Nic Dugger

TNDV Founder and 14-time Emmy winner Nic Dugger has been named Executive Director for the Midsouth Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), or the Emmys.

In his new role, Dugger will report to the Board of Directors—of which he was previously the President—and evolve the chapter’s mission of recognizing artistic, educational and technical achievements of professionals and students throughout the region. The Midsouth Chapter encompasses Tennessee, North Carolina and the television market of Huntsville, Alabama.

Dugger formed TNDV: Television in 2004 and led the company through substantial growth over nearly two decades. The TNDV business today is part of Live Mobile Group which includes 35 HD and 4K mobile production trucks and audio facilities, as well as production and secondary services for broadcast TV, live entertainment and AV-related productions. He has served the Midsouth Chapter for 26 years. Dugger also oversees the technical production of numerous ceremonies and broadcasts for the national NATAS organization, including the Daytime Emmys and News and Documentary Emmys and the Technical Emmys.

Dugger takes the reins as Executive Director after a nearly five-year run leading the Board of Directors and following the recent passing of longtime executive director Geneva Brignolo, with whom Dugger interned as a college freshman in 1996 at MTSU.

“Nic Dugger has dedicated himself to the service of our Academy and our industry every day of his professional career,” says Adam Sharp, President & CEO of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. “His rise over the past three decades from the student ranks to president of the Chapter parallels his achievements building one of the most successful production services companies in the country — a capacity in which he has personally overseen the technical execution of numerous national Emmy telecasts for NATAS. Nic bleeds gold and is uniquely well-suited to inherit the mantle of Chapter leadership from the iconic Geneva Brignolo.”

“The Nashville Midsouth Chapter of the National Television Academy has been tightly woven into Nic Dugger’s life for three decades,” says Ellen Pryor, former President of the Midsouth Chapter and former Trustee of the National Television Academy. “His entire career has been shaped and defined by his many contributions to the profession and by the tremendous generosity of time, spirit, leadership, and talent for which he is equally well known and respected. We are elated to welcome him into his new position as he leads the Nashville Midsouth region into our next exciting chapter.”

Primary among the chapter’s missions is its annual Midsouth Emmy Awards ceremony and broadcast, which televises the presentation of 73 Emmy categories to chapter members. Among his future goals, Dugger will work to evolve the Midsouth Regional Student Production Awards, which recognizes the achievement of high school students—an initiative close to Dugger’s heart—and bring more visibility to the Silver and Gold Awards, which recognizes long-term industry achievements.

“To date we have inducted many members into the Silver Circle, which requires 25 years of significant industry contributions in the region,” says Dugger. “We have not yet inducted anyone into the Gold Circle, which requires 50 years of notable service. We will be working to identify our first eligible members of the Gold Circle in the coming years.”

Pictured (L-R): Dawn Ferris, Ellen Ford and Krista Hayes

BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville has made promotions and a staff addition across the label’s Group Strategy & Syndication, Marketing and Broken Bow Records Promotion departments.

Dawn Ferris, an industry leader celebrating 14 years with the company, has been promoted to Director of National Promotion for Broken Bow Records. Ellen (Mundy) Ford has transitioned from her role in the Group Strategy & Syndication department to become Manager of Marketing. Ford’s transition allowed the label to welcome Krista Hayes, who was hired as Manager of Group Strategy & Syndication.

Ferris joined Broken Bow Records in February 2010 as Director of Regional Promotion SW. Reporting to Lee Adams, VP Radio Promotions for Broken Bow Records, she will oversee National Promotions for the label. Prior to joining Broken Bow records, Ferris served as Manager of Regional Promotion Southwest for 12 years at Arista Records.

Ford joined BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville in January 2022 as the Manager of Group Strategy & Syndication. In her new role, she will report to JoJamie Hahr, EVP, Recorded Music, BMG Nashville, and will manage artist projects, create marketing plans, streamline initiatives and coordinate artist releases and strategies. Ford came to the label after working as a Day-to-Day Manager for WORKS Entertainment and as the SE Manager of Radio Promotion for Revival Music Group.

Hayes joins BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville as Manager of Group Strategy & Syndication. She comes to the label from Cumulus Media, where she spent three years serving as Promotion and Marketing Director. She has over a decade of experience in radio, TV, podcasting and other forms of digital media. She will report to Shelley Hargis, VP, Group Strategy & Syndication, and assist with syndication and radio group strategy, executing satellite radio tours, live virtual radio tours, syndication/media days and content days for the label’s roster.

“Our team continues to grow and excite me,” says Hahr. “Each of these team members display excellence, passion, knowledge and most importantly they exude our BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville spirit. I am so proud of each of them, and we are excited to take our extraordinary artists and label group to new levels this year with this team.”

Pictured (L-R, back row): Michael Knox, Kelley Lovelace and Neil Thrasher; (L-R, front row): Kurt Allison, Jason Aldean and Tully Kennedy. Photo: Steve Lowry for BMI

Jason Aldean and his team gathered last week to celebrate his latest chart-topper, “Try That In A Small Town.” The song became Aldean’s 28th No. 1 hit on the country charts, and his first chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100 all-genre chart last summer.

Held at the Eighth Room in the old Douglas Corner spot, the party was emceed by BMI’s Clay Bradley. Bradley welcomed the crowd by sharing words about the controversial song and its impact.

Pictured (L-R, back row): Michael Knox, Red Street Publishing’s Jay DeMarcus, Kelley Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, Spirit Music Group’s Frank Rogers and BBR Music Group’s Lee Adams; (L-R, front row): BMI’s Clay Bradley, BMG Publishing’s Amy Hendon Scott, Kurt Allison, Jason Aldean, Tully Kennedy, Studio Bank’s Ron Cox and ASCAP’s Kele Currier. Photo: Steve Lowry for BMI

“In essence, small towns mirror the camaraderie of Music Row, where familiarity breeds a sense of unity amidst the spectrum of human experiences. This song encapsulates the essence of small town life where everyone knows each other,” he said.

Bradley called Aldean and producer Michael Knox to the stage as well as the writers of “Try That In A Small Town,” Kurt Allison, Tully Kennedy, Kelley Lovelace and Neil Thrasher.

ASCAP’s Kele Currier was on hand to speak about affiliates Allison, Lovelace and Thrasher. Other industry members present to speak about the song and its writers were Knox, BMG’s Amy Hendon Scott, Red Street Publishing’s Jay DeMarcus, Spirit Music Group’s Frank Rogers, BBR Music Group’s Lee Adams and Studio Bank’s Ron Cox.

The common sentiment between speakers was respect for Aldean, the songwriters and his camp for their steadfast commitment to the song and its message, despite the backlash it received. When it came time for the songwriters to speak, they echoed that sentiment, and thanked their teams for their support.

“I’m incredibly thankful to you, Jason, for recording this song,” Lovelace shared. “This is the biggest song I’ve ever been a part of in my entire life. I’m thankful.”

Thrasher said, “I want to thank [my co-writers] because 99.9 percent of the writers in this town never would have even attempted to write that title or take it where we took it.” He added, “I’m supposed to be retired right now. We had to write this song and now I’m working harder than I ever have.”

Pictured (L-R, back row): Michael Knox, Kelley Lovelace and Neil Thrasher; (L-R, front row): MusicRow‘s John Nix Arledge, Kurt Allison, Jason Aldean, Tully Kennedy and MusicRow‘s LB Cantrell. Photo: Steve Lowry for BMI

“I do want to say how important it is to have an artist like Jason in this format,” Kennedy said. “He will go up there and stand by his beliefs. If you’re afraid to do that, then we’ve lost the art part. Thank you so much, Jason, for giving this song a voice when it wasn’t easy and not everybody was believing… It means a lot that Jason would put it out and stand by what he says. We should all be very thankful about that.”

Allison agreed. “Tully brought this up in an interview earlier. We kind of felt like Jason wrote the song with us because he owned it like it was his. When all this heat was happening, he didn’t deflect [onto us songwriters],” he said. “We should be thankful that we have an artist like that who believes.”

When Aldean spoke, he thanked his entire team and spoke about his intentions with “Try That In A Small Town.”

“I love every time we get to celebrate a No. 1, but this one is especially special to all of us,” he said. “[I’m thankful to] radio for playing this thing when everybody was trying to turn it into this crazy story. We stand by the song and what we were trying to say in the song and the video. Those things are subjective. You’re always going to have people who see different things in the song and the video than what was meant by us.

“We took a lot of heat for this song but I would do it 100 times over again because I think this song said something that needed to be said,” he summed.

Aldean thanked BBR, Knox, the songwriters and his entire team for their work in making “Try That In A Small Town” a hit.

Ian Munsick is releasing a new deluxe version of his album White Buffalo, titled White Buffalo: Introduce You To God, on April 5. The first of the album’s four new tracks, “Heartbreak King,” is available now.

“18 songs just wasn’t enough,” remarks Munsick. “This deluxe album features songs I wrote four years ago and songs I wrote four months ago. They’ve lived in my imagination long enough, now I can’t wait for them to be yours. Family, faith, heartbreak, legends of the West… you’ll get ’em all in this project. Thank you for always pushing me to write and release more music.”

Last week, during his headlining “Boots, Buckles & Bolos Tour,” Munsick stopped by The Bobby Bones Show for an in-studio interview and performance. He also released his exclusive Apple Music Sessions, featuring western-influenced covers of Justin Bieber, Hall & Oates and Travis Tritt.

Munsick’s headlining tour will continue through the spring, including a sold-out date at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on June 5. He will also join Lainey Wilson on her “Country’s Cool Again Tour” this summer.

White Buffalo: Introduce You To God Track Listing:
1. “Introduce You To God” (Ian Munsick, Jeremy Spillman, Jeff Hyde)
2. “Yippie-I-A” (Ian Munsick, Phil O’Donnell, Carlton Anderson)
3. “Heartbreak King” (Ian Munsick, Josh Thompson, Jeff Middleton)
4. “Seven Sisters” (Ian Munsick, Charlie Worsham, Jeremy Spillman)
5. “Boots, Buckles & Bolos” (Ian Munsick, Phil O’Donnell, Aby Gutierrez)
6. “From The Horse’s Mouth” (Ian Munsick, David Ryan Harris, Dave Villa)
7. “Arrowhead” (Ian Munsick, Chris LaCorte, Cary Barlowe)
8. “River Run” (Ian Munsick, Jeremy Spillman, Ryan Beaver)
9. “Ranch Hand” (Ian Munsick, Jeff Hyde, Jeremy Spillman)
10. “Neon Brightside” (Ian Munsick, Chase McGill, Jessi Alexander)
11. “Long Live Cowgirls” (with Cody Johnson) (Ian Munsick, Aby Gutierrez, Phil O’Donnell)
12. “Barn Burner” (Ian Munsick, Driver Williams, Jeremy Spillman)
13. “Dig” (Ian Munsick, Dave Villa, Jessi Alexander)
14. “More Than Me” (Ian Munsick, Carlton Anderson, Casey Beathard, Phil O’Donnell)
15. “Little Man” (Ian Munsick, Adam James, Ben Simonetti)
16. “White Buffalo” (Ian Munsick, Jeremy Spillman, Randy Montana)
17. “Bluegrass” (Ian Munsick, Josh Thompson)
18. “Cowshit In The Morning” (Ian Munsick, Jeremy Spillman, Luke Laird)
19. “Field Of Dreams” (feat. Vince Gill) (Ian Munsick, Jeremy Spillman, Vince Gill)
20. “Blazin’” (Ian Munsick, Chris LaCorte, Josh Miller)
21. “Missin’ Her Play” (Ian Munsick, Jamie Paulin, Randy Montana)
22. “Horses & Weed” (Ian Munsick, Josh Thompson)
23. “Indian Paintbrush” (Ian Munsick, Marty Stuart, Jeremy Spillman)