Hon. Nancy VanReece Joins Music City Roots

Hon. Nancy VanReece will join the Music City Roots team May 1 in the newly-created position of Vice President, Public Affairs and Business Development. The longtime community leader and Metro Council Member will represent the show and the new Roots Barn, a 1,000-person capacity music venue set to open in Madison, Tenn. in early 2022.

VanReece is a veteran of the music business and beyond with city-shaping achievements in the arts, marketing, social media, organization-building, and public service. She was instrumental in bringing Music City Roots to Madison, helping to secure the land, negotiating innumerable legal details, and working to integrate the Roots Barn into the emerging Madison Station Blvd development, which ties together a future park, historic Amqui Station, FiftyForward Madison Station, a tree-lined complete street, and a future residential/commercial district.

VanReece got her start in 1983 as an announcer and program director for three radio stations in both Texas and Oklahoma, before moving to Nashville in 1986 to continue in artist management, music publishing, and marketing. She worked as Sr. Licensing Executive at BMI from 1998-2007, specializing in the corporate and healthcare markets. VanReece was awarded the Steine Public Leadership in the Arts Award in 2017, was named by the Business Journal as one of the most Influential Women of the Year in Nashville for 2019, and was noted on the Nashville Post INCharge List for Policy in Government & Politics in 2021.

“Everything I’ve done for the last 40 years in the music business has given me the unique skill set to help put together a place where all people feel like the music of their roots has a home,” VanReece said. “The people involved are my kind of people. We have the vision to build something that lasts. Long after I’m gone, there will still be music at the Roots Barn. This is will be a place where stories will be told, lives will be inspired and memories will be made. I am so very happy to be invited to join this team and look forward to engaging other brands and organizations in partnership.”