Sony X Seaforth

Pictured (L-R): RCA Nashville SVP, Promotion Dennis Reese; SMN SVP, Legal & Business Affairs Angie Magill; Seaforth’s Mitch Thompson; SMN Chairman & CEO Randy Goodman; Seaforth’s Tom Jordan; SMN EVP, Promotion & Artist Development Steve Hodges; SMN VP, Sales & Streaming Caryl Atwood; SMN Director, Marketing Jen Way; SMN EVP, A&R Jim Catino. Photo: Hunter Berry

Sony Music Nashville duo Seaforth debuted new songs during an industry showcase on Monday evening at Nashville’s 12th & Porter. On April 12, the Australian-born duo released their debut EP Love That. The duo’s Tom Jordan and Mitch Thompson co-wrote all four songs on the EP and co-produced the project with award-winning producer Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett). They are currently on the road with Sony label-mate Kane Brown.

Change The Conversation, Women’s Audio Mission Support Female Studio Creators

Pictured : Producer/engineer Jordan Hamlin, producer Linda Perry, producer/engineer Gena Johnson and Tracy Gershon, co-founder of Change the Conversation

More than 200 women from around the world attended a weekend audio arts conference, WAMCon Nashville, sponsored by Change the Conversation and Women’s Audio Mission.

The organization is necessary for females aiming to network and build careers in the audio space, given that less than five percent of the people creating music through various studio work are women.

WAMCon Nashville featured interactive workshops covering topics from studio recording and mixing techniques to songwriting, guided by award-winning female producers and engineers like Linda Perry (P!nk, Adele, Alicia Keys), Emily Lazar (David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Beck), Shani Gandhi (Alison Krauss, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jewel), Simone Torres (Cardi B, Sia, Dua Lipa, Usher, Sean Garrett), Gena Johnson (Brandi Carlile, Kacey Musgraves), Jordan Brooke Hamlin (Indigo Girls, Lucy Wainwright Roche), Jennifer Decilveo (Andra Day, Beth Ditto), and Melissa Peirce (Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire).

Change the Conversation founders Tracy Gershon and Beverly Keel also spoke at the event with Ann Mincieli, owner of Jungle City Studios and engineer for Alicia Keys.

“While female artists including Ariana Grande, Halsey and Lady Gaga have dominated the charts in 2019, women throughout the music industry still remain hugely underrepresented,” said WAM Executive Director Terri Winston. “Programs like WAMCon Nashville, featuring some of the country’s most talented audio engineers and music professionals, are designed to inspire and grow the next generation of successful female producers and engineers and address this disparity. Nashville is country music’s creative hub and we look forward to bringing our program to its thriving music community.”

Young Entertainment Professionals, SOLID, Belmont University Lead Discussion On Music And Mental Health

Pictured (L-R): Dave Barnes, Hayley Williams, Kelly Clague, Al Andrews, Charlie Worsham. Photo: Amy Wolff

Nashville’s Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP) partnered with Belmont University and SOLID on April 24 to host a collaborative panel discussion tackling the struggles and importance of mental health within the entertainment industry.

Shifting the stigma about mental health, panelists held open conversation to a packed-out BMI lobby including mental health expert Al Andrews, hit songwriter and artist Dave Barnes, country recording artist Charlie Worsham, EM.CO’s (Tim McGraw) Kelly Clague, and recording artist and frontwoman of Paramore, Hayley Williams.

Photo Credit: Mackenzie Baker

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real’s upcoming effort, Turn Off The News (Build A Garden), their second album for Fantasy Records, features a host of special guests and collaborators including Margo Price, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Micah Nelson, Kesha, Shooter Jennings, Randy Houser, Lucius, Madison Ryann Ward, Hunter Elizabeth and Neil Young.

Due June 14, the album was recorded at Shangri-La in Malibu and the Village Studios in West L.A. and was co-produced by Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real and John Alagia, who helmed the group’s previous effort in 2017. The band churned out the project quickly, recording 30 original songs during brief breaks between tours and tracking straight to analog tape, keeping overdubs to a minimum while focusing on the live performances.

“We wanted these songs to be fun and upbeat,” says Nelson, “but we also wanted to have something to say. Rock & roll began as a countercultural movement, so in the true spirit of rock & roll, we’re trying to encourage a lifestyle where people can be active in their local communities, rather than glued to a device. We listen to so many artists – the Byrds, Tom Petty, Al Green, Neil Young, Little Feat, J.J. Cale – and this album carries forth something they all represented, the idea of turning off the news and doing something constructive. It’s a statement about how you can live your life with your heart leading the way.”

Turn Off The News (Build A Garden) arrives on the heels of the group’s high-profile collaboration with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper on 2018’s blockbuster film and soundtrack, A Star Is Born. Lukas not only co-wrote and co-produced much of the film’s multi-platinum, Oscar-winning soundtrack, he also worked closely with Cooper in crafting the lead character’s (Jackson Maine) musical persona. And in a classic case of art imitating life, Nelson and Promise of the Real appear in the movie too, performing as Maine’s backing band just as they’ve performed with Neil Young for years. Just recently, Lukas, Gaga and Cooper won the BAFTA Award for Film Music, one of the many accolades bestowed on the acclaimed project since its release.

On May 16, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real will open for The Who at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, and the following day will headline their first-ever performance at the legendary Ryman Auditorium, which sold out in a matter of days. Upcoming tour highlights include two sold-out shows at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium, multiple gigs on the Outlaw Music Festival Tour, a return engagement at the Newport Folk Festival, domestic and international dates with Neil Young, and summer stadium shows opening for the Zac Brown Band.

• Bad Case
• Turn Off The News (Build A Garden)
• Where Does Love Go
• Save A Little Heartache
• Lotta Fun
• Civilized Hell
• Mystery
• Simple Life
• Out In LA
• Something Real
• Stars Made Of You
• Turn Off The News (Build a Garden) [Acoustic]
• Consider It Heaven

Photo credit: Justin Aharoni

Cassadee Pope is set to bring the CMT Next Women of Country tour outside of the country for the first time ever with dates across the U.K. later this month.

Pope played to sold-out crowds last weekend in New York, Boston, and Washington DC on the headlining CMT Next Women of Country Tour, and will embark on the final U.S. leg of her own tour this Thursday in Evansville, Indiana. 

She will hit several festivals on tour this summer in support of her recently-released album Stages (produced by longtime collaborator Corey Crowder), with stops at the Bayou Country Superfest, Comstock Windmill Festival, The Country Fest, Country LakeShake Festival, and Faster Horses.