Lily Collins, Taran Smith, Campbell Jenkins

Milestone Publicity has promoted several staff members at the company. Taran Smith and Lily Collins have both been promoted to Account Executives, and Campbell Jenkins has been promoted to Associate Publicist.

Collins, a University of Texas graduate, joined Milestone in August of 2022 and has recently been instrumental in national and tour campaigns for Lonestar, Gin Blossoms, Sugar Ray, Uncle Kracker, The Dryes, Amanda Stewart and others.

A graduate of Belmont University with a BBA in Music Business, Smith joined Milestone in April of 2022, and has worked with Leftover Salmon, Shaylen, Michael Cleveland, Robbie Fulks, Theo Kandel, Gaby Moreno and many others.

“Both Lily and Taran have been essential parts of our team,” says Founder/CEO Mike Gowen. “Their daily contributions further underscore why the industry trusts us with artists and projects; dedication to clients coupled with an undeniable work ethic to pull in media coverage and opportunities for all of their clients at Milestone.”

After earning her Bachelor’s degree at Belmont University, Jenkins worked with a PR agency in Los Angeles, before making her way back to Nashville and joining Milestone Publicity, where she has assisted other publicists on several of Milestone’s client campaigns.

“Campbell is a great addition to the Milestone team because of her exceptional communication skills, attention to detail, and initiative,” says VP of Publicity Jessica Bonner. “She is further solidifying our strong foundation of publicists at the company, and we look forward to watching her grow.”

Sara Benz

Big Machine Label Group has elevated Sara Benz to Project Manager for the Big Machine Records imprint, effective immediately.

Benz most recently served as Senior A&R Coordinator at Universal Music Group in Los Angeles following her time working with Andy Grammer at Small Giant Records + Management. The University of North Carolina Wilmington alum first began her career selling merch on tour with Misterwives and Smallpools.

In her new role, Benz will oversee strategy, development and execution of release campaigns to drive consumption and audience growth for the Big Machine Records’ artist roster including Tim McGraw, Carly Pearce, Brian Kelley, Jackson Dean and Midland, among others.

“Sara comes to the Big Machine team with a ton of energy and a wealth of experience. She has hit the ground running and is making a huge difference with our team and our artists. This is truly only the beginning for her,” says Big Machine Records’ GM, Clay Hunnicutt.

“A huge thank you to the amazing team at Big Machine Records for welcoming me with open arms,” shares Benz. “I can’t wait for this next chapter in Music City!”

Benz is based in Nashville can be reached at sara.benz@bmlg.net.

Warren Zeiders

Warren Zeiders has announced the 2024 dates for his headlining “Pretty Little Poison Tour.”

The 24 new dates include stops across the U.S. and Canada in Fayetteville, Oxford, Tulsa, Austin, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Vancouver, Toronto and more, with Clayton Mullen and Austin Williams as support. General public on-sale begins on Friday (Oct. 27) at warrenzeiders.com/prettylittlepoison.

The 2024 dates follow Zeiders’ 2023 edition of the “Pretty Little Poison Tour,” which was his biggest headlining run to date with 27 sold-out shows, while the fall tour visited major festivals like Stagecoach, Faster Horses and Watershed, in addition to 18 sold-out shows including Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

In August, Zeiders released his debut album Pretty Little Poison. Produced by Ross Copperman, Bart Butler and Ryan Gore, the 14-song album’s title track landed Zeiders his debut on Billboard’s Hot 100. “Pretty Little Poison” is currently at No. 24 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart, No. 24 on Mediabase’s Country Airplay Top 40 Chart and was named by Rolling Stone as one of The Best Country Songs of 2023 So Far.

At just 24 years old, Zeiders recently surpassed one billion cumulative career streams and has earned a staggering one billion+ TikTok views and four million+ monthly Spotify listeners.

Warren Zeiders Upcoming Tour Dates:
+denotes show with Clayton Mullen as support
*denotes show with Austin Williams as support
Feb. 2 – Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center – Mankato, MN+
Feb. 8 – Greensboro Coliseum Complex Piedmont Hall – Greensboro, SC+
Feb. 9 – Charleston Municipal Auditorium – Charleston, WV+
Feb. 15 – The Lyric Oxford – Oxford, MS+
Feb. 16 – JJ’s Live – Fayetteville, AR+
Feb. 17 – Cains Ballroom – Tulsa, OK+
Feb. 22 – Emo’s – Austin, TX+
Feb. 24 – House of Blues Dallas – Dallas, TX+
March 8 – House of Blues San Diego – San Diego, CA*
March 9 – House of Blues Anaheim – Anaheim, CA*
March 10 – The Warfield – San Francisco, CA*
March 13 – The Union – Salt Lake City, UT*
March 15 – Knitting Factory – Spokane, WA*
March 16 – Showbox SoDo – Seattle, WA*
March 17 – McMenamins Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR*
March 19 – Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC*
March 21 – River Cree Resort & Casino – Enoch, AB*
March 22 – Grey Eagle Resort & Casino Event Center – Tsuut’ina, AB*
March 23 – Coors Event Centre – Saskatoon, SK*
March 25 – Burton Cummings Theatre – Winnipeg, MB*
March 28 – London Music Hall – London, ON*
March 29 – Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON*
March 30 – MTELUS – Montreal, QC*
June 22 – South Dakota Cattleman’s Prime Time Gala – Sioux Falls, SD
June 28 – Country Fest – Cadott, WI
July 13 – Country Concert – Fr. Loramie, OH
Aug. 1 – WE Fest – Detroit Lake, MN

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.