My Music Row Story: Warner Chappell Music’s Jessi Vaughn Stevenson

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Jessi Vaughn Stevenson

The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

Jessi Vaughn Stevenson is VP, A&R and Digital at Warner Chappell Music (WCM) Nashville, where she strategizes innovative opportunities and guidance for songwriters and artists. With a proven track record of success, Stevenson has helped advance the careers of influential country music creators, including Jessi Alexander, Aaron Raitiere, Rhett Akins, Parker McCollum, Riley Green, Hailey Whitters, Morgan Wallen, Randy Montana, Will Bundy, Lee Miller and Little Big Town, among others.

Born and raised in Nolensville, Tennessee, Stevenson honed her industry acumen during her time at Belmont University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Business and gained valuable experience through roles at CMT, Warner Brothers Records, Bill Silva Entertainment and SoundExchange. In 2015, she founded JV Writer Management, successfully supporting the careers of award-winning songwriters Jessi Alexander and Jon Randall.

At WCM, Stevenson champions diverse talent across genres, identifying and developing the next generation of hitmakers. While dedicated to her professional endeavors, Stevenson finds her greatest joy in motherhood and family.

Stevenson will be honored as part of MusicRow‘s Rising Women on the Row class of 2025 on March 20 at the Omni Nashville Hotel. Read more about the event here.

Photo: Courtesy of Stevenson

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Nolensville, about 30 minutes from here.

What was your childhood like?

Very normal. My parents are married, I have two older brothers. My mom’s a nurse, and my dad worked for the post office. Very blue-collar, normal family.

Were you musical?

No. My oldest brother can do anything he puts his mind to, so he taught himself to play guitar. Music was a big part of my life, like it is for everyone, especially in your formative years. But my real interest came from discovering new music in film and television.

When we were young, we didn’t have digital platforms, so music discovery happened through the radio or film and TV. I loved learning about new indie bands and obscure songs that were featured. I originally thought I wanted to do music supervision.

Photo: Courtesy of Stevenson

How did you know what that was?

I think I Googled it. I wanted to know who picked out the songs, so I looked it up. That was probably around 2008 when I started digging into it. I did well in school because I worked really hard, but I wasn’t naturally great at any subject. I was always bossy and very organized, and I loved music, so I thought I could combine those things and work on the business side.

I grew up next door to a man named George A. Collier—he was an executive at Capitol Records in L.A. in the ’60s. He and his family retired in Nolensville. Growing up close to Nashville, I always knew the music business was a thing.

Photo: Courtesy of Stevenson

So you were ready to pursue it by the time you got to college?

Yes. I really wanted to go to school in L.A. because of the music supervision angle. I loved country music, but L.A. felt like the place for that career. I had family there, so I visited often and toured Pepperdine, but something felt off. Then I visited Belmont and immediately knew it was the right place. Belmont had the Belmont West program, so I could do both Nashville and L.A. It was perfect.

What was college like for you?

Belmont was great. I lived on campus my freshman year and was determined to have a career in the music industry. At the time, you couldn’t intern until you’d taken an internship lab class, which wasn’t until later in college. I didn’t want to wait, so I found my own opportunities.

My roommate won a singing competition to perform with Brett James and Hillary Lindsey. I went with her to the show and met Brett, who introduced me to his cousin, Charles Dixon. Charles ran an event series called Music City Hit Makers, and I asked him for a coffee meeting. I offered to assist him for free, and that led to me helping with their shows. Through that, I met Jessi Alexander and started babysitting for her.

Photo: Courtesy of Stevenson

When I went to Belmont West in 2015, Jessi called and asked if I’d work for her and her husband, Jon Randall. He didn’t have a publishing deal at the time, and needed help with his calendar, catalog and corporate gigs, and Jessi needed assistance with things her publisher didn’t cover. I had no idea what I was doing, but I said yes.

How did that transition into your career?

After that summer, I was offered another internship at CMT, but I told Jessi and Jon I’d rather focus on them full-time if they could help me meet my financial needs. They agreed, and I took on more responsibilities. Eventually, I wanted to move away from the family side of the job and focus more on music. They introduced me to other writers, and I started assisting Connie Harrington and doing production assistant work for Chris DeStefano. I was building a writer management career before I even graduated.

Then Jessi signed with THiS Music and introduced me to Rusty Gaston and Anna Weisband. They had an open position, but I wasn’t sure it was the right fit. Rusty told me I should meet Ben Vaughn at Warner Chappell, and coincidentally, Jessi had already set up a meeting for me with him. Before the meeting, Ben’s assistant quit, so what was supposed to be an introduction turned into an informal interview. We hit it off, and he offered me the job.

Photo: Courtesy of Stevenson

What do you remember about becoming Ben’s assistant?

I remember they cleaned out a closet—truly remodeled a closet. [Laugh] The team was growing. When Ben got there, he got his lay of the land, and then a few years in, he was focused on growth. I remember I could not get the hang of the phones. If I was in charge of transferring a call from the front desk, I was going to drop it.

Ben had just signed Rhett Akins to Warner Chappell, and Rhett didn’t really know anybody on the creative staff because he’d been at Sony for so long, so Ben was going to be his point person, which made sense in theory but wasn’t practical when you’re running a company. So he pulled me in, and suddenly I was handling Rhett’s co-write calendar just a few weeks into this job, which was pretty wild. Eventually Ryan Beuschel got pulled in to help on creative, and we worked really well together. Ben’s whole thing was sink or swim—he’d hand you stuff and see what you did with it.

You eventually moved into the creative side of things.

I originally did not want to be on the creative team. I just wanted to do administrative stuff. I don’t know why the idea of being on the creative team scared me, but it became clear pretty quickly that I was better at building relationships with writers than transferring phones.

Photo: Courtesy of Stevenson

The transition was very natural. The cool thing about being at Chappell as long as I have is that people have come and gone, and through that process, I’ve inherited a roster of really great writers while also signing new ones. At first I was a coordinator for everybody on the team—which is crazy to think about now because we have three people in that role. I remember getting the opportunity to help with Aaron Raitiere’s calendar, then Lee Thomas Miller. Then Alison Junker and I got the opportunity to sign Seaforth.

I didn’t sign Parker McCollum—Randy Rogers brought him to Chappell through Alicia Pruitt. But when Alicia left, I raised my hand because I was a big fan of his music and just liked him. He wasn’t “Parker McCollum” yet—no record deal, no management in Nashville. It was really fun. We’re about 18 months apart in age, so we became friends.

One of the first sessions I put together for him was with Rhett, and “To Be Loved By You” came out of that. That was one of those moments where I thought, “Okay, maybe I can do this.”

Photo: Courtesy of Stevenson

What’s one of your proudest song pitches?

One of the proudest moments in my career was “Don’t Think Jesus” for Morgan Wallen. Jessi, Chase McGill and Mark Holman wrote it, and it would’ve found its way to Morgan, but I had built a relationship with him over the years and I sent him that song while I was on a girls’ trip in New York. Within 24 hours, he had learned it and posted it on Instagram. It was one of the first things he posted post-controversy, and it blew up.

What has your experience as a woman in publishing been like?

I have been insanely fortunate. There’s no one else I’d want to work for in town besides Ben. He created a culture of no internal competition. I never felt like I was up against anything because I was a woman—internally. Externally, the world is what it is. As women, we have to fight harder to be taken seriously, but I do think women are naturally wired to be nurturing, which songwriters really respond to. That helps in this job.

Photo: Courtesy of Stevenson

Who have been your mentors?

Alicia Pruitt, hands down, is the reason that I have stayed at Chappell and moved up. She was banging her hands on her desk for me from day one, just championing me, advocating for me and helping me believe in myself. Ryan Beuschel has been that for me, too. We’re true friends. Katie Jelen is incredible. Ben was obviously huge for me. Phil May is hands down one of my favorite people in the world.

Jessi Alexander, Jon Randall and Lee Miller have all been around doing this a lot longer than I have and they’ve guided me through a lot of scenarios.

All of the women that have gone before me inspire me‚ from Cindy Forman to Allison Jones to Cris Lacy. When I got pregnant, the only other moms in corporate publishing were Cindy and Synnovea Halsel—both of them were really reassuring.

Photo: Courtesy of Stevenson

What was becoming a mother like in this business?

Terrifying. My daughter is the best thing that ever happened to me, but it was a big surprise. I struggled with people thinking I was off my game because I was pregnant, and I was. Pregnancy was miserable. Everyone tells you, “You can have it all,” but you can’t—not every day at the same time. I’ve learned that some days, I’m not the best at my job, and some days, I’m not the best mom, but it balances out.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

“You’re not that hot when you’re hot, and you’re not that not when you’re not.” Basically, don’t think too highly or too lowly of yourself. Also, I learned from Ben that if I messed up and owned it immediately, he had my back. That’s something I want to be for other people.

LB Cantrell
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