Parker McCollum Inks Publishing Deal With Warner/Chappell Nashville

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Parker McCollum has signed with Warner/Chappell Nashville for publishing. The rising Austin-based singer-songwriter has been selling out dates around the country upon the heels of his latest release, Probably Wrong, in November 2017.

“I met Parker a few years back at a show he played with the Randy Rogers Band,” said Randy Rogers, recording artist/songwriter/founder/CEO of Big Blind Management. “I tracked him down after the show and started asking questions. I knew immediately that he would be a great fit at our management company.  His drive alone is what sealed the deal for me. He knows where he wants to go, and that makes all the difference.”

“Parker is the real deal.  Fans are reacting to his authentic lyrics that meet them where they are in their lives. We are proud to welcome him to the Warner/Chappell family and look forward to seeing him continue on his journey,” said Ben Vaughn, President, Warner/Chappell Nashville.

“I have envisioned this moment for years, so it’s literally a dream come true. I’m proud to call Warner/Chappell Nashville my songwriting home,” said McCollum. “My goal has always been to evolve personally, creatively and professionally; to dig deeper and pull the best out of myself. I know that surrounding myself with the best people is part of making that happen, and I’ve found that team here.”

Parker’s team includes Robin Schoepf and Randy Rogers of Big Blind Management, WME’s Henry Glascock, Greenberg Traurig’s Jess Rosen, Ben Vaughn and Alicia Pruitt of Warner/Chappell Nashville, and Jackie Marushka of Marushka Media.

Bobby Karl Works The Room: Celebrating The Works Of Late Photographer Alan Mayor

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Alan L. Mayor

This might come as a shock, but Bobby Karl isn’t the champ of “working the room” – that title might rightly belong to the late photographer Alan Mayor.

If you don’t believe me, head to Middle Tennessee State University’s Center for Popular Music in Murfreesboro. That’s where you’ll find the more than 100,000 photos that document Mayor’s four-decade journey through the Nashville music biz.

Friends and admirers gathered to celebrate Mayor’s amazing archive on Wednesday, May 2, at the CMA event space on Music Row.

Mayor Smith Family & Friends

“We’re delighted you are joining us tonight,” said MTSU’s Dean of the College of Media and Entertainment Ken Paulson. “We have two gems [at MTSU] that we’re very proud of. One of them is WMOT. We changed the format to Americana and our ratings shot up. The other is the Center for Popular Music. We have the most amazing collection of artifacts and documents.”

This is where Alan Mayor’s photos have found a final resting place. They have been residing in a storage facility since the longtime MusicRow staff photographer’s passing in 2015.

“We’re glad you’re here to celebrate Alan Mayor’s legacy,” said Greg Reish, the director of the CPM at MTSU. “The collection is astonishingly large and rich, 100,000-plus photos. We want to preserve this material so that it will be available for generations to come.”

CPM Staffers

The event was staged to raise funds to preserve this remarkable photo archive. Framed prints of Mayor’s images of Charlie Daniels, Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, B.B. King, Amy Grant, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and others were displayed on tables at either end of the party room, with bid sheets alongside them.

The last time I checked, a Mayor photograph of Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt on stage was being bid for $650.00. A Willie with Kris Kristofferson shot was another popular bidding item.

Scattered on cocktail tables were cards bearing portraits of Mayor with pledge-gift amounts on the reverse.

MTSU College of Media and Entertainment Dean Ken Paulson

The hors d’oeuvres station held spiced chicken drums, beef barbecue and coleslaw on fried green tomatoes and breaded mushrooms, green beans and okra, plus bite-sized desserts.

Sharing the love were Pam Matthews, Mary Matthews, Renee White, Abby White, Tim McFadden, country artist Tony Jackson, Martin Fisher, Craig Campbell, Judy Harris and Joe Mansfield.

Fabulous country historian Brenda Colladay shared that she has been hired as an archivist by the Country Music Hall of Fame. Woody Bomar, Beth Gwinn, Teresa Simon, Cathy Gurley, Chuck Thompson, Wayne & Pat Halper, Don Cusic and Beverly Keel schmoozed and smiled.

The uppermost of the guests was Alan’s sister Theresa Mayor Smith. “Now I know it’s all going to be in a safe place,” she said of her brother’s treasure trove. “And I really appreciate that.”

Those who are interested in making a tax-deductible gift to the cause can visit mobilecause.com.

Lindsay Ell To Release Her Version Of John Mayer’s ‘Continuum’ May 25

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Singer, songwriter and guitarist Lindsay Ell will release her version of John Mayer’s Continuum album on Friday, May 25. Ell’s The Continuum Project, co-produced and co-engineered by Ell, will be available at all digital retailers and streaming services.

The album began as a homework assignment from producer Kristian Bush (Sugarland), to help prepare Ell to record her debut album for BBR Music Group. Ell was allotted two weeks to recreate the album alone, recording every single instrument and singing every part of the album. Ell reported that the experience deepened her creative vision for her own music. The end result was Ell’s No. 1 debut album, The Project.

Ell explains, “Recording Continuum was the thing that started it all. Kristian taught me some of the most valuable lessons as my producer from this ‘homework’ assignment. He gave me three rules: I needed to play all the instruments myself, I needed to record it alone in my studio, and I had two weeks. Through it all, I remembered all the things I first loved about making music. I can’t wait for my fans to hear the music that helped shaped ‘Criminal’ and The Project!”

Ell recently collaborated with Keith Urban on the track “Horses,” part of his newly-released album Graffiti U. Her current single “Criminal” is at country radio, and she will join Sugarland’s Still The Same Tour in July, in addition to select opening dates on Urban’s Graffiti U World Tour.

 

BMG Earns 20 U.S. No. 1 Singles In A Single Week

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BMG has notched 20 No. 1 positions this week on U.S. music charts published by Billboard. The chart-toppers were split nearly 50/50 with nine No. 1s for records released by BMG, and 11 No. 1 No. 1s penned by BMG-published writers.

A Perfect Circle’s album Eat The Elephant (released by BMG) tops the Rock Albums, Alternative Albums, Tastemakers, Independent Albums and Vinyl Albums charts.

“The Middle,” by Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey, and co-written by BMG-published The Monsters & Strangerz, leads the Mainstream Top 40, Adult Top 40, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs and the Dance/Mix Show Airplay charts.

“Meant To Be” earns three No. 1s. The song, co-written by BMG-published Bebe Rexha and recorded by Rexha and Florida Georgia Line, leads Radio Songs, Hot Country Songs and the Country Streaming Songs charts.

Jason Aldean leads Top Country Albums with Rearview Town and Country Airplay with “You Make It Easy,” both of which are released by BMG. Lil Dicky ft. Chris Brown, whose “Freaky Friday” released by BMG is No. 1 on the Hot R&B Songs and R&B Streaming Songs charts, while “Despacito,” by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, co-written by BMG-published Poo Bear, is atop the Latin Digital Songs Sales chart, and the Latin Streaming Songs chart. Finally, “Finesse” by Bruno Mars and Cardi B, co-written by BMG-published Bruno Mars, is No. 1 on the Adult R&B chart.

BMG US President Repertoire & Marketing Zach Katz said, “This is first and foremost the achievement of seven of our clients. We congratulate all of them. But in a week in which we celebrate having two albums in the Top 5 of the Billboard 200 for the first time – from A Perfect Circle and Jason Aldean – it’s an incredible demonstration of BMG’s ability to succeed in a wide range of genres and in both music publishing and recordings. No one else can do that.”

Industry Pics: Morgan Wallen, Absolute Publicity, Writer’s Den, Torque Entertainment

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Morgan Wallen Goes Gold

Pictured (L-R): FGL’s Brian Kelley; Wallen; Jimmy Kimmel; FGL’s Tyler Hubbard

Morgan Wallen‘s single “Up Down” has been certified Gold by the RIAA. The track is also No. 1 on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart this week.

Wallen was surprised with his first Gold single during his first performance at Stagecoach. Wallen is also a writer behind Jason Aldean’s chart-topper “You Make It Easy.”

 

Absolute Publicity Inks Deal With Leroy Van Dyke


Country music entertainer Leroy Van Dyke has signed on with Nashville-based Absolute Publicity for exclusive public relations representation.”A professional publicist is important at any stage of an entertainer’s career,” notes Van Dyke. “In my 62nd year as a professional entertainer/recording artist, I am proud to be represented by Don Murry Grubbs and his staff at Absolute Publicity.”

 

Writer’s Den, Torque Entertainment Host Writers’ Retreat

Pictured (Back row, L-R): Noel McKay, Brennen Leigh, Tammy Rogers King, Maya de Vitry, Mike Wheeler. (Front row, L-R): Rachel Baiman, Kristina Murray, Ellie Buckland, Jenee Fleenor. Not pictured: Lydia Luce

Writer’s Den Music Group and Torque Entertainment recently hosted a writer’s retreat at Bell Bottom Farm in Cedar Hill, Tennessee.

Kaleidoscope Media Adds Allison Skiff

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Kaleidoscope Media has added Allison Skiff to the team as Head of Partnerships. At Kaleidoscope, Skiff will be responsible for managing and growing the agency’s brand partnership division and will play a key role on the management and leadership team.

Skiff spent the last nine years working for 4Fini, an event production and brand strategy firm, where she was responsible for generating partnerships, crafting and executing marketing campaigns and overseeing onsite partner activations and staff. It was there that Skiff launched and produced the company’s first-ever music festival cruise, Warped Rewind At Sea. In addition to her brand experience, Skiff brings experience in booking, negotiating and handling studio pre-production for artists including Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, Lenny Kravitz, Jason Aldean and more. She also enjoyed successful stints at Clear Channel Online Music & Radio, Sony BMG and Fanscape.

“Allison’s dynamic background in creating meaningful partnerships, managing people and valuing customer experience is a welcome addition to the Kaleidoscope team. I look forward to working with her to propel the company in its next phase of growth,” said agency founder and president Angie Gore.

“I am thrilled to join the amazing team at Kaleidoscope Media and look forward to expanding upon the company’s existing strengths and successes, while bringing innovative partnership strategies to the table,” said Skiff. “Additionally, I’m incredibly excited to hone my leadership skills and contribute to a positive company culture from a managerial standpoint.”

Allison can be reached at allison@kaleidoscope-media.com.

Luke Combs Inks Columbia Sportswear Deal

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Luke Combs has teamed with outdoor apparel company Columbia Sportswear for a multi-level integrated partnership. Columbia launches the collaboration today spotlighting Combs’ passion for fishing and the outdoors in a video following the country star and his songwriting friends on a deep sea fishing excursion to Los Barriles, Mexico.

Combs’ history with Columbia extends back to the early days of launching his music career in his Boone, North Carolina college town. The Asheville-native initially began wearing a black Columbia PFG shirt that features venting and wicking fabrics, during his high-energy shows at jam packed venues where oftentimes the air conditioning would be sparse and rooms booked over capacity. As the breakthrough artist’s career catapulted to new levels of platinum singles, sold-out tours and multiple award show nominations, Columbia’s black PFG became a hallmark component of Combs’ live show performance.

“I have always loved my PFG shirts, all the way back to high school. When I started to play the club runs early on, the rooms were so hot, and I wanted to be as comfortable as possible for the 90 minutes we were playing. The only shirt I owned that could do that was the PFG, so it quickly became my go-to every time I perform,” shares Combs. “Teaming up with the Columbia family is exciting for me because of our shared love of music and the outdoors. From deep sea fishing to packed out arenas, PFG has always been with me on and off the stage.”

Combs will release This One’s For You Too, a 17-track deluxe version of his Gold-certified album, on June 1 via River House Artists/Columbia Nashville.

Spotify, Instagram Allow Users To Share New Songs Via Instagram Stories

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Spotify and Instagram have partnered to allow users to share the latest music they are listening to via Instagram Stories or Instagram Direct.

The new feature can be accessed on Spotify’s share menu, by tapping the Instagram Stories option. Users can enhance the pic with custom cover art stickers using Instagram’s editing tools for each song, album, artist or playlist.

When other users see a shared song on Instagram, they can then press the “Play On Spotify” button on their screen to hear the music on Spotify.

Russell Dickerson Shares “Yours” No. 1 With Co-Writers Casey Brown, Parker Welling

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SESAC songwriter Casey Brown, BMI songwriter Russell Dickerson, BMI songwriter Parker Welling. Photo: Steve Lowry

“I was trying to be somebody else—Keith Urban or whoever else was cool—and the songs just weren’t working,” confessed Russell Dickerson of “Yours,” the song he wrote over four years ago with his Belmont University alumni. “You all know me because we’re family, and they didn’t let me write songs that weren’t me. It just clicked because you understand my artistry and believe in me…And it wasn’t until we wrote this song that anyone started to listen. I knew we had a No. 1 song from the bottom of my heart, and I wasn’t going to give up till this song went No. 1.”

The Triple Tigers recording artist’s success was a rarity, in that it was the first No. 1 for the label, first No. 1 for the artist, and first country No. 1 for each writer—Dickerson, Casey Brown and Parker Welling.

BMI’s Leslie Roberts presided over the No. 1 party, which was held at the offices of Nashville App developer Aloompa. Roberts presented her writers —Dickerson and Welling— with BMI No. 1 Taylor guitars.

SESAC’s ET Brown, also a Belmont graduate, was thrilled to congratulate his writer, on behalf of the PRO’s event sponsor Bose.

Welling teased her publisher Jeffrey Steele and Darrell Brown.

“I’m the lone female on a guy’s record,” said Welling. “Before this write four years ago, I prayed we would write something that changed the sound of country music. We wrote this love song about our spouses four years ago when country radio was a bunch of hookup songs.”

Brown was recognized by current BMG Nashville head Kos Weaver as the reason the publishing company signed Dickerson. Weaver brought up additional reps, including label GM Norbert Nix (David Macias could not attend) and Triple 8’s George Couri, Bruce Kalmick, in addition to manager John Dennis.

“Having suffered through the downturn in the music business, the digital revolution has brought more people from around the world to consume more music than they ever have,” noted Weaver. “So it’s great having a record company opening it’s doors and starting with a great artist. This song streamed at an amazing amount thanks to the effort from you and John Dennis.”

Pictured (L-R): Triple Tigers Records’ Bruce Kalmick, Dennis Entertainment’s John Dennis, Essential Music’s Terry Hemmings, SESAC’s ET Brown, Essential Music’s Holly Zabka, 3 Ring Circus’ Jeffrey Steele, BMI’s Leslie Roberts, 3 Ring Circus’ Darrell Franklin, Triple Tiger Records’ George Couri, Triple Tiger Records’ Norbert Nix and BMG’s Kos Weaver. Photo: Steve Lowry

Nix and Dickerson personally thanked John Marks, who began his support for Dickerson while at SiriusXM before moving to Spotify, where the song has streamed 95 million times.

“Russell put an EP together and was on the road for six years, slugging it out with John Dennis and agency CAA,” said Nix. “We started hearing these venues were selling out and we couldn’t figure it out. Then country radio jumped on it—this couldn’t have happened without radio.”

“John Dennis found me, I guess through CAA, because I signed with them in 2010,” said Dickerson. “We had nothing when Darrell [Franklin] signed me, not even this song. Thank you for trusting us to come up with something and taking a chance. Almost four years to the day we wrote this song, and it went No. 1. I want y’all to know we fought for this one song for four years from the day we wrote it, we listened to it 300 times that day and didn’t stop.”

Casey Brown, who also produced the track, was honored by his first publisher, Holly Zabka of Essential Music Publishing.

“I’m relly happy I asked you to write that one time,” confessed Brown to Dickerson. “I am never the guy to ask people to write. That’s the first time, and I’ll probably stop while I’m ahead.

“Parker, you’re at my house most days of the week. I’m really thankful this happened with friends. We hung out with each other before we were working together in any professional capacity.”

MusicRow‘s Sherod Robertson offered No. 1 Challenge Coins for the No. 1 success of “Yours” on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart. BMI’s financial partner for No. 1 parties is Pinnacle Bank, from which David Smith spoke. Brooke Sanders with CRB noted the song has recieved 297,000 spins, reaching a total audience of 1.39 billion through the airwaves. Country Aircheck‘s Lon Helton also spoke.

Justin Moore Preps Headlining Ryman Auditorium Show, ‘90s Country-Influenced Album

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Justin Moore‘s most recent RIAA certified Gold single “Somebody Else Will” might have come as a surprise to some fans, with its use of polished beats and smooth, spacey guitar riffs, over which Moore’s vocals held the slightest shadings of R&B. But now the singer-songwriter is following that with what will be his most traditional country-leaning album yet.

“I’ve always said if I could go make the album I wanted to make and didn’t have to worry about what anybody else thought, I would put out an album that sounds like it came out in 1992,” Moore tells MusicRow. “I’ve said that for so long, that I thought, ‘Well, why don’t I just go ahead and do that?’”

In its early stages, the as-yet-untitled album will be Moore’s fifth for The Valory Music Co., and follows 2016’s Kinda Don’t Care, which produced two gold singles, the aforementioned “Somebody Else Will,” and “You Look Like I Need A Drink.” This time, Moore is doubling down on his hybrid country and Southern rock sound, calling on longtime writing buddies including Rhett Akins and David Lee Murphy, who each had their own charting singles as artists in the ‘90s. Akins hit with “Don’t Get Me Started” and “That Ain’t My Truck” (which remains a frequent country radio recurrent), while Murphy’s ’90s hits include “Dust On The Bottle” and “Party Crowd” (and most recently, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” his duet with Kenny Chesney). Moore also reunited with longtime producer and co-writer Jeremy Stover on the new project.

But first, Moore will hit a new career milestone on Wednesday evening (May 2), bringing his Hell On A Highway Tour to Nashville’s mother church, the Ryman Auditorium, for his inaugural headlining show at the historic venue.

“We’ve done a lot of charity events, but it’s our first time bringing our show to the Ryman and to Nashville at all, which is hard to believe,” says Moore, who released his first album nearly a decade ago.

For his Ryman show, Moore will welcome new UMG Nashville singer-songwriter Travis Denning, whose debut single features the wordy title “David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs” and lyrics devoted to college days and a fake ID. Also on the bill is “The Difference” singer and Moore’s BMLG labelmate Tyler Rich. In true Nashville fashion, Moore says fans can expect a few surprises.

“We are definitely going to have some buddies show up, and I’m excited about that. Any time you have the opportunity to walk onstage at the Ryman—I’m such a huge fan and have such a huge respect for the history of country music.”

Hours before his Ryman show, Moore will meet with executives at Big Machine Label Group to sift through nearly 50 potential songs for the new album.

“I’ve been writing a ton, probably more than I have since the very beginning of my career. We will try to whittle the songs down to 20.”

Though Moore has a wealth of material for his upcoming project, don’t expect a sneak preview of the songs during tonight’s Ryman show.

“Some of the songs are like a week old. My band hasn’t even heard them,” Moore says. “The last thing I want to do is screw up a new song on a Ryman show. But hopefully we will get in the studio this summer.”