CMA Fest has revealed the lineup for the popular nightly concerts at the Firestone Country Roads Stage at Ascend Amphitheater, Thursday, June 6 through Saturday, June 8, with performances starting at 6:30 p.m. CT each evening.

Firestone Country Roads Stage at Ascend Amphitheater, presented by BBR Music Group, will kick off the festivities Thursday night. Headliner Chase Rice will be joined by Jimmie Allen, Blanco Brown, Adam Craig, Lindsay Ell, Tyler Farr, King Calaway, LOCASH and Runaway June.

Brett Young will headline Firestone Country Roads Stage at Ascend Amphitheater on Friday night. Joining Young will be Bailey Bryan, Jordan Davis, Adam Hambrick, Caylee Hammack, Jillian Jacqueline and Mitchell Tenpenny.

Closing out Saturday night, fans will enjoy Firestone Country Roads Stage at Ascend Amphitheater, presented by Warner Music Nashville. Hunter Hayes and Cody Johnson will co-headline the evening, joined by Ingrid Andress, Tucker Beathard and Ashley McBryde.

“We are excited for the Ascend Amphitheater performances to return for a third straight year with a stellar lineup, and are thrilled to offer an additional nightly concert series to festival goers as well as our local Nashville fanbase during CMA Fest,” said Damon Whiteside, CMA Chief Marketing Officer. “With a portion of ticket proceeds benefiting high-quality music education initiatives across the U.S. through the CMA Foundation, the loyal fans that attend the Firestone Country Roads Stage at Ascend Amphitheater are helping to support this mission.”

“As a time-tested American brand built on durability and dependability, Firestone fits perfectly as the Official Tire of Country Music,” said Amber Holm, Vice President, Consumer and Customer Engagement, Bridgestone Americas. “Like those who drive on Firestone tires, Country Music’s inspiring artists and passionate fans understand what it means to work hard. We’re excited to give them a chance to play hard, too, by partnering with CMA Fest to offer nightly shows right here in our hometown of Nashville on the Firestone Country Roads Stage at Ascend Amphitheater.”

Outdoor daytime stages including the Budweiser Forever Country Stage, Chevy Riverfront Stage and others to be announced soon are free and open to the public. Additional stage lineups, Xfinity Fan Fair X activities and more will be announced in the coming weeks. All artist lineups are subject to change.

Tickets are required for entry, with three-day reserved tickets selling for $66, single-day reserved for $25 each night and single-day lawn selling for $10 per night, plus taxes and fees. Fan presale begins Wednesday, April 17 at 10 a.m. CT and closes Thursday, April 18 at 5 p.m. CT, with public on-sale opening Friday, April 19 at 10 a.m. CT. Tickets can be purchased at CMAfest.com or ticketmaster.com.

Marty Stuart has been named as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s 16th artist-in-residence.

Through the artist-in-residence program, the museum offers its theaters as a blank canvas for artists to curate unique shows. Stuart will produce and perform three shows at the CMA Theater, on Sept. 11, 18, and 25. He will perform alongside his Fabulous Superlatives, and will welcome friends from his nearly half-century in music.

The Sept. 11 show is titled “The Pilgrim,” and will celebrate the re-release of Stuart’s 10th studio album, The Pilgrim. Sept. 18’s concert, titled “Psychedelic Jam-Bo-Ree,” and will celebrate country music of the 1960s, including a lineup of influential artists and musicians. The Sept. 25 show, titled “Songs That Tell a Story,” will pay homage to country music’s stories with an acoustic show featuring several of Nashville’s top storytellers.

“Marty Stuart has made country music his life’s work, and I cannot imagine the music without him,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “He has preserved its history, photographed its legends and performed its music with integrity. Marty’s music reaches beyond traditional country, drawing influence from genres including Americana, southern gospel and hillbilly rock. Marty’s residency will no doubt deliver truly unique and memorable experiences.”

Cowboy Jack Clement opened the artist-in-residence series in 2003, and other past honorees include Earl Scruggs, Tom T. Hall, Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Douglas, Vince Gill, Buddy Miller, Connie Smith, Kenny Rogers, Ricky Skaggs, Alan Jackson, Rosanne Cash, Jason Isbell and 2018 artist-in-residence Miranda Lambert.

A five-time Grammy winner, platinum artist and recipient of numerous industry accolades including the Country Music Association’s prestigious Joe Talbot Award, Stuart began his musical career at age 12, when he joined the Sullivan Family Gospel Singers. After stints with bluegrass great Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass and Johnny Cash’s backing band, he embarked on a solo career that resulted in hits including “Hillbilly Rock” and “Tempted.” Stuart has also enjoyed a successful collaboration with Travis Tritt as “No Hats” touring partners and hit-makers (“The Whiskey Ain’t Workin”).

In addition to Flatt, Cash and Tritt, Stuart has worked onstage or in the studio with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Charley Pride, Mavis Staples, Porter Wagoner and hundreds of others. In the early 2000s, Stuart formed the aptly named Fabulous Superlatives, a band whose musical skills and sensibilities outshine the vibrancy of their Western suits. The Fabulous Superlatives issued their latest album, the critically acclaimed Way Out West, in 2017. The band includes guitar great Kenny Vaughan, famed drummer Harry Stinson and preternaturally talented multi-instrumentalist Chris Scruggs.

According to Stuart, “The ultimate destination in the world of country music is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The Hall of Fame is our greatest treasure chest and a place that represents the heart and soul of our culture. Some of my most cherished memories are of events I’ve either witnessed or performed in at the Hall of Fame. It’s an honor to be the artist-in-residence this September. Hopefully, at the end of the run, the past, present and the future of country music will have been touched upon, leaving in its wake three nights of magic to be remembered at the Hall of Fame.”

Tickets for all three shows go on sale to the public Friday, April 19, 2019, at 10 a.m. ET, and can be purchased through cmatheater.com. Tickets for each show range from $39.50 to $85.50 (plus ticketing fees). Sales are limited to four tickets per transaction on a first-come, first-served basis, and are non-refundable. Shows begin at 8 p.m.

Artist service provider CD Baby is partnering with Audible Magic, which offers digital content identification, licensing, and monetization, to increase content protection for artists and labels. As part of the partnership, CD Baby will use Audible Magic’s RightsRx service to identify content rights conflict prior to delivery to a Digital Service Provider (DSP).

“Audible Magic is an essential element that enables us to play our role in the music business,” said CD Baby VP of Marketing, Kevin Breuner. “Their powerful identification technology allows us to serve our artists—and the platforms and services they rely on—quickly and fairly.”

When a user requests to upload files, RightsRx allows CD Baby to check Audible Magic’s registry of over 30 million media assets. RightsRx then indicates if the file is a duplicate of another audio track in the system, or if it is a potentially suspicious file. CD Baby can proactively decline to upload the file in question, rather than reactively taking it down at a later time due to a potentially costly rights conflict. In the vast majority of cases, however, files will upload seamlessly and be ready for distribution.

“CD Baby plays a vital role in the independent music community. We look forward to supporting their ongoing efforts to provide the highest quality of service to their artists and maintain strong relationships with the DSPs,” said Vance Ikezoye, President and CEO at Audible Magic.

“We’re doing everything in our power to provide digital partners with data and assets that boost our artists. We want to create the best experience via these partnerships,” said MJ Woodis, CD Baby’s Director of Digital Operations, who leads a 19-person team that addresses this challenge. “We work closely with DSPs, and it’s often more of a conversation, not just rules laid down. The heart of the matter is not to restrict as we get them music and data, and to enable search and other discovery methods to help our artists. It’s a growing process.”

Curb Records Matches Taylor Swift’s Donation To The Tennessee Equality Project

Curb Records has made a donation to the Tennessee Equality Project, which is working to stop state lawmakers from passing legislation that would allow private adoption agencies to raise religious and moral objections over prospective parents, as well as legislation that prevents state and local agencies from taking action against a business based on its internal policies.

Curb Records is matching Taylor Swift’s donation of $113,000 to TEP.

Curb Records founder Mike Curb said in a statement: “As a former elected official, a Republican and a Christian, and as founder and Chairman of Curb Records and the Curb Foundation, I cannot believe that our legislators would put our brand new Governor in a position to have to consider potentially discriminatory legislation that could involve taxpayer funds.

“During my lifetime America has been rebuilt by public-private sector partnerships and I’ve been fortunate to have been involved in many of these projects across the country. I’d like to be able to do future projects in Tennessee, and I believe that there are many other individuals and organizations in the entertainment industry and other businesses who will join us in reconsidering whether we can make new investments and contributions in Tennessee if these discriminatory measures go forward.”

 

Brandon Will Aligns With BMI

Two years after making Nashville his home, singer-songwriter Brandon Will has signed with BMI.

“I got to know Brandon because he writes and plays with Essex County (formerly The Bass Brothers). I’m really excited to sign this impressive talent. Welcome to the BMI family!” says BMI Sr. Director, Creative David Preston.

 

Nashville’s W.O. Smith Music School Launches The Smitty Corporate Band Challenge

Nashville’s W.O. Smith Music School has begun accepting entries for the inaugural Smitty Corporate Band Challenge, a competition to determine which Nashville businesses have the most musically talented group of executives and employees.

The deadline for submitting band entries is June 30. The first round of bands will compete on Aug. 12; the second round of bands will compete Aug. 13, and the finals (including the top three highest-scoring bands) compete Aug. 20. All performances will take place at W.O. Smith Music School in Nashville. Fifty percent of each band must be made of employees from the company entering the competition.

A panel of four music industry professionals and one celebrity will determine which bands move through the two rounds of preliminary competition, and a second set of judges will be used for the finals.

Tickets will be sold for every round of competition with all proceeds benefitting the school’s mission of providing affordable music lessons to children. A ticket on-sale date will be announced soon. Event sponsors include City National Bank and Enterprise Solutions. For more, visit wosmith.org/smittychallenge.