Steel Magnolia Signs New Management, Booking Agreements

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Steel Magnolia, duo Meghan Linsey and Joshua Scott Jones, have signed with Nashville/Tampa-based Rainmaker Management and Nashville’s Agency for the Performing Arts. The duo is also currently nominated for Top Vocal Duo for a third year at the 47th Annual ACM Awards set for Sunday, April 1.

Rainmaker Music Management is a multi-platform management, licensing and production company. Formed by Stan Strickland, a 30 year industry vet who worked with bluegrass icon Del McCoury, cabaret jazz star Ann Hampton Callaway and budding songwriter, Adam Anders (who is now the music producer for Glee). Business partner Brett Steele has managed rock acts from Roxx Gang to Dex Romweber Duo as well as the late, great Charlie Louvin.

“Stan Strickland is one of the most knowledgeable and respected people in roots music,” says Linsey of the duo’s new management team. “Brett Steele, who works with us directly, was involved in the very beginning – and he understands what Josh and I have wanted to do with our music, for our fans. It’s awesome to be working with him again.”

“And Steve Lassiter, our agent at APA, is so much about music bringing people together,” added Jones. “He focuses on the live connection for artists, which is what – as any of our fans will tell you – we’re all about.”

John Oates Recruits Nashville’s Finest For Aspen Songwriters Festival

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The Blue Sky Riders with John Oates, who joined many of the artists onstage throughout the festival.

Photos by Jason Buehler

Aspen, Colorado was on a hot streak last week as some of Nashville’s finest songwriters ventured to the Rockies to perform at the 7908 Songwriters Festival. Hitmaker John Oates produces the event in his hometown and handpicked the sophisticated, genre-crossing line-up that included Sam Bush, Darrell Scott, Angel Snow and The Blue Sky Riders. Among other top-draw acts were enthusiastic funk/soulster Marc Broussard, and established songwriter/rocker Matt Nathanson (familiar to country fans for collaborations with Jennifer Nettles).

Held at the historic Wheeler Opera House, the five-day series opened Wed., March 21 with Darrell Scott, and Yonder Mountain String Band members Adam Aijala and Ben Kaufmann. Unfortunately Skates On The Case missed the action Wednesday and Thursday (James McMurtry and Bob Schneider), but arrived in time for Blue Sky Riders’ Friday night headlining set. The trio comprised of Georgia Middleman, Gary Burr and Kenny Loggins—songwriters with a track record of individual success—is working on a debut album. The polished group entertained the packed venue with an acoustic set devoted mostly to new material including “You Took The Words (Right Out of My Mouth),” “Little Victories,” “I’m A Rider (Finally Home)” and the moving standout “A Thousand Wild Horses.”

An in-the-round segment allowed the writers to showcase a few of their individual hits such as “I’m In” (Middleman), “What Mattered Most” (Burr) and “Danny’s Song” (Loggins). Burr’s sarcastic sense of humor added to The Riders’ engaging onstage dynamics. He cracked up the crowd with jokes about how he was selected to play the festival: “I’m the best songwriter in my price range.” Apparently it had nothing to do with the fact that his hitmaking career landed him in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Exceptional talent on display, Sam Bush and John Oates.

A key part of the 7908 Festival—aptly named for Aspen’s altitude which had Nashvillians hitting the oxygen tank backstage—is to facilitate unique artist pairings, putting together performers who wouldn’t have otherwise teamed up. Oates and bluegrass hero Sam Bush joined The Blue Sky Riders, and most of the festival’s other acts, for a few songs per set.

The two geniuses enthralled the house with their own Sunday night show. Oates, recognized for his major success with Hall & Oates, shined when offering his lesser-known work. Among the remarkable songs were “Six Men Gonna Lay You Down,” a Jim Lauderdale co-write, and “A Day In The Life of An American Man,” written with Marcus Hummon, who played last year’s festival.

Bush’s spectacular musicianship on the fiddle and mandolin was on display all week, and his songwriting talent was equally apparent on tunes including “The Ballad of String Bean and Estelle,” an exceptionally crafted story song about the murder of the Grand Ole Opry star.

Angel Snow offered an impressive set.

Rising songstress Angel Snow opened the Sunday night show, captivating the audience and wooing new fans. Oates joined her for “Lie Awake,” one of three songs she penned that appear on the latest album by Alison Krauss and Union Station. Snow’s set veered from the searing break-up song “Easin’ Away,” to the beautiful soundtrack of heartbreak “Holiday,” and into pop-folk territory with “Stay Away.” With lyrics like those in “Holiday,” it’s no wonder Krauss and Oates have fostered Snow’s career. (“There’s something within your mind/that’s gonna craze this world and leave us girls all blind.”) Be on the lookout for her album to be released in August.

Harley Ellis impressed as winner of the Aspen Songwriting Competition, which earned a slot opening for Matt Nathanson. The Aspen native who grew up visiting the venue has also lived in Nashville and worked as a personal assistant for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Now he’s based in Austin as tour manager for Band of Heathens. His songs were insightful and clever—someone give this guy a publishing deal.

Aspen’s fabulous food was outdone only by the hospitality of The Wheeler Opera House staff under the guidance of Executive Director Gram Slaton. Equally helpful during the week were Nashville publicist Kate Richardson, and event sponsor Martin Guitar. The festival has steadily grown and evolved since 2009, so expect next year’s line-up to be an equally talented mix of new faces and top-bill hitmakers.

Photo Roundup (3/29/12)

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Rascal Flatts recently performed at the J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona for Muhammad Ali’s Celebrity Fight Night XVIII. This annual black-tie event, which raised $9.1 million this year, benefits the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, as well as several other worthy charities. www.celebrityfightnight.org

Photo: Michael Bucker, Getty Images, March 25, 2012

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Bigger Picture recording artist Craig Campbell stopped by the Nashville Chapter of The Recording Academy recently to perform his singles “When I Get It,” “Family Man,” “Fish,” and other songs for the staff.

(L-R): Michael Powers (President, Bigger Picture Artist Ventures), Bryan Downing (GRAMMY U Representative), Alicia Warwick (Senior Project Manager), Craig Campbell, Susan Stewart (South Regional Director), Debbie Carroll (Executive Director of MusiCares), Ashley Ernst (Regional Manager, Chapter Operations), Laura Travis (Chapter Assistant) and Lyn Aurelius (South Regional Production Manager). Photo: Monarch Publicity

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Songwriter JT Harding, published by Crush Management, has signed with ASCAP. Harding had his first No. 1 with Kenny Chesney’s “Somewhere With You.” He also just hit No. 1 again with Jake Owen’s “Alone With You,” co-written with Shane McAnally and Catt Gravitt. He also co-wrote Uncle Kracker’s “Smile,” and his own JTX singles “Party Like A Rockstar” and “Love in America.”

(L-R): ASCAP's Ryan Beuschel, JT Harding, ASCAP's LeAnn Phelan and Robert Filhart Photo: Anna Maki

 

MusicRowPics: Mark Wayne Glasmire Artist Visit

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Yesterday (3/28), Traceway Records artist Mark Wayne Glasmire stopped by MusicRow headquarters, visiting with the staff before heading off to shoot the video for his new single “I Like You.”

“I Like You,” a catchy summer song which Glasmire penned, follows “Going Home” as the second single from his current album MWG. He also played the staff his most downloaded song, “The Moment” and left us with some of his swag.

“I Like You” hits radio April 9.

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AMA to Present “Big Easy Express” During NaFF

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Three of Americana and Rock’s leading lights will be the subject of Big Easy Express, presented by the Americana Music Association during the 2012 Nashville Film Festival, scheduled for April 19-26. The screening takes place at 7:30 pm on closing night, April 26, at Regal Green Hills Cinema.

Big Easy Express, directed by Emmett Malloy, follows L.A.’s Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Nashville’s Old Crow Medicine Show, and London’s Mumford & Sons as they journey thousands of miles by train through six cities. The trip begins in Oakland, ending in New Orleans, stopping along the way for sold-out shows in San Pedro, California and Marfa, Texas and documents the bands’ adventures along the way.

Tickets for the screening go on sale to NaFF members April 9, laminate holders April 10 and the general public on April 11. Check out the official trailer here.

Earlier in March, Mumford & Sons hosted a sold-out three night residency at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Pictured backstage at the Ryman are (L-R): M&S’ “Country” Winston Marshall, TMG/AEG Live’s Lenore Kinder, M&S’ Ted Dwane, TMG/AEG Live’s Ali Harnell, the Ryman Auditorium’s Sally Williams, M&S’ Marcus Mumford, TMG/AEG Live’s Leslie Cohea, The Billions Corporation’s Adam Voith, M&S’ Ben Lovett, M&S Tour Manager Giles Woodhead

Billboard Names New Editor

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Joe Levy, Billboard Editor. Photo: Joseph Moran

Following major exits of Billboard magazine’s editorial staff earlier this year, Joe Levy has officially been named the publication’s Editor. The change was officially announced yesterday (3/28) and fills the role vacated by previous Editor, Danyel Smith.

Levy’s position reports directly to Billboard Editorial Director Bill Werde and will be based out of the publication’s New York offices.

Levy comes to Billboard from Maxim, where he served as Chief Content Officer since 2009, and Blender where he served in the same capacity. Levy’s resume includes Rolling Stone where he was executive editor, Details as a senior editor, and an editor for both Village Voice and Spin. Levy has also contributed as an adjunct professor at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.

The recent departures from the Billboard editorial staff include Publisher Lisa Howard, and Deputy Editor Louis Hau, among others. Including Danyel Smith, three editors have left the company in under four years. Smith joined the company in January 2011 and replaced Craig Marks, succeeding Robert Levine who began serving in September 2008.

Billboard is owned by Prometheus Global Media (formerly E5 Global Media), which purchased the publication along with Adweek and The Hollywood Reporter in late 2009 for around $70 million.

Bluegrass Legend Earl Scruggs Passes

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Bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs died March 28, 2012 in a Nashville area hospital at age 88. When asked about the banjo pioneer’s career, most who knew him site his kindness first and his musical achievements second.

From early commercial success with The Beverly Hillbillies theme “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” to a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in more recent years, Scruggs captivated generations of musicians and music lovers.

Historian Robert K. Oermann explains, “He was such a sweet soul. No one in any genre of music has so profoundly influenced the playing of his or her instrument the way Earl did.”

Earl Eugene Scruggs was born in Flint Hill, NC on Jan, 6, 1924 and by his teens had developed a unique three-finger style of banjo picking that would revolutionize the genre. In 1945 he met future duo partner Lester Flatt, when both were members of the landmark group Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys.

In a recent column for The New Yorker, Steve Martin wrote, “Some nights [Earl] had the stars of North Carolina shooting from his fingertips. Before him, no one had ever played the banjo like he did. After him, everyone played the banjo like he did, or at least tried. In 1945, when he first stood on the stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and played banjo the way no one had ever heard before, the audience responded with shouts, whoops, and ovations….There aren’t many earthquakes in Tennessee, but that night there was.”

Flatt & Scruggs

By 1948 Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe’s band and formed the Foggy Mountain Boys, which later become known simply as Flatt & Scruggs. Together, they popularized bluegrass throughout the fifties and sixties with national television spots such as The Beverly Hillbillies, with performances at famed events including the Newport Folk Festival, and a morning radio show on WSM in Nashville, sponsored by Martha White Flour.

Jody Williams, BMI VP Writer/Publisher Relations, reflects on Scruggs, a lifelong BMI writer. Williams’ uncle also booked Flatt & Scruggs for the original Martha White commercial. “He was traditional, and at the same time he was avant garde,” muses Williams. “With Flatt and Scruggs he defined the banjo, taking it from rural stages to the Opry, then college campuses in the ’60s, all the way to Carnegie Hall. He is an architect of the genre of bluegrass. It’s popularity would never have soared without Earl…We salute his contribution to American music. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Scruggs family.”

The duo called it quits in 1969 and continued separate careers. Flatt died in 1979, and the duo was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.

“Earl Scruggs was the single most important instrumentalist in Bluegrass music,” explains Tony Conway. “Along with Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs was responsible for helping create a much larger audience for the format of Bluegrass, particularly a new and younger fan base. He was always a first class Gentleman.”

Family played a significant role in Scruggs’ career. His wife Louise, who died in 2006, is credited with steering his remarkable success and was a pioneering female in the music business in her own right.

Scruggs teamed with sons Randy and Gary for the Earl Scruggs Revue in 1969. The group veered into folk-rock territory and included a rotating cast of musicians, including Randy and Gary’s brother, Steve. In 1972 Earl, Gary and Randy played on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s landmark album Will The Circle Be Unbroken.

Scruggs’ achievements earned numerous accolades including a National Heritage Fellowship, and the National Medal of Arts. He was inducted into the IBMA Hall of Fame in 1991. Even late in his career the honors kept coming. His album Earl Scruggs and Friends won a Grammy in 2001, one of three Grammys he earned between 1998 and 2004, as well as a 2008 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Nashville writer Holly Gleason recalls him fondly, including friendly encounters at the most modest of restaurants, the Waffle House. “When you make the musical mark Earl Scruggs did, you won’t ever be gone,” she sums. “People will listen to his records and marvel; pick up their instrument and practice the complicated three fingers rolls, the wildly accelerated picking. His mark shall last forever. So will his soul.”

Scruggs’ health waxed and waned in recent years, including a September 2010 hospitalization in North Carolina for an undisclosed illness.

He was preceded in death by his son Steve, and wife Louise.

The family will receive friends during visitation Fri., March 30 and Sat., March 31 between 3 – 7 p.m. at Spring Hill Funeral Home, 5110 Gallatin Pike, Nashville. Funeral services will be held Sun., April, 1 at 2 p.m. at the Ryman Auditorium. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum or the Earl Scruggs Center.

Randy Houser Signs Global Publishing Deal with EMI

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EMI Music Publishing has signed a long-term worldwide publishing agreement with singer, songwriter Randy Houser.

Houser’s self-penned hit singles include “Boots On,” which spent two weeks at No. 1 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Country Songs Chart, as well as ‘Whistlin Dixie’ which has sold over 150,000 digital copies to date and “A Man Like Me.” Houser has also co-written hits for artists including Justin Moore and Trace Adkins.

“Songwriting is such an important part of what I do, it is something I feel like I need to do. A working relationship with EMI, Ben Vaughn, and their entire creative team will provide more resources for me as I continue to focus on that aspect of my career,” said Houser.

The new co-publishing agreement with EMI Music Publishing will see Houser’s catalog and all future songwriting work represented by the company on a global basis, including his new studio album, which is due for release later this year on Stoney Creek Records. Houser is managed by Fitzgerald Hartley.

“Randy is a world class songwriter and performer who continues to grow creatively and we are extremely proud to welcome him into the EMI family. The whole team is excited to have him on board and we can’t wait share in this next stage of his career and for the world to be able to hear the new record,” said EMI Music Publishing Executive VP/GM Ben Vaughn.

Currington Earns Gold, Lines Up TV Appearances

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Billy Currington’s fourth studio album Enjoy Yourself, has been certified Gold by the RIAA, marking his second consecutive album to receive the status.

Currington, who is currently working on his fifth studio album, just finished recording “Just For You” for Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee, which was released Mon., March 26. The pair will debut the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 4 and The Talk on April 5.

“That song was a massive hit in Europe that we’re now bringing to America,” said Richie. “I’m so happy to be able to let him present that song to America.”

Currington kicked off his 16-date cross-country headlining tour last week with labelmates David Nail and Kip Moore. Ram Trucks brand has come on board as presenting sponsors for select dates of the tour.

Currington’s first two singles from his fourth studio album Enjoy Yourself, “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer” and “Let Me Down Easy,” marked his fourth and fifth consecutive No. 1 singles, with seven No. 1s overall. Since his debut in 2003, Billy has sold more than 11 million units, and received nominations for two Grammys.

(L-R) UMG's Jill Brunett, Damon Moberly, and Royce Risser; Billy Currington; UMG's Brian Wright and Katie Dean. Photo: Jeff Johnson

Chesney Reveals Album Details, ACM Performance

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Kenny Chesney recently revealed the title and cover art for his new album, Welcome To The Fishbowl, which is due out June 19 on BNA Records. The news comes as Chesney gears up for the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday, April 1, for which he has more nominations than any artist this year. Chesney will be joined onstage for a special performance with Tim McGraw, with whom he is touring this summer on the blockbuster, 20-stadium Brothers of the Sun Tour.

Welcome To The Fishbowl, Chesney’s 13th studio album, follows 2010’s platinum-certified Hemingway’s Whiskey, which spawned four No. 1 singles. Chesney’s ACM nominations include Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year for Hemingway’s Whiskey (as both artist and producer), and Song of the Year for “You and Tequila” with Grace Potter.

The Brothers of the Sun Tour kicks off June 2 in Tampa, FL and has already sold more than 600,000 tickets. The tour will hit stadiums across the country and will also feature Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Jake Owen.

For tour dates visit: tickets.kennychesney.com.