Provident Distribution has formed a partnership with Nashville-based CNI Distribution.

Through the new agreement, CNI will fulfill orders for Provident, and the full transition of all order fulfillment is slated to be complete by next spring. Provident’s sales, credit, and marketing functions will all still be handled in-house.

“Provident Distribution remains committed to the physical retail environment and to serving the individual needs of artists, songwriters, filmmakers and distributed labels,” states Terry Hemmings, President/CEO of Provident Music Group. “For more than 20 years, our partners have been accustomed to a very high-quality experience thanks to the outstanding work of our distribution center. CNI’s well-established reputation specifically within Christian retail, churches and direct-to-consumer avenues ensures that our tradition of excellence in fulfillment services will continue into this next chapter.”

Provident Distribution’s clients include Provident Label Group, Provident Films, Essential Music Publishing, Gotee Records, StowTown Records, RCA Inspiration, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, and others.

CNI Distribution is part of Christian Network International, one of the largest independent Christian product fulfillment and distribution companies in the world, and exclusively represents clients Dave Ramsey’s Financial Solutions, Vision Video and Gateway Films, The United Pentecostal Publishing House, Cloud Ten Pictures, Crossroads Entertainment, Prism Music, and more. 

“It is truly a privilege to partner with an organization of the quality and respect of Provident Music Group,” said Ed Clydesdale, CNI’s President & CEO. “We look forward to providing our enhanced services to accompany the great quality of music and entertainment that Provident offers.”

Loretta Lynn

Tickets are on sale now to see Loretta Lynn, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, Valerie June, Nikki Lane, Tift Merritt, Eric Heywood, Emmy Rose Russell, and more at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater on Saturday, September 19. This is a separate, ticketed event from the Americana Music Festival & Conference. However, Americana Music Festival & Conference registrants have received a code via e-mail for $5 off general admission lawn tickets to this event.

Tickets can be purchased here.

Wristbands are also for sale and can be purchased here.

The 16th annual Americana Music Festival & Conference will take place September 15-20, 2015. For more information, click here.

(L-R): Eric Church, Lee Hendricks, and Craig Wright
Photo: Rick Diamond

Eric Church christened Nashville’s new Ascend Amphitheater last Thursday and Friday night (7/30 and 7/31) under a gorgeous full moon to sold-out crowds, and threw out the playbook for the special set of Music City shows. Performing acoustically, Church pulled out deep cuts and even tunes he’d never played live before during the two shows, which were the first concerts held at the brand new outdoor venue downtown.

“The thing about tonight is you get to see something you’ll never see again. Because after tonight we’re never doing this (bleep) again,” Church told the packed house during Thursday evening’s show before proceeding to perform songs like “Three Year Old,” a tune he’d never played live about the amusing challenges of fatherhood. The song got its inspiration from a fishing trip where his son threw his rod, reel, and tackle box into the water. “I’m 38, and I never knew a fishing rod sinks faster than a tackle box,” Church joked.

Staging for the shows included “The Outsider’s Joint,” an on-set bar with bartenders, friends, and band members seated beside his playing space and a couch where band members were invited up one by one to accompany Church on his many hits and favorite album tracks throughout the special evening.

Church’s pop-up store, The Outsider’s Joint, opened for two days through Saturday in East Nashville in conjunction with the two concerts and helped raise money for his Chief Cares fund, which supports people in need around the world. 

Stuart Dill

Stuart Dill, a 30-year veteran as an artist manager, has been named Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s liaison with the entertainment industry.

Dill will continue to develop and strengthen the strategic partnership between VUMC and the entertainment industry, which includes professionals in music, athletics and performing arts, and will communicate the strength and recent advances of the Medical Center’s health care services and build upon philanthropic interests and involvement with Vanderbilt.

Dill began his career penning comic material for Minnie Pearl, Ray Stevens and Jerry Clower. Over the years Dill has managed artists including Minnie Pearl, Freddy Fender, Dwight Yoakam, Jo Dee Messina, Rodney Crowell, The Wreckers, Sister Hazel, Laura Bell Bundy, Point of Grace, Billy Ray Cyrus, and many others. He also authored the novel, Murder on Music Row, that won the Independent Book Publishers (IPPY) Award’s Gold Medal in 2012.

“Artist management is a ‘contact sport,’” Dill said. “It is about building relationships, growing trust and showing that you really care about the artists you represent. The same holds for the work done in the medical community. It is ultimately about giving excellent care and building relationships and trust with each patient. Basically an artist manager’s work and physician’s work are similar in that sense — we’re in the business of ‘care.’ Working as VUMC’s liaison to the music and entertainment industry is simply an extension of the work I’ve been doing my entire career.”

Dill said that both VUMC and Music Row touch millions of lives, in Nashville, across the country and globally adding, “They are both internationally recognized brands that ‘grew up’ in the same neighborhood together. By definition, a true community is a group of people that care for one another.”