Hit songwriter Chris Lindsey is releasing a rock project titled Down the Velvet Rabbit Hole on Thursday, June 3 via Black Box Records. He describes the project as a melting pot of ’70s British rock, ’80s power pop and ‘90s alt. Celestial-themed tracks include the bittersweet “Aurora Borealis,” the sultry “Shooting Star” and the ELO-inspired “Electric Love.” He rounds out the EP with the guitar-charged “Z28” juxtaposed with the orchestral overtones of “Blind.”

Lindsey is a Grammy nominated country music songwriter and producer whose hits include “Amazed,” Lonestar; “This One’s For The Girls,” Martina McBride; “I Wanna Be Your Everything,” Keith Urban; and “Every Time I Hear That Song,” Blake Shelton. He resides in Nashville and is married to hit songwriter/author Aimee Mayo.

“I have been blessed throughout my career to have collaborated with so many talented artists and writers,” said Lindsey. “It has been an incredible journey and, honestly, one I thank God for. But it was fun to try something totally different. I had an absolute blast working on this project, and I hope you enjoy it!”

Lindsey’s podcast Pitch List is in its fourth season and has featured Bill Anderson, Emily Weisband, Lori McKenna, Ashley Gorley, and many more.

Lathan Warlick. Photo: Dustin Haney

Before December of 2020, Lathan Warlick was working on the railroad in Memphis, Tennessee. Today, he’s a recording artist signed to RECORDS Nashville/Columbia Records and recently released his debut EP that was executive produced by Florida Georgia Line star Tyler Hubbard.

Warlick grew up in Jackson, Tennessee in a loving house in a rough neighborhood. Music has always been of interest to him, but it started with dancing.

“I started dancing because my neighborhood in Jackson is known for gang violence and all of that negative stuff, so I wanted to find a way to get away from that. Not all of it was bad, but the majority of my surroundings were,” Warlick says. “I wanted to do something to get away from the street life.”

Warlick started his own dance group, and won a few talent shows. After winning a competition in 2011, Warlick and his dance group went to a club to celebrate. It was there that he came face-to-face with a .45-caliber pistol.

“He was going to kill me,” Warlick says. “So I’m sitting there with my back against the wall, and I remember asking God, ‘If you’re real, can you help me out of this situation?'”

The now 32-year-old escaped death that night, but walked away with an intense sense of purpose. “After that moment, I had a feeling of wanting to do something deeper, I wanted to do something more.

“I started getting in church and connecting with God more then. He gave me the vision of ‘God, love and unity,'” Warlick says of the motto running through his artistry.

The ever-impressive Warlick transitioned to music after getting into spoken word. With encouragement from friends and family, he started sharing his musical gifts on TikTok—Musical.ly at the time. He posted videos of himself on his iPhone in his car, adding his own rap verses to popular songs like “Holy” by Justin Bieber, “The Box” by Roddy Ricch, “Memories” by Maroon 5, “Hello” by Adele, and “You Say” by Lauren Daigle.

It took a while for the hip-hop fan to make videos with other genres, but when he did, his career took off. He now boasts 1.4 million followers on the platform.

“Once I got out of my comfort zone, I loved it,” Warlick says. “I would take the instrumental and connect it to the chorus part of the song, and just freestyle over the instrumental [in the verse].”

Eventually, his videos caught the attention of country singer Granger Smith, who asked Warlick to add a rap verse to his song “That’s Why I Love Dirt Roads.” The collaboration was Warlick’s first taste of country music.

“Growing up where I grew up, [country music] just wasn’t something that was taught or listened to.”

Fueled by TikTok success and dreams, Warlick made the move to the country music capital of the world in December 2020. He had self-released a few EPs, including Tellem That Im Comin (2016), 2nd Time Around (2017), and A Church in the Trap (2018). But by 2020, he was ready to make music a full-time gig.

He connected with manager Ash Bowers who signed him to Wide Open Music in 2020, joining artists Jimmie Allen, Matt Stell and Chris Bandi. Warlick’s first label deal with RECORDS Nashville / Columbia Records quickly followed.

In April, Warlick released his My Way EP, featuring an array of country music artists on songs like “Over Yonder” with Matt Stell, “Roots” with RaeLynn, and title track, “My Way,” with Hubbard. Other collaborators on My Way include Lauren Alaina, Russell Dickerson, High Valley and Dustin Lynch.

Warlick was introduced to Hubbard—who went on the executive produce My Way—via RaeLynn.

“We made the song ‘Roots,’ and she sent it to Tyler and Tyler was like ‘I gotta work with this Lathan guy,'” Warlick says. “Tyler’s been teaching me so much. He connected all of the dots.”

Ultimately, it’s very important to Warlick to use his music to promote a message of unity in today’s turbulent times.

“My mission is God, love and unity. I want to bring unity to the world so bad. There’s enough negativity going on in the world today, I want to be the person that’s going to stand in the light. It shows people that if we come together, we can’t fall.”

Warlick’s mission can be distinctly heard in his genre-bending EP, My Way, available now.

Six-time Grammy winner Amy Grant will release a special 30th anniversary edition of her iconic album Heart In Motion on July 9.

Originally released on March 5, 1991, the Grammy-nominated project sold over 5 million copies and garnered five Billboard Top 10 singles, including “Baby Baby,” “Every Heartbeat,” “That’s What Love Is For,” “I Will Remember You,” and “Good For Me.”

The double disc 30th anniversary edition of Heart In Motion will include never before released tracks and updated remixes of the hit singles. Beginning July 30, for the first time since its original release, the album will also be remastered on vinyl.

“How could 30 years have flown by so quickly?” Grant says. “Doing this commemorative project has been so much fun—going through old photographs, reconnecting with so many people who were part of the original project, sharing memories and rediscovering the music that made it and the music that didn’t. I hope people enjoy listening to what we have put together.”

Physical pre-orders of Heart In Motion are live now, including an exclusive version at Walmart with two extra tracks. Digital pre-orders will begin June 18 at all DSPs and include the instant grat track “Don’t Ever Want To Lose It (Wind in the Fire).”

Heart In Motion 30th Anniversary Edition Track List:

DISC 1
Good For Me
Baby Baby
Every Heartbeat
That’s What Love Is For
Ask Me
Galileo
You’re Not Alone
Hats
I Will Remember You
How Can We See That Far
Hope Set High

DISC 2
Don’t Ever Want to Lose It (Wind In The Fire)*
Stand By Me*
Heart In Motion Medley
Good For Me demo
Baby Baby (7 inch Heart In Motion mix)
Every Heartbeat (Steve Bishir edit)
That’s What Love Is For (Demo)
Ask Me (7 inch Mix)
Baby Baby (12 inch Heart In Motion Mix)
Galileo (Rough Mix)
I Will Remember You (Rhythm mix)
Good For Me (12 inch So Good mix)
Every Heartbeat (Heart and Soul edit)
Day And Night*
Baby Baby (7 inch No Getting Over You mix)
Good For Me (12 inch mix)

*New

Pictured (L-R) front row: Landon Dirickson, Dirickson Law; Noah West; and MaryAnn Keen, Associate Dir. of Writer/Publisher Relations, BMI; Back row: Matt Michiels, Sr. Creative Dir., peermusic; Carlee Fultz, Creative Coord., peermusic; Kendall Lettow, Creative Dir., peermusic; and Michael Knox, Sr. VP, peermusic Nashville

Noah West has signed an exclusive global publishing deal with peermusic Nashville.

He moved to Nashville three years ago and has been working with producer/songwriter Matt McVaney to create a five-song debut EP which includes his new single, “Let You Go.”

“Noah was first brought up to me as an artist then we started loving his songs,” said peermusic’s Michael Knox. “He’s just one of those talents that you pat yourself on the back and feel like you found something you were supposed to find.”

“The peermusic team have been a huge support for me,” said West. “With peermusic, I have found a team of people that could take what I’m doing and give me a number of different resources to help magnify it—I am so excited to be working with them in these next stages of my career.”

Growing up in Beckley, West Virginia, West spent his days training on the football field and the basketball court. His dedication led him to two state championships, as well as a college basketball career in upstate South Carolina. After hearing artists like Jason Aldean and Sam Hunt on the radio, following graduation West packed his bags and moved to Nashville to pursue his true passion of music.

In a letter to its members sent out today (June 2), songwriters and board members of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), Steve Bogard, Lee Thomas Miller, and Liz Rose, address the recent criticism against the organization for its decision not to challenge the statutory royalty rate that record labels currently pay songwriters on physical products such as CDs and vinyl in the upcoming rate trial called CRB IV.

Bogard, Miller and Rose testified during the last Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) proceeding, and were part of the team that helped secure the nearly 44% increase in digital mechanical royalties from streaming companies in 2016.

In the letter, the songwriters call the claims made against NSAI “patently false and misguided,” and say that fighting for higher rates for physical product could risk record labels and streaming companies fighting the “much more meaningful streaming rates,” the digital mechanical royalty rate. They also note that NSAI did ask for higher statutory rates for physical product during CRB I in 2006, spending more than $20 million in the effort, which resulted in the rate remaining at 9.1 cents.

Read the letter in full below.

Fellow Songwriters and Composers:

We are the three songwriters and board members of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), who testified during the last Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) proceeding, who are reaching out to you to address patently false and misguided accusations that have recently appeared in the media by critics who chose not to participate.

Our collective testimony during CRB III in 2016 helped us WIN a nearly 44% increase in digital mechanical royalties from streaming companies—the largest digital mechanical royalty hike for songwriters in history!

Even after that resounding victory, some want to criticize the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s (NSAI) decision not to challenge the statutory royalty rate that record labels currently pay songwriters on physical products such as CDs and vinyl in the upcoming rate trial called CRB IV.

What these critics are not telling you is that we did fight that battle in 2006, during CRB I, when we asked the Copyright Royalty Board to increase the physical rate, while critics were nowhere to be found. Instead, after our side spent more than $20 million, the judges kept the rate exactly where it was, at 9.1 cents. Record labels earn substantially less from physical products now than they did then. Had we chosen to fight them again, they would have argued for a rate DECREASE! They could also have contested our much more meaningful streaming rates resulting in us having to fight two powerful groups, streaming companies, and the labels.

Based on industry revenue analysis, it is anticipated that physical mechanical royalties will amount to less than 1% of the total mechanical royalty revenue in the United States during 2023-2028, the rate period this CRB proceeding covers. History and experience told us not to create a powerful opponent when there is a strong possibility of losing with little to gain. So, we decided to focus on the digital streaming services and streaming rates during the next trial. While 1% of revenue is meaningful, waging war was not worth the risk, especially since the rate may have been lowered!

Critics are insinuating that we somehow “might now be employing sneaky tactics to make it harder for artists and songwriters to comment on” our decision not to contest the physical royalty. They say that NSAI was part of a plan to manipulate court filings, in order to make it harder for them to respond. That is false.

Alleging that we are complicit in such a tactic, which amounts to a federal crime, is insulting and may even be libelous. How could we hide such a maneuver from the court? Are these groups suggesting the Copyright Royalty Board judges were involved in their ridiculous allegation?

Also false is the critics’ suggestion that the CRB took some drastic action in stating it will publish the settlement in the Federal Register for comment. Such publication is required by the law, as is the right of the public to comment during a period set forth in the CRB’s notice. Everything is out in the open and subject to scrutiny. Stating or implying the opposite is completely false and disingenuous. We are all for public comment on this matter, but the critics know you must qualify months in advance for the CRB to consider physical rates. The question songwriters and composers should be asking is why these false critics did not participate in the trial themselves. Any of these groups or individuals could have participated, but they did not even try.

The three of us took time from writing and from our personal lives to prepare for a daunting endeavor, testifying before three Copyright judges in Washington, D.C., on behalf of every American songwriter. To the critics who also fail to acknowledge that in the process we secured the largest digital mechanical rate increase in history, we want to set the record straight. Instead of opening a Pandora’s box that could result in physical rates being lowered, we ensured they would not. Our decision to focus on protecting the unprecedented increase for streaming mechanicals was strategic, responsible and in the best interest of songwriters.

Sincerely,

Steve Bogard, Lee Thomas Miller, and Liz Rose – songwriters.