SongTown, an online songwriting community I co-founded with Clay Mills,” said VibeCity Partner Marty Dodson. “We have mentored a number of writers who have moved on to staff writing deals with other publishers or had their songs recorded. Clay and I decided it was time to start our own publishing venture as the next step for SongTown writers who are ready to be staff writers. Our contracts are revolutionary in that they offer our writers unprecedented opportunities to succeed and benefit from their success almost immediately. Being writers ourselves, Clay and I want to put VibeCity writers in the driver’s seats at the beginning of their careers.”

“It became apparent pretty quickly while mentoring Joey and Ryland that they had the same qualities and skills of many of the hit writers I’ve co-written with over the years,” said VibeCity Partner Clay Mills. “It was really a no-brainer to help these guys take it to the next level with VibeCity.”

VibeCity launched in Nashville in late 2018 with SongTown Co-Founders Clay Mills and Marty Dodson at the helm. Mills and Dodson have a combined 30-plus years as songwriters writing No. 1 hits and charting songs that have garnered Grammy nominations, ASCAP and BMI Awards.

Alabama’s Randy Owen Recognized At St. Jude Country Cares 30th Anniversary Celebration

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Randy Owen, his wife Kelly, ALSAC CEO Richard Shadyac, Jr., St. Jude patient Caleb and his mother Kelly stand by a plaque honoring Owen for his dedication to the life-saving mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during a press conference at the Country Cares seminar

Randy Owen was honored by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis recently with a special patient family room dedicated to him in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Country Cares for St. Jude Kids radio program. Since its inception in 1989, led by Alabama’s Owen, Country Cares has pioneered radio philanthropic fundraising and raised more than $800 million for the lifesaving mission of the hospital.

More than 900 people in the country industry, including radio personalities, artists, executives, label reps and media, gathered in Memphis for special performances and industry-insider events to celebrate the special anniversary. Owen has led the charge to establish St. Jude as the charity of choice for the country industry through his 30-year dedication, and Country Cares is anchored by annual radiothons, comprised of 200 radio stations who share the mission of St. Jude with their listeners through various promotions and programming methods.

“Randy Owen has rallied the country music community like no other for 30 years to make a tremendous difference in helping St. Jude fulfill its lifesaving mission for our patients and their families,” says Richard Shadyac Jr., President and CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “He is proof, like our founder Danny Thomas was, that one person can make a remarkable difference in this world. With the help of his friends in the country music industry, he was instrumental in starting the Country Cares for St. Jude Kids program, and we are forever indebted to Randy and his family for their years of generosity.”

“The most important thing I’ll ever do, apart from being a father and a husband, is helping children at St. Jude,” said Owen. “Over the past 30 years, I’ve watched children at St. Jude grow up to be happy, healthy adults. This room dedication shows that the country music industry has made a true impact, and I’m glad I could be part of that.”

Following the Country Cares format, St. Jude radio programs now reach beyond country into other genres including gospel, rock and Hispanic platforms, and because of programs like these, families at St. Jude never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food.

Tim McGraw To Perform New Single For Super Bowl LIII Pregame Show

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Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw will headline the Super Bowl LIII pregame festivities in Atlanta on Sunday (Feb. 3). His performance will take place at the NFL Tailgate Party with his new single “Thought About You” televised live on CBS’s Super Bowl LIII Pregame Show, The Super Bowl Today.

Earlier in the day, Aloe Blacc will perform at the NFL Tailgate Party and will be joined onstage by Atlanta’s David Walker and High Praised for a live televised performance on The Super Bowl Today on CBS.

For updates on Super Bowl LIII festivities, fans may visit SuperBowl.com or follow @SuperBowl on Twitter.

Adams and Reese Consolidates Nashville Operations

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Nashville law firm Adams and Reese has announced the consolidation of its Nashville operations in the firm’s downtown location.

After its longtime building in Nashville’s Music Row area was sold, Adams and Reese’s Music Row attorneys have moved to the firm’s Nashville office at Fifth Third Center, 424 Church Street, joining a group of more than 30 attorneys and government relations professionals in that location. Adams and Reese’s Music Row-area location was at 901 18th Ave. South.

“This is the end of an era for Adams and Reese on Music Row, and we’re saddened to say goodbye to a location we truly loved,” said Lynn Morrow, who served as the Partner in Charge for Adams and Reese’s Music Row office. “While we wish we could have remained housed in this part of the historic community, we were forced to make a change following the sale of our building. It created an exciting opportunity for us to join our colleagues just blocks away, and the move allows us to better collaborate with the entire Adams and Reese team in Nashville,” she added.

Linda Edell Howard, a Partner who opened the Music Row office of Adams and Reese in 2001 and leads the firm’s Entertainment and New Media team, said, “We may have lost our building, but we will never lose our Music Row Spirit. Our team will certainly miss the daily atmosphere of Music Row. However, this will be a seamless transition for our clients and we remain poised at the forefront of the most challenging issues creators and intellectual property owners face.”

Adams and Reese’s Entertainment and New Media team has more than 75 years of combined experience and strength in both the law and the business of entertainment. Team members concentrate their work in the growing and ever-changing entertainment, intellectual property, new media, multimedia, e-commerce, social and business entrepreneur and social network practice areas.

As part of the firm’s greater Global Intellectual Property Team, lawyers in this area are at the forefront of issues facing songwriters, music publishers, recording artists, producers, creators of other works, digital, wireless, social media firms, production companies, ministries, estates and trusts associated with deceased creators, personal managers, celebrities, brands, authors, illustrators, graphic artists, inventors, merchandisers, infomercial marketers, banks, unions, trademark and domain name holders, TV and film personalities and start-ups.

Terry Jennings, Eldest Son Of Waylon Jennings, Dies At 62

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Terry Jennings

Terry Jennings, the eldest son of the late Waylon Jennings, died Friday, Jan. 25, at age 62.

Terry, born on Jan. 21, 1957 was the eldest of four siblings born to the late superstar Jennings and his first wife Maxine Caroll Lawrence.

“I know he touched many of your hearts and he always enjoyed sharing his life adventures and lessons with you all,” said Terry’s son Josh Jennings via a Facebook message. “I still hold many of those lessons with me everyday. This is a hard time for all of us, and I ask that you give the family and I some peace as we are dealing with this great loss.”

As a teen, he spent time on the road working as part his father’s touring crew. In 2016, Jennings released the book Waylon: Tales of My Outlaw Dad. Jennings was also the CEO and founder of music management and publishing company Korban Music Group. According to his bio included in his book Waylon, Jennings also worked for booking agencies, publishing companies and as a talent scout for labels including RCA Records during his career.

 

Industry Ink: Aaron Watson, Station Inn’s J.T. Gray, Dan + Shay

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Aaron Watson Celebrates With Spotify At Ryman Auditorium Show

Pictured (L-R): Brittany Schaffer, Head of Artist & Label Marketing, Spotify Nashville; Watson; Robert Turner, Sr. Director, Label Management and Sales, ADA; Dan Anderson, VP Sales & Marketing, BIG Label Records

Aaron Watson caught up with Spotify Thursday night in Nashville for his Night of Texas at The Ryman. Opening acts included songwriters Liz Rose, Rodney Clawson and Tom Douglas.

 

Station Inn’s J.T. Gray To Be Honored With SERFA Award

J.T. Gray

The Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) will present its highest honor, the SERFA Award, to two couples and two individuals on May 17 during its 12th Annual Conference at the Chattanoogan Hotel. J.T. Gray, four-decade owner of the Station Inn in Nashville, will be an honoree as well as dancer/choreographer Eileen Carson Schatz, musician Mark Schatz, musician/philanthropist Fletcher Bright, and Norman and Nancy Blake.

Norman and Nancy Blake have earned four Grammy nominations, separately and together creating some forty albums. Chattanooga native Norman and his wife Nancy began recording together in 1974 and spent many years thereafter performing, recording, and playing music for the joy of it. Before that, Norman had already played on recordings by Bob Dylan, John Hartford, and Johnny Cash. Fletcher Bright, who passed away in 2017 at 86, belonged to the Dismembered Tennesseans band for seventy years. He flourished as a realtor, led the Three Sisters Festival, and gave back to the geographical and musical community. J.T. Gray has owned Nashville’s foremost bluegrass club, the Station Inn, since 1981. He converted the Inn’s original coffeehouse/jam session format into a performance venue that has survived for the long haul. A pioneer in bringing percussive dance to performing arts stages and the general public, Eileen Carson Schatz, who became a Green Grass Clogger in 1974, co-founded the Fiddle Puppets five years later. She developed the Fiddle Puppets into Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble in 1994. Mark Schatz has played bass in a host of leading bands and with foremost artists including John Hartford, Tony Rice, Spectrum, Tasty Licks, Tim O’Brien, Claire Lynch, and Nickle Creek.

 

Dan + Shay Wraps Sold-Out UK Headlining Tour

Pictured (L-R): Simon Jones (AEG); Shay Mooney; Dan Smyers; Nigel Hassler (CAA); Jason Owen (Sandbox Entertainment); Lisa Ray (Sandbox Entertainment)

Dan + Shay wrapped a sold-out UK headlining run last night (Jan. 24) at the famed O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. The tour included stops in Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Cambridge. AEG presented the multi-Platinum-selling, chart-topping pair with a plaque commemorating the accomplishment. This latest milestone follows a four-week reign at No. 1 on the country airplay charts with their mega-hit single “Speechless.”

Along with their global smash “Tequila,” which was the most-streamed country song released in 2018 and is currently climbing the Adult Contemporary and Pop charts, they held the top two positions on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs for six consecutive weeks – making them the only duo in history to do so. Dan + Shay will perform “Tequila” on the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards on February 10, where they are nominated for both Best Country Duo / Group Performance and Best Country Song.

Bobby Karl Works The Room: Music City’s 2019 Grammy Nominees Party

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Pictured (L-R): Jimi Westbrook, Lee Ann Womack, Kimberly Schlapman, Waylon Payne, and Karen Fairchild. Photo: Ed Rode/WireImage

BOBBY KARL WORKS THE ROOM

Chapter 611

It’s official – 2019 has begun.

I know this because the Grammy Nominee Party took place on Thursday (Jan. 24). This annual event always signifies to me that the New Year is truly underway.

“This really does mark the New Year,” agreed Dale Bobo, “So it does make sense to still say, ‘Happy New Year’ at it.”

“I guess this means I have to start keeping office hours five days a week now,” quipped Chaz Corzine in jest.

Pictured (L-R): Ian Fitchuk, Daniel Tashian. Photo: Courtesy of the Recording Academy/Ed Rode, Getty Images

Not only is it the first big music-biz bash of the year, it is the only one that brings together people from just about all the genres in this town.

“The nominees this year reflect the diversity of music in our community,” said Recording Academy Nashville chapter exec Alicia Warwick.

“Nashville is represented in 32 categories with 120 nominees,” added chapter president Trey Fanjoy. “Our diversity is something we’re incredibly proud of.”

Celebrating at the bash were such nominees as Jason Crabb (gospel), John Prine (Americana), Halestorm (rock), The Isaacs (gospel), Little Big Town (country), Sister Sadie (bluegrass), Mary Gauthier (folk), Kristin Wilkinson (arranging), Lee Ann Womack (Americana), Kenneth Pattingale (engineering), Daniel Tashian & Ian Fitchuk (Album of the Year), Michael W. Smith (CCM), The Martins (gospel), Dave Cobb (Record of the Year), Margo Price (Best New Artist), Anderson East (American Roots) and pianist Gordon Mote (gospel).

Songwriting nominees abounded, not surprising in a town built on song craftsmanship. Nicolle Galyon, David Hodges, Waylon Payne, Jon Nite, Rhett Akins, Jessie Jo Dillon (did you know she is Dean Dillon’s daughter?), Luke Laird, Ross Copperman, Ben Glover, Ben Hayslip, Chase McGill and Jordan Sapp signed up for the merriment. All have pronounced themselves thrilled to be Grammy nominated.

Pictured (L-R): Recording Academy Nashville Chapter Executive Director, Alicia Warwick, GRAMMY nominees Anderson East, Dave Cobb and Recording Academy Nashville Chapter President, Trey Fanjoy. Photo: Courtesy of the Recording Academy/Ed Rode, Getty Images

Legendary Rock n Roll, Country Music and Rockabilly Hall of Fame member Brenda Lee was there. Her classic “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is going into the Grammy Hall of Fame this year. What took the Academy so long?

“I never thought this would happen,” said Brenda. “We cut ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ in 1958, and we knew it was a special song. It was recorded in the Quonset Hut with Owen Bradley and the A-Team and the Anita Kerr Singers.”

Here’s a harmonic convergence. The late Hank Garland played lead guitar on the record. Waylon Payne, who is Grammy nominated this year, portrayed the musician in the movie Hank. Naturally, Waylon and Brenda had a bonding moment.

“I want to thank the Academy for not forgetting us old timers,” added Brenda. “God love you. God bless you. And keep on rockin.’”

Dolly Parton (“Coat of Many Colors”) and Jeannie C. Riley (“Harper Valley P.T.A.”) also have Grammy Hall of Fame recordings this year.

This party always seems extra schmoozy to me. Maybe that’s because it is the first community-wide bash of the year.

Halestorm. Photo: Courtesy of the Recording Academy/Ed Rode, Getty Images

Sharing the warmth and camaraderie were Leslie Fram, Lesley Roberts, Sherod Robertson, Jody Williams, Sally Williams, Lindsey Clark, Lyndsay Cruz (she’s the new ACM Lifting Lives exec), Jordan Reynolds, Jordan Sapp, Brandi Simms, Earle Simmons, Ed Morris, Eddie Perez of the Mavericks, Fletcher Foster, Ronna Rubin and Butch Baker.

Plus, Mark Bright, Mike Sirls, Lori Badgett, Lisa Harless, Dan Hill, Debbie Linn, Jimmy Wheeler, Jeff Balding, Jules Wortman, Joe Chambers, Jeremy Ivey, Terry Hemmings, Tracy Gershon, Alison Jones, Chuck Ainlay, David Corlew, Gary Kraen, George Walker IV, Pat Higdon, Beverly Keel, Nick DiFuscia, Phil Thornton, Dan Hill, Chris Keaton, Frank Liddell, Carla Wallace, Erika Wollam Nichols and just about every other fabulon you’ve ever met.

The event took place at Loew’s Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel. The catering department hit a home run with sweet & sour chicken sandwiches, beet & blue cheese salad, bourbon bacon tarts, lobster pasta, smoked-trout dip sliders, crackers, nuts and heirloom cheeses. Desserts included salted caramel brownie pudding cups, French macaroons, and chocolate truffles.

The Birdsong Trio embellished the cocktail party with lovely jazz instrumentals. I led the cheers for their efforts.

“A Grammy nomination is a true symbol of dedication to your craft,” said Fanjoy. “Please give all of these nominees a thundering round of applause. You guys have a great time!”

We did.

Pictured (L-R): Alicia Warwick, Chase McGill, Jessie Jo Dillon, Trey Fanjoy. Photo: Courtesy of the Recording Academy/Ed Rode, Getty Images