Jessica Phelps

The Orchard has named Jessica Phelps General Manager, Nashville. As head of The Orchard’s Nashville team, Phelps will lead strategy, development, label management and marketing for key Orchard artists and labels in the market. She will also heighten and maintain relationships with key accounts and clients across a variety of genres, as well as attract, sign and retain new talent in order to grow The Orchard’s business in Nashville. The hiring marks a return to the Orchard for Phelps, who previously worked for the company as Director of Retail Marketing.

Phelps will report to The Orchard’s COO Colleen Theis.

“We’re super proud to welcome Jess back to The Orchard family,” Theis said. “She is a highly experienced executive with a strong network, a strategic vision and a clear understanding of where the industry is headed. As an established and respected member of Nashville’s independent music community, she will be a force for our labels and artists.”

“The Orchard is home to so many amazing labels and artists; it’s an honor to rejoin the company,” Phelps said. “I look forward to working with their impressive staff and roster, and helping grow The Orchard’s relationships with Nashville’s creative community.”

Phelps joins The Orchard from Q Prime Management, where she acted as Head of Sales in the Label Services Department. At Q Prime, Phelps spearheaded retail promotion, sales strategy, and distribution operations for artists such as Metallica, Dawes, Cage The Elephant, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings and Marty Stuart. Previously, Phelps worked as Sales Director at Mom+Pop Music, and at Lagardère SCA’s mobile division.

It All Begins With A Song: The Story of the Nashville Songwriter, a new documentary that takes an in-depth look at Nashville’s songwriting community, will be shown at a special public screening on May 17 during the Nashville Film Festival.

The 82-minute film explores Nashville’s songwriting community — their creative processes, their inspiration, their struggles and the impact their songs can have on everyday life. The screening is at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 17 at Regal Hollywood 27. visitmusiccity.com/itallbeginswithasong

The film has been under production for two years. It involved 80 interviews with songwriters and industry figures and more than 100 hours of footage. Some songwriters featured in the film include Jessi Alexander, Garth Brooks, Mac Davis, Bob DiPiero, Mikky Ekko, John Hiatt, Brett James, Claude Kelly, Shane McAnally, Keb’ Mo’, Brad Paisley and Ray Stevens.

“This kind of film is a complete departure for a destination marketing organization,” said Butch Spyridon, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “At the heart of Nashville’s success as a destination is our music and creative community represented best by our songwriters. Through them, we present Nashville as a unique, authentic and creative destination unmatched anywhere in the world.”

Jessi Alexander, one of the singer/songwriters featured in the film, said, “Finally, a movie that captures the day in the life of a Nashville songwriter and the poets that create the soundtrack to our lives. This film gives viewers an inside look into the ups and downs and the highways and heartbreaks that lead writers to pick up their guitars, put pen to paper and pour their hearts out — beginning the journey of a song that goes down in history. Songwriters are the unsung heroes in Nashville, and now we have a movie to tell our story.”

It All Begins With A Song: The Story of the Nashville Songwriter was created by the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. It was produced by the NCVC, along with John Godsey and VML, a global marketing agency. It was directed by Chusy Jardine of Plan A Films. It is being shopped worldwide to major buyers.

The songwriting documentary is a follow-up to the 2013 film created by the NCVC, For the Love of Music: The Story of Nashville, which chronicles the 130-year evolution of how Nashville became Music City. For the Love of Music was awarded silver and bronze lions at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the category of Branded Content & Entertainment.

Lydia Luce

Nashville musician Lydia Luce will release her debut full-length album, Azalea, on Aug. 17. Luce, the daughter of an organist and pianist (and her brother is a cellist), combines her classical training with Americana and folk influences on the new album. The project’s second single, “Helen,” premiered today (May 11).

Luce worked with Jordan Lehning and Skylar Wilson for the album, which she wrote after she moved from Los Angeles to Nashville. Azalea offers 10 tracks that span a range of human emotions, from love to heartbreak.

“The record was written after moving from Los Angeles to Nashville. Some of the songs are reflections of my time out west and the unbelievable nature that I miss,” Luce said. “I have spent a lot of time in beautiful places with people that I love and my mind often wanders to those memories and relationships.”

Luce grew up in South Florida, where her mother conducted her own symphony orchestra. For Luce, her instrument of choice was viola; later adding guitar to her set of prodigious talents. By age 13 she was performing with her mother’s orchestra, Ars Flores. She studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., and earned a master’s degree in viola performance from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

Her first EP, The Tides, landed in 2015. She followed that debut with a finish as finalist in the 2016 Rocky Mountain Folk Fest songwriting competition and hit the road as a fiddle player for Sam Outlaw. In 2017, Luce performed at Merlefest and AmericanaFest, as well touring as an opening artist for singer-songwriter Peter Bradley Adams.

Azalea Track Listing:

Ryan Griffin

Singer-songwriter Ryan Griffin, known for co-writing Kelsea Ballerini’s “Dibs,” releases three of his own new tracks today (May 11), each produced by busbee.

“Good Company,” “Play It By Heart,” and “Best Cold Beer” are available via all digital streaming services, including Amazon Music, Apple Music and Spotify. “Best Cold Beer” is on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist.

“This is the music I’ve always wanted to make and I’m grateful to have a team that whole-heartedly believes in it,” says Griffin. “Working with busbee has brought out the best in me as an artist and a songwriter and I’m so thankful the world will get to hear the songs we’ve poured our hearts and souls into.”

“Ryan Griffin represents everything that makes the country genre a uniquely impactful and diverse musical space,” adds busbee. “His vocal and songwriting abilities convey genuine emotion and a true sense of craft that rival the best artists in the format.”

Griffin previously gained recognition with his Sake of the Summer EP, as “Backseats & Burnt CDs” was featured on SiriusXM as a Highway Find in 2017. The EP’s vulnerable ballad “Woulda Left Me Too” has been streamed more than 5 million times on Spotify, landing on the platform’s all-genre Viral 50 – US chart.