My Music Row Story: CAA’s Hunter Williams

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Hunter Williams

Hunter Williams is a Music Agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Based in the Nashville office, Williams works with a wide variety of touring artists across multiple genres of music, including Jelly Roll, Pretty Lights, Mark Ronson, GRiZ, HUGEL, Icona Pop, Fetty Wap, Three 6 Mafia and Moon Taxi, among others.

Since joining CAA in 2012 from The Progressive Global Agency, Williams has helped guide the growth and development of the agency’s country and electronic music departments.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I was born in Macon, Georgia, and I lived there till I was about six. Then I grew up in Darien, Connecticut, which is about an hour outside of New York City.

Were you into music or instruments or as a child?

I played the cello, the baritone horn, drums, and the piano early on and sang in the church choir until I was about 14 years old. Music was definitely a pretty big influence in part of my life when I was a kid.

Very musical! Did you know you wanted to go into the music business or even be a musician growing up?

I wanted to play music. As a youngster, you have these dreams. I played so many different instruments and honestly, I wasn’t that great at any of them [laughs].

I wanted to be on stage. Whether that was a DJ or producer or whatever, but that was my dream as a kid. Then I quickly figured out that’s a lot harder than it seemed.

Photo: Courtesy of Williams

Tell me about college.

I went to University of Tennessee for two years and studied business management. Then I moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, and attended University of North Carolina, Wilmington. That’s where I started getting into the business side of music.

I started going to clubs and listening to all the DJs. I also played percussion in a band called Waylandsphere. I helped book gigs for them and assisted with the logistics. We played around North and South Carolina, so I was getting my feet wet.

Did you have any other internships or music jobs in college?

I interned for my dad at The Progressive Global Agency when I was 16 or so, I interned for him for a full summer during R.E.M,’s “Monster Tour which was pretty exciting.  I answered phones, highlighted finals in Pollstar, all the odds and ends of things.

What was your first job out of college?

I started working at full-time at Progressive Global Agency after graduation. We represented R.E.M, Widespread Panic and The Wailers. There were only five agents, so I was able to really learn a lot and get a lot of hands-on training.  My dad was there everyday and my mom did the accounting, so it was fun being in the family business.

How long were you there for?

12 years. As time went on, the booking and touring world got more competitive. I had some acts such as Pretty Lights, and things were really starting to pick up. It felt like the time for me to make a move to a larger agency. My dad was super supportive.

So that’s how you ended up at CAA?

Yes, I went straight to CAA. It’ll be 14 years in November.

Wow! So tell me about your first few months at CAA.

The first few months were awesome. already had some existing friends here, Bobby Cory and Jeff Krones. The first couple months, it was definitely a transition, but it was also the bright lights and all the shiny things I didn’t get at a small agency.

Who were some of your first clients at CAA?

When I came over to CAA, I brought GRiZ, Pretty Lights, Fort Knox Five, Tipper, DJ Logic, 3LAU and a few others. I was predominantly focused on electronic music at the time.

One of the reasons I really wanted to come over to CAA is because you can do all sorts of genres here. By the time I came over here, I knew I wanted to do more than just dance music. I always loved hip hop, country and rock. Here you have an opportunity to branch out.

Photo: Courtesy of Williams

Who were some of your first clients outside the dance genre?

While at PGA, I was working on Widespread Panic. I was their agent for about 8 years. I did a lot in the jamband space with acts like The New Mastersounds, John Popper Project and Stockholm Syndrome.

Then at CAA, I signed Jelly Roll back in 2019. I also work with Three 6 Mafia, STS9, Fetty Wap and Mark Ronson now who sit outside of the dance world.

How has it been seeing Jelly Roll’s rise since signing him?

It’s been a great ride. I signed Jelly July of 2019 at The Signal in Chattanooga. I just saw a business that could really be built with him. He had done a really good job building his own independent business. I could see at least amphitheaters in his future. He also had this Phish or Grateful Dead type cult following. That’s what was really attractive to me. I saw something there that I could build from a touring standpoint.

He started building his team around him; John Meneilly and his management team, who have been a huge, great partners for Jelly. Also his label at BMG. All these pieces started coming together that we didn’t have when I started with him.

In the beginning, in my mind, I see a guy, he’s got a developing touring business, a lovely human being, and he’s built something that I think I can take to this next level. All of a sudden, all these things started happening that I never even factored in. No.1s, country hits, rock hits, an incredible label and manager, and then everything started taking off from there. It’s been a really fun ride with the whole team.

How does the festival space play into your job?

I interact with all of the festivals for my clients. I booked all of the festivals while I was at Progressive, so by the time I got to CAA, I was good friends with almost all of the festival buyers.

For GRiZ, we’ve even built out his own festival that’s 25,000 tickets, taking place outside Charlottesville, called Seven Stars.

Do you book the whole lineup for Seven Stars?

We do. From the start, the hardest part was actually finding the right site and finding the right time of year, since there’s all these other artist curated festivals in that genre. We wanted a site that really connected with GRiZ, where he could see the vision and he feels like he can give the fans the experience that he envisioned. He had a very distinct idea of what he wanted to deliver.

Now when it comes down to the festival, we do literally everything, we have a huge team around this. The whole team in general is involved in basically every piece of the festival to a degree and nothing that happens without them.

Over the last 14 years with your time at CAA, how have you seen yourself and the Nashville office grow overall?

We’ve had smart growth, but also we’ve grown businesses outside of just our touring business. We have TV, sports, digital businesses in Nashville. When I first came over, we had a couple brand people here and we had touring. Sports came in a couple years later. Where it is now is a completely different office in a good way.

There’s so many different areas of the entertainment business that are based in Nashville, and there’s so many great folks that have moved here internally to work in Nashville and in this office. So it’s been really cool to watch it grow and be a part of it.

Photo: Courtesy of Williams

What’s been your favorite moment from your time at CAA so far?

We have parties around CMA that have always been fun. They started off as a barbecue, and now we’ve built out these crazy cool parties. We did one on the rooftop this year with Stella Lefty, Tyler Hubbard, and a bunch of other acts. It’s been fun building out events together. That’s when we all shine is when we’re all together, and we’re all having fun too.

It’s also fun to go to a festival with all your coworkers and have 30 of us running around together.

Who have some of your mentors been over your career?

My dad has always been my biggest mentor. He was an agent, so I grew up learning from him and seeing the business through his perspective. One of the great things about CAA is that mentorship is everywhere, across every facet of the company. Whether it’s Rob Light, Darryl Eaton, Richard Lovett or people outside of touring, there are so many people here to learn from. The doors are always open, and you’re constantly surrounded by people who challenge you to think differently and get better.

That was a big part of why I wanted to make the move to CAA, to put myself in an environment where I could continue learning and be mentored in new ways.

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

Stay levelheaded through the highs and the lows. Be humble when things are going well and resilient when they’re not. This business can change quickly, one day can feel like the best day in the world, and the next you’re dealing with canceled shows or unexpected challenges. You have to keep perspective, take care of your mental health and not let any single moment define you.

What’s a moment that your younger self would be most proud of?

Running around Stagecoach with Jelly Roll headlining is definitely one of those moments. Another would be Art Basel, having 10 clients performing in a single night and running from venue to venue at all hours. Those are the nights where you look around and realize, this is exactly what I dreamed of doing.

My Music Row Story: Marushka Media’s Jackie Martínez Marushka

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Jackie Martínez Marushka. Photo: Tabitha Turner

Jackie Martínez Marushka is a Nashville-based veteran entertainment publicist, artist manager and author with over 30 years of experience shaping stories across music and entertainment. Throughout her career, she has worked with artists, brands and organizations to build meaningful connections between creatives and audiences through strategic brand management.

Marushka manages rising Americana Soul artist Kenny Sharp and is the author of the bestselling title The PR Playbook: A Personal Guide to Personal Branding and Public Relations, sharing the strategies and lessons gained from decades in the entertainment business.

In 2019, Marushka founded the Hispanic Entertainment Alliance, the first organization of its kind created to advance Latíne/Hispanic representation within Nashville’s entertainment community, along with the Hispanic Entertainment Alliance Charitable Fund through The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Her global music initiatives include working with Brazil’s country music star Gustavo Mioto as he expands his English-language music career, and her involvement with Ireland’s premier music conference, Your Roots Are Showing, bringing together artists and industry leaders from around the world.

Photo: Courtesy of Marushka

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a little farming town in northern New Mexico called Velarde.

Tell me a little about your upbringing.

My maternal grandparents were farmers and entrepreneurs. My mom was a teacher, my dad was a director for New Mexico’s Department of Soil and Water Conservation. Because mom and dad worked 9-5, after school I’d ride the bus to Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sylvia’s house which was connected to their general store and Texaco station.

Grandma Sylvia was always making something incredible in the kitchen, tortillas, green chile, beans or she’d be canning jams or fruit, while Grandpa Mike worked on engines, repaired tires or worked on the 18 acre fruit tree orchard and alfalfa field that sprawled across the four-lane highway from their home. It was a family business and somehow those experiences planted an entrepreneurial spirit in me. One thing I recall daily is Grandpa Mike’s reminder to always leave things better than I found them.

Photo: Courtesy of Marushka

What kind of music did you listen to growing up?

In his workshop, Grandpa Mike listened to KDCE, our local Spanish radio station. They played Ranchero music. Los Blue Ventures is a local Northern New Mexico band we’d listen to all the time; they are still the biggest thing in northern New Mexico. I also listened to a lot of country music like Don Williams, The Judds, The Bellamy Brothers, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and John Denver.

Did you go to concerts growing up?

The first concert I went to was headlined by Freddie Fender. It was during a school field trip to the New Mexico State Fair. I realize now just how lucky I was to have seen him in that setting. Living so far from any big city, concerts were not really an option which is why Freddie’s show made such an impact on me.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

My mom was a teacher, so I thought about going that route. But I was so fascinated with shows like Soul Train, Solid Gold and American Bandstand, I dreamed of working in music or TV somehow. It seemed so close, yet so far away.

I remember watching and thinking: who picks the singers and dancers? Who decides and plans all of this? Who goes on first? Who tells Dick Clark what questions to ask? So even then, unknowingly, I was asking what I now know are basic production questions.

The Beatles also fascinated me. I had a crush on Paul McCartney [laughs]. I wanted to know how he wrote and recorded songs, and how he eventually got to play them on TV. One day, I tried to call him, not knowing that you can’t just pick up the phone and call Paul McCartney. All that amounted to a $12 phone bill which my parents were not at all happy about [laughs].

Photo: Courtesy of Marushka

So you were interested in TV production. Did you go to college for that?

I am a proud University of New Mexico grad. The thing that I connected with the most was the story side of TV. I didn’t want to be on camera. I wanted to learn the run of the show, camera angles, sound check details, on-camera talent introductions and script writing; I was obsessed with everything that made a production happen.

I’m a huge fan of internships. There’s nothing like on-the-job training that helps you learn as much as you can. Some are paid and others aren’t, but the experience is worth its weight in gold.

What were some of the internships that you did?

I interned for two radio stations in Albuquerque: a rock station called KFMG Rock 108 and a country station, 92.3 KRST, which is the biggest country radio station in NM. I also interned in the PR department for the ABC affiliate in Albuquerque, KOAT-TV.

Photo: Courtesy of Marushka

What was your first move after college?

One of promotional clients KRST had was the massive country dance hall called Midnight Rodeo. Its capacity was around 2,500 people and nationally known country artists were booked there all the time.

I applied to work there when I got out of college . In the early evenings and at night I doubled as the coat check girl and took cover-charge during rush hour. During the 9-5 weekday window, I worked as an office assistant at a State Farm Insurance office.

While working at Midnight Rodeo, I met a gentleman named Joe Carter. He managed a major label country act at the time. Through Joe, I met Brian Bateman and Michael Merriman, a producer and director team that had a company called Pecos Films. They had a little office in Albuquerque where they produced and directed music videos, TV commercials and documentaries. Pecos Films hired me as their office assistant.

Eventually, they decided they wanted to move to Nashville and asked if I wanted to come with them.

Photo: Courtesy of Marushka

So to Nashville you went.

I officially moved in November of 1995. It was actually Howard Bellamy of the Bellamy Brothers who encouraged me to take the leap. We were on set for one of their music videos and he said “you may not have this opportunity again. You owe it to yourself to give it a shot.”

What happened after Pecos?

A friend of mine, Melissa Mathews, was a seasoned publicist who came up under the legend, Evelyn Shriver. Melissa hired me part time as a junior publicist. I’ll always be thankful for that opportunity to learn and grow under her guidance.

And that was your first official PR experience?

Yes, eventually Melissa brought me on full-time. Through working with her, I began to understand the story cadence of the industry, I learned what it meant to be part of a PR team from the artist’s side. Several of the acts on her roster were signed to majors, so I got to know several folks at those companies as well.

Photo: Courtesy of Marushka

What was after Star Keeper?

I had a friend who introduced me to the just-hired president of Benson Records, then, part of Provident Music Group. He was building a team and needed a publicist.

I worked with Benson Records for a couple of years. Provident Music Group, which was run by Jim Van Hook at the time, was home to a publishing company and a handful of record labels including Benson, Essential Records and Reunion Records plus a distribution company.

One day Jim’s assistant came into our Benson Records marketing meeting and said he wanted to see us in his office. They informed us that Benson Records was going to be shuttered, but they were going to try and find new roles for the staff.

Jim asked if anyone had any questions. I blurted out, “What’s our story?” He looked at me in a “what do you mean” kind of way, after which he said he wanted to see me in his office the next day.

I thought I was going to be fired immediately, but instead, I received a raise, a corner office and a contract. I was centralized as VP of Comms and PR for all of the labels under the Provident umbrella. I remained in that leadership role for the next 12 years.

Photo: Courtesy of Marushka

What happened when you left?

While I was still at Sony, I got involved in the Americana Music Association by way of my dear friend Jayne Rogovin. While moderating a panel for the conference, I met someone from Shore Fire Media, and told her to keep me in mind if they ever opened a Nashville office.

It turns out they had been wanting to open a Nashville office, but none of her New York staff wanted to move here. So I launched their Nashville office as General Manager.

What was your time like at Shore Fire?

I served that team for three years, oversaw 15+ artists/projects, grew our Nashville team to four staffers and started their internship program. Unfortunately for me, the GM role was much more about building business than actively building campaigns, creative branding or pitching. I wanted to get back to the storybranding that brought me joy.

What happened next?

I had a long, honest call with my mom, who encouraged me to start my own business. I was hesitant. I didn’t know if I could do it. But she reminded me that I’d just spent three years growing a business from the ground up for someone else. That was the exact advice I needed to hear.

Photo: Courtesy of Marushka

So that’s how Marushka Media was born?

Yes! Marushka Media was born on May 16, 2016. I have to shout out to Kris Wiatr and Shaun Melby, who helped me put together my LLC, and connected me with Randy Hulse at Pinnacle Bank.

What were some of those early days like?

They were terrifying. I was building my client base one by one and clients came in the most surprising of ways. For example, one day I was flying back from the Grammys and ended up sitting next to Charles Esten. We ended up chatting the entire flight. A few weeks later, I received a direct tweet from him asking if I could chat with him and his wife, Patty, about PR. He ended up being my first client.

From there I signed Lee Brice, Randy Rogers, Parker McCollum and The Americana Music Association.

How do you take on clients and work currently?

90% of my clients are referrals from colleagues whom I trust, but before agreeing to work with anyone, I like to spend a bit of time with them so I’m confident they’re ready for a branding or a PR campaign. The client has to know who they are, or be open to working toward brand clarity. Also, because I don’t “sign and hand off” clients to a teammate, it’s important to make sure everyone works well together. Chemistry is important.

As to “how” I work, I’m committed to bespoke campaigns and working alongside artists/teams who actively participate in their marketing. No campaign should ever be the same as any other. I’ve worked in the cookie cutter PR world. Typically that kind of work is done to check boxes and move quickly from project to project, making room for another templated campaign. I just can’t do that. Even if it takes more hours to deep-dive into what makes an artist and their project special, it’s worth doing every single time.

Photo: Courtesy of Marushka

Who are you currently working with?

I’ve recently taken the leap into management with Kenny Sharp.

For PR and brand management, I represent Cook Allender, Gustavo Mioto, Keith Stegall, Sharp, MŌRIAH and Russ Lannom.

I also work with the Americana Music Association, Barbecue Country, Billy Blue Records, Celtic Crossroads Brussels, CelticWorld, Get After It Media & The Heartland Network, Music City Irish Fest, the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum, Whippoorwill Arts, and Your Roots Are Showing.

Looking back on the last 10 years from when you started your company to now, was there a moment that you felt like everything was finally falling into place?

That “falling into place” moment was about trusting my gut. About three months into Marushka Media, I revisited the “12 Stories” campaign I put together and executed for Brandy Clark in 2013. I trusted my gut with that album. I went against what others had wanted me to do and instead, I made her vision, songs, voice and unique style of songwriting the focal point of each of my pitches. That made every difference.

You recently released your first book. Tell me about that.

I wrote The PR Playbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Personal Branding & Public Relations because, after 33 years in the industry, I felt compelled to share what I know with aspiring PR professionals, artists, and managers who want to understand how to build and execute a successful campaign or for artists, especially if they can’t afford to hire a publicist. This doesn’t replace professional PR but is a great starting point if you’re new to the industry or the PR business.

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

“Fear not.”

What’s a moment from your career that your little kid self would be most proud of?

During AmericanaFest 2019, Danna Strong gave me the opportunity to put together their first Latine panel ever. Then in 2024, Americana’s Jed Hilly and Craig Shelburne gave me the opportunity to host their first Latine showcase, co-sponsored by Hispanic Entertainment Alliance featuring Rico Del Oro, Rachel Rodriquez and Veronique Medrano. Those are the needle moving moments I phone home about.

Who have some of your mentors been?

I feel like I won the mentor lottery because I’ve been embraced and encouraged by so many incredible people. I’ve been at this for a while so there are a LOT of folks to point to including, Steve Rohr, Cindy Watts, Allen Brown, Joe Galante, Ellen Levine, “The Mayor of Music Row” Charlie Monk, Tatum Hauck-Allsep, Benjamin Goad, Scott Igoe, Denise Stevens, Shaun Melby, Beverly Keel, Deb Nathin, Leslie Fram, Gail Gellman, Holly Gleason, Tree Paine, Jennie Smythe, Deana Ivey, Cindy Mabe, Leigh Malleus, Joe Carter, Debbie Carroll, Alecia Davis, Chad Collins, Joel Wertman, Alan Kates, Kai Troll, Vickie Willis and Jimmy Wheeler.

My Music Row Story: Spirit Music’s Frank Rogers

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Frank Rogers.

Frank Rogers is a multi-platinum, award-winning record producer, songwriter, publisher and music executive who serves as CEO of Spirit Music and President of Fluid Music Revolution. A longtime leader in Nashville, Rogers has produced 46 No. 1 singles and more than 80 Top 20 hits while working with artists including Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Josh Turner, Scotty McCreery, Trace Adkins and Chris Stapleton. He has earned multiple CMA, ACM and Grammy honors, was named Billboard‘s No. 1 Hot Country Producer five consecutive years (2006-2010) and was recognized as Billboard‘s No. 2 Hot Country Producer of the 21st Century.

As a songwriter, Rogers has penned 10 No. 1 hits, including Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song),” Darius Rucker’s “Alright” and “This,” Granger Smith’s “Backroad Song,” and Scotty McCreery’s “Five More Minutes,” “This Is It,” “In Between,” “You Time,” “Cab In A Solo” and “Bottle Rockets” with Hootie & The Blowfish. He has also written music for film, television and national advertising campaigns.

As an executive, Rogers began his career at EMI Music Publishing before co-founding Sea Gayle Music with Brad Paisley and Chris DuBois in 1999, where he helped develop writers including Chris Stapleton and Ingrid Andress. He later launched Fluid Music Revolution before expanding his leadership role at Spirit Music, where he now serves as CEO, overseeing the company’s global creative operations while continuing to write and produce music.

Photo: Courtesy of Rogers

 MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in South Carolina, in a town of about 29,000 people called Sumter. It’s actually where Lee Brice is from, as well as songwriter Rob Crosby. There are a few of us from there, but we didn’t know each other back then.

I grew up thinking I was going to be a professional athlete, but that didn’t work out. Around 12 years old, I picked up the guitar and thought, “Okay, I like this a lot.”

I started playing in bands, and we had a pretty unique choir program at my public high school. We got to perform at Carnegie Hall, tour Europe, play Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, Quebec and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. We kind of toured all over. I was doing more formal music there while also playing in rock bands, R&B bands and everything else. I did a lot of performing, but my favorite part was always creating. As soon as I picked up a guitar, I started writing my own songs.

I thought I was going to go to the College of Charleston and double major in business and music. I figured I’d work a day job and play in rock bands on the weekends. Then, at the last minute, I heard about this place called Belmont. I came and visited, found out that if I came as a freshman, I could get some scholarships and three weeks later, I was in Nashville. I’d never been to Nashville before and had never heard of Belmont. I walked in, saw the studios and the curriculum. I thought, “Okay, so it’s a business degree, but it’s music.” It just kind of felt like the right thing. So I came to Nashville when I was 18 years old and have been here ever since.

Tell me about your time at Belmont. 

I was a staff engineer at the Belmont studios, so that was one of my jobs.

Photo: Courtesy of Rogers

I initially had an internship with NSAI, and then my sophomore year I had an internship at EMI Music Publishing, which at the time was the world’s largest music publisher. After a semester, they offered me a full-time job. I said no. I told my mom I was going to get a degree, and I thought I needed a degree so I decided to stay. At that point, I had a bunch of scholarships. It was basically free for me to go to school, so it would’ve been ridiculous to bypass that opportunity. So, EMI hired me 20 hours a week as a part-time tape room guy.

I was going to school and doing that and then as writers would come in and need demos recorded at night or on the weekends, which the other engineers didn’t really want to do, I would do that. I did that for my last two and a half years of college and then, when I graduated, EMI hired me full-time.

Tell me about that.

I started as an intern, then became a production assistant to Jimmy Gilmer, who was my first boss in the industry, and did that for a handful of years.

At the same time, I was always quietly writing songs and producing stuff. I started signing some of the people I was working with, like Brad Paisley and Darryl Worley, and I was writing songs with them as well.

Photo: Courtesy of Rogers

All of a sudden EMI said, “Oh, you write songs? Our employees aren’t supposed to be writers.” I said, “That’s kind of part of what I do.” So, I signed a publishing deal as well.

After a few years, Brad Paisley, Chris DuBois and I were all working together, and we decided we wanted to start a publishing company. We went to the people at EMI and said, “Hey, we’re going to start a publishing company. We’d love to do a joint venture with you guys.” They decided that it was a good idea because we were starting to have some hits and do some things.

We started Sea Gayle Music. That was a joint venture with EMI for several years before we branched out on our own. From the time I started as an intern until I left as VP, I was probably at EMI for eight or nine years. So I was there for a while, just in different capacities.

Then you went to Sea Gayle full time?

Yes. At that point, I was producing Brad, Josh Turner, Trace Adkins, Darryl Worley and a bunch of other artists. So I was in the studio a lot, writing songs a little bit, and then we were building Sea Gayle. That was a wonderful time.

We had a great run. We made some great music. We won ASCAP Country Publisher of the Year twice, which had not been done by an independent in decades. We signed some amazing writers like Chris Stapleton.

It was just a great thing, but after about 15 or 16 years, I was like, “You know what? It’s time for a new challenge.”

What was next?

Photo: Courtesy of Rogers

I left Sea Gayle and started a new company called Fluid Music Revolution with Spirit Music.

I’d never heard of Spirit before, but I met with all the different companies and all the different potential investors. There was something I really liked about the way Spirit was set up. They had offices in multiple territories, and they had a lot of catalog music, but they didn’t have much contemporary music.

I thought, “Okay, what they need is what I do, and what I need is what they do,” so I started a joint venture with them. After about three years, we expanded the relationship to me running the Nashville office. After about three more years, that expanded into me becoming chief creative of Spirit’s global roster. Now it’s transitioned into me being the global CEO of Spirit.

So that’s where we are today, running Spirit while I still write and produce on the side.

How do you balance writing, producing and running Spirit?

I’ve always been kind of split-brained, and for whatever reason, it’s worked for me. I think if I were a full-time producer, a full-time writer or a full-time businessperson, I’d get bored.

It’s really good for me to sit down and talk to one of our writers, help plot their journey and help get them to the next level, then go talk to a lawyer and work on a deal. Then I can disappear for two hours and go write a song or go to the studio and cut something.

Photo: Courtesy of Rogers

My whole career has been a balance of the three. There have been moments where it was 90% producing. There were moments where it was split almost evenly across everything. This season of my life, the last four or five years, has probably been 80% business and a little bit of writing and producing.

This year, though, it’s kind of evened back out into thirds again because I’m working on three different records and writing on all of them. There is never a dull moment.

What does a typical day look like for you now?

No two days look the same, which is what I like about it. If I’m making a record, I’ll start the day doing business stuff, then disappear into the studio and come back in the evening and do more CEO work.

The last six weeks are a good example. I thought I was going to be in Nashville pretty much all of March and April. Instead, I went to Los Angeles to visit our office, then to Las Vegas to see a Marshmello show because he’s one of our people. From there, I went to London to record at Abbey Road with Darius Rucker, and after that, to Raleigh to record with Scotty McCreery. Then I came home for a few days, and Scotty called and said, “Hey, I want to write for the new record. Can you jump on a bus and go with me to the Northeast and Canada for four or five days?” I said, “Sure. I’ll meet you up there.” This week I’ve been in the office all week, but I’ve also been working on a couple of records in the mornings and at night.

I can think I know what my day is going to look like, and there are certain days where I know maybe 50% of what it’s going to be. But it’s the music business. I can walk in and get one phone call, and it changes everything, for good or for bad. There could be some big issue, or there could be some big opportunity.

Do you have a favorite part of what you do?

I really do enjoy all of it.

Photo: Courtesy of Rogers

Someone asked me that years ago, and I said, “When I’m 90 years old, do I see myself running a company?” Probably not. “When I’m 90 years old, do I see myself being a producer and staying in the studio forever, days on end, trying to come up with the newest, freshest sounds ever?” Probably not. But I can absolutely see myself when I’m 90, sitting on the beach with a guitar, making up a song.

So I guess, at my core, what I am is a song person and a songwriter.

I think most of the success I’ve had throughout my career has been based on good songs.

Besides all the great things going on at Spirit, what are you working on right now that you’re excited about?

I’m really excited about a new Darius Rucker project. I was just working on mixes for that. I’m excited about the Scotty McCreery project. I’m working with Emily Ann Roberts soon, and I’m really looking forward to that. She’s kind of new to my world, but I love what she does. Those are probably the things I’m the most excited about right now.

Photo: Courtesy of Rogers

You recently received the Order of the Palmetto from South Carolina. What did that recognition mean to you?

It’s a small state. They didn’t have a lot of people to choose from. [laughs] No, seriously, it was a huge honor.

It’s funny because it’s one thing to be recognized by your peers in the music industry, but to be recognized by your home state was really cool. I remember asking, “Why me?” They said, “Well, because you’ve always been a really good steward of South Carolina. You’ve represented the people well.” I thought that was a really cool answer.

I still have a place there. Even though I’ve lived in Nashville for 30 years, South Carolina is still home. The governor even mentioned that wherever I travel, people know I’m a South Carolina Gamecock fan. He’s right.

It was a huge honor, and it meant a lot to me.

Who would you say were some of your mentors throughout the years?

Jimmy Gilmer was my first boss, and he was definitely a mentor to me. So was Celia Froehlig, who was running EMI at the time.

Photo: Courtesy of Rogers

I’ve had different people throughout my life who have always been supportive. I think Mark Wright was a big supporter of mine, and I could always go pick his brain if I found myself in a situation I hadn’t been in before. Kyle Lehning was that way too. Jody Williams has always been a close confidant of mine. There are so many.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

I’ve gotten a lot of good advice over the years.

One thing that Mark Wright told me has always stuck with me. We were talking about balancing my creative work with my executive responsibilities, and he said, “Don’t forget what makes you different.” He said there are a lot of CEOs in the world, but there aren’t many CEOs who also write and produce No. 1 records. That’s what makes you different.

I think that’s good advice for anybody. Everybody has skills that other people have, but everybody also has something that makes them unique. Don’t be afraid of that. Don’t spend your life trying to conform to everybody else. Figure out what makes you different and lean into it.

My Music Row Story: The GreenRoom’s Kristie Sloan

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Kristie Sloan

Kristie Sloan is the Co-Owner of The GreenRoom PR, a Nashville-based public relations firm specializing in music and live events.

With more than 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, she has helped shape the public narratives of some of country music’s biggest names, including Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, Dierks Bentley, Lady A, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts, Russell Dickerson, Braxton Keith, and Jon Pardi, as well as major events like the Tortuga Music Festival and Healing Appalachia.

Photo: Courtesy of Sloan

Known for her strategic instincts and deep industry relationships, Sloan has built a reputation for guiding artists and brands through defining moments in their careers.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Springfield, Tennessee, but I was born in a town just outside of Toronto, Canada, to a country music-loving British dad and a German mother.

My dad loved all kinds of country music. He fell in love with the Grand Ole Opry, and when we lived in Canada, he would drive down to Nashville on the weekends to see the Opry.

I’m the youngest of five girls, and when my mom was pregnant with me, they decided to name me Kristie Lee because it sounded like a name you would hear on the Opry.

So you were destined for this life.

I guess so! I can’t sing. I’m not musically talented. My dad passed away a few years ago, but I would joke with him that I made it to the Opry, just not on the stage—on the side of the stage.

How did you start your path?

I knew early on that I wanted to do something in music. Growing up, records were playing or Hee Haw and Austin City Limits were on TV, and we loved it. I started at the University of Tennessee and then transferred to Middle Tennessee State University to be closer to Nashville so I could start finding opportunities and internships.

I called the Ryman’s main phone line one day, and Pam Matthews, who was the General Manager at the time, actually called me back. I told her I was interested in concert promotion, and she invited me to an upcoming Pete Yorn show. That night, I met Ali Harnell and a few other people who worked for Clear Channel Entertainment at the time. They ended up offering me an internship. I started interning and eventually got a job as the receptionist at Starwood Amphitheater.

Photo: Courtesy of Sloan

Tell me about that job.

A lot of my time was spent fielding phone calls, especially on a show day. It could be a major promoter calling for the General Manager or someone calling to ask what type of lawn chairs they could bring or how early they can tailgate in the parking lot. It was a really incredible experience to learn how to navigate and field all sorts of questions. I was also really curious, so if the phones weren’t ringing, I would ask somebody, “Hey, is there something I can do?” By the end of my time there, I was doing payroll, helping with settlements and all these other things.

How did you transition to PR?

I was still in college when I was working at Starwood, and one of the other employees knew that I was majoring in Public Relations and connected me with Kaleidoscope Media. That was my first publicity/PR job.

It was around the time Bonnaroo was just starting, so we handled the local media and crisis PR for them, which was like being thrown into the deep end and a fast track to a lot of experience. The first artist I worked with was Barbara Mandrell, and she taught me so much. We did a tribute album with her, and she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame while I worked there. After that, I was definitely searching for more opportunities to gain experience in the artist publicity world.

Photo: Courtesy of Sloan

What happened next?

I had met Mary Hilliard Harrington through the Barbara Mandrell project. Dierks Bentley did a song on the album and she was his publicist at the time, and I just immediately liked her. She called me one day and said, “I’m looking to hire somebody. Do you have any ideas?” I said, “Let me think,” and hung up. Then I called her back and said, “What about me?” [Laughs] She said, “I was hoping you would say that.”

Not too long before that, I had actually been pitching myself to Lady A’s manager to handle their publicity. Honestly, I had no business doing that at the time. He told me they had just hired Mary Hilliard at the GreenRoom, so it worked out in the way it was supposed to.

I joined GreenRoom in 2010, and it was a whirlwind in the best possible way. Mary was always such a great boss. She gave us the freedom to figure things out on our own, but also had our backs when we needed it. I had a lot of catching up and learning to do. Tyne [Parrish] and I started our relationship there, and the whole team was great.

Eventually you and Tyne became owners of GreenRoom.

We didn’t see that coming. It speaks a lot to who Mary is, especially in the way she supports women in business. There are so many different ways she could have gone about that decision, but she decided to sell us the company. I think sometimes it takes somebody else seeing something in you before you realize you can do it yourself, and that’s what Mary has been for me.

Photo: Courtesy of Sloan

She had taught us how to run our own clients, and we knew how to be publicists. We just had to learn how to handle the business side of things. For the longest time, we were both focused on trying to keep the clients we had. We didn’t want to mess anything up after being handed that kind of trust. Doing it together was so helpful because Tyne and I really balance each other out, and we can bounce things off each other.

What are some of the most impactful things you’ve gotten to do at GreenRoom?

We represented Jason Aldean and the Route 91 festival. That was an incredibly difficult thing to navigate on both the personal and professional side. What will always stay with me is, days later, flying back to Vegas with Jason and visiting patients in the hospital. I will never forget that.

So much of our job is intangible, so it’s really nice when there is a tangible result. When I first started working with him, Russell Dickerson really wanted to be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. To see a specific goal happen and to be there for it…that’s the best.

And because of what I told you about my name, I love anytime we have an artist making their Grand Ole Opry debut. It feels personal to me, but I also know how much it means to the artist.

Photo: Courtesy of Sloan

Who have been your mentors?

Mary Hilliard, Clarence Spalding, Coran Capshaw, Reba—I mean, working with Reba has absolutely made me a better publicist. She’s been doing this for 50 years, and she works harder than a lot of other artists out there. She’s still curious and asks a lot of questions. I really love how she leads with kindness too. She’s someone who is very aware of herself, how she treats others and how she carries herself. I’ve learned a lot from her.

What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

I don’t remember who told me this, but I tell my employees this all the time: If you don’t know the answer to something, it’s okay. Just say, “I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out.” Don’t try to make up an answer because, if you’re wrong, it’s going to be worse and you lose their trust.

What’s a moment you’ve had that your little kid self would think is so cool?

Garth Brooks saying my name on stage when he won CMA Entertainer of the Year. That was an out-of-body experience because we grew up loving Garth, listening to Garth and going to his shows. My dad once met Garth on an airplane and got him to sign a napkin for me. So it was a full-circle moment to work with him and to be thanked from the stage. Little Kristie Lee would be shocked by that.

Getting to go to things like the Oscars, Grammys, Super Bowl. I think we all get caught up in work and stress. Reba always reminds me to have fun. We’re in the entertainment business. Let’s take a deep breath, remember where we are and remember how cool it is. This is a cool job.

My Music Row Story: MooTV’s Scott Scovill

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Scott Scovill. Photo: Courtesy of Scovill

Scott Scovill is an award-winning entrepreneur, creative director, producer and Founder of Moo TV, a global leader in video production. Under his leadership, the company has grown into one of the industry’s top production firms, producing more than 1,000 live events each year and earning multiple Video Company of the Year honors.

Throughout his career, Scovill has directed live concerts and produced major television specials, including a CBS special featuring Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. He has received numerous industry awards, including a CMA Touring Award for his work with Garth Brooks and Visual Designer of the Year honors for Brad Paisley’s world tours.

Beyond his production career, Scovill is an avid traveler who has visited nearly 60 countries. He also enjoys pursuing new challenges, from learning to play hockey as an adult and earning a spot on an all-star team to becoming a professional photographer, with work featured on an album cover for Alan Jackson. He is also a singer-songwriter with multiple albums and continues to perform internationally.

Scovill is the author of Tenacious: The Art of Relentlessly Pursuing Your Wildest Dreams, a memoir and motivational guide that shares the lessons, experiences and mindset that helped shape his career. The book features insights from leaders across music, sports, business, the military and space exploration, offering readers practical encouragement to pursue their goals with persistence and purpose.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Poestenkill, New York on a farm.

Photo: Courtesy of Scovill

What kind of music were you into growing up?

Top 40. I listened to Casey Kasem’s top 40 Countdown relentlessly, and that was my choice. But whenever we were on vacation or out doing things together as a family, it was Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and John Denver. Tons of John Denver.

Did you know you want to go into music while you were growing up?

No, I had no idea what I wanted to do.

Tell me about school.

I graduated last in my class in high school. They just decided to pass me to move me on. I was unable to do my homework when I was a kid. When I would try and do my homework, I would have an anxiety attack and my grades showed that. Despite that, I decided that I felt like I would go to college. It was always expected of me that I would be the first person in my family to go to college. I did, and I flunked out of college as well.

Right around that same time, a psychologist diagnosed me with fear of failure, and it’s really interesting to have a diagnosis after all that time of feeling broken and just feeling like you just weren’t a good person. He said that it would be easier for me to grab a red hot stove and hang on and maim myself than to actually try.

Photo: Courtesy of Scovill

How did that affect your next steps?

With that diagnosis, and while flunking out of college, I was at a really rock bottom moment when a girl that I cared very much for was killed in a car accident, and I just bottomed out. I was waiting tables at Howard Johnson on the side of the highway, not my dream job, and I wasn’t very good at it.

While there, a tour bus rolled into the restaurant and had a space shuttle painted on the side, and I wanted to wait on that table. I thought maybe these people worked for NASA. I ran to the hostess and begged her to sit them in my section, and she did. But I watched them get off the bus and was very disappointed to see them wearing all black with long hair. I did not know what a tour bus was obviously. [laughs]

I take their drink orders and ask them what’s the deal with the bus. One of them in a very heavy Irish accent says they work for U2. That blew my mind. It amazed me that you could work for U2 for a living. I didn’t get it. I had a million questions, and they invited me to a show.

Photo: Courtesy of Scovill

Did you go to the show?

I drove three hours to the show and had an incredible time learning about the industry. The show ends, I’m still picking their brains. They had a show right there again the next day, and invited me to come back, and told me to get there early.

As soon as I got out of the car, I was able to park right by the buses. We got my tickets sorted out and walked down into the arena and Bono and Edge walk up to the guy who’s escorting me and start talking to him about something. Mind you, this is right as The Joshua Tree album came out and U2 is the biggest band in the world. I was starstruck.

When I walked away from them, it struck me that I had just met two of my heroes, but I was more interested in what had been happening backstage and learning about this industry.

After hanging out more with the crew and learning and observing everything, it was time for the show. The lights go out and everybody goes nuts. 15,000 people screaming at the top of their lungs. That’s when I had a paradigm shift. I stood there in the dark and realized this is what I was going to do with my life.

What were your first steps getting into the live music world?

Over the next two weeks I brewed up the worst plan in the history of worst plans. It was devastatingly bad, but my plan was that I was going to quit my job and quit school. They were throwing me out of school anyway, so that wasn’t hard. I moved into my Subaru BRAT, which was a compact car with a truck bed, and I was going to sneak in every night and work for free until I learned enough and proved that they should hire me.

I wanted to be upfront with the crew and tell them I was doing it. I knew they couldn’t give me permission, but to them, I wouldn’t look like I was sneaking in. I was being sneaky with security, but not with the crew. So two weeks later, I found the venue, I found the tour buses and where the crew will be. They were flying in from Europe, and I’m waiting in the lobby of the hotel. I went up to the guy in charge and told him my plan. He must’ve thought I was completely nuts.

Every night, I waited at the top of the ramp and piled in with the stage hands and walked down the ramp and just looked like I didn’t want to be there and blended right in. I also made myself a laminate that was white and had radio codes and such. I saw that they made laminates that had notes for their truck packs and what the radio channels were. Two is sound, three is lights. So I made myself a fake laminate that had that on it. I did get stopped several times and would pretend I left my laminate on the bus, and try a different entrance. I almost got arrested three times doing it. There were very lengthy conversations with the police.

Photo: Courtesy of Scovill

How long did you do that?

Five weeks. I got walking pneumonia at one point. It was pretty brutal. Almost fell asleep driving from city to city.

Pittsburgh was my last show. I got out of my car and some of the crew guys had told me the band’s management had an argument with the union over something, and it was mentioned that I was there and the union fined the band $5,000 for having non-union labor on site. That’s how it ended.

What came after U2?

After the whole tour, I knew I wanted to do video. The Joshua Tree Tour was one of the first tours to ever have video. If I got into video, I would be on the bottom rung of maybe a two rung ladder.

Lawrence Anderson, who was on the U2 tour with me, called and told me the video projectors they use are a nightmare, and nobody knows how to run them. Nobody’s good at it. Nobody wants to learn. There was a training center for them in Syracuse, New York. I finagled my way into there, which wasn’t normal, because usually a company sponsors you to get in.

What happened after completing the class?

There was someone else in the class that eventually got me a job with his company in D.C. I did corporate video in Washington DC for two years. I hated it and loved it at the same time. I loved that I was learning, but it had nothing to do with music, and it was a lot of pressure. I was failing and I was having breakdowns. I was in tears at times and all the things that dysfunctional people do when they’re trying to get over their worst fears. We got one music gig in the two years I was there, and we did so horribly at it. They fired us the next day.

Photo: Courtesy of Scovill

How come?

We didn’t have the technology. We were the wrong company for it. I didn’t even know what we didn’t know, but I wanted to find out. The next stop of the tour was in D.C., so I pulled a card out of my old playbook and I snuck in. It was a stadium rap tour. I figured out who was in charge and went down and asked him a bunch of questions. He eventually realized I wasn’t who I was pretending to be. We got into it and had to be split up. The guy who split us up had just gotten onto the Rolling Stones tour. We really hit it off, and he eventually got me onto the biggest tour at that time. I spent the next 13 months traveling the world with the Stones, 23 countries. It was awesome.

What did you do after the Rolling Stones?

After the Stones, I went to David Bowie, which was unbelievably cool. Definitely the coolest show I’ve ever done. I also did tours with Paula Abdul, Whitney Houston and Ozzy Osborne.

One of the three owners of the company I was working for loved country music. Alan Jackson‘s team had seen Paula’s show, and they reached out and asked if they could have the same equipment and people Paula had. Before I knew it, I was packing my bags.

So this is how you got to Nashville?

Yes, in 1992. I’ll admit, I struggled with the structure of country music. I came straight from Ozzy Osborne to this new structure. I showed up for the first show and Mark McClure, Alan’s fiddle player, walks up with a chew in his mouth and his bow, and just hits my notes with his bow. I had called the fiddle a violin, so all of my notes were off.

Mark told me they couldn’t figure out why I was here. I was a guy from New York with hair down to my butt who knew nothing about country music. It was a rough start, but Mark and I went on to be great friends. Alan and I formed a great partnership that went on for 22 years.

Photo: Courtesy of Scovill

And where did Moo TV come in?

A few years in, I talked to my boss Lee Griffin because I was frustrated that nobody knew what to do with video screens. People kept hiring their video director or their brother-in-law that went to film school to create content. Those people are very talented, but they’re all conditioned to tell a story inside a rectangle. What they don’t get is that the rectangle is a part of the story. It is not the whole story.

I asked for Lee’s permission to moonlight a little bit and start a company that creates content for shows, because I wanted to make Alan’s show great, and maybe we could do that with our other clients too. It was so much money and equipment, I felt it needed to be a business for tax reasons and all that. He initially said no, which shocked me. A week later he asked if I was still thinking about it. He told me no because he was afraid he’d lose me. He offered to be my 50/50 partner in it. We went into business and made Moo TV the first ever creative content company.

Photo: Courtesy of Scovill

Who were some of your first clients?

Alan, Tim McGraw, Vince Gill, Amy Grant and Martina McBride. We did some awesome creative stuff with those guys, and I was really proud of it. It made people want to work with us. I remember doing some really cool stuff for Lone Star and just having a blast.

I had a VHS library of stock. I would find something interesting and then plug the tape in. Then I’d get on the phone and order the clip numbers in the specific resolutions I needed and ask for it to be delivered via beta tape. That was how we would get stock footage.

How did the Nashville base eventually grow?

I went to Lee and told him we needed a Nashville office full time, and that I was going to run it. I was doing that for a decade. In 2002, I got a phone call that Lee was murdered. I spent three months pretty lost and depressed. Eventually, one of my employees asked all the other employees and clients if they would come work for me if I started a company like Lee’s and how they could help. It was a great way to keep some part of Lee alive.

I went to the bank and got the biggest loan they would give me, I mortgaged my house, and I got a loan from Sony to get some of the cameras. I also got a loan from the projector company and a few others, eventually ending up with a bunch independent loans, and seven different credit cards.

At this time, the government mandated that television had to go to high def. TV stations were starting to switch to high def and they had nowhere to put their standard definition gear, which was all we needed. It’s all anybody used in the industry at the time. I built automated eBay searches for what we needed. I would click one button on my little Macintosh notebook and then go make dinner. It would take all of dinner for my ISDN modem to load all of the searches. It’d be like 40 tabs full of everything I needed.

It took years to dig out from under the debt, but we were kind of like the Millennium Falcon of the video industry. We were held together by gaff tape and dreams, but we were outperforming everybody else. That was the start of Moo.

Photo: Courtesy of Scovill

What made you want to write your book?

Moo TV was nominated for video company of the year, seven years in a row at the Pollstar Awards. During the seventh nomination, we finally won. I ran up on stage, I get the award and I give a little speech that looks smooth. But when I got off stage, I fell against the wall. I had an anxiety attack. I didn’t know that I was afraid of public speaking. I’d never had to get up in front of a group like that.

To get over the fear, I went and spoke at a couple of colleges. At the second college I spoke at, I changed a young lady’s life. She had quit school that day. She started crying halfway through my talk and afterwards had decided she was not going to quit school after listening to me. I offered to mentor her. She eventually graduated and I had learned that public speaking is powerful.

I had met Cameron Harold who is a well known public speaker. After hanging out with him for a day, he told me I should write a book. I brushed it off at first. The next day his publisher called me. After much convincing, I decided my story was one worth telling.

At first, someone else was going to write the book for me. They sent me the first chapter, and it didn’t feel right. I had written my own version of the first chapter, and my publisher and I both agreed that I needed to be the one to write my story.

What’s a moment that your little kid self would be proud of?

Me and my girlfriend were walking through Times Square and above us is a billboard that is cycling my face with the book on it in Times Square, the same day I was going to NBC Studios to talk about my book on national television. That was a surreal moment.

My Music Row Story: Big Machine Records/Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment’s Allison Jones

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Allison Jones.

With over 35 years of experience in the music industry, Allison Jones serves as EVP of A&R at Big Machine Records and Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment, whose roster includes Riley Green, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry, Aaron Lewis, Cole Goodwin, The Jack Wharff Band, Greylan James, and more.

Jones has been named to Billboard’s Women In Music and Country Power Players lists, included in Country Aircheck’s Power 31, and recognized by the Nashville Business Journal for being one of the most influential executives in the music business.

Prior to joining Borchetta’s Big Machine in 2008, Jones held Head of A&R posts at Universal Music Group Nashville, Dreamworks Records, Giant Records and RCA/BNA Records.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones

 MusicRow: Where are you from? Tell me a little bit about your childhood.

I am from Vero Beach, Florida, a born and bred Floridian. I grew up doing musical theater and as much music as you can in a small town like Vero Beach. I also showed horses and fell in love with country music.

I have the typical story of being 12 years old and begging my dad to drive me to the Grand Ole Opry because I was certain that every star in the universe would just be standing outside. I loved country music from an early age and did musical theater all through high school. I even did some summer stock theater in Connecticut when I was in high school.

Then I went to Vanderbilt, which may have been because it was in Nashville. They didn’t really have a music program then, but I knew that if I came to Nashville, some door would magically open. At Vanderbilt, all there really was was the Blair School of Music. I wasn’t in Blair, but I took voice there. I also studied theater in London through Vanderbilt, and I realized that I was not talented enough to be on that side of the business.

At the beginning of my senior year, I interviewed at RCA when Joe Galante was still running the Nashville office. This would have been 1990. I got hired to be an intern for Joe and his assistant, and for Rick Pepin, who was the head of marketing at the time. A semester internship turned into a full year, which turned into them offering me a job before I graduated at the newly formed BNA, which was initially called BNA Entertainment.

I said yes. The job was to be the receptionist, the A&R assistant for Richard Landis and the marketing assistant for Rick Pepin. So I had three jobs, pre-voicemail and pre-email. I had to answer the phone the good old-fashioned way.

I wouldn’t trade a penny of it. I tell interns now that because most people don’t have receptionists anymore, you don’t get to meet people the same way. I was really busy. I was making very little money, definitely not enough to pay any bills, but I loved it and wouldn’t trade it for a minute.

That’s how I got started. I didn’t realize how lucky I was at the time to get hired while I was still in college. Especially because RCA had Alabama, The Judds, Lorrie Morgan, Earl Thomas Conley, K.T. Oslin. It was a powerhouse. Looking back on it, I’m forever grateful. Every time I see Joe Galante, I still thank him.

That sounds busy, especially while you were still in college.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones

It was. I was the low person on the totem pole, so I didn’t go to lunch, and I didn’t leave. But I remember loving it so much.

We opened BNA with Lorrie Morgan and John Anderson. Growing up, my dad’s favorite artist was John Anderson, so that was iconic. He was such a lovely, lovely man.

It was amazing that I was a week out of Vanderbilt and immediately working with two icons. I’m really grateful for that. It was busy, but I wouldn’t trade a second of it.

How long were you there?

I was at BNA for three years, and then James Stroud hired me to work for him at Giant Records.

James had just opened Giant Records, and Clay Walker was on his first single. The first big record I started working on was Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, which was the first of those tribute records. Irving Azoff owned Giant Records and was very hands-on. From Giant Records, I was given the opportunity to be, technically, the head of A&R, even though I was the only A&R person. At the time, James Stroud was producing literally everyone in town. I think the first year I worked for him, he produced 22 full records.

Once again, when you’re in the middle of it, you don’t realize how crazy it is that you’re sitting in the studio with Clint Black, Tim McGraw, Wynonna, Clay Walker, Toby Keith and so many others. I don’t think I realized then that I had a front-row seat to artists who were going to change the landscape of country music for decades.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones

Where did you go from there?

James Stroud was tapped to become the head of DreamWorks Nashville in 1996.

It was a big secret for a little while, and he took a few of us from Giant Records with him. That’s where I met Scott [Borchetta] because Scott had just left MCA Records, where he was head of promotion, and James hired him to run promotion for DreamWorks.

That was such an iconic run because DreamWorks was David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg. All of them had come from major corporations and wanted to get back to creativity. We had a small but fierce staff at DreamWorks Nashville, but we were very immersed in the DreamWorks culture in Los Angeles. They encouraged us to fly out there as much as we wanted and learn about the movie side of the business.

We worked on the Prince of Egypt soundtrack, which was the first time I had worked on a project like that. Jeffrey Katzenberg was very hands-on, especially when it came to soundtracks. It was incredible getting to watch him work. Jeffrey was responsible for the resurgence of animation at Disney, so he had helped create an entirely new era of animated films.

Back then, nothing was digital. He would literally fly with a locked film case containing the movie. He would shut down entire theaters so artists could privately watch it.

He shut down an entire theater in Cool Springs to show Prince of Egypt to Garth Brooks, Wynonna and Naomi [Judd] and other artists. The movie wasn’t completely finished yet, but we were helping place songs, and there were actually three soundtracks associated with it: the score soundtrack, a Christian soundtrack and a country soundtrack. As a result, I made so many great television and film contacts. Even though I’m technically an A&R executive, I also became heavily involved on the TV and film side because of those relationships.

One funny story is that the head of casting at DreamWorks was a woman named Allison Jones, who is a huge deal now. Sometimes I would get her emails because we were both Allison Jones at DreamWorks. So every once in a while I would accidentally get some early casting information.

Do you have a favorite memory from your time at DreamWorks?

Gosh, just the run of Toby Keith.

We were this little family against the world, and that’s when he was winning Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and having this incredible run. Just getting to learn from Toby was invaluable.

There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t appreciate that experience. In addition to being an artist I worked with, he was really close to me. He was like my big brother. He didn’t get close to a lot of people, but if you were in his inner circle, he was gracious with his knowledge, his time and, good Lord, he was fun and funny. I don’t know that I can pinpoint one specific memory as much as being part of that journey. It will always go down as one of my favorite experiences.

Where did you go after DreamWorks?

DreamWorks had its run from about 1996 until 2004, so just under 10 years. Then all of DreamWorks Records merged with Universal. Suddenly we were merging with Universal Nashville.

I loved it because all of a sudden I got to work with George Strait, Reba, Trisha Yearwood, Vince Gill, Gary Allan and so many others. But mergers are always interesting. It’s difficult when you’re bringing together two cultures. We had our DreamWorks culture, which was this small, fierce company that felt like us against the world, and then we were absorbed into what was, at the time, the Tiffany of record labels. MCA had everybody. Mercury had merged with them, so now there was Shania Twain and all these incredible artists. It was an amazing opportunity because I got to work with artists I admired, but it always felt a little bit like there were still two separate teams.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones

That’s also when Scott left to start Big Machine.

I stayed at Universal through the end of my contract. Around that same time, Toby left as well because he wanted to start his own label, Show Dog.

When my contract was up, Toby called me one day while he was sitting on his bus in Nashville. He always called me “Big Al,” which normally I wouldn’t like because I don’t really want to be called Big Al, but coming from him it was incredibly endearing. He said, “Big Al, come to my bus.” I sat down with him, and he asked, “Do you still love what you’re doing?”

I told him I did. I loved music and I loved what I did, but things had changed. I had gone from our little 20-person staff at DreamWorks to a giant corporation, and I wasn’t really sure what my next step was.

He said, “I want you to come work for me. I want you to help me build artist development and A&R for Show Dog. I want you to come out on the road with me this summer, and I want to remind you why you love music so much and why you love this business.”

I’ve had a lot of people open doors for me throughout my career, but that was one of the most meaningful moments. I wasn’t really sure what came next, and being able to go work alongside someone who was not only at the top of his game, but who also felt like family to me was incredible. I was there for maybe a year, a little less than a year. Then Scott called.

And then you went to Big Machine.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones

I had stayed very close to Scott after he started Big Machine. At the time, I was still heavily involved in A&R at MCA and Mercury. I was working on George Strait and Gary Allan records, and I was getting songs every day.

Scott had signed Jack Ingram, and I was a massive Jack Ingram fan. When my artists passed on songs, I would often send them over to Scott and Jack. We stayed really close.

I had also met Taylor [Swift] when I was still at DreamWorks, so I was friendly with the family before Big Machine really took off. One day Scott called me and said, “I need you. I need you to come here immediately. Like next week.”

Calling Toby and telling him I was leaving was one of the hardest phone calls I’ve ever made. Of course, he understood. There were no hard feelings at all. He was happy for me.

Joining Big Machine at that point was a crazy time because Taylor was finishing her first record and beginning her second. That meteoric rise of Taylor Swift was unbelievable. I can’t imagine there are many people in the music business who can say they had a front-row seat to something like that.

We were a small family, very much like DreamWorks had been. I remember going to Taylor’s first headline show in Chattanooga. I was there with Andrea [Swift] and Robert Allen. I remember standing at front of house with Andrea. I was a new mom, and I just started bawling.

I was watching these little girls holding signs that said, “It’s okay not to be cool because of you.” Or, “I want to play guitar because of you.” It wasn’t just fandom. It felt like watching the beginning of a generational shift. I remember crying because it felt bigger than music. I became the person standing beside Andrea at every show because, yes, I worked with Taylor, but the mom in me was overwhelmed by what I was witnessing. Watching all those young girls connect to her in that way was extraordinary.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones

 What was your role at Big Machine at the time?

I was hired to be the head of A&R. Technically, I was the SVP of A&R, but we were so small in those early days that titles didn’t really matter. I was doing A&R administration. I was doing A&R. I was handling television and film opportunities.

Scott had started a publishing company, but at that point it was primarily for Justin Moore‘s publishing and some of our artists. It wasn’t large enough yet to have a traditional publishing staff. So I was also taking songs, managing publishing conversations and helping figure out how everything fit together. I loved it because we were doing so much. It was a completely different time. Streaming wasn’t really a thing yet. iTunes was. Social media existed, but not in the way it does today.

It’s interesting rebuilding it all over again now. Today we have around 30 employees and a lot of artists already, and we’re rebuilding from the ground up again. I’m the EVP of A&R, and Carly Strickland works closely with me. Together we’re rebuilding systems, budgets, A&R administration processes, artist clearances and all the infrastructure that supports a label. It’s a completely different industry than it was back then, but we’re still building. So, in many ways, I’m wearing a lot of the same hats now that I wore in the early days of Big Machine, and Carly and I are both enjoying the challenge.

 What has been your favorite part of being at Big Machine?

Gosh, there are so many memories. Someone asked me this recently, and I hate picking just one because I love all of these artists so passionately like they’re all my kids. I get so emotionally invested in them that I hate highlighting one without mentioning all of them.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones

But one memory that stands out is the year Taylor won four Grammys. It was the year of “White Horse,” and to sit in that room and watch young Taylor Swift sweep the country categories and then win in the all-genre categories was insanity. What made it even more special was seeing Nashville represented on that stage. Liz Rose, who has always been one of my best friends, was nominated. Nathan Chapman was up for overall album of the year. Justin Niebank had mixed the record. There were so many Nashville people involved.

Watching Taylor, Liz and Nathan on that stage, I was crying the whole time.

We were still a small company, and Taylor was so young. To see a young woman, a country artist, win at that level across all genres felt incredible.

Afterward, because Taylor was underage, we couldn’t exactly go celebrate in bars. So we all walked over to dinner near Staples Center and celebrated together. I still have a picture from that night of me, Scott, Taylor and Eric Powell holding up four fingers for the four Grammys. She looks so young in that photo. That has to be one of my favorite memories.

What excites you about where Big Machine is headed now?

I love the energy and challenge of building something.

Obviously, Riley Green has been incredible to watch. Not only has he become established as a major star, but he’s had back-to-back hits that he wrote himself. Then watching him on Marshals was amazing. He had never acted before, and I was blown away by his performance. I remember texting him and saying, “Dude, you’re an actor.” To see that received so well, and now to watch him become a coach on The Voice and see his ticket sales continue to grow, has been incredible.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones

We also have so many new artists I’m excited about.

Mark my words, Cole Goodwin is the future of country music. He’s got that ’90s country thing, but there’s also some ’80s country in him. I’m incredibly excited about what he’s doing. I’m also excited about the Jack Wharff Band because they’re a little outside our genre. It’s been fun working with something that isn’t genre-specific. There’s freedom in making music that doesn’t have to fit into a tiny box. I have an incredible duo called Marfa. They’re kind of like if The Everly Brothers, Simon & Garfunkel and the Eagles existed today as young hipsters. They’re incredible. Greylan James is off to a great start. Mackenzie Carpenter is making incredible music.

And then there’s The Band Perry. I signed The Band Perry 15 years ago, so getting to work with Kimberly again has been incredibly special. We have so much fun together. Sometimes we stop ourselves now and ask, “Why has this been so easy and enjoyable?” I think a lot of that comes from experience. Kimberly was a massive star at such a young age. Then she experienced having it all go away and having to rebuild. So getting to rebuild both a label and the next chapter of The Band Perry has been really rewarding.

Another exciting thing is that Scott has opened a management company. When everything split apart, I was heartbroken to leave artists like Thomas Rhett, Carly Pearce and Midland because those artists are family to me. They’ll always be family.

But Carly is my soul sister. I had been following her career and meeting with her for years. She just didn’t have the song yet. I remember meeting with her after she left RCA. I loved her, but she hadn’t found that defining song. Then she did an independent project with Busbee. They were being very selective about who heard it because they wanted to make a splash.

I remember knowing it was coming out and seeing all these people on Twitter talking about it. Lucy Hale, Kelsea [Ballerini] and so many others were posting about it. So I went to iTunes and listened. The song absolutely annihilated me.

It was “Every Little Thing.” I immediately texted Carly and said, “Girlfriend, you have your three minutes. Call me right now, or call me in the morning, but you have your three minutes.”

That was on a Friday. I brought Scott to see her at the Opry on Saturday night. Then, of course, every label in town came after her. Thankfully, she chose us.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones

I was incredibly sad when I thought I might not get to work with her anymore, but then Scott said, “What if I manage her?” Now I’m probably more involved in her career than ever because I work closely with her manager. It’s been really special.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Probably from Reba. Working with Reba is right up there with Toby and Taylor for me. Not just as an artist, but as a human being. Is there anyone better than Reba as a human? I truly don’t think so.

During the years when women were talking about how difficult it was to get played on radio, Reba would always say, “Outwork the men. Just outwork them.” She didn’t make it about being a woman or a man. She made it about work ethic. The first artist I worked closely with was Lorrie Morgan, and she said the same thing. You have to outwork them. You have to out-sing them. You have to outperform them.

When I entered the music business in 1991, women were running Nashville. Donna Hilley was running Tree. Frances Preston was running BMI. Connie Bradley was running ASCAP. Celia Froehlig and Robin Palmer were running EMI. Karen Conrad had the biggest independent publishing company in town. Evelyn Shriver and Susan Nadler were running publicity and labels. I watched all of these women succeed in an era where nobody complained. They just did the work. By example, they taught me that we could do it too. You just outwork everybody.

What are you most proud of in your career?

My relationships. I’m proud that I still genuinely love what I do. Somewhere along the way, I learned to trust my gut. That’s one of the hardest things to do in the music business, especially now when there’s so much data. You can overanalyze everything. I’ve always trusted my instincts, and I’ve always relied on relationships. Because all of this eventually goes away.

If you take care of the music and you take care of the relationships, everything else will fall into place. That’s how I sleep at night. I know I was earnest in my love of the music, and I know my intentions with artists and people in this industry were genuine.

I’m grateful to still be doing this. More than ever, after all these years, I wake up every day and recognize what an honor it is to work in this business. It’s an honor when creators trust you with their art. I’m excited about where the music business is headed, and I’m excited about the next chapter of this label.

My Music Row Story: PLA Media’s Pam Lewis

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Pam Lewis

Pamela Lewis, a native of upstate New York, graduated from Wells College with a B.A. in Economics/Marketing and a minor in French and Communications, including a year studying in Paris through COUP, affiliated with The Sorbonne. In New York City, she worked at MS Magazine and pursued graduate coursework at Fordham University and The New York School for Social Research.

From 1980 to 1984, Lewis was part of the original publicity/marketing team that launched MTV, also working with Nickelodeon, The Movie Channel, and A&E. She left as National Media Director to join RCA Records in Nashville, helping shape the careers of Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, The Judds, and Alabama. In 1985, she founded the award-winning PLA Media, and in 1987 formed Doyle/Lewis Management with Bob Doyle. Her first client was an unknown crooner named Garth Brooks, whom she guided to superstardom while also co-managing Trisha Yearwood’s early career.

Reinventing herself in 2003, Lewis won a four-year term as alderman-at-large in Franklin, Tennessee, serving as vice mayor and the board’s only female member for two years. She is a graduate of UT’s Local Government Leadership Program and Belmont University’s Scarlett Leadership Institute, and an alumna of Leadership Music and Leadership Middle Tennessee.

In 2023, Lewis was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee year, joining the ranks of Benjamin Franklin, Charles Dickens, and Helen Keller. She also serves as a U.S. Ambassador for The Unity of Faiths Foundation.

Her charitable work spans historic preservation, women’s advocacy, and animal rights. Lewis has authored three books, including Benjamin Franklin: America’s First Rockstar and Ben Franklin Visits Franklin for a Day, and delivered a TEDx Talk in Franklin, Tennessee, in March 2026.

Photo: Courtesy of Lewis

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

In a small town in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley; beautiful country with dairy farms and apple orchards along the Hudson River. My dad was a teacher who became a school superintendent, so I couldn’t get away with anything. He wasn’t my principal, but he did pick all my teachers.

What were you like as a kid?

Nerdy. If the teacher said “read 500 pages,” I’d read all 500 because I knew the test would be on the one page I skipped. I talked a lot—got in trouble for that—but it’s served me well. I was in every club, sang in All-State Choir, and loved biology and traveling. My first trips were to Canada and France, and that started a lifelong travel bug. I’ve been to 130 countries and all 50 states.

When did you realize you wanted to work in music?

I always loved music. My parents took me to concerts at Lincoln Center and Tanglewood. As a kid, I begged to see Earth, Wind & Fire at Madison Square Garden. My parents actually dropped us off there, which is crazy in hindsight. I loved The Beatles, too. I remember dragging my mom to four record stores to find Abbey Road.

But it never clicked that people could work in music. There wasn’t a Belmont or MTSU then, at least that I knew of. So I got a marketing degree in economics and marketing, with minors in communications and French. I always liked the written word. I read a lot and thought it would be really cool to work at an advertising firm or a marketing company, or maybe in television. My first job was in cable television, and that was right when MTV launched. So literally, right out of school, I was convincing people to watch a 24-hour cable music channel. Nobody believed anyone would!

I had to send what we called “air checks” to reviewers and programmers because MTV wasn’t even available in Manhattan yet. The two main centers for entertainment were Los Angeles and New York, but MTV wasn’t in New York City. It was in Omaha, Nebraska, of all places. That’s why the “I Want My MTV” campaign started. It was such an exciting time. I got to meet a ton of people, learned how media works, and it really gave me the foundation for what came later.

Photo: Courtesy of Lewis

How did that lead you to Nashville?

I was dating a photographer who shot artists for RCA—everyone from Alabama to David Bowie. I’d tag along to shows, hang backstage and meet people without realizing who they were. That’s how I met Joe Galante, Tony Brown, Randy Goodman and Cynthia Spencer. Cynthia handled PR and marketing and would often call me for contacts. One day she said, “Pamela Sue, I’m leaving RCA to marry a golfer, and you’d be perfect for my job.”

I laughed it off. I was living on the Upper East Side, making $11,500 a year, scraping by but happy. Then she called again: “This is serious.” Next thing I knew, RCA flew me to Nashville for an interview. I didn’t even know how publishing worked. I thought if your name was next to a song like “Islands in the Stream,” that meant you wrote it.

I read Billboard on the plane, memorized a few chart names and bluffed my way through the meeting. They offered me the job, a car, an expense account and a hotel stay downtown. I wasn’t even 30. I said, “Make me an offer I can’t refuse,” and they did.

So I moved to Nashville. Within a year, RCA fired me, and my boyfriend dumped me.

Ouch. What came next?

That was my “dark night of the soul.” I was angry, hurt and feeling sorry for myself, until I got bored of my own pity party. I tried to move back to New York, but there wasn’t a job that made sense. So I hung out my own shingle and started doing marketing, PR and artist development.

At first, it was pure desperation, but I thought, I know how to do this. I had good instincts, I could write and I already owned an IBM Selectric typewriter. The only real difference was that now I had to pay for my own insurance. I started small, made enough to live on and eventually hired a couple of people.

Tony Brown gave me work, CMA brought me on as a consultant and things grew from there. That’s when I bought my first house.

How did you meet Bob Doyle?

Bob was from St. Louis—his dad was a principal, too. We were introduced by a mutual colleague. Bob was about to leave Capitol and wanted to start a management company. He needed someone with my skill set, so we became 50/50 partners and launched Doyle Lewis Management.

Bob said, “I’ve got this boy I want you to meet,” and in walked Garth. He was sitting on this Haitian cotton sofa with his guitar, singing and I just thought, “There’s something about this guy.” He had these piercing blue eyes and a calm confidence.

We were bootstrapping everything. I had my PR company by then, so Bob told me I could move into his building if I paid rent, something like $400 or $500 a month, which felt like a fortune. I was doing Garth’s PR and marketing out of a tiny cubbyhole with one employee. Eventually, I hired more people and opened my own office, PLA: Pam Lewis & Associates.

Photo: Courtesy of Lewis

Did you ever consider closing your PR business once Garth took off?

Oh, they both told me to: Bob and Garth. They’d say, “Close that PR company! You don’t need it.” But I didn’t know if I’d get kicked out of the circle one day. I kept saying, “I need something that’s mine.” Tammy Wynette never gave up her nursing license, you know? Everyone has a backup.

So I renamed it PLA Media, hoping people wouldn’t notice “Lewis” on both companies. That gave me a little separation, and peace of mind.

When did you realize Garth’s career was going to be massive?

It didn’t feel meteoric at first. There were lean times, especially for me. I remember crying in the office because my credit cards were maxed out. There was no such thing as “work-life balance.” I’d work all day, change clothes in the office bathroom, slap on deodorant and head to the CMA Awards. It was the most money I’d ever made, and the least balance I’d ever had. I didn’t date for 10 years. But that’s what it took.

Busy doesn’t begin to cover it. I was completely immersed, and there was definitely an unspoken message at the time: Little lady, stay in your sandbox.

How did things change after that?

By the time everything settled, the business was completely different. 360 deals had arrived, labels were consolidating, and the culture had shifted. But I’ll always say that era was something special. Nashville then felt like a campus…tight-knit, competitive, but collaborative. Everyone knew each other. Country music had an inferiority complex compared to New York and L.A., so when Garth started breaking records, it felt like the whole town was winning.

We threw a big party to celebrate—not to boast, but to say, “This is all of us.” Dolly, Kenny and Alabama had all crossed over too. It was a collective pride moment for country music.

When you look back on that whirlwind chapter, what stands out as one of your proudest moments?

Probably Garth’s first CMA Award, and his first Grammy. I remember the Grammy night vividly: freezing New York, gold stiletto heels and no limo to get us there. I finally took my shoes off on the walk there. It’s funny now, but at the time, not so much.

There were plenty of mishaps like that, but they make for great stories now. Watching Garth win, seeing the pride on his family’s faces, that’s what mattered most.

What was the next chapter for you like?

The next chapter was the dissolution of a partnership and, honestly, a divorce. When you go through that, the phone doesn’t ring. It was another dark night of the soul. But I kept PLA Media going, signed new clients and started asking myself what I was really supposed to do next.

I’d had a near-death experience earlier in life, and I’ve always felt that meant I was here for a reason beyond the music business. I’d always done charity work, so I decided to run for office. I served as an alderwoman and then vice mayor, working on local legislation and making national news a few times. It was baptism by fire, just like MTV and Garth had been.

That’s quite a career arc.

I always say I’ve worked on two cultural phenomena: MTV and Garth Brooks. Then politics became my third. It changed my life. Buying my historic home changed me, too. It grounded me.

Now I just want to do meaningful work. I don’t have human children, but I believe we’re all here to give back: to spread kindness and help others. To whom much is given, much is expected. That’s the motto I live by.

What’s your favorite part of what you do now?

I’m working on a few legacy projects that aren’t directly tied to the music industry, and that’s really exciting. Just recently, I gifted a life-size statue of Benjamin Franklin by renowned sculptor George Lundeen. The statue, titled “Ben on the Bench,” was unveiled on Franklin’s 320th birthday, January 17, 2026, and presented as a gift to the City of Franklin and Williamson County. I wrote two books to commemorate the event, “Benjamin Franklin: Amercia’s First Rockstar,” a whimsical take on America’s most-influential polymath and a children’s book titled “Ben Franklin Visits Franklin for a Day.” And now I am helping tell other people’s stories—whether that’s through music, art, or community projects.

We work with clients across a range of industries, including authors and professors Don Cusic and Mary Ellen Pethel; the SuperFan Diaries sports-related podcast; Nashville Sites, a free digital platform offering more than 40 walking and driving tours of Nashville; the historic Two Rivers Mansion; and the Tina Turner Museum in West Tennessee, which recently unveiled a statue in her honor.

Our music roster continues to thrive as well, featuring country songwriting and producing legend Brent Maher; rock and roll icon Jim Messina; Wes McClelland, a Texas-based artist with his new single “What I Know Now” currently at Music Row radio stations; rising alternative artist Anour from Canada; and Nashville-based On The Rhodes Entertainment.

What I love most is helping people fulfill their dreams. It’s not always about record deals anymore—it’s about storytelling and impact.

My Music Row Story: TRACK mgmt’s Troy “Tracker” Johnson

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Troy “Tracker” Johnson

Troy “Tracker” Johnson is the founder of TRACK mgmt, a Nashville-based artist management company which launched in 2025. Built on creativity, honesty and hustle, TRACK mgmt is all about helping artists and the team around them grow in ways that feel real. With a passion for music and a hands-on approach, Tracker leads with connection first making sure every move stays true to the artist and the people behind it.

Photo: Courtesy of Johnson

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Pleasanton, Texas.

We had like 7,500 people in our town. My dad was in the oilfield, so we moved around a little bit here and there, and then ended up really calling Pleasanton my hometown. As soon as I got out of high school, I went to California. My mom owned some welding trucks, so I would hop on these welding trucks and I was a welder’s helper that summer after high school. Then, as most 18-year-old boys do, I got into a little bit of trouble and my father was like, “It’s time for you to now come home.” So I got my butt back to Texas and started spending time in Austin.

What happened in Austin?

I was trying to find my way into the University of Texas. I was never the smartest kid when it came to school, but I was a hustler, so I was always working and doing stuff. I got to Austin Community College, which stood for “anybody can come” back then. It’s funny, because I wasn’t a great student, but I wanted to teach. I liked teaching people and helping. I loved kids.

Photo: Courtesy of Johnson

I ended up working at a daycare called Extend-A-Care. I did that for the longest time. I kept moving up in the daycare, and I got to the point where I had my own daycare there in Austin and ran the school for about a year or so. During that time, I had some friends in Pleasanton that were fraternity brothers with these guys from Lubbock, Pat Green and Cory Morrow.

I found myself every once in a while on a couch in Lubbock listening to Cory and Pat play songs, and I was hooked. I was underage, but because we knew people, we would go to Pete’s Piano Bar on Sixth Street and watch them play every Tuesday. That Texas music scene really took me over, from Pat Green to Cory Morrow, Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, James McMurtry, Todd Snider, Jack Ingram, Robert Earl Keen—the list went on and on.

How did you get involved?

I literally started as a super fan in this industry. I was always around, so Cory Morrow asked if I wanted to start selling his t-shirts. I became a merch salesman for Cory, and that kind of morphed into being a booking agent. I became friends with a guy named Matt Peveto, who had a company called Mustang Entertainment. He was booking Cory at the time, so I did that for a little bit. Then I started booking bands, and I worked for Matt at Mustang for many years. I was booking Mark David Manders, Houston Marchman, Tracy Lynn, Max Stalling, just all these Texas acts. I remember not making any money. He would pay my rent, and then I would work at Chili’s to make a little cash. I was always hustling.

Photo: Courtesy of Johnson

While I was booking bands, one of the bands that was being booked by Matt was this guy named Roger Creager. I became really close with that team because I’d gone out and done merch stuff and I was still kind of on the road, so I’d be a promoter rep at a festival or the stage manager at a festival. The tour manager for Roger ended up passing away, and Roger asked if I wanted the gig. That was my next step. I dove in and was obsessed with the road.

I was with Roger for maybe four years, and then I switched to Eli Young Band. They had grown a cool following in Texas around the fraternity scene, and it took off with them. I learned a ton.

What was next for you?

I called a very good friend, Jordan Powell. I was explaining my frustrations with the Texas music scene and my growth in the industry, and he literally just said, “Man, if you want to make a living, you got to be in Nashville.” He was already up here with Miranda Lambert, and he bought me a plane ticket and lined up some interviews for me.

Photo: Courtesy of Johnson

I had an interview with the band Gypsy, Lady A and Chris Young. Chris was a couple years off of Nashville Star and I went to work with him. I went all in with Chris and did a little over two years with him.

Jordan called me again and said he needed a production assistant on Miranda, so I jumped on with Miranda as a production assistant for a couple runs. It was epic. [Miranda’s manager] Marion Kraft had started managing Chris Young, and I was on a run when she called me. I answered and said, “Hey, let me call you right back when I’m done running,” and I hung up.

Five seconds later I was like, “Oh my God, you just do not not take a call from Marion!” I called her back, completely out of breath, and she said, “I need you to start tour managing Chris Young. I need you to start immediately. Your first run is in Kuwait doing a USO tour.”

Then what happened?

One day my phone rang and it was Seth England. He said, “Hey man, my act Chris Lane is out there with Chris Young. I don’t know if you know who this band Florida Georgia Line is, but these guys are moving quickly and we need someone.”

Photo: Courtesy of Johnson

I wasn’t into the FGL thing at first, and Chris was such a good boss to me, but someone got in my ear and just said, “You have to take this gig. This is something that’s going to change the industry.”

I met the FGL guys, Chief [Zaruk], Seth and Craig [Wiseman] at Cinco de Mayo off White Bridge Road during CMA Fest. I believed in their passion for breaking an artist and developing it, so I took the FGL gig.

It was the best ride. I came on when they were on their second or third single, and we were still on one bus. Within months it was two trailers, four buses and two semis. I remember the first weekend I went out with them, they were opening for Luke Bryan, first of three, and 10,000-plus people at this festival were singing words off an EP. It was mind-blowing. Over the next few years with FGL, it was nonstop. They had so many opportunities, so we were gone nonstop.

Photo: Courtesy of Johnson

Is FGL how you met HARDY?

Yep, via the Tree Vibez bus that took songwriters out on the road to write. Honestly, I really couldn’t stand the Tree Vibez bus because the writers just came out and demolished all the booze and food, and they just didn’t understand touring. [Laughs] But I remember thinking HARDY was really cool, that there was something different about him.

My time with FGL came to an end. Around 2016, I went to Chief and Seth and told them I would like to transition out. I ended up coming into the Big Loud office full time, and I was still helping on FGL. I also had Chris Lane, MacKenzie Porter and Mat Kearney for day-to-day management. Morgan Wallen decided to come to Big Loud for management, so I got on his account.

One day someone said that Michael Hardy wanted to be an artist, and I said, “If HARDY is coming to this company, I have to be the guy.” And that’s what happened. Early 2018, he jumped on and did a show with Chris Lane in Minneapolis. That was his first time ever on a stage as HARDY. It was great. It really just became those two clients for me. I jumped all in on Morgan and HARDY.

When Morgan decided to leave the management side, a lot of changes happened at the company. It was really just me in the Big Loud management building. I went to Seth and told him I knew he was going to be winding down the management company at some point, and it was time that I depart and do TRACK mgmt. I had the name, the logo, the checking account. I knew what I wanted. I knew where I was heading.

Photo: Courtesy of Johnson

Seth, and the other Big Loud partners at the time, gave me so many opportunities and championed me in every room. Seth said, “I think that’s incredible. How can I help? What can we do?” I stayed in the building for about six months, and then a building came up on 17th Avenue.

And you were off!

A lot of clients rolled over to TRACK mgmt, and the staff too. It’s 100% TRACK mgmt now, through the Live Nation portal. We have HARDY, Jake Worthington, Lanie Garder, McCoy Moore, Will Terry, Dallas Smith and Default.

Being a part of events and just being a part of the community now with my company is special. I feel like I’ve definitely lived so many different lives. I’ve done it all in this industry, but it really all started with a love for music, songwriters and shows.

Who would you name as mentors?

Seth England, Chief Zaruk, Brad and Denise Garrett, Jordan Powell, Todd Ortmeier. There’s just been so many key people in the later stages of my life.

Photo: Courtesy of Johnson

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

I was getting a little flustered with something and Marion told me one time to watch Chuck Hull, who’s the tour manager for Keith Urban. She told me to watch his movements and his personality. She said if the building was on fire, Chuck would walk up to Keith and be like, “Hey bud, we got to go,” and he would very calmly walk Keith off the stage.

Chief told me one time, “Just relax, it’s going to suck.” It was in regard to a hard travel situation, but it helped put it into perspective for me that it’s gonna suck, but we’re gonna get through it.

Another time, I was dealing with a client situation and wanting to know my place. I felt myself trying to force wanting something for an artist or wanting to make a certain decision. Clarence Spalding told me, “It’s their career, it’s their choice. They have to be the ones to make those decisions. We are just here to give them advice, but at the end of the day, it’s their decision.”

My Music Row Story: FlyteVu’s Laura Hutfless

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Laura Hutfless

Laura Hutfless is the CEO and Co-Founder of FlyteVu, an award-winning creative agency that connects brands with culture in bold and unexpected ways. Following a 15-year career as a talent agent at WME and CAA, she grew FlyteVu into a rapidly expanding, industry-recognized agency known for culture-shaping campaigns honored by the Emmys, GRAMMYs, Cannes Lions and more.

Under her leadership, FlyteVu has been recognized on Adweek’s Fastest-Growing Agencies list and Chief Marketer’s Top 200. She also led the creation of the FlyteVu Fund, which has donated more than $1.2 million to charitable causes through employee-directed giving.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a military family, so we moved every couple years. Because of that, I was introduced to a lot of different types of music based on the preferences of the community or where we were based. In high school, I was introduced to country in West Virginia. So when I went to college at NC State, I found the country label and the country radio station that was there and I interned. That’s how I started in music.

Photo: Courtesy of Hutfless

What did you do for the radio station?

Promotion. I tried hosting one early morning show, and that was a disaster [laughs], so I decided that was definitely not for me. I worked with the record labels and the artists coming through town hosting listening experiences for fans and worked a lot backstage. That’s where I got to know a lot of managers and production managers, and I started to network.

Did you always want to work in the music business?

No, I started in college in a graphic design and art design major, thinking I wanted to be an animator. Then after a few internships in that space, I decided that was not for me. I discovered that there were art directors at record labels, who made the designs for albums and tour posters, and that’s what I wanted to do.

Who were you designing for?

When I moved to Nashville, I picked up some freelance gigs from different orgs in town, including labels, but I was still young and I needed a full time job. My first job was as an assistant at WME on the desk of the first agent who was doing sponsorships. I got that job because I could make PowerPoint presentation, so it was a perfect opportunity for me to learn the business and design skills, and we know how much that part of the industry has taken off in the past 20 years. I just got in at the perfect time.

Did you move right from Nashville right out of college?

I may have moved before graduation [laughs]. I moved without a job. I worked at a little boutique called Flavor. All of the stylists and artists would come to shop there. Networking was the name of the game then, so I worked retail for the first six months of being here.

Photo: Courtesy of Hutfless

Where did you go after WME?

The company I was working for after WME was acquired by Ticketmaster, and during the acquisition, the department I was working in essentially disbanded. In that process, a lot of the clients I was working on were represented by CAA and they pursued me, but it took me a while to take that role because I was making great money on my own.

I really liked my job, but I was still in my early twenties and I realized I still had a lot to learn and CAA was an amazing training program to understand the music industry and beyond. It was music, TV, brand deals, marketing, gaming…and the networking there—there’s nothing else like it. I’m really grateful I ended up taking that role because it really did set me on the road that I’m on today.

How did you go from CAA to starting FlyteVu?

About seven years into CAA, quite a few of the brands who I was negotiating with on behalf of my talent roster started to bloom. This was right at the time that social media was coming onto the scene. Influencers and brands navigating the music space, they did not understand the rights. So they would make a deal with the label, but they didn’t understand that they didn’t get better appearances, or they would make a deal with the talent director that didn’t understand they had to clear music with the publisher.

Photo: Courtesy of Hutfless

So I was helping them as an agency navigate that. They wanted me to come work in house. I didn’t want to work for one, but it’s really interesting to craft deals and campaigns and partnerships from the onset. That sounded like the next challenge for me, so I decided to start FlyteVu because I could then take them all on.

What was the journey like to start FlyteVu?

Jeremy Holley and I put together a business plan and ultimately decided to bet on ourselves and fill a gap we were seeing in the industry.

We had the support of CAA and Warner and we had the business, and unlike a lot of entrepreneurs that are starting from nothing, I feel like we really shaped off their base. We were really blessed right out of the gate from day one to have enough business to start the company.

Who were some of your first clients?

American Red Cross, Cracker Barrel and a fitness brand called Snap Fitness.

What’s been your personal journey with the company throughout the past 10 years?

When we started, I was doing everything. Selling, creating, managing, activating, hiring, managing people—all of those. I mean it’s chaos, but entrepreneurs thrive in that environment. As the company’s grown, it moves. My role has shifted from doing the work in a founder-led mentality, taking big risks, to now CEO of the company, which is accomplishing work through others while maintaining the same quality and value system that the company was founded on. To me, that is much harder.

Photo: Courtesy of Hutfless

It’s also now steering the shift, but understanding that any pivot that I would have made as a founder to be fast has a significant effect on everyone else. You can’t make quick decisions like you used to as a founder. You have to have a lot more thoughtful strategic insight as you lead people. I still really love the creative. I think that’s just my skills and my passion, so I still sneak into the creative meetings. [laughs].

Looking back on the past 10 years to now, what are some major milestones that you guys have hit over the past 10 years?

Definitely producing our first Super Bowl campaign. Surviving COVID was a milestone for any agency, entertainment or live event—and we adapted very quickly for our clients. Surpassing 30 employees and having employees in LA, New York and Austin, opening hubs in other markets. I’d say the last milestone was selling for eight figures. I’m still the CEO and that has allowed us to grow very quickly, continue expanding, but also develop our own AI tools, which we will roll out next quarter. It is really exciting to elevate our company in tech and AI.

Tell me more about the Super Bowl ad.

Photo: Courtesy of Hutfless

It was for Bumble. It did not start off as an ad, it started because the founder of Bumble wanted to work with Serena Williams and I helped broker that multi-year deal. In the course of growing that partnership, we decided to launch it at the Super Bowl. The problem is we decided that eight weeks before the ad took. It was wild and chaotic because that process had 20% of the time that it normally would’ve taken.

But I love that because that’s the mentality of FlyteVu. We’ll figure it out. That’s the mentality of any successful entrepreneur. You also have to have a team that rallies behind you in those moments because everyone has to be on board,

What’s the best advice that you’ve ever gotten?

Don’t take no from someone who doesn’t have the authority to give you a no. Virginia Bunetta told me that. Another one is you need to build the life you want, not for the life you have. That one was helpful personally and professionally because a big part of my story is that I adopted my daughter on my own, and that was during that season making some tough decisions. You have to build your life around what you want to have and start investing in your career and your lifestyle and making space for what you want—not just where you are now.

How do you balance motherhood and your career?

Photo: Courtesy of Hutfless

I just have priorities. I planned my life. I intentionally planned the chapter of life to support the life that I wanted in those challenges. For example, I did not start a company when I had a young baby or child at home. I started the company first, which gave me time to build the company up, have financial freedom and have a team now that can run the company where I’m now in the senior role, not the founder role. Now that puts more flexibility in my schedule. I could adopt a little girl and be able to prioritize her more than I could have if I adopted her when I was 25.

Who have been some of your mentors?

Virgina Bunetta has been a friend and mentor. Lou Taylor, she taught me how to read my first PNL. Rob Light at CAA—I didn’t get to talk to him often because he was in LA, but every time he did speak to me, it was direct and it was honest, and it wasn’t always what I wanted to hear. To me, that’s what a mentor does. They make their time impactful. They’re willing to bring light to blind spots at the risk of however you might respond because they care about you and your future.

Lastly Jennifer Cooke. She manages Amy Grant. She was one of the first female managers in town. She was also the first person I knew in Nashville to approach motherhood on her own.

What’s a moment that your little kid self would be proud of?

I grew up in a very conservative Christian home, so Amy Grant was the only artist that I was allowed to listen to. At CAA, she was on my roster and I sold and negotiated some sponsorships for her. That was a little surreal, to work with the artists that you grew up listening to.

The second one was selling a company for eight figures. I would never have thought when I was little that I would build something and sell it. It’s not just about the money—the money is financial freedom for my family, but it’s not what I place my own worth or value in. Never did I think I could build something from scratch and then someone else would place that level of value on it.

My Music Row Story: BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville’s Peter Strickland

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Peter Strickland

Peter Strickland oversees the financial and daily operations of BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville, streamlines distribution channels and physical-product sales as well as spearheads the label’s comedy initiatives.

Throughout his tenure, he has served several executive-level roles at Warner Music Nashville such as VP of Sales, VP of Sales & Marketing, Sr. VP of Brand Management & Sales, Executive Vice President/General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer.

In addition to the roles at WMN, he also created two successful comedy imprints and executive produced Jimmy Fallon’s 2013 Grammy Award-winning comedy album, Blow Your Pants Off, before opening his management company, Marathon Talent, in 2018.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a town called Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

Photo: Courtesy of Strickland

What were you into as a kid?

As a kid, I always wanted to buy music. I had a paper route, and with whatever money I had, I would go out to the record store and just buy music. By the time I was around 12 years old, I already had a pretty decent record collection. As I got older, I found myself turning my friends on to songs, so I was an early record promoter.

When I was 17, the whole club scene was going on in New England and across the country. The drinking age was 18 at that time, so I was trying to figure out how I could get into the club scene. I just took a handful of records and went up to the doorman and said, “Hey, I’m bringing these up to the DJ.” He said, “Go right ahead,” so every week I’d go up to the DJ in that nightclub and say, “You’ve got to check this out. Have you heard this song?”

Eventually, the club owner came up to me and said, “Hey, do you know how to spin those things?” I didn’t, but I told him I did. He said, “Can you come spin on Thursday nights?” So that was kind of my entry into what I guess was part of the business. Eventually, I took over all those nights and then started my own DJ business doing parties.

Photo: Courtesy of Strickland

Wow! How did you get further along into the business?

At one point, I was spending a lot of money buying music, so I needed to find something to do during the day. I applied to work at a record store called Strawberry Records, which is no longer around, but they were a chain of stores that dominated the New England area. Even though I had a lot of experience in a nightclub, the manager thought I should actually work in the warehouse. I said, “Okay, as long as I can still get my discount on music purchases.”

I got more than a discount. What ended up happening is they put me in a buying role for the whole chain of stores for R&B and dance singles. So I’d have all the distributors coming in and pitching to me. Eventually, I got hired out of there to work for WEA distribution in Boston.

Tell me about that.

That was my intro to the real music industry. I elevated quite quickly through the ranks there. I came in as a junior salesperson and won Sales Rep of the Year by my second year. In my fourth year, I got promoted to sales manager position, leap frogging a number of people who had been there for a long time, so that was a challenge—learning to manage people.

Eventually, the role became a little stagnant for me because it was all about pick, pack and ship. There was nothing creative about it. I heard through the grapevine through distribution that Warner Bros. Records in Nashville was looking for a salesperson. I knew a number of the people down here because part of my job in New England was to promote country music.

Photo: Courtesy of Strickland

I applied for that job. I really wanted to move here and get into a label to absorb everything that happens there. How do they make the decision to sign an artist? How do they make decisions about songs? How does radio work?

I got the job, and I spent a good portion of my first decade here just learning everything I could about the industry at a record label level. During that time, the digital revolution happened, and it started to have a serious effect on Music Row. Half of the labels on Music Row went away overnight. Warner Bros. absorbed Giant, Elektra, and Atlantic, so there was a big cleansing that took place during that time.

A key part of a shift in my career was when Blake Shelton was one of the artists we took on from Giant. When he came over, there was really no one in marketing. I raised my hand to help with sales and marketing on Blake, and that unveiled a talent I didn’t know I had.

Photo: Courtesy of Strickland

Tell me more about that.

As time went on, other artists started getting added to my marketing responsibilities, like Faith Hill, Dwight Yoakam and Big & Rich. Eventually, it was Hunter Hayes, Brett Eldredge and Jana Kramer etc. It was one of the most rewarding time periods of my career because all of a sudden I was doing all the stuff that I really enjoyed. I moved from VP of Sales to SVP, then EVP of Marketing, and eventually CMO at Warner.

I started the comedy division there and brought Jeff Foxworthy back. That led to the whole Blue Collar Comedy Tour coming to Warner Bros. in Nashville. I ended up signing a number of comedians including Larry the Cable Guy, that record ended up debuting higher than the Red Hot Chili Peppers the same week.

Later on, Jimmy Fallon called my office mentioning he had just taken over the late-night show and wanted to do a comedy record. He had gotten my name from people in the industry, so we ended up doing it together. It won a Grammy and was certainly one of the biggest highlights of my career.

What was next for you?

When I left Warner, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do from that point. I took about six months off and decided to start a management company, Marathon Talent. The excitement of that led to me signing artists rather rapidly. I signed some incredibly talented artists, but I felt I was moving too fast, trying to prove that I could build something in a short period of time, which we all know doesn’t happen overnight.

Photo: Courtesy of Strickland

Just as things started to uptick, COVID hit, and it really put a huge damper on the management company. At the time, I felt like the industry was abandoning me as well. That wasn’t the case, but it felt like it. I was at a pivotal point, asking, “What’s next?” My wife was very supportive, so I stayed at it. I struggled, struggled, struggled, and then Jon Loba called and said he wanted me to manage a comedian who was an employee of his who wanted to quit what he was doing to become a comedian.

I said I would help him out and help build that for him. In the meantime, I started consulting for BMG under the radar and was helping out in marketing while they had a couple of people out, and one on maternity leave. Soon, Jon brought me on full-time as GM. I didn’t think I’d ever want to go back into the corporate space, but being able to see what I was getting into through consulting with BMG allowed me to make a better decision about whether that was what I wanted to do.

Photo: Courtesy of Strickland

What have you enjoyed about being back in the label system?

I’ve enjoyed being able to work with a different group of people after spending so many years at one company. A lot of things don’t change. We’re all challenged with the same things we’ve faced for years, but getting to know and work with more people has been very rewarding. I never put myself on a pedestal, but hearing people say they enjoy working with me and learning from me is, at the end of the day, the most rewarding part of what I do. Sharing my experiences and knowledge to help someone else grow and better themselves in the business is incredibly fulfilling.

Do you have any mentors?

There have been so many people who have positively affected my career it’s hard to single out one. When I first moved here, I came down for an interview with Jim Ed Norman, who was the CEO of Warner Bros. Nashville at the time. Neal Spielberg actually ended up hiring me. Jim Ed, Neal and I met and talked about the job. I asked how the interview was going, and he said, “Oh, you’ve got the job. I just wanted to get to know you.” He is such a warm and kind human being. He cared a lot about how my family would feel about moving here.

What’s one of the coolest moments you’ve had in your career?

Winning the Grammy Award for the Jimmy Fallon album. That’s something I never dreamed would happen, and it was never a goal.