Touring Career Workshop Celebrates Ninth Successful Year

(L-R): Chris Lisle, moderator; Chris Cobb, owner, Exit/In; Melissa Bubela, production manager, Ascend Amphitheater, Nashville; David Graham, director of technical operations, Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena  Photos: Jason Davis/2019 Touring Career Workshop

The ninth annual Touring Career Workshop held in Nashville on Nov. 6 at the Soundcheck Annex attracted more than 350 attendees.

Created by Chris Lisle, owner of Chris Lisle Lighting Design and Erik Parker, CLLD production designer, the event featured panels of experts on topics geared towards everyone from tour managers to roadies to help navigate the touring life. Among the topics covered were taxes, retirement planning, health insurance options, mental and physical health, real estate investing and work safety. The event was completely free of charge and included networking opportunities with top lighting, sound and production companies.

During the evening Tom Addison, Dierks Bentley’s tour manager, was honored with the Sam ‘Old Skool’ Harden award for his dedication to mentoring those coming up through the ranks. Harden was a designer and lighting tech for Bandit Lites.

(L-R): Erik Parker, co-founder and associate director, Touring Career Workshop; Tom Addison, Dierks Bentley tour manager and recipient of the 2019 Sam ‘old skool’ Harden Award; Savannah Harden; Chris Lisle, co-founder and executive director, TCW

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.

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