The Music Playground is partnering with Grammy award-winning producer/mixer F. Reid Shippen and bringing him on as Chief Creative Officer to oversee and lead the company’s new Nashville expansion.

Scheduled to fully open later this year, the new 4,000 square foot Playground complex located in Berry Hill will feature Rupert Neve Designs and Fix Audio consoles, Shippen’s own collection of vintage microphones and gear, analog synths, vintage instruments and more. The studios will also feature client hangout space and writing rooms for composers, producers and mixing engineers.

“We wanted to build the Disneyland for music production,” said Andy Hong, Co-Founder of The Music Playground, “A special place and world-class studio that would be a true destination for music production and draw people from all across the country to come and experience what it’s like making music in Nashville and collaborating with the amazing talent that lives here.”

Shippen will be working out of his current studio, Robot Lemon, until the new studios are completed. With numerous production, engineering and mixing awards to his name and having worked on over one hundred Billboard No.1 hits and many Grammy Award-winning albums, Shippen’s credits include Dierks Bentley, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Brett Eldredge, Darius Rucker, Ingrid Michaelson and many others.

“This is about creating experiences that help clients tap into their passions again.  Original music production has changed dramatically over the past decade and something important has truly been lost for brands and creative agencies,” said Drew Stein, Co-founder of The Music Playground, “We want to bring back that magic where clients can come to a special place, collaborate with incredible talent, and immerse themselves in the experience and process of making amazing music again – from composition through final mix.”

“The music scene in Nashville has grown to encompass more than just country music and its singer/songwriter roots,” said Shippen. “From rock to pop, to EDM and hip-hop – the amount of talent in this city is absolutely unmatched. We have orchestral composers and arrangers, well-known artists and indie bands – and the best musicians and songwriters on Earth – who call this city their home.  Bringing together that unrivaled community, sharing it with clients and bringing the highest levels of production quality for advertising, film and television is something I’m excited to bring to The Music Playground and their incredible team.”

F. Reid Shippen

Sturgill Simpson

Grammy Award winner Sturgill Simpson has announced early details for Sound & Fury, the title of both his new album arriving this fall via Elektra Records and the original Japanese anime film he created simultaneously being released by Netflix.

The first trailer for Sound & Fury, including film footage and music from the forthcoming album, was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend during a panel featuring Simpson and two of the filmmakers, writer/director Jumpei Mizusaki and character designer Takashi Okazaki. Further details—including the release date for the album and Netflix film—will be announced soon.

“We went in without any preconceived notions and came out with a really sleazy, steamy rock n roll record,” Simpson said. “It’s definitely my most psychedelic. And also my heaviest. I had this idea that it’d be really cool to animate some of these songs, and we ended up with a futuristic, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, samurai film.”

The album was produced by Simpson and marks his first, full length release since 2016’s acclaimed A Sailor’s Guide To Earth, which won Best Country Album and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 59th Grammy Awards. Merging American rock music and Japanese animation, Sound & Fury the film, is set entirely to music from the full album, with a different anime segment for each individual song.

Last month, Simpson unveiled a brand new track “The Dead Don’t Die,” the original theme song for the acclaimed film of the same name, written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.

Pictured (L-R, back row): Dennis Entertainment’s John Dennis, Tape Room’s Ashley Gorley, The Valory Music Co.’s George Briner, Dennis Entertainment’s Charly Salvatore, Big Machine Label Group’s Darielle Schroeder; (L-R, front row): Tape Room’s Kelly Bolton, Big Machine Label Group’s Carly Strickland, Avenue Beat’s Sami Bearden, Avenue Beat’s Savana Santos, Avenue Beat’s Sam Backoff, Big Machine Label Group’s Scott Borchetta, Tape Room’s Blain Rhodes

Big Machine Label Group’s Valory Music Co. has entered into a joint venture with Tape Room Records to sign trio Avenue Beat.

Quincy, Illinois natives Sami Bearden, Savana Santos and Sam Backoff have been making music together since they were 14-years-old, when childhood friends Savana and Sam met Sami at a summer theater camp. The trio ultimately formed Avenue Beat and quickly went from teaching one another how to harmonize to playing local talent shows and festivals to making trips to Nashville for writing sessions. Now, four years later, the Nashville-based Avenue Beat will release their debut self-titled EP on Friday (July 26), which was co-produced by lead singer Savana, Ashley Gorley and David Garcia.

Avenue Beat are Taco Bell enthusiasts—and even namecheck the fast food joint in an upcoming song called “Delight”—so it was only fitting that the girls asked everyone to take the official signing photo at a Nashville Taco Bell location. Between the tacos and laughter, Avenue Beat shared, “We are SO EXCITED to have such a passionate and amazing team around us. How did we get so lucky?! It’s a great environment to be in for music making. They believe in us and what we want to say and how we want to say it, and that’s literally all we could ask for!”

VMC President George Briner commented, “The talent, energy, uniqueness and passion that Sami, Savana, and Sam have is incomparable to anything else out there. Their music and harmonies are infectious. Avenue Beat is a group that everyone will soon be talking about and remembering for a long time to come.”

“I was blown away the first time I heard Avenue Beat and I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with The Valory Music Co. to introduce them to the world,” said Tape Room CEO Gorley.

Avenue Beat is managed by Dennis Entertainment in Nashville.