Lane Wilson

The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

Lane Wilson is a 30-year veteran Agent and Partner at WME. Working in the Music Division in their Nashville office, he is responsible for negotiating deals for amphitheater, stadium and arena-level touring artists. Wilson is also the responsible agent for several clients in Nashville and handles day-to-day affairs for Vince Gill, Gary Allan, Justin Moore, Tracy Lawrence, Joe Nichols and Rodney Atkins, just to name a few.

Outside of his role as Agent, Wilson is on the Board of Directors for Mission:Possible, an organization founded by Lawrence benefitting the homeless of Nashville. He is also serves on the Board/Advisory Council for Habitat for Humanity of Nashville and the Board of Directors for Leadership Music. Wilson is an active member of the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association as well as the Adjunct Faculty Program for Belmont University.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up right here in Nashville. Fun fact, I can see the sixth floor of the hospital I was born in from my desk.

Pictured (L-R): Lane Wilson, Mark Roeder, Taylor Swift, Kristin Pridgen and Dana Burwell on the “Fearless Tour.” Photo: Courtesy of Lane Wilson

What were you into as a kid?

My mom and dad owned a business in town that was in the construction-related industry. I was always at their office and they happened to be located really close to a record store. I now realize I was on the leading edge of the streaming era before that was a thing because I was creating mixtapes and spreading them around my high school from stuff I would find in the record store. The radio scene in Nashville back then was pretty narrow. It was a couple of country stations and a classic rock station—that was really about it. So from hanging out at the record store, I could tell there was a whole world of other things out there. I remember ordering albums from Europe, waiting 13 to 16 weeks for delivery and then putting them on cassette tape and spreading them around my high school. I always loved the idea of turning somebody onto something that nobody else had heard yet.

I remember going on a field trip to the science museum and one of my mixtapes became a viral sensation on that field trip. [Laughs] We played it on the bus. I just had this sense of pride. I couldn’t believe I turned a whole group of people onto something that I initially discovered. That was the very beginning of diving into music discovery and having a passion for it.

How did you start pursuing that passion?

I went to school at MTSU. At that time Bridgestone Arena didn’t exist. There were no amphitheaters. Starwood hadn’t been built yet. Municipal Auditorium was all that Nashville had to offer. The tours that were out at the time had grown to a point where they didn’t fit Municipal anymore, so Murphy Center, the arena at MTSU, was the hot place for all the major concerts.

Pictured (L-R): Lane Wilson, Ashley McBryde and Brian Jones at CMA Fest 2017. Photo: Courtesy of Lane Wilson

As a byproduct of being into music and being around the music scene that was in full force at MTSU, I got into the special events committee which was charged with presenting concerts at MTSU. The years that I was there, the committee brought in U2, R.E.M., Def Leppard, Tina Turner, Chicago—the list was just amazing.

I really started to cultivate more of a passion for the live side of things there. While I was at MTSU, I traveled with a band that was touring around the Southeast. I was sensible enough to realize early on that I wasn’t talented enough to be a drummer for those guys, so I became the production guy for the band. We toured around the Southeast—we would leave on Thursday night and come back on Sundays at least 20 weekends a year.

What did you do after graduation?

I went to work in the business sector at Prudential, selling stocks and bonds right out of school. I spent maybe a year and a half there. I remember telling my roommate at the time, “I’ve got to get out of this suit and tie kind of deal.” He was like, “You can put an application in at our place, but there’s some weird stuff going on there.” At that time, he was working at a company called Triad. The weird stuff that was going on was all the closed-door meetings associated with a merger that they were about to go through with William Morris Agency.

I did three interviews there. By the third interview, I was like, “Listen, I’m going to lose the job I have by doing all these interviews. Are you guys hiring or not?” The lady said, “Just bear with us. We’re about to go through some major changes and we’ll be hiring when those are over with.” I think I might have been hire number one after the merger. That was 30 years ago. We’ve been through another merger since then with the Endeavor side of things, which has been a real game changer.

[Although it felt like it at the time,] finding my way into the music business wasn’t as accidental as I thought it was. The groundwork [for a career in music] was laid out. It was the music circles I was running in that kind of led me to where I am today.

Lane Wilson and Tracy Lawrence presenting a check to Cheryl Noe and Billy Eldridge at Nashville Rescue Mission in 2018. Photo: Courtesy of Lane Wilson

When you got to William Morris, did you start in the mailroom or as an assistant?

I got lucky because there was such a need to get bodies in place that I was able to skip that mailroom step and went straight to a desk. I trained there for a few years under some great people—some are still here and a lot have retired. I never would’ve thought that I would’ve been at one company for 30 years, and it’s a real testament to the evolution of the company and the co-heads of the office we have in place right now. I still look forward to coming into work every day. If you can say that 30 years later, something is going right.

Tell me about some big moments that affirmed you were in the right place.

There have been several moments where I have found myself in situations where you get to see the behind-the-scenes kind of stuff that most people don’t have the benefit of. That’s happened over and over and over again. We had a stint in Taylor Swift‘s career in the very beginning. Greg Oswald was the guy who was taking the point here in Nashville, and then there was a team of people out in Los Angeles that were involved as well. I was on the team with Greg, and I remember he and I flew to Fayetteville, Arkansas to see her perform. It was in a metal building set up for 7,000 people and the screams were absolutely deafening. My ears were ringing for three days. When we walked away from there, I remember thinking to myself, “That’s something that’ll probably change the music business forever.” And sure enough, it did. It was a bellwether moment in the music business that was happening. I’ve seen several of those over the course of 30 years since—we’re dealing with one in our office right now with Zach Bryan. He’s a guy that’s three to four years into his career and is adding second nights at stadiums—that’s unbelievable in such a short time.

Another moment [that comes to mind] is being in a signing meeting with Ashley McBryde years ago. She just started playing one hit song after another. This came at a time when we were shifting from the typical 50-week life cycle of a single to plowing through songs like crazy because things were shifting to a streaming format. I remember realizing in that meeting how important a body of work can be in this new era. You may have a song that’s a hit, but it may not be the one that connects. You’ve got to have something to back it up and then something to back that up. I remember hearing her body of work and being excited about that. She’d been touring around for many years before she wound up in our office, but it was one of those moments where we were like, “We gotta shut the door and not let her out on this office until she is a client.”

Pictured (L-R): Peter Hartung, Dustin Lynch, Barrett Sellers and Lane Wilson at IEBA in 2012. Photo: Courtesy of Lane Wilson

What is some of the best advice you got as you were coming up?

A reputation is something that you work on every single day, but you can ruin it in one day. You don’t get a lot of credit for building it over a 30 year period, but you can screw one up in one day. If you have a good one and a mistake happens, you can always lean on your good reputation and get a pass because people know it was an isolated mistake and not a pattern. So I try to work on that every single day I’m in the office.

What is something people may not know about you?

I have been married for 25 years and have two sons who are both in the business. I’ve moved into a whole other chapter of life now by having sons enter into the same circles that I’ve been running in, which can be scary but it’s a testament to my comfort level with how my experience has been.

I know philanthropy is really important to you. Tell me about your work with Tracy Lawrence’s Mission:Possible foundation.

Several years ago, Tracy Lawrence asked me and his managers if we would help set up a 501C3 for something that he started years ago called Mission:Possible. It was completely out of my realm of knowledge. My mom and dad were always civic-minded and were involved in the community, so I had a little bit of that underpinning already, but I was already thinking about [how I could give back.] About that same time, he asked me if I would get involved, so I was in the right place at the right time. It’s really taken off since then thanks to the incredible work by a hard-working Board of Directors. It’s all about supporting the homeless community in Nashville. We’ve raised over two million dollars. We fry 1,200 turkeys every Tuesday before Thanksgiving, which creates 9,600 meals that feed the homeless in Davidson and surrounding counties for the holiday. To see the growth of this thing over the last few years has just been incredible.

Lane Wilson with WME staff and other volunteers at Tracy Lawrence’s 2022 Mission:Possible Turkey Fry. Photo: Courtesy of Lane Wilson

What I’m starting to realize is when you have a charity that has a celebrity attached to it, fundraising can be easier than just running a charity without the celebrity component. So we’ve tried to help some of those other charities in Nashville that are associated with homelessness, and become a pass-through for money to flow to those organizations so they can keep doing their good work. I’ve now had the opportunity to meet a lot of people who do this work all day every day—and it is tough. We are in a fun business in entertainment, but these people are out there slugging it out every day just trying to prop up humanity. So we try to help support not only their message, but also support them financially so they can continue their good work.

Tracy’s 18th annual Turkey Fry is tomorrow at the Nashville Fairgrounds, with his benefit concert taking place at Wildhorse Saloon in the evening. What are you most looking forward to during this year’s event?

When the Turkey Fry is over, and the food has been distributed, and the fundraising concert later has concluded and I am walking out of the venue completely exhausted along with my friends and team members of Mission:Possible… who are also exhausted, I get that same feeling when the last truck was loaded backstage at MTSU years ago. The satisfaction of playing a small role in creating something that has a large impact on people is the most satisfying feeling in the world.

Kele Currier

The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

Kele Currier is Assistant Vice President of Strategic Services, Nashville Membership at ASCAP. Her 30 years in the music business began at SESAC in the broadcast administration department, followed by administration and licensing positions with publishers, Maypop Music Group, Opryland Music Group (Acuff Rose) and a stint as audit manager at music publishing administration company, Integrated Copyright Group (ICG). While at ICG, Currier met songwriter, Craig Wiseman, who recruited her to assist in opening Big Loud Bucks Administration. As Executive Vice President, she co-managed Wiseman’s catalogs along with the catalogs of Big Tractor Publishing, Extreme Writer’s Group and the hit catalogs of Rodney Clawson, Chris Tompkins, Jim Collins and other independent publishers.

In 2010, Currier joined Ole Music Publishing—now Anthem Entertainment—as Director of Administration and led the U.S administration presence for their Toronto-based offices. While at Ole, Currier negotiated all synchronization licensing deals for the company and their clients. In 2013, Currier was recruited by ASCAP to serve as Director of Strategic Services and now Assistant Vice President of Strategic Services where she oversees key distribution projects for the country and Christian markets. Currier works with ASCAP writers and publishers in resolving high-level membership issues and researches and develops strategic membership planning.

Currier has a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Music Business from Berklee College of Music. She was part of the Leadership Music’s Class of 2014 and a recipient of MusicRow’s Rising Women on The Row honors in 2015. She currently serves on the GMA Board and is a member of The Copyright Society of the South, AIMP, Source, CMA, RIAA and ACM.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Mount Zion, Illinois—a very small town. I was very involved in cheerleading and music. Music really became my reason for existing early on, from band, choir and show choir. I looked at my music teachers and I thought, “Wow. They are such leaders and such amazing people.” I wanted to be like that, so I decided to go to school to become a music teacher.

Kele Currier

Where did you go to school?

I went to both of my music teachers’ alma mater, Millikin University, which was very close in Decatur, Illinois. It was a small Presbyterian university. I started studying music and education and then realized it wasn’t for me. I started student teaching and I realized, “This is a lot harder than I thought—controlling a classroom full of of kids.” At that time, they were cutting a lot of music programs, so I didn’t really see a future in that. So I switched gears.

While at Millikin University, I started looking at summer jobs at theme parks. I auditioned for the Opryland USA theme park and that brought me to town. I was cast in one of their shows that summer. [I’ll never forget] driving into town. I was this kid from between two cornfields—I’d only been to Chicago a couple times. I drove in on Briley Parkway and I said to myself, “This is my home.” I just knew it immediately when I saw what was a very small skyline at that time. [Laughs]

What was your first year like here?

I worked at Opryland USA in the summer and had the summer of my life. I came back the next summer and did shows, and then transferred to Belmont University. I followed one of my very best friends to Belmont, Amy Macy, who now teaches at MTSU. She was my sorority big sister and was a mentor. I looked up to her. I thought if she liked Belmont, I would, too.

I started going there, and then I got an opportunity to go out on the road as a backup singer for a Christian artist, David Meece. I went out on the road with him for several years and loved that, but decided I really wanted to be on the other side of the table.

Kele Currier, Mandy Morrison

How did you transition into the business side?

I did an internship at SESAC in broadcast administration, and loved that. I was there for a few years and then went to work at Maypop Music Group, which was Alabama’s music publishing company. I worked for Kevin Lamb and we had an amazing roster of writers. John Jarrard and Becky Shanks were there. We had a great time there.

I was there for three years and then went to work for Opryland Music Group, which used to be Acuff Rose. Boy, it was thrilling to go through the catalog, working in administration and licensing, and seeing Hank Williams Jr. and Kitty Wells [songs]. When looking through the files, I was like, “Oh my gosh, this stuff should be in a museum.” Lo and behold, a lot of it is now. It was such a privilege to work there.

Then I went home to be with the kids for several years—I felt like I was led to [focus on being] a mom for a while. I really enjoyed that. I did some projects from home and got out of the music business for a little while.

How did you get back into the business?

I jumped back in at Integrated Copyright Group, which was owned by John Barker. He sold that to Evergreen Music, which then turned into BMG. We did audit management there, where we would go in and work with record companies to make sure that we were being paid correctly. That was a unique experience where licensing, royalty-number-crunching and everything was [part of my job.] One of our clients there was Craig Wiseman. This is when he had just started Big Loud Shirt, his publishing company. He didn’t want to do the admin part of it—he wanted to really focus on creative things. While at ICG, I had a meeting with him. He liked the fact that I had color coded folders. [Laughs] I guess he thought I was organized, so he offered me a job to come work for him and start his admin company, Big Loud Bucks Administration, in house.

That was a privilege of a lifetime. I worked with Marc Driskill, Mark Ahlberg and Heather Buresh—and we had a great team. It gave us all the opportunity to put this administrative skeleton into play to make sure that we were collecting all the royalties, we were doing direct licenses with all of our record companies and we were getting the royalties out as quickly as we possibly could to independent songwriters who had their own publishing companies. We did have some publishing company clients—we were doing Big Tractor at the time and we did Extreme Music Group, which was owned by Jason Houser and Michael Martin. That’s how I met Michael Martin, who would become my future boss.

Pictured (L-R): Lyndsie McClure, Mike Sistad, Makayla Lynn, Dylan Scott, Everette, Kele Currier, Duane Hobson

How long were you at Big Loud Bucks?

I was there for almost four years, and then went over to what was Ole at the time, now Anthem. I worked with them and did North American administration. That was a great situation because Robert Ott made sure that we were able to really understand the deals that were put in place. We had access to everything we needed in order to administer correctly, which was such a great opportunity to be able to have all that information. I love the way that Robert and Gilles Godard set up the company.

How did you come to be at ASCAP?

Through all that time, I kept that alliance with Michael Martin. He called me one day and asked if I wanted to come over to ASCAP. I thought, “This is different from what I’ve been doing, but you know what? It’s time for a change.” I had been doing licensing, administration and synchronization negotiation for a long time. It was time to try something different. It was a huge risk, and there was a learning curve, but that was okay. That was 10 years ago and I’ve been there ever since.

What was joining ASCAP like?

When I was starting at ASCAP, it was a hybrid position. I came on as half administration and half creative. I had Michael as my boss as well as DeDe Burns, who was in ASCAP’s LA office. So I was dealing with two separate entities of ASCAP, which I loved because I’d never had the opportunity to get very involved in the creative side. As time went on, I closed down on some of the administrative [duties]. I’m no longer reporting to anybody administratively—now I’m reporting directly to Mike Sistad.

Now I’m in charge of the Christian market. It feels full circle since I was out on the road with a Christian artist and was very involved in my church on the worship team. It just seemed like it was the right fit. I’ve been very involved in trying to get to know the Christian writers and artists, and the players surrounding those folks. I’m also meeting with a lot of songwriters and trying to find ways to help them, which is so rewarding. Sometimes it’s putting them into a writer’s room that’s available at ASCAP because they need a safe place to write with a new co-writer. Sometimes it’s through the help of our ASCAP Foundation, where we have different scholarships available for writers. I’m always looking for new tools and new ways to help songwriters.

Who have been some of your mentors along the way?

One of my mentors has been Kevin Lamb. He started out at Maypop Music and then was President of Peermusic for well over 20 years. He’s just an incredible person. He’s a good administrator, a good business person and an energetic person who loves to help songwriters—and he’s intrinsically of exceptional character.

Then there’s people like Woody Bomar, who had Little Big Town Music back in the day and sold that to Sony. He’s just a great person and a great publisher, and has always been there to encourage me. Michael Martin is like my brother, but he’s also a mentor.

Pictured (L-R): Skip Black, Amanda Cooksey, Kele Currier, Michael August, Landon Wall, Jon D’Agostino

What is something people might not know about you?

I didn’t finish [college] at Belmont. I went into my internship with SESAC, got a job and never looked back. Later on, I decided I needed to finish my degree. I ended up at Berkeley online and finally finished my Bachelor’s degree in music business. I wanted to show my kids it’s never too late to learn. I worked hard for two years every day after I got home from work and made that happen, just so I could close that chapter and know that I did it.

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

There was a time at one of our Christian Awards where Reba McEntire came to give an award. I was prepared, I knew she was coming, but she walked backstage and she looked right at me and said, “Hi, I’m Reba!” I was so starstruck. [Laughs] It took me a minute to get out my name, but I was just so thankful that she was there. My younger self could not imagine being able to meet her and be backstage with her like that.

When do you feel most fulfilled in what you do?

When a writer has a really big breakthrough—whether that’s financially because they got their first No. 1 or a top charting song, or if a co-write was so successful that something really special came out of it and they send me the song to listen to. Those moments that songwriters are excited and uplifted. When they say to themselves, “I’m on the right path. All of those crazy sacrifices where a lot of people would give up… It was all worth it.” To be a small part of that realization is just so rewarding.

Bart Herbison

The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

Bart Herbison is Executive Director of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), the world’s largest not-for-profit songwriters trade organization with 7,000 annual members and over 100 chapters.

Since joining NSAI in 1997, Herbison has led the organization to legislative accomplishments, including adoption of the Music Modernization Act in 2018, a 43.5 percent increase in digital mechanical streaming royalties through the Copyright Royalty Board in 2018, the landmark Songwriters Capital Gains Tax Equity Act in 2006, creation of the first Group Copyright Infringement—Social Network Insurance and the acquisition of the famed Bluebird Cafe.

Herbison’s honors include the NMPA Industry Legacy Award, the IP Champion’s Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center, the Individual Award in Support of Songwriters and Publishers from the Los Angeles Chapter of AIMP and the Arnold Broido Award from the Music Publishers Association.

Prior to joining NSAI, Herbison worked as a reporter and spent 14 years in radio and as a correspondent for The Nashville Banner newspaper before joining the administration of former Tennessee Governor Ned McWherter as Deputy Director of Communications in 1987. He joined the staff of U.S. Rep. Bob Clement (D-Nashville) in 1988 where he served as the Tennessee Congressman’s Press Secretary, Campaign Manager and Chief Tennessee Administrative Officer until coming to Music City.

Herbison and NSAI will continue their legacy of celebrating songwriters tonight (Sept. 26) at the sixth annual Nashville Songwriter Awards.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Cottage Grove, Tennessee. Population 250. It’s a suburb of Paris, Tennessee, where I was born.

Were you into music?

My whole family was musical except me. My grandmother played piano at Cottage Grove Methodist Church. My two brothers and I all played trumpet—I sucked and they were amazing.

Where it all started for me was when I was somewhere between four and five. My late Uncle Billy Pullen called me in one day and said, “Listen to this!” He played, “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” by Elvis. I was never the same.

A fun, unknown fact about me is I’m such an Elvis disciple, I’ve got his logo, TCB, with a lightning bolt tattooed down my left shoulder. I win a lot of “who loves Elvis the most” arguments with that. But it really did change me—I knew even then I would do something in music.

Bart Herbison

Wow. How did you pursue that?

My father and brother ran this company until my father passed—my brother still runs it—JB Herbison and Sons Painting and Sandblasting. They specialized in high stuff back then, like church steeples, bridges and grain tanks. That sandblasting was nasty business. I probably weighed 100 pounds and so did the bags of sand I wold carry up the ladder. I started with him when I was 13. It was never my thing.

One day my father and I got into it. It was hard for me and my dad to work together. I loved him, but that wasn’t a good recipe. A kid at my local high school had gotten a job at the radio station, WTPR (We Treat People Right.) My hair was way longer than yours and it was matted full of sand and paint. I walked into that radio station and I said, “I want a job.” And they gave me one.

Tell me about working there.

I was 16 when I started. People say this is an exaggeration, but it’s not. There were some weeks I worked 100 hours. I had an afternoon shift every day. The school would let me off if some of the other DJs couldn’t make it, so I was constantly on the air. The AM station was a pop/Americana kind of thing and the FM station was country, but on the weekends at 10 o’clock, we turned to acid/AOR rock, which was my favorite.

We did a lot of live stuff. I hosted sports talk shows—all kinds of stuff. As I got older in the ’80s, I became a news director for that station and some other stations that came along. I went back and forth between some stations in that town. I also worked as a stringer for the Tennessee Radio Network and I was the west Tennessee correspondent for the Nashville Banner.

What was next?

In 1986, my state representative Ned Ray McWherter was running for Governor. The reason I have this job and everything else I had from that moment was because of two individuals: one was my middle school 4-H leader, Mary Kate Ridgeway, who got me into public speaking. The other was her husband, who was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, L. Don Ridgeway. He became the House Majority Leader. He was my promoter, often probably to the detriment of his own career. I was wearing the fatigue jacket and was the hippie protesting everything. He insisted that McWherter hire me.

Did he? How did you get that job?

It started off with Ridgeway. McWherter didn’t like Ridgeway’s commercial that an ad agency did in Nashville. Byron Gallimore—who was from the next little town over in Puryear, Tennessee—had a band and a little studio. One weekend without McWherter’s knowledge, we went [into the studio to make a new commercial]. Byron did a soundtrack and the jingle and I did the voice work and wrote a commercial called “He Knows The Way, The Tennessee Way.” I stayed up all night and drove Byron and Ridgeway crazy—we did 85 takes of that commercial. You couldn’t tell a difference in the first and last, but I could. They played it for Ned a couple days later and he flipped over it.

We were doing a live news event on a campaign stop when Ned called and said, “Barto,” which is what he called me, “I’m going to be the next Governor of Tennessee.” He had been the speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives for 14 years, so I said, “I believe so too, speaker.” He then said, “I want you to come work for me in the press office.” We ended that broadcast and he asked me again. We didn’t talk about it after that. That was probably in June. He was elected in November and went into office in January.

I was on the air when he called me again. He said, “Can you be up here today?” I said, “I’ll be up there the day after tomorrow.” They had a really sweet little celebration for me in my hometown. I went to Nashville and at the tender age of 29, I became the Deputy Director of Communications for the state of Tennessee. Way over my head, frankly, but Ned liked me. My grandpa was his mailman. He was from a little town called Palmersville. My grandfather carried his mail in a horse and buggy, so he liked me. We spoke the same language.

Bart Herbison

What was your next move?

Soon after taking that job, I got a couple of promotions. I became the guy that traveled with him all over the state of Tennessee. I was there about two years when then U.S. Congressman Bob Clement—who represented the fifth district, Nashville—came in and needed some help on a press matter. I went out with him that day and a day or two later, he offered me a job. I said I would take it on one condition: I wanted to do the music issues. He said, “We’ve got somebody else doing that.” Through a weird series of events, a few weeks later that came open. He called me back and I took the job. I took a job in Washington D.C. and had never been there. I remember the night I landed, I was at a payphone calling my then-girlfriend and somebody tried to rob me at knife point. Rent there was three to four times what it was in Nashville, but I persevered. I stayed there 10 years.

Tell me about that job.

My very first two or three weeks there, NSAI made an appointment with me. The two individuals that came in were the late great songwriter Peter McCann and the then-publisher Kevin Lamb that ran Peer Music. It must’ve been the worst meeting in history for them because all I kept saying was, “Y’all do what?”

Back in my radio days, there was a huge popular local band known Tennessee River Crooks or T.R. Crooks. They were a southern rock band in their heyday. Their leader and main songwriter was my best friend to this day, Jimmy Stewart. Jimmy went to Nashville before I did and got signed. A couple of his songs people would know were “Brotherly Love” and “A Little Less Talk And A Lot More Action.” While we all read the liner notes, I always was a lyric guy. I loved the music too, but I cared about who wrote the songs. Visiting Jimmy [after he became] a professional songwriter is the second reason why I have this job, besides the Ridgeways. I wanted to work for songwriters from the time I was about 17 or 18 years old.

After Peter and Kevin left that appointment, I said a prayer that day. “Lord, let that be my next and my final job.” 26 years ago that came true. It just was ordained for me. This job requires legislative knowledge, intricacies of politics, fundraising and communications. I felt like 10 years after I was born, when they created NSAI in 1967, somebody had me in mind.

That’s amazing. What were your goals when you joined NSAI?

We were in terrible financial trouble. Starting with the three performing rights societies, I tried to let them know who I was first. I had to sell myself, the vision of NSAI was going to be and why they needed an independent songwriter organization like us. By the end of the year, we turned the finances around and they’ve been in good shape ever since. That was the first challenge.

That organization had been there for 30 years and we were doing a lot of things like programs, services, camps and cruises that didn’t make any sense, but a lot of board members had personally inherited some of them. So I had to get rid of a lot of those.

Then we had to get ready for advocacy. We needed a bill—we needed to pass a piece of legislation. So I’m sitting in a room one day about to have a legislative committee and a songwriter named Billy Kirsch walks in—he wrote “Holes In The Floor Of Heaven”—and he was talking to another songwriter named Beckie Foster. He said, “I just sold a catalog. I wish I could get the same tax breaks publishers get.” So I start looking into it and it’s another wacky story that goes back to 1951 and involves Groucho Marx, Salvador Dali, Ira Gershwin and Dwight Eisenhower. They took capital gains treatment away from songwriters, as well as from some other intellectual professions.

That was our first bill. We went to the Hill with it in ’98 into ’99 to tweak it. Our contention was songwriters had already paid income tax, FICA, Medicare and Social Security on those income-producing songs and it was double taxation. Congress agreed and seven and a half years later in ’06, we passed the Songwriters Capital Gains Tax Equity Act. It took effect January 1 of 2007 and I think it had a big part to do with the values and the explosion of catalog sales that you see today, because there’s much more incentive for songwriters to sell them. That put us on the map. We became a force and we’ve grown as a force in D.C. and in regulatory bodies and courts ever since then.

What’s the best part of your job?

The more fun two things is a tie. It’s meeting with the up-and-coming songwriters here and our other chapters around the country. I love that enthusiasm and glowing nature. Just about every songwriter started with a meeting with us at NSAI. It’s that and this series I do for the Gannett newspaper chain and The Tennesseean called “Story Behind the Song.” I also love working with our staff, starting with Jennifer Turnbow. I get all the credit, but I would say over the past few years, she’s done more to lift this organization than I have. So has Erika Wollam Nichols at the Bluebird Cafe.

Bart Herbison

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

It was really from the Governor’s Director of Communications, Ken Renner. I was overwhelmed when I was going to D.C. and he said, “Bart, read everything you can read.” I would get up every morning and read seven publications: The Tennesseean, Washington Post, Roll Call, The Hill and several other political things. He said, “They’re all going to be more experienced than you, but trust your instincts.” Every time I haven’t, I’ve regretted it. That’s probably the best advice I ever had. My father would say, “Your word is your bond.” I always keep my word.

Erika gave me a piece of advice when we were trying to resurrect the funding structure of NSAI in 1997. There were some people that wanted to come fund us, and it would’ve been easy to do, but it would have potentially compromised our mission. Wayland Holyfield, the President of NSAI who hired me, always said this to me, but Erika said it that day and I still use it: “Read your mission statement.” Sometimes when Jennifer and I are torn or lost, we read that mission statement and it becomes crystal clear. It’s not always the answer I want, but it’s never wrong.

What are a few”pinch me” moments you can recall?

Getting to meet the songwriters I grew up loving and admiring. In particular, the late Mac Davis. You don’t always want to meet your heroes, but Mac and I became fast friends. Some days I would sit there and go, “Oh my God, he wrote ‘In The Ghetto!'”

[Another thing that comes to mind is] our 50th anniversary event that we did at the Ryman in 2017. Jennifer is responsible for it. We performed 25 or 30 songs, but we celebrated the rest with videos. Kris Kristofferson performed, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, everyone. My single favorite music moment since I took this job was reuniting Shelly West and David Frizzell for “You’re The Reason God Made Oklahoma.” That was my favorite moment in all these years.

Jimmy Stewart and Tim Nichols wrote “Brotherly Love.” When I started coming to town, Tim was the first writer I met. They regularly played rounds with Craig Wiseman, Tony Arata, Bernie Nelson and Scott Miller. They introduced me to the songwriter community. I hung with them. They accepted me as one of my own. There are great stories to tell—some I will never tell. [Laughs] That’s where I learned the pulse beat, the fabric, the desires, the successes and the fears of professional songwriters.

Gina Miller

The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

Gina Miller has been passionate about music for as long as she can remember. A musician, educator, entrepreneur and executive, her love for music and the arts has forged the way and proven to be a significant part of her life’s purpose and work. Having spent nearly two decades with MNRK Music Group (formerly Entertainment One), Miller’s current role as the label’s Sr. VP and General Manager for Nashville has her overseeing day-to-day operations and creative output for Nashville, including MNRK subsidiaries Light Records and IndieBlu Music.

Throughout her career, she has used her platform and voice to both improve the ways the music business operates and create opportunities for those who are marginalized in our industry. An advocate for equality and equity, she is a sought-after speaker, clinician and consultant. The music industry veteran is an active champion, serving on several advisory councils, including Music Makes Us, The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), St. Jude Urban Cares and the Country Music Association D&I Task Force.

Miller also serves on The Americana Music Association Board, Secretary of the Recording Academy’s Nashville Chapter, Vice President of Nashville Music Equality, as well as The Music Business Association (Music Biz, Board Chair) and The National Association of Black Female Executives in Media & Entertainment (NABFEME). Named to Leadership Music’s Class of 2022, Billboard’s Women in Music executive class in 2018 and 2020 and the Nashville Business Journal’s Women Of Influence 2021 Class, Miller continues to use her influence to inspire and drive change, not only in the organizations she faithfully serves, but in this community and world in which she lives.

Earlier this year, Miller was honored with the Music Biz Presidential Award for Outstanding Executive Achievement in recognition of her leadership and commitment to bolstering diversity and inclusion across the music industry.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I was born and raised in south Memphis, Tennessee, which I am incredibly proud of. Quite frankly, I think it set the tone for everything that’s shaped me to be the person, the leader and the musician that I am with the music background that I have. All of that was developed not only in Memphis, but specifically in south Memphis.

Gina Miller

Tell me about growing up there.

My community played a large part of exposing me to the music that I’m aware of. My mom was our church musician and the church was in our neighborhood. The first records I remember buying were from a mom and pop record store on the same street as Stax Records. That community shaped a lot of my musical upbringing.

How did you start playing music?

I started playing in church. Our neighborhood piano teacher sought my mom out and asked my mother to bring me to her when I was about five or six. I took piano all the way through college at Belmont.

By the time I got to seventh grade, I was playing the flute in the band. I wanted to be a clarinetist, but we had a flute because my older sister played the flute, so my mom was like, “This is what you’re going to play.” [Laughs]

The flute got me a scholarship to UT Knoxville [before I went to Belmont]. I marched in the band at UT for a while. I played piccolo and the flute between football and basketball season. I have been eaten up in music my entire life. It’s pretty clear now that I was going to be a part of it.

When you were playing flute in the band at UT Knoxville or studying at Belmont, what was your dream?

That was my dream: music. While I was growing up, I listened to R&B, pop music, country music and more. I was classicially trained—that’s where I got my start with my piano teacher. My father had a huge LP collection and we listened to Johnny Cash, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Mahalia Jackson and all kinds of music. I had a big appreciation for all genres of music. That is absolutely why I fight so hard to make sure that we’re inclusive of so many different formats, genres and art styles, because there’s so much to appreciate.

Gina Miller and team

What happened after college that put you on your path to  MNRK Music Group?

You probably hear a lot about people who got their start from making a connection with somebody—that’s exactly what happened to me. First and foremost, I think it’s important to point out that when I went back to Belmont, I was married with two sons.

[After I went to Belmont], my oldest son was playing pee wee football in Brentwood. The families [that were driving their kids to games] were driving very modest cars. There was one guy that was getting out of a Porsche every Saturday morning with his kid. I thought, “Who is that? I need to know who that is because he’s doing something different.” [Laughs]

Eventually I introduced myself. The next week, we were making small talk and he said, “So what kind of music are you into?” I knew what was coming then. When I asked him, he named all this music that I grew up listening to. I asked him, “What is your relationship to this music and to these artists?” He said, “I’ve got a little label in Nashville [called Light Records] and we are the main distributor and label for these artists.” I told him, “I need to be a part of that.”

What happened next?

He told me that he didn’t do the hiring, but that he would introduce me to the president of the label. Long story short, I met with him and he told me they didn’t have any jobs. I said, “Okay, can I just come hang out? Can I come in every day and just see what’s going on, learn and be of service in any way?” He agreed to that and I did that for a year. That absolutely changed the trajectory of my life. That was almost 20 years ago now and I’ve never walked out.

Gina Miller and sons

Wow! That is some dedication. How did you transition that into a job?

Once that year passed, he created a job for me, which was basically a part-time coordinator position. The fast version of my story is that from there to now, I just moved around and worked in every division, which I feel was very worthwhile in being able to actually lead the label group now. I’ve always lived with this belief that nothing is wasted and everything is purposeful. I knew that it was all going to make sense at some point.

The CEO of the label [who I met at the football park], Michael Olsen, was super encouraging. I will never forget this, but one day we were talking to each other and he said, “You’re going to have my job one day.” We laugh about it, but I literally went home and ordered a book called Next Stop, Corner Office on Amazon. It took a minute to get there—there were a lot of turns and a lot of other people that were put in a position to lead before me. From that day at the football park to now, he’s still my mentor and he’s still my friend. He’s been instrumental in this path I’ve been on and in my life.

Because you were able to experience a lot of different roles at a record label, what have been some of your favorite things you’ve gotten to do?

Artists at every level have a goal. Emerging talent, established artists and legendary acts all have goals. For us to try to step in and make something on those wish lists possible for artists, there’s no greater joy than that. We still have a handful of artists that get to terrestrial radio, so for those artists who’ve never heard their song on the radio, to be able to be part of those stories and be responsible for them having radio hits, that’s still very special to me. I worked radio promotions for a long time, so I’m beholden to radio in a way. I also love having events where we can touch our audience, invite them, thank them and love on them for being supporters.

What have been some more difficult challenges in those roles?

Every job has different variations of challenges. The most challenging thing for me has been something I couldn’t change. I think about this a lot now, especially with all the diversity work I do. People are always asking me about being Black in the city. I think being a female leader has been hard. It’s not necessarily that one is more or less significant, but I’ve probably felt that more as a woman here. I feel like I’m consistently thanking my team for rocking with me and respecting me. I still see that being a space that we have got to do a lot more work in: respecting women’s voices.

I’ve been really fortunate in the sense that I’ve had people in leadership around me who were very blatant about saying, “I don’t really care if you’re Black or a woman. I just care about being successful.” I’ve lived in this body a long time and while there are a lot of things that I’m able to do for this community and in this city, the only form of training I had was life experience.

Gina Miller

You’ve been one of the leading voices for diversity and inclusion on Music Row. Do you feel like we are making any progress towards becoming a more diverse genre and industry?

First, I’m extremely excited to be able to do the things that I get to do and be a part of this community. I don’t have a reason to not be truthful, honest and sincere about how we can make what’s already such an incredible place better. That’s really my main goal right now, to be one of the louder voices in the room so we can listen and pay attention to the things that will just make us better.

I will say there is progress being made. I think that’s the right answer. What a lot of people probably measure it by is: is it big progress? Could there be more? Yes, but progress is not defined by how much more it could be. It’s just that it is better than what it has been.

If we look around Music Row and consider that most of the major labels and independent labels have been run historically by white men; and that a lot of those labels are now being led by white women as of this year—that’s progress. To go a step further, do we see people that look like me leading labels? No. That’s across this whole entire city. That’s not just the music business. We still have a lot to do.

Tell me about becoming the Sr. VP/GM of MNRK.

The man who was leading us at the time left to go to a major label, which left us needing somebody to lead the label group. I ended up talking to Mike about it and we had a lot of conversations during that time about his philosophy on what that would look like.

Before I was given the job, I worked under three other men. They were all given opportunity to lead before me. But I will say, I needed to experience that. It just makes my point all the more valid. Now I’m able to have these conversations internally when I see things happening where you’ve got qualified women working in divisions who get skipped over for unqualified white men. Thankfully, women are having a moment right now. Most companies who are tuned in are giving opportunities to women who are deserving, who are qualified and who’ve put in the work.

What is your favorite part about your job?

One of the favorite things about my job is watching my team grow and develop. I have an incredible team. I’m so proud of them.

My dream has always been to know artists and to have solid relationships with people who are making a difference. I had set out a goal years ago that I would not be limited to one kind of music and that I wanted to know music people. I feel really good that when I look through the people who are in my circle, that they’re doing all kinds of amazing things from producers, engineers and studio owners, all the way into film and television. If it all ends tomorrow, it’s been great.

What is exciting you right now?

Like I said, I have two sons. My 23-year-old son works down on fourth at Rocketown. My 28-year-old son has s worked in corporate America for the last eight years while living in Richmond. He moved to Nashville about a year ago and has been playing up and down Broadway. Not long ago, he told me he was going to apply for some jobs here and try something different. Now my oldest son works at SESAC. That makes me so proud. I had nothing to do with it—I didn’t call anybody. We’re so excited about that. We are working together to extend our legacy and make change on Music Row.