Morgan Evans, Seaforth Honored At APRA Music Awards

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Seaforth (Mitchell Thompson and Thomas Jordan) accepting the award for Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year – Nashville.

The Global APRA Music Awards completed the second of three around-the-world stops, with awards handed out last night in Nashville at Clementine Hall. The awards, hosted by O’Shea, were presented by APRA AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society) and given to Nashville-based Australasian songwriters, composers and publishers achieving artistic excellence and commercial success.

The Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year Nashville went to Mitchell Thompson and Thomas Jordan of country-pop duo Seaforth. They released their debut EP Love That on Sony Nashville in 2019 and have been touring in the States. They return to Australia this month for CMC Rocks and a Sydney headline show.

The Overseas Recognition Award Nashville was presented by two longtime Nashville-via-Australia songwriters, Kylie Sackley and Lindsay Rimes, and awarded to Rick Price. Artist manager Gina Mendello presented the Distinguished Services Award Nashville to world-renowned guitarist and songwriter Tommy Emmanuel, who has been playing live and wowing audiences since his childhood in Australia. With a deep discography and a non-stop touring schedule, Emmanuel’s fingerpicking style is lauded for its virtuosity. He has collaborated with Jason Isbell, Mark Knopfler, Rodney Crowell, among countless others, and is one of just a few Certified Guitar Players in the world, as named by his hero Chet Atkins.

Chris DeStefano presented Morgan Evans with the Outstanding International Achievement Award Nashville for his global success. Evans’ ‘Day Drunk’ collaboration with Destefano and Lindy Robbins was the 2019 APRA Music Awards Country Work of the Year and his single ‘Kiss Somebody’ was a No. 1 Country Aircheck/Mediabase hit and made Evans one of country music’s ones to watch.

The final award of the night, Songwriter of the Year Nashville, was presented to Phil Barton, who was introduced by his good friend and Grammy-winning songwriter Liz Rose. Barton relocated to Nashville in 2005 and has written hits for Lee Brice (“A Woman Like You”), Sara Evans, David Nail and fellow award winner Morgan Evans. Recently, he’s been writing with the next wave of country stars American Young, Catherine McGrath, and Kalsey Kulyk.

“It’s wonderful to celebrate the nominees, performers, presenters, and our special honorees with the Nashville community, a community of songwriters,” said APRA Chair Jenny Morris. “A lot of our members work behind-the-scenes crafting songs day in and day out, playing a vital role in the Nashville music ecosystem, and we’re here to acknowledge all the hard work and artistry they contribute,” said APRA AMCOS Chief Executive Dean Ormston.

>The Nashville awards came on the heels of a similar event in Los Angeles (Feb. 26) and ahead of London (March 6) events.

BREAKING: Pam Tillis Revealed As Featured Speaker For 2020 Rising Women On The Row

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Pam Tillis

MusicRow is honored to announce Pam Tillis as the featured speaker at MusicRow‘s Rising Women on the Row breakfast on Wednesday, March 25 at 8:30 a.m. at the Omni Nashville Hotel.

Guests will be treated to an on-stage interview with Tillis and MusicRow Publisher/Owner Sherod Robertson.

The previously announced Rising Women on the Row honorees for 2020 are Jen Conger (FBMM, Business Manager), JoJamie Hahr (BBR Music Group/BMG, VP Marketing), Mandy Gallagher Morrison (City National Bank, Vice President/Senior Relationship Manager), Missy Roberts(Universal Music Publishing Group, Senior Creative Director), Jennie Smythe (Girlilla Marketing, CEO) and Stephanie Wright (UMG Nashville, Senior VP, A&R). Read more about the honorees here.

Tickets can be purchased here.

City National Bank, Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, and Loeb & Loeb are the Presenting Sponsors for the 2020 Rising Women on the Row event.

A special performance, sponsored by Radio Disney Country, will also be announced soon.

As the child of country music royalty, Pam Tillis was determined from a young age to find her own way in music as a singer and songwriter. After many false starts with her own recording career, including a pop single on Elektra and 1984’s “Above And Beyond The Doll Of Cutey” for Warner Brothers, Tillis came to the attention of Tim Dubois who headed up the Nashville office of Arista records.

After much soul searching, Tillis made the commitment to make an honest country record. The album Put Yourself In My Place yielded two No. 1 songs, two top five singles, and one top twenty hit, and in its first year the album was certified Gold. Tillis followed this success with three Platinum albums on Arista, including Homeward Looking Angel in 1992, Sweethearts Dance in 1994 and Greatest Hits in 1997. Tillis achieved six No. 1 songs during this time including “Shake the Sugar Tree,” “Mi Vida Loca,” “When You Walk In The Room,” “In Between Dances,” “Don’t Tell Me What To Do,” and “Maybe It Was Memphis,” while 14 of Pam’s other singles landed in the top ten and top twenty.

Tillis fell in love with music at an early age. Band, chorus, talent shows, church and the creative community of Nashville all helped to shape the young singer. Growing up, Pam was in a variety of bands, spanning from jazz and alternative country to top 40. She sang demos and lent her voice to many national jingles including Coca Cola, Country Time Lemonade and a Coors Silver Bullet with country superstar, Alan Jackson. At the same time, Tillis worked as a staff writer for Elektra Asylum Publishing and later took a job writing for Warner Brothers Publishing, which resulted in her songs being recorded by some of the biggest names throughout all genres of music, including artists like Chaka Khan, Juice Newton, Dan Seals, Gloria Gaynor, Conway Twitty and the top 10 hit “Someone Else’s Trouble Now” for Highway 101.

Tillis has performed on the stages of Broadway in New York, modeled on the pages of Glamourmagazine and is a proud member of the Grand Ole Opry. Some of Tillis’ most memorable award moments are being a 3-time CMA award winner including the prestigious 1994’s Female Vocalist Of The Year Award, and being nominated multiple times for Grammy’s Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1993 for “Maybe It Was Memphis,” in 1996 for “Mi Vida Loca,” and in 1998 for “All The Good Ones Are Gone.” Tillis is also proud to be a 9-time Academy of Country Music Award nominee, a 2-time Grammy award winner and 6-time Grammy nominee, and an American Music Award’s nominee.

Tillis has celebrated an IBMA award win in 2004 for Recorded Event Of The Year “Livin’ Lovin’ Losin’” and most recently a 2012 IBMA Song Of The Year nomination for co-writing Dale Ann Bradley’s “Somewhere South Of Crazy”.

Though Tillis has rolled easily with the tides and has drawn something from every new twist the ever-changing country music world has shown her, she has always insisted on writing and cutting songs that speak from the soul. The results have been records that emanate an almost painful beauty. She’s garnered more than 30 charting singles on Billboard charts, and 10 studio albums including her favorite, the critically acclaimed 2002 It’s All Relative (a tribute to her father, the great Mel Tillis), and three other releases Rhinestoned, Recollection and Just In Time For Christmas off her own label, Stellar Cat Records. In 2012 Red River Entertainment released Dos Divas a country duo album with fellow superstar Lorrie Morgan under the name Grits and Glamour.

Tillis’ star continues to shine brightly in the third decade of her career. She will release her eleventh studio album, Looking For A Feeling, April 24 on Stellar Cat Records via OneRPM Distribution, and is currently touring extensively on her own as well as with her Grits And Glamour tour partner, country star, Lorrie Morgan.

Taylor Swift Is IFPI’s Global Recording Artist of 2019

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Taylor Swift has been named the world’s best-selling recording artist of 2019 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the organization that represents the recorded music industry worldwide. This is the second time Swift has won the award, as she also received the accolade in 2014.

Swift had another hugely successful year in 2019, releasing her seventh studio album, Lover, in August. The album debuted at No. 1 in more than 10 countries and reached three million album equivalent sales worldwide by the end of its first week of release. Three singles were released from the album last year, including “ME!” featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco, “You Need To Calm Down,” and the title track, “Lover.” “ME!”opened at number one on the global Spotify charts.

“Taylor Swift is the epitome of a truly global star,” said Frances Moore, chief executive of IFPI. “She continues to grow as an artist and maintains an incredibly strong connection with her fanbase, whilst continuing to evolve her sound with each album. It is a pleasure to be able to present her with the Global Recording Artist of the Year award for the second time.”

Swift is the recipient of the seventh IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Award, which reflects an artist’s worldwide success across digital and physical music formats, from streams to vinyl. Previous recipients of this prestigious award also include One Direction (2013), Adele (2015), Drake (2016 & 2018) and Ed Sheeran (2017).

The IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year Award and Top 10 chart measures consumption across all formats (including streaming channels, digital and physical album and singles sales) and all countries. It is weighted based on the relative value of each method of consumption.

IFPI Top 10 Global Recording Artists of 2019

1.Taylor Swift
2. Ed Sheeran
3. Post Malone
4. Billie Eilish
5. Queen
6. Ariana Grande
7. BTS
8. Drake
9. Lady Gaga
10. The Beatles

Cody Johnson Celebrates Gold Status For “With You I Am”

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Cody Johnson and Shelby Kennedy (VP, Entertainment Relations TuneCore)

Cody Johnson, who is a current ACM New Male Artist of the Year nominee ahead of the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards, is celebrating Gold status from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Johnson’s song “With You I Am” —which he released independently, before striking a joint venture deal between his own COJO Music and major label Warner Music Nashville in 2018— has earned the download and streaming equivalent of 500,000 units. The track was the lead single from his 2016 album Gotta Be Me, which he released on COJO Music and distributed via TuneCore. Though Johnson released the single and album without a national radio campaign, Gotta Be Me landed at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.

His first album released via COJO Music/Warner Music Nashville, Ain’t Nothin’ To It, earned Johnson his first No. 1 album on the country albums chart. The album produced the 2018 single “On My Way To You,” which has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.

He is currently opening for Miranda Lambert’s headlining tour, in addition to his own sold-out gigs.

Rhonda Vincent Invited To Join Opry Family

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Jeannie Seely with Rhonda Vincent. Photo: ©Grand Ole Opry/ Chris Hollo

Rhonda Vincent was surprised on stage at the Grand Ole Opry this weekend by Opry member Jeannie Seely with an invitation to become an Opry member. She will be officially inducted into the Opry family on March 24.

Vincent had just performed her 2019 bluegrass chart-topper “Like I Could,” (a tune co-written by Seely), and was truly surprised upon being invited, reacting by twice asking Seely if she was serious. Vincent then replied, “100% percent yes. Oh my gosh! I grew up listening to the Opry. Thank you dear God!”

Following the invitation, Seely welcomed several of the Opry’s women of country to the stage, including Sharon and Cheryl White, Connie Smith, and Vincent to perform “Those Memories” center stage in the Opry’s circle.

“Throughout her award-winning career, Rhonda has always made time to visit us at the Opry,” said Opry Vice President and Executive Producer Dan Rogers. “She is a force of nature on stage, and a friend to fellow artists and fans alike behind the scenes. Her songs have a home among the many styles of music we celebrate at the Opry for the rest of her career.”

Pictured (L-R): Rhonda Vincent, Sharon White, Jeannie Seely, Cheryl White, & Connie Smith. ©Grand Ole Opry/ Photo By: Chris Hollo