CMT has announced a new multi-genre musical event, CMT Smashing Glass, which recognizes women who have smashed stereotypes, broken records and defiantly blazed trails for future generations of female artists. The inaugural celebration will honor the careers of legends Patti LaBelle and Tanya Tucker, and air exclusively on CMT Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. CT.

Blending once-in-a-lifetime performances with documentary storytelling, each icon will be honored with a pair of tributes by artists they’ve inspired before taking the stage for their own performances. Additional show details, performers and special guests will be announced soon.

“We’re beyond excited to bring this electrifying and empowering new franchise to life by honoring iconic women who’ve fearlessly ‘smashed glass ceilings’ and kicked in doors, holding them wide open for past, present and future generations,” shares Margaret Comeaux, CMT’s Senior Vice President of Production, Music & Events and Executive Producer. “Both Patti and Tanya deserve to be celebrated for continuing to set the industry gold standard with boundary-breaking crossover success, bold, uncompromising lives and careers, and creating timeless music and impact that remains as powerful and relevant as ever.”

CMT Smashing Glass will also pay respect to the late women of music with memorial tribute medleys to Aretha Franklin, Sinead O’Connor and Tina Turner.

“Inspired by so many other women who have smashed glass ceilings before us, we’ll also pay homage to three other female juggernauts with in-show ‘Moments of Respect,’ nodding to Aretha Franklin, the ‘Queen of Soul’ who forever altered the path for women with her legacy of demanding ‘R.E.S.P.E.C.T,’ the ‘Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ Tina Turner, who empowered the world with her resilience, and Sinead O’Connor, who broke the traditional ‘pop star’ mold and used her life and music to illuminate the world’s burning issues,” states Patrizia DiMaria, Executive Producer.

Leslie Fram, CMT’s SVP of Music & Talent and Executive in Charge of Talent, adds, “CMT Smashing Glass is a grand finale to a landmark 2023 which we dedicated as our ‘Year of the Woman.’ Kicking off in January with a milestone 10th anniversary of the Next Women of Country (NWOC) franchise, we celebrated female voices across all programming and events – from our women-led headliners at the CMT Music Awards and Equal Play honoree Shania Twain, to bi-monthly NWOC artist showcases and the greenlight of our CMT Defining series, we remain dedicated to Equal Play and advocating for the trailblazers of the past, superstars of the present and the future voices in our format.”

CMT Smashing Glass is helmed by an all-female production team. Working alongside Comeaux, DiMaria and Fram is Michelle Mahoney and Lauren Quinn, who serve as Executive Producers. Quinn also works as Director, Jackie Barba and Heather D. Graffagnino are the Executives in Charge of Production and Suzanne Bender serves as Talent Producer.

Alandis Brassel has opened Brassel Law, a new entertainment law firm dedicated to the needs of musicians and music industry entrepreneurs in Nashville.

Brassel, a Vanderbilt University Law School grad, began his legal career as counsel to Congressman Jim Cooper, where he focused on policy and the office’s community relationships, including Nashville’s music industry. He also served as the program director at the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville, where he was responsible for the nonprofit’s legal and education programs.

Most recently, Brassel practiced entertainment and trademark law at Counsel at Scale LLP, and served as assistant professor at the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music, where he headed the music business program and ran the school’s record label, High Water Records. Prior to his legal career, Brassel was a professional audio engineer with clients such as Bloomberg Television, Warner Chappell Music, Mosley Music Group and Def Jam.

Brassel serves on the board of Nashville Music Equality, a nonprofit dedicated to creating an anti-racist environment in the Nashville music industry.

Aiming to make comprehensive legal representation accessible to clients at all levels, Brassel Law will introduce two services over the next month. The first, Office Hours, will provide a free opportunity for clients to triage legal issues they might not otherwise have the resources to address. Clients can register for these one-on-one legal advising sessions on a first-come, first-served basis. The first session will be held on Oct. 30.

Members will also have the option to access Cadence.io, a platform built by Brassel Law that will give clients the ability to generate custom, routinely used documents without the cost and traditional wait time associated with traditional legal drafting.

“A music publisher using Cadence.io will be able to generate a license in minutes with the confidence that the agreement is accurate, well-drafted and up to date,” says Brassel. “These aren’t fill-in-the-blank templates that you pull from a website. We’ll work with members to build base documents based on their needs, including terms that are specific to their business and contract clauses that might vary depending on the deal, like payment terms and contract duration. We’ll also periodically review and revise the base agreements to reflect any changes in the law.”

Program members will design their memberships using a menu of add-on services and resources, resulting in a membership package that provides the services they need at a predictable price point.

“The goal is to make sure clients get the first-class legal services they need without worrying about an unpredictable legal bill or turnaround time,” says Brassel.

For more information on Brassel Law, visit www.brassel.law or contact 615-258-8900.

Porchlight Music has added Jenny Hall to the team as Senior Director, Creative.

Hall is an Indiana native and a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU)’s music business program. Prior to joining Porchlight, she spent time as Creative Director at Sheltered Music and Given Entertainment.

In her new role, Hall will oversee the direction and development of the current roster which includes Clint Daniels, Tim James, Chris Sligh, Dan Hutson and Terry Lee Palmer as well as new talent acquisitions. She will also oversee the day-to-day creative operations of signing and developing new talent while managing and developing the current roster.

“Jenny is hard-working, goal-oriented and is going to leave her stamp on the music industry. She is in to win it and has already made a substantial impact at Porchlight Music,” shares Tim Medlin, Partner/Co-Founder, Porchlight Music.

“I’m thrilled to be starting this next chapter of my career with Porchlight Music. After my first conversation with Tim, it was evident how truly passionate he is about the songwriters and forward-thinking goals for the company as well as the trust and runway he lends to creatives on both sides of the aisle,” says Hall. “I’m honored to represent the immensely talented roster here and look forward to being a part of the company’s continued growth and success.”

Hall can be reached at [email protected].

Ashley Cooke Celebrates Gold At Basement East Show

Big Loud’s Ashley Cooke played a sold-out headlining show at Nashville’s Basement East last week (Oct. 19) as part of her “Shot In The Dark Tour.”

Cooke’s team presented her with a plaque commemorating the Gold certification for her heartfelt love song “Never Til Now (with Brett Young).” The song was originally released in 2021 and became a SiriusXM The Highway No. 1 song before being released as a duet with Young and making its debut on ABC’s The Bachelorette. 

 

Terri Clark Hosts Bluebird Benefit For Pet Community Center

Terri Clark recently hosted a songwriters’ night at the Bluebird Café, raising over $17,000 for Nashville’s Pet Community Center. The show featured fellow pet enthusiasts and songwriters Derek Ruttan (Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Blake Shelton), Carolyn Dawn Johnson (Chris Stapleton, Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea) and new rising star Meghan Patrick. TV personality and national radio guest host Suzanne Alexander, also an animal lover, was emcee.

PCC President and CEO Brandon Dyce said of the special evening, “Everyone deserves to know the love of a pet, so it’s incredibly meaningful to have artists of this caliber lending their voices to help make high-quality veterinary care possible for all pets in our community. We are especially grateful to the Bluebird and to Terri for her longtime support and advocacy of PCC—her generosity will change the lives of thousands of pets and the people who love them.”

 

Nashville Soccer Club & Sony Music Publishing Host Second Writers’ Round At GEODIS

Nashville Soccer Club and Sony Music Publishing are teaming up for the second singer songwriters’ round set for Friday, Nov. 17 at the GEODIS WeHo Club in GEODIS Park in Music City. Songwriters Madeline Merlo (“Champagne Night”), Trannie Anderson (“Heart Like A Truck”), Cole Taylor (“Sippin’ On Fire”) and Neil Medley (“Made For You”) will perform during the special evening. Tickets are available now here.

 

Writers Round Raises Funds For Habitat For Humanity Music Row Build

Rob Hatch, Ronnie Bowman, Makayla Lynn and Neil Medley recently performed a writers round at the Bluebird Cafe for a special evening benefiting Nashville’s Habitat for Humanity Music Row Build.

The Music Row Build’s mission is for the music community to come together to do more for affordable housing in Nashville through education, advocacy and hope in action. Music veterans Renee Bell and Ree Guyer started Habitat’s Music Row Build in 2003, building nine homes before it ended in 2012. Mark Brown reignited the build in 2020 and Penny Gattis became the chair in 2022.

 

Clayton Mullen Inks With CAA, What’s Good Projects

Clayton Mullen has signed with CAA for booking and with Ryan Kroon, of What’s Good Projects for management. The independent singer-songwriter also recently released his latest single “Ballgame.” Penned with Jacob Davis and Josh Miller, “Ballgame” comes on the heels of the success of his previous releases “Where The Time Goes,”  “You Me + Country Song” and “South of Forever.”

Originally from the northeast, Mullen found his sound while attending Texas Christian University, where he garnered attention opening for artists including the Josh Abbott Band, Corey Kent and Randall King. This February, he’ll hit the road opening for Warren Zeiders on the “Pretty Little Poison Tour.”