Courtney Allen joined Concord’s Nashville team in October 2021 as Director, A&R and was promoted to Senior Director in 2023. Allen serves as an A&R for Concord’s publishing roster that has grown and expanded immensely in the Nashville and country market.

She is committed to rounding out Concord’s Nashville roster with top-notch talent and continues to be a force in developing high-level signings across the company including breakout artist Russell Dickerson and top country music songwriter/producer Corey Crowder, as well as rising stars like Grace Tyler, Cole Goodwin, Clayton Mullen, Lauren Hungate and more. Additionally, Allen serves an integral role in liaising with Hang Your Hat, a Concord creative venture founded by two-time ACM Songwriter of the Year, Hillary Lindsey including notable signings such as Chris LaCorte.

Prior to Concord, Allen served as Creative Director at BMG, where she worked with their roster of songwriters and developed new talent. Prior to her time at BMG, she was the Creative Director of publishing at Starstruck Entertainment, where she worked with developing artists on the management roster.

Allen is active in the country music and Nashville scene, both for music and philanthropically. She works with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital raising money with their annual “This Shirt Saves Lives” campaign, encouraging the music community’s involvement. She was also a part of the 2023 class of CMA Women’s Leadership Academy, and was named Song Champion of the Year at the 2025 AIMP Nashville Country Awards.

Allen will be honored as part of MusicRow‘s Rising Women on the Row class of 2026 on March 3 at the JW Marriott. Read more about the event here.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Simpsonville, South Carolina.

What were you into as a kid?

I loved cheerleading. I played volleyball. I did class pageants. I was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities. And I always loved music and entertainment. I had no idea I would land doing what I do now. But my mom always loved music, and she was my best friend, so I loved music.

My dad was military, and I was born in Germany. So for a long time it was just me and my mom together all day. She loved country, and she would take me to concerts. I specifically remember going to see Wynonna and standing on a chair trying to see her.

What were you going to do when you went to college? What was your dream?

I went to the University of South Carolina in Columbia for sport and entertainment management, which is hilarious because I know nothing about sports. I just wanted to do the entertainment part. I quickly realized it was very sports-focused. Everybody in the program was trying to work in sports.

I had gone to high school with a girl who loved country music. She came to Columbia one weekend and asked me if I wanted to go to a concert with her to see some new guy named Jason Aldean, who was opening for Trace Adkins. So we went and ended up meeting Jason and his band. We befriended them and would go see them whenever they played around the area.

They invited us to come to a show on New Year’s Eve at the Sommet Center in Nashville — Bridgestone Arena now. It was Brooks & Dunn and Jason, and we were sitting with Brooks & Dunn’s family in these really insane seats. Brooks & Dunn’s family got up, and I was like, “Where are y’all going?” They said, “We’re going back to see Ronnie and Kix. Do you have a pass? You need a pass to go backstage.”

I remember looking at my friend and saying, “We should just try to walk back there and see what happens. What’s the worst that can happen?” And we walked right back. I was taking pictures, just having the best time. Nashville completely enchanted me. Broadway was so different back then. You could just walk into any bar and see an artist.

So what did you do?

I went to my guidance counselor and said, “Hey, I know I have to do an internship. Could I do something in Nashville in music?” She said, “Yes. My husband actually went to school there. Maybe he would know someone.”

She asked her husband, then came back with a piece of paper and said, “Here’s the email address of a guy in Nashville my husband went to college with.”

So I emailed him, and he said, “Next time you’re in Nashville, you can come by and meet me.” I went, and it was Song Garden Music, Byron Gallimore’s publishing company. At the time they had just signed Brett Eldredge and some other writers. I didn’t know what publishing was, but he told me about it. I took the internship, and the guy I emailed who gave me my first internship was Brad Kennard, who is my boss today.

Small world!

Brett was a college student at MTSU at the time. I transferred there and watched Brett get a record deal, get radio singles and all of that. That was a really awesome experience.

After my internship, I did odds and ends jobs. I was in a few music videos where I’d make maybe $20. I did wardrobe styling. Anything I could do to make money and stay in Nashville, I did.

I worked for a short window at Brentwood Benson Music publishing and sales, selling church music and church programs. After a while, I hit a rough patch where I was really struggling with anxiety and depression. I eventually decided that moving home was probably the best thing for me. I kept trying to find a job in publishing but couldn’t find one. I just wanted to be around songwriters and songs so badly, and there didn’t seem to be another route for me. So I moved home for a few years before eventually coming back.

What led you back?

I ended up getting a job at NSAI, which put me back around songwriters, so I came back and worked there for a little bit. Around that time, I met an artist named Tara Thompson, who I just loved. I knew a girl in A&R at Big Machine, so I played her Tara’s music. Scott Borchetta ended up signing her, and she started being produced by Alex Kline.

Alex was writing at Starstruck, and they didn’t have a plugger there. She told them about me and how I’d helped Tara get signed. I went and met with them at Starstruck, but they weren’t really interested in hiring a plugger. I started getting interest from another company and kept Alex in the loop about what was going on. She was insistent that I be her plugger.

One day, she and Tara were in the studio at Starstruck and told me to come by. Alex walked me into Cliff Williamson’s office. He said, “It’s so crazy that you’re here. I was just talking about you at lunch today. Come with me.” He walked me down the hallway into this giant office where someone was sitting behind the desk, and he said, “Reba, this is the girl I was telling you about at lunch today.” I blacked out. [Laughs]

She stood up from behind the desk, a vision like an angel, and said, “I hope all your dreams come true.” We went back to his office, met with Narvel [Blackstock], and they offered me the job.

Reba was there every day unless she was touring. She really was the force behind publishing there. She loved songwriters and wanted a place where she could have the songwriters she loved. When she moved on and got new management, all of that kind of went away. That was when I left and went to BMG.

Tell me about your time at BMG.

BMG was a really special place. They had Hillary Lindsey, and she was one of the main reasons I wanted to be a publisher. When I interned at Song Garden, there was a whole underground group of interns who would literally share her demos on a website. I was obsessed with her songwriting and her voice. Getting to work with her was such a great opportunity.

Carly Pearce was there, and she’s been a friend of mine since very early on when she first moved to town. Emily Shackelton was there. Tully Kennedy and Kurt Allison, who are in Jason’s band and were two of the people who encouraged me to move to Nashville, ended up becoming my writers. I learned so much from Kos Weaver, Daniel Lee, Sara Knabe, Jake Gear and Rakiyah Marshall. They are all incredible song people who approach publishing in their own unique ways.

Then you pivoted to Concord.

There were a lot of changes at BMG, and then COVID hit. Brad told me they were ramping things up at Concord and really trying to make it competitive in the country market. I wanted to work for him again. I knew what kind of boss he was and what kind of person he is, so it was a no-brainer to go there and work with Brad.

That ended up being a great decision. It’s been an amazing journey. We have such an incredible roster, such a great culture and great coworkers. Over the past year with my health issues, it’s been a really difficult time for me. Having that support and the kind of people there who have helped me through it, along with the roster I work with, has meant so much. They’ve taken pressure off me at a time when I needed to focus on my health and treatment.

What are some of the proudest moments you’ve had in the last few years?

I’m really proud of the way Concord has grown while maintaining the culture that makes our company so special. I am especially proud of the roster we’ve built and our staff because not only are they talented but they are people who have so much integrity.

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact proudest moment because our roster works so hard and they are constantly accomplishing goals that I’m thankful to be a part of. Russell Dickerson’s massive year with “Happen To Me” to Tofer Brown’s work with Carter Faith coming to fruition, Grace Tyler having her first radio single as a writer, Cole Goodwin getting a record deal and Lauren Hungate having her first hit single. These are all dreams coming true for these creatives and that makes me incredibly proud.

Who have been your mentors?

There’s this overall narrative I sometimes hear about women not being good to other women, and I feel really lucky because that hasn’t been my experience. I’ve been surrounded by confident, encouraging women who genuinely want to help other women.

Abbe Nameche, Allison Jones, Stephanie Wright, Kerri Edwards, Leslie DiPiero, Carla Wallace, Tiffany Kerns, Brad Kennard and Kos Weaver.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve gotten?

It’s simple: be kind to people. You don’t know what someone is going through. It’s a scary world we’re living in, and there are a lot of hard things happening in people’s lives. You never know how a kind word or simply acknowledging something someone has done can turn everything around for them.

In less than a decade, Sophia Sansone has risen from an assistant role to become one of Nashville’s most respected young executives, now serving as a Managing Partner at Make Wake Artists. Since joining the company in 2017 as assistant to founder Chris Kappy, Sansone has distinguished herself through sharp strategic instincts, deep artist advocacy and an exceptional understanding of long-term career building.

A key member of Luke Combs’ management team during a period of historic growth, Sansone has played an integral role in helping guide one of the most successful careers in modern country music. She also manages Nicole Combs, serving as a trusted advisor across brand, business and philanthropic initiatives. In 2025, Sansone expanded her roster by taking on Grammy Award–winning act The Band Perry, leading their highly anticipated return to country music while honoring the legacy that made them one of the genre’s most influential acts.

A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Sansone credits much of her leadership style to growing up as one of ten siblings, an unconventional training ground that shaped her collaborative mindset, adaptability and decisiveness. Her impact has been consistently recognized by the industry. She was named to Nashville Briefing’s 30 Under 30 in 2021 and went on to earn repeated honors including Billboard Women in Music (2023, 2024, 2025), MusicRow’s Next Big Thing (N.B.T.) (2023), Variety’s Hitmakers (2023, 2024), Billboard’s Country Power Players (2023, 2024, 2025) and Billboard’s 40 Under 40 (2024).

Sansone will be honored as part of MusicRow‘s Rising Women on the Row class of 2026 on March 3 at the JW Marriott. Read more about the event here.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, with a big Italian and Greek family. I have nine siblings, and I was the first girl after five boys.

What were you into as a kid?

I was definitely a tomboy, so I was really into sports and I also boxed a lot with my brothers growing up, but at the same time I really cared about fashion from a young age and what I wore. I went to an all-girls Catholic school and had to wear a uniform all the way until college, but I always loved fashion and my dream was to move to Chicago and work in it. I also liked pop culture and would watch E! News and Oprah religiously after school.

I went to The Catholic University of America in DC for two years, where I played field hockey, and then I transferred to Vanderbilt. During the summers, I would work at Fox Sports Midwest in St. Louis, helping the local teams with whatever they needed. I worked on the production and marketing side of things, helping pull clips for the jumbotron, literally whatever you could think of. At one point, I was sitting in a closet going through old Cardinals baseball footage and pulling clips they wanted.

I grew up a big country music fan, but I really didn’t understand the industry at all. I didn’t know there were songwriters. So when I moved here and started going to writers’ rounds, that was when the light bulb went off.

How did you get your feet wet?

I started just managing my friends and being around artists and songwriters. I remember going to a round at a bar on Demonbreun and seeing Jonathan Singleton play “Watching Airplanes,” which he wrote. I had no idea someone other than the artist wrote songs. It really opened my eyes.

I finished up at Vanderbilt and was doing a lot of hustling on the side, managing my friends. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I knew I wanted to get into the industry somehow. I expressed that to my parents, but there were no job openings that I could find. All I had was babysitting money and a degree. I couldn’t afford to live here, so I had to move home.

My parents encouraged me to go to law school, so I started studying for the LSAT, took it, and applied to law school. But the whole time, I’d drive to Nashville every other week, stay with friends, and get coffee with whoever would take me in the industry. Everyone was so great, but no one had a job opening.

One day, my girlfriend saw a Facebook post from Kappy at Make Wake. He was looking for a day-to-day position for a bunch of his baby acts at the time. I knew who Luke Combs was. He had just had a No. 1 with “Hurricane,” and “When It Rains It Pours” was at radio. I also had lots of mutual friends with his then-girlfriend, Nicole.

I met with Kappy at the then Edgehill Cafe in 2017, admitting I was under-qualified for the job but asked him to take a chance. He ended up hiring someone else for the day-to-day role, but he said, “I can’t not hire you, and I really want you to grow and learn under me,” which is all I ever wanted. So he hired me as an assistant, paid me as much as he could, and gave me my chance.

That’s awesome. Tell me about getting started.

My first day of work was CMA Awards day. Kappy had me meet him at this address around 9:00 a.m. I showed up, and Luke was in the middle of a really big interview with a huge crowd. Then we went to Bridgestone for soundcheck, and there were all of these big names in the room, like Scooter Braun and Taylor Swift. I was like, “What is happening to me?” Kappy threw me right in.

I’ll never forget Mary Catherine Kenny, who was Luke’s PR at the time, coming out the door at Bridgestone to grab us. She was quick and decisive and wasn’t phased by all the people. She just radiated boss energy. I realized I had joined an environment where I was going to have to work really, really hard and use my voice. You could get eaten alive if you didn’t keep up with the pace. A lot of it looks glamorous, but there’s so much happening behind the scenes.

Within six months of working at Make Wake, Kappy called me into the office and asked me to be Luke’s day-to-day. I was like, “Are you sure? I’m so new.” I was so honored. I’ve been his day-to-day ever since and have been able to grow a lot on the team, which has instilled a lot of confidence in me.

Now you are also Partner at Make Wake.

Yes, about two years ago, Kappy asked me to be a Partner. That was a huge honor for me, and I feel really grateful for it. About a year ago, I also signed The Band Perry, which was something I never expected to do because Luke is so busy and the company is busy. I also manage Nicole with her brand marketing sponsorships.

But when Kimberly Perry messaged me that she was returning to country music, I had to meet with her. I was honored. Once we talked, I knew I needed to do it. I built a team around it, and I’m really grateful.

What is a day in the life like for you, balancing all of that?

Every day is different. Before work, I try to work out and do my Bible study before I get ready for the day. I really prioritize my mornings now. It’s better for everyone that way. [Laughs]

Then, depending on the day, I’ll go to meetings, and after that it’s more meetings, calls and emails. If we’re in an album cycle, we’re going to interviews and the studio, and now touring is ramping up, so I’ll be going to stadium shows for Luke and shows for The Band Perry.

Kappy still goes to every show for Luke, and I go to a lot of them. We’re so close with the touring team. We get so much done out there, and there’s so much camaraderie. It’s a grind, but it’s rewarding, and it’s a privilege to me.

Tell me about a moment in your career that you are most proud of.

When Luke and Tracy Chapman performed “Fast Car” at the Grammys, that was an incredible moment. It was such an important moment for Luke and such an honor for him. The fact that Tracy appreciated his cover of the song and wanted to perform with him was a full-circle moment. No one knew it was happening at the Grammys besides our teams.

I become the seat filler for Luke when he’s on stage at award shows, so I was sitting with Nicole when he came on stage. It was indescribable and such a proud moment, you could feel that the entire room was in awe too, which was really cool and felt like a huge step for country music.

I’m also really, really proud to be managing The Band Perry. It’s a big step for me to have something that I signed, and I’m honored.

Who have been your mentors?

My Pop has always been my mentor in business. He pushes me to think bigger and gives the best advice. I also talk with my brothers about business all the time, having those conversations with both of them has shaped so much of how I approach my career.

My mom is incredible. She raised 10 kids while also building her own path as an entrepreneur. She is a fitness coach, specifically for the elderly, wrote a bestselling book titled Women First, Family Always, and was featured on Oprah and in O Magazine. She’s my role model in every sense, her work ethic, her heart, and the way she shows up for people.

My brother Jimmy has gotten me through some pretty challenging times and pushes me to work on myself mentally, emotionally and physically. Of course, Kappy is my mentor in this industry. There are a lot of other names I could mention, too. I have a lot of people I can lean on.

What’s some of the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

I’ve gotten a lot of amazing advice. I’m really close to my grandparents. My Pa, who was extremely wise, always said, “Treat the janitor the same way you treat the CEO. You’re not better than anybody, and nobody’s better than you.”

It’s simple, but it’s important. Treat everybody with kindness and respect.