Riley Green’s life has been a whirlwind of studios, writing rooms, tour buses, and radio station conference rooms since he signed with Big Machine Label Group barely 16 months ago.
He’s earned a No. 1 single with “There Was This Girl,” and released his four-song EP Get That Man A Beer last month. His follow up single, “In Love By Now,” is climbing the radio charts.
“I don’t know if it will ever really sink in, all that is going on,” he says. “I couldn’t even dream that I would have a record deal, so that was kind of a victory in itself. The other thing is, we had the number one single, and I think we put the next single out the next Monday, so it never stops, it’s just kind of wide open.”
Alabama native Green had been making regular trips to write songs in Nashville–“There Was This Girl,” written with Erik Dylan, was the result of one of those regular migrations. After an indie EP in 2017, Green found himself in a four-way bidding war among several Nashville labels, before signing with Big Machine in March 2018.
“I ended up with four different labels, Warner Brothers, Universal, Big Loud, and Big Machine,” he recalls. “They were all great. At the end of the day, a lot of it has to do with where I felt I was going to get the most attention. Big Machine came to me with ideas they loved, I really felt they were going to stick by my brand that I had already built.”
He recalled signing his deal at Joe’s Bar in Chicago. “Jimmy [Harnen] and them gave me a bottle of Crystal and we walked around the streets of Chicago. I didn’t sign that night, but we still drank the champagne.”
“In Love By Now,” is a slice of heartbreak wrapped in up-tempo ‘90s reminiscent sounds. Green penned the track alongside Marv Green, Ben Hayslip and Rhett Akins, the artist and writer behind ‘90s hit “That Ain’t My Truck,” which can still be heard on country radio.
“That guy in the song I think plays pretty well the aw shucks I lost her kind of thing. I grew up listening to that kind of country music, but also I was writing with a lot of ‘90s country guys and that doesn’t hurt at all. It just gives a different way to write a song that’s been written a lot of times, I guess.”
Green is the sole writer on another standout song on the EP, “Numbers On The Cars,” written about his great uncle’s battle with Alzheimer’s.
“I watched him kind of go from the guy who was always talking, always cutting up, to the quietest one in the room. He was the big NASCAR Fan, a big fisherman. That was one of those things I just knew he’d always be able to tell me, who drove what car and what the numbers were, who the sponsors were. So it was odd to do a song about Alzheimer’s and NASCAR I guess, but it’s cool to see how people can take it and make it about their own situation or their own family member.”
Green has seen first-hand the impact of those songs on fans over the past several weeks, as he’s been on the road opening shows for Brad Paisley.
“Going out in front of someone else’ fans is something I’ve never been able to do. His fans are more traditional country music fans and Brad’s whole team is great. That’s the one good thing about country music, is all these artists who have been doing this for 20-something years, he was where I was at one time and he gets it. Everyone helps each other out. I can say we’re not roughing it on this tour. He’s got catering and he rented out a Laser Tag and Go-Kart venue after a show in Montana. He takes good care of us, but I’m sure the pranks are coming,” he says of Paisley’s notorious tour pranks.
Given the hectic schedule of touring, and time spent in the studio working on a full album, Green hasn’t yet splurged on much to celebrate his success.
“I’ve talked myself out of a lot of things because I don’t have much time. There’s no reason to buy a big fancy truck because I wouldn’t be able to use it, I’m on a bus or a plane all the time. I will say that since I’ve had a little bit of success, I don’t mind spending money on guitars anymore. I don’t think I ever had a really nice guitar until I signed a record deal. I thought, ‘Well, I’m doing this for a living now and I can make money off of it. So now I have a little collection of like 12 or 15 guitars.”
He jokes he still has a long way to go to catch up with Paisley’s collection.
“He’s got like 15 guitars on stage at all times,” he jokes. “If I have a career like he does, I’ll get plenty of guitars.”
Blake Shelton Reaches Chart Pinnacle For 26th Time With “God’s Country”
/by Lorie HollabaughPhoto ID (L to R): Brandon Blackstock (Starstruck Entertainment); Narvel Blackstock (Starstruck Entertainment); John Esposito (Chairman & CEO, WMN); Blake Shelton; Scott Hendricks (EVP A&R, WMN)
Blake Shelton‘s latest single, “God’s Country” crowns both the Mediabase/Country Aircheck and Billboard Country Airplay charts in less than four months since its radio debut. The tune is Shelton’s 26th country radio No. 1 and earlier this year became his 16th Billboard Hot Country Songs chart-topper.
“This is such a powerful song and I’m so proud to be a part of it,” said Shelton. “When I first heard the song I thought it sounded like a remedy. Like a cure. It just sounds like a missing link in country music for the last 10 or 12 years. It feels like a combination of ‘Ole Red’ and ‘Country Boy Can Survive’ to me which definitely have a place in country music. Those songs are just rare. As long as I’ve been making music I’m still shocked and amazed at the power of a song and I’m never prepared for it.‘God’s Country’ is an anthem for anybody and everybody who’s proud of where they come from. I’m honored to have been given this song from Devin Dawson, Hardy and Jordan Schmidt who are incredible writers.”
With more than 125 million on-demand streams already, the song is the fastest country single in the past year to reach one million track equivalents.
Ashley Gorley Reclaims The No. 1 Spot On ‘MusicRow’ Top Songwriter Chart
/by LB CantrellAshley Gorley is back at No. 1 on the MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart this week, with seven charting titles. Michael Hardy moves down a slot to No. 2. Hillary Lindsey advances to No. 3, Bobby Pinson to No. 4 and Ben Burgess to No. 5.
Jon Nite rises into the Top 10, propelled by the songs: “I Hope” (Gabby Barrett), “Knockin’ Boots” (Luke Bryan) and “Living” (Dierks Bentley).
The MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart, published every week, uses algorithms based upon song activity garnered from airplay, digital downloaded track sales and streams. This unique and exclusive addition to the MusicRow portfolio is the only songwriter chart of its kind.
Click here to view the full MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart.
New Hires, Promotions At Round Hill Music
/by Jessica Nicholson(Pictured, clockwise from top left): Emily Corter, Chelsea Grim, Amanda Hruska, Mikaela Hutson, Rebecca Turner, Casey Reznik, Ben Jones
Round Hill Music has promoted five members of its administration and royalty services teams. Amanda Hruska has been promoted to Senior Director and Head of Administration – Nashville, Rebecca Turner to Senior Director and Head of Royalty Services, Casey Reznik and Chelsea Grim to Manager of Administration and Emily Corter to Senior Coordinator of Royalty Services.
Nashville GM Mark Brown commented, “I am very impressed with these team member’s great work and the growth they have exhibited since joining Round Hill. I am pleased to announce these well-deserved promotions.”
Round Hill has also hired Mikaela Hutson as Manager of Royalty Services and Ben Jones as Coordinator of Royalty Services. Hutson, a native of St. Louis, earned a B.S. in Entertainment Management from Missouri State University and an M.B.A. from Belmont University. Her previous stops include Live Nation, CRS, ClearBox Rights and Warner Music Group. Jones, a native of Pittsburgh and a graduate of Belmont University, previously worked in Publishing Administration at Bailer Music and held the title of Royalty Analyst at Universal Music Publishing Group.
Brown said, “We are lucky to have the opportunity to work with such talented and capable young people as Mikaela and Ben. They will be a valuable addition to the Round Hill team.”
Round Hill Music Nashville’s writer roster includes Ashley Gorley, Dallas Davidson, Danny Myrick, Derek Austin, Devin Guisande, Eric Arjes, Gareth Dunlop, Jimmy Robbins, Katie Pruitt, SHEL, Suzie McNeil and Wade Kirby. Through its partnership with Big Loud, Round Hill also represents Chris Tompkins, Craig Wiseman, Jamie Moore, Joey Moi, Matt Dragstrem and Rodney Clawson.
Old Dominion Sets New Album For October
/by Jessica NicholsonPhoto credit: Mason Allen
Old Dominion will release its third studio album on Oct. 25, it was announced Monday morning (July 8) on Good Morning America. The new self-titled project finds the band co-producing their album for the first time, alongside longtime collaborator Shane McAnally.
The group recently celebrated its seventh No. 1 song, “Make It Sweet,” and released a followup radio single in “One Man Band,” which has earned more than 40 million streams to date.
Old Dominion’s 2017 sophomore album, Happy Endings, debuted at No. 1 and the band is the reigning ACM Vocal Group of the Year for 2019.
In addition, Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey was recently featured on “And the Writer Is…with Ross Golan,” a songwriting podcast produced by Joe London and Ross Golan.
In Pictures: Kacey Musgraves, SESAC, John King
/by Lorie HollabaughKacey Musgraves Introduces New Country Music Hall of Fame Exhibit
Pictured (L-R): Museum Senior Editor Michael Gray and Kacey Musgraves. Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum hosted a conversation with Kacey Musgraves Saturday (July 6) that took those in the audience through the museum’s newest exhibition Kacey Musgraves: All of The Colors. The exhibit opened Tuesday, July 2 and runs through June 7, 2020.
SESAC At The Bluebird
Pictured (L-R): Eric Burgett, Justin Dukes, SESAC President and COO Kelli Turner, SESAC’s Lydia Schultz, Kelsey Lamb and Sasha McVeigh
SESAC hosted its monthly SESAC Presents Songwriter Series at the Bluebird Café on July 2, featuring affiliate songwriters Eric Burgett, Justin Dukes, Kelsey Lamb, and Sasha McVeigh.
John King Makes Opry Return
United States Copyright Office Designates Mechanical Licensing Collective
/by Jessica NicholsonThe United States Copyright Office (USCO) today designated the industry-consensus Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), created by U.S. music publishers and songwriters and backed by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), and the Songwriters of North America (SONA), as the new entity tasked with licensing and administering rights under the Music Modernization Act (MMA).
The designated MLC’s board includes chairman Alisa Coleman (ABKCO) and directors Jeff Brabec (BMG), Peter Brodsky (Sony/ATV), Bob Bruderman (Kobalt), Tim Cohan (peermusic), Scott Cutler (Pulse Music Group), Paul Kahn (Warner/Chappell Music), David Kokakis (UMPG), Mike Molinar (Big Machine Music), Evelyn Paglinawan (Concord Music), Kara DioGuardi (Songs by KDG), Oak Felder (Crow’s Tree Publishing), Kevin Kadish (We Are Made of Music), and Tim Nichols (THiS Music). Non-voting members include NMPA EVP & GC Danielle Aguirre and NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison.
NMPA President & CEO David Israelite praised the Copyright Office’s decision saying, “This has been a long, deliberative process and we are pleased with the result. The Copyright Office set a high bar and the team behind the MLC submission was transparent, thorough and representative of the entire music publishing and songwriting community. We look forward to seeing the benefits of the Music Modernization Act come to fruition. As we now move to the funding phase, it is critical that the digital services commit to supporting the MLC properly and become more transparent, starting with disclosing the amount of unmatched money currently at their companies.”
“American songwriters have looked forward to this advance in music licensing for years,” said Steve Bogard, award-winning songwriter and President of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). “The MLC creates a number of historic gains for songwriters including participation in the governance of a mechanical rights agency on both board and committee levels and being guaranteed an activity-based share of unclaimed funds. We have an opportunity now to work with streaming companies to significantly advance digital mechanical licensing efficiency and transparency.”
SONA Executive Director Michelle Lewis praised the decision saying, “SONA would like to thank Karyn Temple and the US Copyright Office for their efforts and their expertise, and we welcome the designation of the coalition-led MLC as the chosen licensing collective. SONA will remain committed to being a guardian of the MMA, which we and other stakeholders worked so hard to pass. We intend to work with this MLC to help educate all songwriters on the importance of accurate registration and to ensure that a state of the art database be built, serving all entitled parties to receive the royalties they have rightfully earned.”
Now that the consensus MLC has been selected, the group will formally begin operations. This will include the negotiation of a budget with the digital streaming services who, by law, must fund the collective. It will also include partnering with a vendor to provide administration and matching services and development of a user portal through which publishers and songwriters will be able to manage rights and royalties.
The MLC plans to move quickly on all fronts in order to fully launch in January of 2021. If a funding agreement cannot be voluntarily determined, the MLC and the digital services will go before the Copyright Royalty Board which will set the MLC’s budget through an assessment proceeding. The proposal submitted by the industry consensus MLC can be viewed here.
Breaking: Clay Hunnicutt Steps Down From Big Loud Records [Exclusive]
/by Jessica NicholsonClay Hunnicutt. Photo: Delaney Royer
Clay Hunnicutt has stepped down from his position as Big Loud Records’ President effective today, July 5, MusicRow has learned exclusively.
“I leave Big Loud knowing that we started something very special and look forward to seeing how this incredible roster of artists continue to take it to the next level. I’ll never forget the amazing memories made as I venture into future opportunities. Thank you to this team who defies the odds and makes Big Loud truly great.” Hunnicutt said.
The indie label was launched in 2015, with Hunnicutt at the helm. Big Loud Records was founded by partners Craig Wiseman, Joey Moi, Kevin “Chief” Zaruk and Seth England, and leads a roster of artists including HARDY, Chris Lane, Jake Owen, MacKenzie Porter, Mason Ramsey and Morgan Wallen.
Prior to his work at the label, Hunnicutt spent more than 15 years with iHeartMedia.
“Big Loud is grateful for our time spent with Clay (Hunnicutt) heading our Records team. He is a top-rate executive, incredible leader, and one of the hardest-working professionals we’ve ever met. Clay’s future is limitless, and we look forward to collaborating with him in the years to come. We can’t thank you enough, Clay.” Wiseman, Moi, Zaruk and England said via a statement.
Big Loud has not named a replacement for Clay at this time. Hunnicutt can be reached at clayhunnicutt615@gmail.com.
Riley Green Discusses His New EP, Radio Success, And Touring With Brad Paisley
/by Jessica NicholsonRiley Green’s life has been a whirlwind of studios, writing rooms, tour buses, and radio station conference rooms since he signed with Big Machine Label Group barely 16 months ago.
He’s earned a No. 1 single with “There Was This Girl,” and released his four-song EP Get That Man A Beer last month. His follow up single, “In Love By Now,” is climbing the radio charts.
“I don’t know if it will ever really sink in, all that is going on,” he says. “I couldn’t even dream that I would have a record deal, so that was kind of a victory in itself. The other thing is, we had the number one single, and I think we put the next single out the next Monday, so it never stops, it’s just kind of wide open.”
Alabama native Green had been making regular trips to write songs in Nashville–“There Was This Girl,” written with Erik Dylan, was the result of one of those regular migrations. After an indie EP in 2017, Green found himself in a four-way bidding war among several Nashville labels, before signing with Big Machine in March 2018.
“I ended up with four different labels, Warner Brothers, Universal, Big Loud, and Big Machine,” he recalls. “They were all great. At the end of the day, a lot of it has to do with where I felt I was going to get the most attention. Big Machine came to me with ideas they loved, I really felt they were going to stick by my brand that I had already built.”
He recalled signing his deal at Joe’s Bar in Chicago. “Jimmy [Harnen] and them gave me a bottle of Crystal and we walked around the streets of Chicago. I didn’t sign that night, but we still drank the champagne.”
“In Love By Now,” is a slice of heartbreak wrapped in up-tempo ‘90s reminiscent sounds. Green penned the track alongside Marv Green, Ben Hayslip and Rhett Akins, the artist and writer behind ‘90s hit “That Ain’t My Truck,” which can still be heard on country radio.
“That guy in the song I think plays pretty well the aw shucks I lost her kind of thing. I grew up listening to that kind of country music, but also I was writing with a lot of ‘90s country guys and that doesn’t hurt at all. It just gives a different way to write a song that’s been written a lot of times, I guess.”
Green is the sole writer on another standout song on the EP, “Numbers On The Cars,” written about his great uncle’s battle with Alzheimer’s.
“I watched him kind of go from the guy who was always talking, always cutting up, to the quietest one in the room. He was the big NASCAR Fan, a big fisherman. That was one of those things I just knew he’d always be able to tell me, who drove what car and what the numbers were, who the sponsors were. So it was odd to do a song about Alzheimer’s and NASCAR I guess, but it’s cool to see how people can take it and make it about their own situation or their own family member.”
Green has seen first-hand the impact of those songs on fans over the past several weeks, as he’s been on the road opening shows for Brad Paisley.
“Going out in front of someone else’ fans is something I’ve never been able to do. His fans are more traditional country music fans and Brad’s whole team is great. That’s the one good thing about country music, is all these artists who have been doing this for 20-something years, he was where I was at one time and he gets it. Everyone helps each other out. I can say we’re not roughing it on this tour. He’s got catering and he rented out a Laser Tag and Go-Kart venue after a show in Montana. He takes good care of us, but I’m sure the pranks are coming,” he says of Paisley’s notorious tour pranks.
Given the hectic schedule of touring, and time spent in the studio working on a full album, Green hasn’t yet splurged on much to celebrate his success.
“I’ve talked myself out of a lot of things because I don’t have much time. There’s no reason to buy a big fancy truck because I wouldn’t be able to use it, I’m on a bus or a plane all the time. I will say that since I’ve had a little bit of success, I don’t mind spending money on guitars anymore. I don’t think I ever had a really nice guitar until I signed a record deal. I thought, ‘Well, I’m doing this for a living now and I can make money off of it. So now I have a little collection of like 12 or 15 guitars.”
He jokes he still has a long way to go to catch up with Paisley’s collection.
“He’s got like 15 guitars on stage at all times,” he jokes. “If I have a career like he does, I’ll get plenty of guitars.”
Weekly Chart Report (7/5/19)
/by Alex ParryClick here or above to access MusicRow’s weekly CountryBreakout Report.
Ken Burns Pulls Back The Curtain On ‘Country Music’ [Excerpt]
/by Jessica NicholsonEight years. 101 artist interviews. Nearly 600 music cues. An in-depth study of the stories, songs and artists behind a century of country music.
On Sept. 15 the highly-anticipated eight-episode, 16-hour documentary Country Music will premiere on PBS stations, helmed by acclaimed director Ken Burns.
Burns, alongside producer/writer Dayton Duncan and producer Julie Dunfey, and a team of 15-20 researchers and filmmakers, sifted through nearly 100,000 photos (3,400 of which made it into the final series).
“I was surprised at how open people were,” Burns says. “They were going into attics, pulling out old boxes of photos and footage.”
Since the debut of 1981’s Brooklyn Bridge, Burns has built a reputation for painstakingly researched, unflinchingly authentic documentaries such as 1994’s Baseball, 2009’s The National Parks: America’s Best Ideas, and, in 2017, the harrowing 10-part, 18-hour examination of the history of the Vietnam War. He first set his scope on music with 2001’s 10-part, 19-hour series Jazz.
A friend of Burns’ suggested the idea of following the intense Vietnam War documentary with a series on country music, noting that like jazz, country music is a uniquely American art form. Burns presented the idea to Duncan, who quickly agreed. “I said, ‘Yes, as long as I can write it,’” Duncan says. “At its best, country music is filled with universal human experiences or emotions, and does what great art does.”
“We want to either be introducing people to this great American music, or for people who already like country music, we hope they will hear some stories that they weren’t familiar with,” Burns says. “For some people who might have a stereotype of what they think country music is, or a bias against it, we hope if they watch our film, they will find things that surprise them.”
Instead of relying heavily on historians, Country Music allows artists including Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Rosanne Cash and Kathy Mattea to guide viewers throughout the series.
“There are a number of artists who have important things to offer in our early episodes, where it talks about things that happened before they were alive or when they were little,” Duncan says. “Then, at a certain moment around episode, say seven or eight, they enter the story as characters in their own life.”
Burns and his team began doing interviews in fall 2012. Of the 101 artists who were interviewed throughout the making of the film, 20 percent are now deceased, including Merle Haggard, Roy Clark and Little Jimmy Dickens.
“We started by age and worked our way back,” Duncan says. “The very first interview was with Little Jimmy Dickens. The second interview we did, that same day, was Harold Bradley. Our third, which we did in Tulsa, was Roy Clark. The fourth was Wanda Jackson, who of course is still with us. We just missed getting an interview with George Jones,” he notes; the legendary entertainer and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” singer died in April 2013.
[Read more in MusicRow‘s 2019 Awards print issue, available at musicrow.com or with MusicRow subscriptions.]