MerleFest has revealed another group of performers for its 2023 lineup, including Marcus King, Tanya Tucker, Miko Marks, Little Feat, and more. The event will once again take place on the Wilkes Community College campus in Wilkesboro, North Carolina from April 27-30.

The full lineup will also include AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Alison Brown, Andy Cohen, Anna Lynch, Bee Taylor, Brothers Comatose, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, Cole Chaney, Compton & Newberry, Dom Flemons, I Draw Slow, Lightnin’ Wells, The Local Honeys, Nigel Wearne, Stillhouse Junkies, Taylor Rae, Terry Baucom’s Dukes of Drive, Todd Albright, Tommy Prine, Yasmin Williams, and The Youngers.

The newly-added artists will join MerleFest’s previously announced lineup, which includes The Avett Brothers, Maren Morris, Black Opry Revue, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Andy May, Banknotes, Carol Rifkin, Charles Welch, Donna the Buffalo, Jack Lawrence, Jeff Little Trio, Jim Lauderdale, Joe Smothers, Kruger Brothers, Laura Boosinger, The Local Boys, Mark Bumgarner, Mitch Greenhill & Mitch’s Kitchen, Pete & Joan Wernick, Presley Barker, Roy Book Binder, Scythian, T. Michael Coleman, The InterACTive Theater of Jef, The Waybacks, Tony Williamson, and Wayne Henderson.

Marking MerleFest’s 35th edition, the 2023 event will also honor Doc Watson’s 100th birthday year. General admission passes, as well as patio seating, reserved seating, camping, parking, and more are available now.

Eric Church and real estate and hospitality entrepreneur Ben Weprin have offered a first look at Church’s new bar, restaurant, and live music venue, Chief’s, set to open in downtown Nashville in 2023.

Situated at the intersection of 2nd Avenue and Broadway in the former Cotton Eyed Joe building, Chief’s is designed to pay homage to various chapters in the entertainer’s life. The new establishment will feature a ticketed venue for live shows, plus additional live entertainment throughout the building, with more than 3,000 concert posters from throughout Church’s career papering the ground floor. It will also contain a studio for live broadcasting featuring Church’s Outsiders Radio SiriusXM channel, as well as broadcasts by various media partners.

Chief’s also taps into Church’s Carolina roots through a partnership with James Beard Award Winning Pitmaster Rodney Scott. His restaurant, Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ, will overlook downtown with its Hell of a Q rooftop offering.

“I’ve had a blast working with Ben on the design of Chief’s,” says Church. “Like everything we do with our music, the same care and consideration has gone into every detail of this place. It will be unrivaled downtown. I can’t wait to play here.”

“Chief’s is an example of impactful design storytelling at its finest,” says Weprin, CEO and Founder of AJ Capital Partners. “We are excited to bring an experience unparalleled in the world of music, food, and entertainment to the heart of Broadway with one of the most storied properties downtown has seen. Through Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ, two seated music venues and a meaningful design, Chief’s is a physical manifestation to Eric Church and his musical legacy.”

AIMP Nashville Celebrates 2022 Accomplishments At Annual Fall Party

The AIMP Nashville Chapter held its Fall Party on Nov. 29 at Never Never in Nashville.

Offering cocktails and camaraderie, the event gathered AIMP Nashville members to celebrate the year’s accomplishments. The Chapter also announced the results of its 2023-2024 Board of Directors election, which will be revealed publicly soon.

 

Morris Higham Management’s “Songs For A Cause” Returns For Bluebird Show

Morris Higham Management’s “Songs for a Cause” songwriter series returned on Nov. 30 for a sold-out show at the historic Bluebird Cafe. The evening featured performances from Matt Jenkins, Derek George, Will Bundy, and Johnny Dailey. Throughout the night, $2,500 was raised with proceeds benefitting Music Health Alliance.

“We are incredibly grateful to Morris Higham, City National Bank, and The Bluebird Cafe for creating this special evening of music to benefit Music Health Alliance,” shares Tatum Allsep, Founder and CEO of Music Health Alliance. “We are so happy this series is back and grateful for their support as we heal the music.”

The return of the series follows five prior events, which have collectively raised over $10,000 for various industry charities, including CMA Foundation, MusicCares, ACM Lifting Lives, The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Phran Galante Fund for Lung Cancer Research. The “Songs for a Cause” series will continue in 2023.

 

Sav Buist Nabs Grand Prize At 27th Annual USA Songwriting Competition

Nashville songwriter Sav Buist recently won the Overall Grand Prize and the first prize of the Folk category at the 27th Annual USA Songwriting Competition with her song “The Line.”

Buist, who serves as one third of the indie folk rock trio The Accidentals, is a singer-songwriter, recording engineer, and multi-instrumentalist hailing from Music City by way of Traverse City, Michigan. She was one of the 2021 Kerrville New Folk winners, as well as the 2022 Songwriter Serenade winner. Additionally, her song, “Wildfire,” co-written with Katie Larson and Kim Richey, was the No. 1 song of the year at Folk Radio in 2021.

“I am truly honored that ‘The Line’ won the USA Songwriting Grand Prize. Ironically, I wrote ‘The Line’ at a low point, when I was having a hard time finding the words. It’s a culmination of all the unwanted voices in my head,” Buist explains. “Winning this contest is validation that good things can come from hard things and that tomorrow can be better than today. So thankful that this song resonated with the judges of the USA Songwriter Competition this year. I hope it resonates similarly with anyone who needs a nudge to keep moving.”

The overall second prize went to Kevin Stroud and Marc Alan Barnette of Wichita Falls, Texas for their song “Dance in Heaven.” The overall third prize went to Matty Gottesman from Los Angeles for his song “Sleepless Summer.”

 

Scotty Cameron Earns 2023 Steve Ferguson CRS Scholarship

Scotty Cameron, PD/MD for KKMV-FM (Rupert, ID) and a MusicRow reporter, has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Steve Ferguson CRS Scholarship. He will receive a paid registration to attend CRS in Nashville this coming March.

Cameron has been with Kat Kountry / 106.1 KKMV since 2004, beginning his career under the mentorship of Charlie Michaels. Working his way into a full-time position, he was ultimately tapped for the morning show, where he’s since served as the host of “Scotty in the Morning.”

“My favorite thing about what I do is the relationships I form with our listeners, clients, and those in the music industry,” Cameron explains. “Working through the pandemic and helping listeners find the information they needed during a tough time really brought home to me how important local radio is.”

Spearheaded by Nashville’s GrassRoots Promotion, the annual scholarship was established to honor the enduring legacy of longtime WTHO PD Steve Ferguson, who passed away in 2018. In announcing the selection of the 2023 recipient, the review committee noted that “Scotty Cameron’s connection to his local community and passion for country music were evident in his submission. He shares the values that the Steve Ferguson Award represents and we are excited to welcome him to Nashville in March.”

Singer-songwriter Brandon Ratcliff has released a series of songs leading up to a forthcoming album Tale Of Two Towns, all of which have been received well. The project is set for release on Jan. 6 via Monument Records.

Ratcliff’s new music is the result of a reconnection to his roots in Cotton Valley, as he spent the last two years discovering, questioning, and wrestling with who he is as a man and as an artist. The artist recently stopped by MusicRow‘s office to play a sampling.

“Like most of us, when COVID happened, I had this unique new thing in my life: silence. For me, it was the first bit of silence I had since I moved to Nashville. Very early on, I remember thinking to myself, ‘I don’t want to come out of this season feeling like I wasted this time. I want to use this to my advantage,'” Ratcliff tells MusicRow. “I gave myself permission to give myself over to my creative desires, whatever those are. That informed the whole last season of my life. I became consumed with the concept of ‘The Tale Of Two Towns.”

The inspirational title track finds Ratcliff analyzing the consequences and benefits of leaving your hometown. He says the tune was the first he’s written that felt starkly true to himself.

“In Nashville, everybody who came here was the best in their hometown. It’s like college sports in some sense because everyone is coming to the next level to learn how to write, play, and sing. That’s great, but you can hit a ceiling at some point with the formular of writing songs. That was the season I was in,” he says. “I was bored with myself because I felt like I was writing and singing stuff that was good, but it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with my life.

“I realized that I wanted my personal life and my professional life to be somewhat tethered together, at least philosophically, so [the music] is in the same place that I’m at or came from.”

An unreleased track on the album, “Where I’m Coming From,” deals with the other side of the coin about the people in his family—namely his grandfather—who were also musically inclined, but felt a responsibility to stay in their hometown.

“My Papaw passed away a few years ago. I unfortunately never got to have this conversation with him while he was alive, but this song is the ghost of my grandpa talking, coming from the other side of the equation,” Ratcliff says. “I was the guy who left in my family, went off, chased my dreams, and planted new roots. They were the ones who started the music in our family but they always had one foot in and one foot out. They would play shows and come back to Cotton Valley and raise their family.”

He adds, “There are pros and cons to both of those [ways of life], but this is his perspective.”

Sonically, the songs that have been released from Tale Of Two Towns differ from Ratcliff’s earlier music. The shift is something Ratcliff has been trying to identify since signing with Monument Records in 2018. The same year he signed, he found great success with his R&B-flavored debut single “Rules Of Breaking Up,” which helped him accumulate over 50 million streams and tour with the likes of Keith Urban, Brett Young, and Kelsea Ballerini.

With Tale of Two Towns, Ratcliff hopes to reintroduce himself to fans with music that he feels is confident and true to himself.

“This is a growing up record. It’s me leaving my hometown and really facing those hypothetical questions of who would I be if I never left, versus who am I today because I did?”

The full-length project is available for pre-order now.