Brantley Gilbert, Lindsay Ell Celebrate Chart-Topper “What Happens In A Small Town”

/by

Pictured (L-R, back row): Greg Beeckman (Revelry Music Group), AJ Burton (Revelry Music Group), Kevin Lane (Kobalt), George Briner (The Valory Music Co.), Leslie Roberts (BMI), Scott Borchetta (BMLG), Ryan Beuschel (Warner Chappell) and Will Overton (Warner Chappell); (L-R, front row): Josh Dunne, Lindsay Ell, Brantley Gilbert, Brock Berryhill, Rhett Akins, Allison Jones (BMLG). Photo: Steve Lowry

Music City recently celebrated its first No. 1 party of the new decade, honoring The Valory Music Co. artist Brantley Gilbert and Stoney Creek Records artist Lindsay Ell’s “What Happens In A Small Town.” The track marks Gilbert’s fifth No. 1 as an artist and his seventh as a songwriter.

Ell earned her very first No. 1 hit with the churning ballad, which laments the difficulty in ever truly leaving a relationship behind when you live in a tight-knit community.

Members of Nashville’s music industry gathered at Music City Indoor Karting on Jan. 8, for a party hosted by BMI.

Gilbert penned the track with Rhett Akins, Josh Dunne and Brock Berryhill. Dunne celebrated his very first No. 1 with the hit, while “What Happens In A Small Town” is Akins’s 31st chart-topper, and Berryhill’s second.

Pictured (L-R): Basak Kizilisik (Morris Higham Management), Buffy Cooper (Morris Higham Management), Aaron Keiser (Morris Higham Management), Brantley Gilbert, Clint Higham (Morris Higham Management). Photo: Steve Lowry

BMI’s Leslie Roberts hosted the event, which saw BMLG powerhouses Scott Borchetta, George Briner, Jake Basden, and Allison Jones, Revelry Music Group’s Greg Beeckman and AJ Burton, Kobalt’s Kevin Lane, Warner Chappell’s Ryan Beuschel and Will Overton, Morris Higham’s Clint Higham, Basak Kizilisik, Buffy Cooper, and Aaron Keiser among the attendees.

Brantley thanked his co-writers and his label team at Big Machine Label Group, as well as his new management home at Morris Higham; “What Happens In A Small Town” marks his first No. 1 since joining the management company. Gilbert also thanked Ell for joining him on the song. “When you look for a duet partner, you want somebody that is not only going to pull their weight but exceed expectations. You did that and more. I’m honored to share this stage and this song with you,” he said.

Pictured (L-R, back row): Chris Palmer (The Valory Music Co.), George Briner (The Valory Music Co.), Scott Borchetta (BMLG), Jake Basden (BMLG), Allison Jones (BMLG), Ashley Sidoti (The Valory Music Co.); (L-R, front row): Brooke Nixon (The Valory Music Co.), Josh Dunne, Lindsay Ell, Brantley Gilbert, Brock Berryhill, Rhett Akins. Athena Puharic (The Valory Music Co.). Photo: Steve Lowry

Ell, meanwhile, offered thanks to Brantley and his co-writers, as well as to Borchetta, for bringing her on as part of the project.

“The fact that you were the person to bring up my name and mention it to Brantley in that conference room, I’m truly humbled and honored,” she told Borchetta. “When you have a full roster of artists and pretty much anybody at your fingertips and you guys wanted me to be a part of this song, thank you from the bottom of my heart for changing my life.”

She also thanked The BBR Music Group CEO Jon Loba. “A huge thank you to Jon Loba. You have stood by me in this town ever since I got here. I have been in Nashville for 10 years and there are not a lot of labels that would stand by an artist and keep saying, ‘We just have to find the right 3 minutes,’ and you have told me that sentence so many times.”

Both Gilbert and Ell recently released new songs to country radio, including Gilbert’s “Fire’t Up” and Ell’s “I Don’t Love You.”

Pictured (L-R): George Briner (The Valory Music Co.), Brantley Gilbert, Lindsay Ell, Scott Borchetta (BMLG). Photo: Steve Lowry

Pictured (L-R): Josh Dunne, Lindsay Ell, Brantley Gilbert,Brock Berryhill, Rhett Akins. Photo: Steve Lowry

Awarded Songwriter Jessi Alexander Announces Album, ‘Decatur County Red’

/by

Jessi Alexander, a Grammy-nominated, CMA and ACM Award-winning songwriter, will release her first new album since 2014 with the release of Decatur County Red, out March 27.

Inspired by a cabin in Decatur County left to her by her grandmother, Alexander dedicates the album to “the folks that love sad songs, beer joints, pedal steel, and country music.” Decatur County Red was produced by Alexander, Jon Randall and Leslie Richter, and includes co-writers Randall, Brothers Osborne, Josh Thompson, Glen Worff and more. One track, “Country Music Made Me Do It,” features Randy Houser.

“Mama Drank,” co-written by Alexander and Randall, is out today (Jan. 10) and is a testament to her own experience as a mom-of-three.

YouTube video

After writing more than 70 hits, including “The Climb” (Miley Cyrus), “The Way I Talk” (Morgan Wallen), “Mine Would Be You,” “Drink On It,” and “Turnin’ Me On” (Blake Shelton), and  “I Drive Your Truck” (Lee Brice), Alexander’s release of new original material is the first since her 2014 Down Home.

Decatur County Red Track List:
1. Decatur County Red
2. Mama Drank
3. Damn Country Music
4. I Should Probably Go Now
5. My Problem Is You
6. Country Music Made Me Do It feat. Randy Houser
7. Lonely Out Of Me
8. How I’m Going Out

The Lone Bellow Salute Gusto-Seekers On New Single ‘Good Times’

/by

The Lone Bellow—Zach Williams, Kanene Donehey Pipkin, and Brian Elmquist—have released a new song, “Good Times,” from their soon-to-be-released album Half Moon Light on Dualtone Records. Out Feb. 7 and produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, the album is the band’s fourth studio LP and first since 2017.

“Over the years I’ve had the great joy of staying up late and hearing epic stories told by adventurous souls,” said Williams. “Some stories were told on old boats way out in the middle of the ocean, some in Irish Pubs in Manhattan, some in backyards down south, and some on hospital beds. ‘Good Times’ is a salute to the good ones who grab life by the horns and let no good time slip away.”

Half Moon Light was produced at Dessner’s studio in upstate New York and features guitarist Josh Kaufman and drummer J.T. Baites. The band celebrated the album announcement back in October by sharing their first single, “Count On Me,” a song that reminds with soul-shouting intensity that it’s safe and important to lean on one another for survival.

In support of the new record, The Lone Bellow will launch a worldwide tour that begins Jan. 22 in London for two nights at the St. Pancras Old Church. North American dates begin Feb. 12 in L.A. for two nights at The Troubadour and continue through Apr. 24 with their first-ever headlining show at the Ryman in Nashville. The band will then head to Europe and return to America for summer festival appearances.

Half Moon Light Track Listing:
Intro
I Can Feel You Dancing
Good Times
Wonder
Count On Me
Wash It Clean
Enemies
Interlude
Just Enough To Get By
Martingales
Illegal Immigrant
Friends
Dust Settles
August
Finale

TobyMac Releases Song, Video About Son Truett’s Untimely Death

/by

TobyMac has released a new song and video, “21 Years,” about his son Truett, who passed away in October. Truett was an aspiring rapper, and the eldest of TobyMac’s children.

“’21 years’ is a song I wrote about the recent passing of my firstborn son, Truett Foster McKeehan,” said TobyMac about this most personal song. “I loved him with all my heart. Until something in life hits you this hard, you never know how you will handle it. I am thankful that I have been surrounded by love, starting with God’s and extending to community near and far that have walked with us and carried us everyday. Writing this song felt like an honest confession of the questions, pain, anger, doubt, mercy and promise that describes the journey I’m probably only beginning. The rest is yet to come. One thing I know is that I am not alone. God didn’t promise us a life of no pain or even tragic death, but He did promise He would never leave us or forsake us. And I’m holding dearly to that promise for my son as well as myself.”

TobyMac rescheduled a planned theater tour following the tragedy, but embarks on his Hits Deep Tour January 30, with Tauren Wells, Jordan Feliz, We Are Messengers, Ryan Stevenson, Aaron Cole, and Cochren & Co. joining him on the extensive tour.

YouTube video

Brandy Clark Announces ‘Your Life Is A Record’ Album

/by

Brandy Clark. Photo: Chris Phelps

Grammy-nominated and CMA Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician Brandy Clark will release her highly anticipated new album, Your Life Is A Record, March 6 on Warner Records. She released the leading single, “Who You Thought I Was,” today.

“The seed of the song came from something that John Prine said a couple of years ago at the Americana Awards. He walked out onstage at the Ryman and everyone stood up and clapped for what felt like five minutes. When everyone sat down, he said with a little laugh, ‘Well, I’m John Prine, but I’d like to go back to being who you thought I was.’ Man…that hit me. The songwriter in me instantly knew it was a song and the heart in me knew it was how I had felt in my own life many times. I mean who of us hasn’t let somebody down or wanted to be the version of ourselves that someone who loved us thought we were?” Clark says.

The album is produced by award winning producer Jay Joyce, and was recorded largely as an acoustic four-piece—featuring Clark, Joyce, Giles Reaves and Jedd Hughes—with subsequent Memphis strings and horns layered in with arrangements by Lester Snell.

To promote the record, Clark will tour throughout 2020 including select dates with Tanya Tucker on the CMT Next Women of Nashville Tour, as well as her own headlining Who You Thought I Was Tour.

Your Life Is A Record Track List
1. I’ll Be the Sad Song
2. Long Walk
3. Love is a Fire
4. Pawn Shop
5. Who You Thought I Was
6. Apologies
7. Bigger Boat (feat. Randy Newman)
8. Bad Car
9. Who Broke Whose Heart
10. Can We Be Strangers
11. The Past is the Past

Your Life Is A Record is available for pre-order now.

Weekly Radio Report (1/10/20)

/by

Click here or above to access MusicRow’s weekly CountryBreakout Radio Report.

On The Row: Joe & Martina

/by

Pictured (L-R): Martina, Joe. Photo: Haley Crow/MusicRow

Joe & Martina, the married country duo formerly known as Terra Bella, recently offered new music during a visit to the MusicRow offices.

“It didn’t seem like people were getting it any more after six years so we thought, ‘Let’s just use our real names.’ We are all about authenticity,” Joe said, addressing the name change.

Joe was Luke Combs’ first bass player on the road, and co-wrote “Don’t Tempt Me With A Good Time,” which became the namesake of Combs’ first headlining tour.

“His parents have the Gold record and we knew Platinum was just around the corner on this song, and now we have the Platinum one. Gold records are the things dreams are made of.”

These self-described “farm kids” from California offered renditions of several songs, including “Middle of Nowhere, U.S.A.” “Where I’m from is open range and 30 miles one way to anywhere you want to go,” Martina said.

They recently released a music video for the track. “We just wanted it to release it directly to our fans,” she said.

“We’re like the musical equivalent of farm-to-table,” Joe quipped. “That sounds like a good publishing company name—Farm-to-Table Music,” he joked.

Pictured (L-R): Martina, MusicRow Magazine chart director Alex Parry, Joe. Photo: Haley Crow/MusicRow

“We left a California horse ranch, sold all our horses and moved out here,” Joe said.

“It’s so great because people ask us, ‘When will you know you’ve made it in the industry?’ And I always say, ‘When we can have a piece of land here with horses in our back yard.’ That’s when we’ll know,” Martina said.

They also played the unreleased track “Give Me Back The ‘90s.” “I just got the rough cut back of this song,” Joe said.

He wrote it with Johnny Garcia, who is a longtime guitar player and bandleader for Trisha Yearwood.

“It was just reminiscing on the ‘90s. He was like, ‘I wish you could have lived on those tours, because it was just so different.’”

They brought in plenty of musicians that played on iconic ‘90s country albums. “They definitely played some of those ‘90s licks, but it still sounds modern,” Joe says.

“It’s ‘90s without the mullet,” Martina adds, and hints that there may be some ‘90s country artists added to final version of the song.

Joe & Martina with MusicRow staffers. Photo: MusicRow

Cumulus Media’s Chief Financial Officer To Exit

/by

Cumulus Media has announced that Exec. VP and Chief Financial Officer John Abbot will leave the company in March. Cumulus Media is conducting a search for a successor.

Mary G. Berner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cumulus Media, said, “On behalf of the Board and the entire Company, I would like to thank John for his many contributions to Cumulus and for the strong finance and accounting organization he has helped build. After nearly four years of commuting to Atlanta from Connecticut, it’s understandable that John has decided to pursue new opportunities at a company based closer to his home. We appreciate his continued support through the transition and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

Ms. Berner continued, “Business will continue as usual at Cumulus with our focus remaining on the execution of our key strategic initiatives—enhancing operational performance, growing our digital businesses, and optimizing our asset portfolio—while making progress on our financial goals for the benefit of all of our stakeholders.”

“It has been a privilege and tremendously rewarding to work with Mary and the rest of the Cumulus team, and I am truly proud of our many accomplishments over these past several years,” Abbot said. “I am confident in the Company’s ongoing ability to achieve its objectives, and I look forward to following Cumulus’s continued success in the years ahead.”

John Prine To Receive A2IM’s Independent Icon Award

/by

John Prine

John Prine will be among those honored during the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM)’s Libera Awards, set for June 18 at New York City’s Ziegfeld Ballroom.

Prine will receive the Independent Icon Award, and will also perform during the ceremony alongside fellow honoree, punk rock artist Alejandro Escovedo.

This is the latest accolade for the 73-year-old Prine, whose recent honors include being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019, and taking home Libra Awards for Best Country/Americana Album and Best American Roots/Folk Album for The Tree of Forgiveness in 2019. Later this year, he will be honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.

Nominees for the Libera Awards will be announced at a later date. The event will serve as the culmination of “Indie Week,” which will take place June 15-18 at the NY Law School. The awards are in partnership with Merlin, The Orchard and Ingrooves.

“The 2020 Libera Awards serve as a dual celebration for A2IM: one that applauds the extraordinary talent of so many artists, labels, and independent champions, as well as the commemoration of 15 years of A2IM and all that our board, our members, our team, and my predecessors have worked to accomplish,” said A2IM CEO Richard James Burgess. “We are proud of the increased visibility of independent music in the global market and are energized and excited to dive into the next fifteen years of events, advocacy, and work in this remarkable community.”

Tickets for the Libera Awards will go on sale to the public on Jan. 13.

Zac Brown Band Bringing In Summer With A Lion’s Roar On New Tour

/by

Zac Brown Band has announced their new Roar with the Lions Tour for Summer 2020. The 18-date tour is grounded in the historic characterization of the lion, depicted as a symbol of strength, courage, and loyalty. Special guest Gregory Alan Isakov will join the tour May 24 through June 27, and St. Paul and The Broken Bones will open the Wrigley Field show on September 9.

“Our summer tour is inspired by the folklore surrounding the figure of the lion. I am a Leo, and all of the guys in the band are lions,” said Zac Brown. “They exemplify strength, courage, intelligence, and loyalty, and work in tandem to defend their territory and one another. The crowd is our pride – rooted in togetherness and fiercely loyal. They always show up for each other, no matter what, just like our fans always show up for us. We can’t wait to hear you roar with us!”

Tickets will go on sale to general public beginning Friday, January 17 at ZacBrownBand.com. The Zamily Fan Club pre-sale will begin on Tuesday, January 14. Citi is the official presale credit card of the tour and as such, Citi cardmembers will have access to purchase pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, January 15 until Thursday, January 16 through CitiEntertainment.