BOBBY KARL WORKS THE ROOM

Chapter 582

If you were looking for early-bird country radio conventioneers on Monday, the place to find them was the Listening Room Café.

That’s where MusicRow Magazine hosted its 16^th annual “Country Radio Meet & Greet” and “CountryBreakout Awards” fiesta. And, boy, was it packed. Although staged at its largest venue to date, the event continues to be a wall-to-wall schmoozathon.

“We want to give a special thanks to our MusicRow reporters and our MusicRow [chart] promoters,” said owner/publisher Sherod Robertson in greeting the throng.” The awards are based on spins the artists get on the magazine’s panel of reporting stations.

Its chart is widely regarded in the country industry as the one to watch for breaking new artists and records. Its reporting stations are heavily weighted toward secondary markets where new music is easier to launch.

The female winner of this year’s Country Breakout Award was Kelsea Ballerini, earning her second consecutive such honor.

“This is awesome,” she said. “My childhood was defined by the female voices I heard on the radio, and I am truly thankful that radio is playing young female voices. Cheers!”

Florida Georgia Line earned its fourth consecutive Group/Duo award.

“It’s an honor to be up here,” said the superstar duo’s Tyler Hubbard. “We’re lovin’ life, and it’s an honor to do what we love.”

His FGL partner Brian Kelley added, “Thank you, MusicRow. You have believed in us from the very beginning. It’s really inspiring to be part of this creative community.”

Sherod Robertson also presented each FGL fellow with six Challenge Coins for the six No. 1 hits they’ve written to date.

The Male winner was Blake Shelton. Sherod noted that Blake is the first country artist to win People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive honor. “What you may not know, is that he narrowly beat his producer, Scott Hendricks, the Second Sexiest Man Alive.”

“Not!” said Scott when he accepted on Blake’s behalf. “If Blake were here, he’d thank everybody at MusicRow, the songwriters, the publishers and everyone here.”

The Songwriter of the Year was Ashley Gorley, who has co-written an incredible seven No. 1 hits during the past 12 months. He was also ASCAP’s Country Songwriter of the Year for a record-setting fifth time last year.

“Thank you guys for believing in the songs and playing them,” said Ashley. Sherod gave him nine Challenge Coins.

MusicRow chart director Alex Kobrick was attending her first “Country Radio Meet-and-Greet.” “I’m excited to finally meet every one of you,” she said to the radio folks she speaks with via phone each week. She presented the Independent Artist of the Year award to Shane Owens.

“Country radio, you rock,” he said. “They make dreams come true for guys like me. God bless country music.”

The Breakout Artist award went to Luke Combs. “Thanks, you guys, for having me,” he said. “Thanks to country radio and all the stations on the panel.”

Capitol Records won its 14^th Label of the Year accolade and its 13^th consecutive one. “It’s great to see everyone – a lot of old friends,” said the company’s Bobby Young in accepting. “Thank you so much to everyone for supporting this roster. Now we have to do this for 15 years!”

The magazine’s radio Reporter of the Year honor went to Alex Hardy of KYYK in Texas. “I’ve made amazing friendships with everybody; that’s what makes this special,” she said.

In between the award presentations, the party rolled on. Hit singer-songwriter John Berry and Uncle Si of Duck Dynasty posed for selfies with fans.

Southern Halo, Lucas Hoge, Bailey James, Tony Jackson, April Kry, Rachel Holder, Keith Burns, Amber Hayes, John Schneider, Ashley Barron, Branch & Dean, Terry McBride, Eric Beddingfield, Cowboy Troy, Heidi Raye, Bucky Covington, James Dupree, James Robert Webb, Jagertown, Rick Monroe, Lewis Brice, Irlene Mandrell, The Band Steele, Tim Elliott, Lonely Highway Band, Dallas Remington, Jeff Bates, Harper Grae and many other artists signed up to work the room.

The music was provided by two promising up-and-comers.

“This is an awesome turnout,” said singer-songwriter Michael Tyler as he took the stage. “Look at this crowd.”

Michael favored the mob with a gently rolling, good natured rendition of “Somewhere on a Beach,” the chart-topper he cowrote for Dierks Bentley. He also offered his languid, dreamy “They Can’t See” and his catchy, endearingly boyish current single “Hey Mama.”

Denny Strickland did his rhythmic current tune “California Dreamin,’” the thumping rumbler “Close My Eyes” and an urgent, intense version of “We Don’t Sleep.”

The crowd chowed down on a Mexican buffet and schmoozed like there was no tomorrow. Fabulons working the room included Steve Popovich, Steve Pope, Steve O’Brien, Nancy Peacock, Nancy Tunick, Zach Farnum, Zach Stone, Ron Cox, Michael Knox, Mike Martinovich, Martha Moore, Edie Emery, Sarah Skates, Sam Cerami, Diane Richey, Dennis Banka, Preshius Harris, Susan Niles, Neal Spielberg, Ray Shelide, Andrew Kintz, L.B. Rogers, Woody Bomar, Jenny Bohler, Tim McFadden, Shannan Hatch, Bob Reeves, Troy Stephenson and Teri Brown.

By the way, the sound quality at The Listening Room was a huge improvement over the other venues where this annual event has been staged. At least it was up in the balcony where I sat.

 

 

Kelsea Ballerini is featured as the cover artist for MusicRow Magazine’s 2018 CountryBreakout Awards Issue, which is available now.

MusicRow Magazine’s 2018 CountryBreakout Awards Issue honors the artists, label imprint, and songwriter who have garnered the most spins on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart over the past year. This issue also features interviews with Universal Music Group’s Mike Dungan, country legend and radio professional Kix Brooks, playlist curators including Amazon’s Emily Cohen, Spotify’s John Marks, and Pandora’s Rachel Whitney, and tackles changes in the radio industry with radio executives Pat Paxton (Entercom), and Ed Carter (WLLX).

In this issue, Kelsea Ballerini also celebrates receiving five MusicRow Challenge Coins, commemorating her five No. 1 singles on the MusicRow CountryBreakout chart.

This issue is available for purchase, or with a subscription to MusicRow Magazine.

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Artist Name: Kelsea Ballerini
Label: Black River Entertainment
Current Album: Unapologetically
Current Single: “Legends”
Current Producer(s): Forest Glen Whitehead, Jason Massey, Shane McAnally, Lindsay Rimes, and Jimmy Robbins
Management: Iconic Entertainment
Booking: CAA
Hometown: Knoxville, TN
Recent Hits: “Legends,” “Yeah Boy,” “Peter Pan,” “Dibs,” and “Love Me Like You Mean It”
RIAA Certifications: Platinum Singles – “Peter Pan,” “Dibs,” and “Love Me Like You Mean It”; Gold Single – “Yeah Boy”; Gold Album – The First Time; Approaching Gold Single – “Legends”
Career Highlights/Awards: MusicRow CountryBreakout Award for Femal Artist of the Year (2018), ACM Honors’ Gene Weed Milestone Award (2017), ASCAP Vanguard Award (2017), CMT’s Next Women of Country Impact Award (2017), Nashville Business Journal’s Artist of the Year (2017), iHeartRadio Music Award for Best New Country Artist (2017), MusicRow CountryBreakout Award for Breakout and Female Artist of the Year (2017), ACM Award for New Female Vocalist of the Year (2016), ACCA Award for Breakthrough Female of the Year (2016), CMT Artists of the Year Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year (2016), three Radio Disney Music Awards and Billboard’s Rising Star title (2015). During release week for Unapologetically, Ballerini performed at her alma mater Central High School in Knoxville, TN, on October 28 in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, as well as performed and hung out with her fans during an intimate Spotify Fan First event at Nashville’s The Back Corner on October 30. Ballerini is featured on The Star: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack with “Children Go Where I Send You” from Sony Pictures Animations motion picture The Star.
Notable TV Appearances: Co-host of CMA Fest 2017 and ABC’s Greatest Hits; headlined CBS’ The Thanksgiving Day Parade and “Kelsea Ballerini” AT&T AUDIENCE Network Concert Special; performed on the 59th Annual GRAMMY Awards, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Good Morning America, Live With Kelly and Ryan, TODAY, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, CMA Country Christmas and Nickelodeon Halo Awards; guest appearance on Project Runway.
On Tour: The Unapologetically Tour with Walker Hayes. (coming Feb. 14 to Nashville, Tennessee with Walker Hayes and Bailey Bryan). This summer, Kelsea will join Keith Urban on his Graffiti U World Tour 2018. Other upcoming tour dates include Rodeo Houston (Houston, TX on March 3), Stagecoach Festival (Indio, CA on April 27), C2C 2018 (UK, March 9-11), and CMC Rocks (Australia, March 15-18).

Jordan Pettit has joined Opry Entertainment Group as Director of Artist Relations & Programming Strategy, reporting to Senior Vice President of Programming & Artist Relations and Grand Ole Opry General Manager, Sally Williams.

Pettit joins Opry Entertainment Group from RedBrandana, where he was responsible for building artist awareness and creating experiential branding opportunities. Prior to founding RedBrandana, Jordan was the Vice President & National Director of National Radio Marketing at Warner Music Group in Nashville.

Additionally, Gina Keltner has been promoted to Director of Opry Talent Scheduling and Logistics for the Grand Ole Opry, while Lisaann Dupont has been promoted to Director of Communications for Opry Entertainment, supporting Ryman Auditorium, Ole Red and Opry City Stage.

In his new role, Pettit will focus on nurturing strong relationships within the music community and developing artist friendly initiatives utilizing assets and opportunities from across Opry Entertainment’s business. He also will work withGina Keltner on programming strategy for the Grand Ole Opry and with Dolly Chandler on programming strategy for Opry City Stage and Ole Red.

Sally Williams, Senior Vice President of Programming & Artist Relations, said, “Over the past year, we have built a phenomenal team to support our growth across Opry Entertainment. Jordan’s creativity and passion for artist development made him a natural addition to that team as we work to engage with artists at all stages of their careers through our growing portfolio of brands.”