The Academy of Country Music has announced staff promotions in several departments, including staffers Melissa Moldovan, Tommy Moore, Taylor Payne and Maddy Stessman. Positions are based out of the Academy’s headquarters in Encino, CA.

A Chicago native, Moldovan has been promoted to Manager, Marketing. Moldovan joined the Academy fresh off a four-year stint at the nationally syndicated radio show The Big Time with Whitney Allen, where she worked as an assistant producer and fill-in co-host while simultaneously developing the show’s social media marketing strategy. Her work there ultimately lead to the creation of a social media staff position, which Moldovan undertook in addition to her other roles before moving to the Academy’s marketing team in 2015. In her expanded role, Moldovan will execute all Academy radio promotions and lead on Academy press materials, overseeing ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp publicity, and more. She reports to Brooke Primero, Senior Vice President, Marketing.

Moore has been promoted to Director, Administration & Operations. Atlanta-born and Chicago-raised, Moore attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, where he graduated with a degree in Broadcasting and Electronic Communications. Moore interned and then was hired on at WMIL-FM country radio in Milwaukee in in 2009, before moving to Los Angeles to join the Academy in 2011. In his current role as Director, Administration and Operations, he directs the overall administration of the ACM office with focus on operations, ticketing, Board of Directors communication, aspects of the professional membership, and is currently the interim manager of ACM Lifting Lives. He serves as the Secretary of both the ACM Board of Directors as well as the ACM Lifting Lives Board of Directors. Moore is a SOLID alumnus, class of 2013.

Payne has been promoted to Manager, Creative & Content. Payne began her career as an intern for ACM Lifting Lives in 2014, and continued as full-time as an assistant in the Creative & Content and Marketing departments. In her new role as Manager, Payne will handle day-to-day management of the Academy’s websites, photo archives, social assets and A-List eblasts among other duties. She serves as a field producer for the Academy’s in-house video content and a contributing writer for ACM Tempo. A California native, Payne attended UCLA where she majored in communication studies and minored in Spanish. She reports to Lisa Lee, Senior Vice President, Creative & Content.

Stessman has been promoted to Coordinator, Events. Originally from Petaluma, CA, Stessman spent four years on the East Coast where she studied broadcast and digital journalism at Syracuse University, keeping busy with internships at NBC’s Affiliate Marketing Department, The Meredith Vieira Show and The TODAY Show, as well as the Academy of Country Music, where she supported the Events team for the Academy’s historic 50th Anniversary in Texas. Although newly-transplanted to Los Angeles, Stessman commutes to the Bay Area for all Oakland Raiders home games to work with their game-day corporate partnerships team. Maddy reports to Erick Long, Senior Vice President, Events.

Chris Stapleton‘s long-awaited From A Room: Vol. 2 has debuted atop Nielsen Soundscan’s Country Albums rankings, with 125K in total consumption during its first week out. Stapleton holds three of the Top 5 album spots on the country albums chart this week, with From A Room: Vol. 1 at No. 3, with 19K this week, and Stapleton’s 2015 effort, Traveller, at No. 4 with 18K. On the Americana albums chart, Stapleton holds the top 3 slots, with From A Room: Vol. 2 in the top spot, followed by From A Room: Vol. 1, and Traveller.

Garth Brooks, who recently launched the first of seven shows in Nashville that will close out his current world tour in North America, is at No. 2 this week with Anthology moving 40K, following last week’s turn at No. 1, with 57K.

Blake Shelton‘s Texoma Shore rounds out the Top 5 with 16K, down from No. 3 last week.

Other debuts this week include Danielle Bradbery‘s I Don’t Believe We’ve Met, which lands at No. 6 on the country albums chart with 15K.

Bebe Rexha (feat. Florida Georgia Line) retains the No. 1 country digital song this week, with “Meant To Be” moving 26K. LANCO‘s previous No. 1, “Greatest Love Story” is at No. 2 this week, with 13K, followed by Thomas Rhett‘s “Marry Me” at No. 3, with 12K. Stapleton’s “Broken Halos” is at No. 4 with 11K, while Kane Brown (feat. Lauren Alaina) is at No. 5 with “What Ifs” moving 9.1K this week.

This week’s top digital debut comes from Luke Bryan, who released his latest album, What Makes You Country, on Friday (Dec. 8). “Out Of Nowhere Girl” debuted at No. 19 country, with 6.1K.

Information courtesy of Nielsen Soundscan.

My Morning Jacket has signed with WME for exclusive representation in all areas including music, film, television, books, and endorsements.

My Morning Jacket released the first of six albums in 1999 with their last two, 2008’s Evil Urges and 2011’s Circuital each receiving Grammy nominations and the latter debuting at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart.  In March, the quintet will host its 4th annual One Big Holiday, a four-day destination event for My Morning Jacket fans that will take place at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in the Dominican Republic. The vacation event will feature performances from Portugal. The Man, Nathanial Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Spoon and many others.

The band continues to be managed by Red Light Management.

 

Over this past weekend, the Hutton Hotel on West End Avenue offered a Grand Opening party for Nashville’s latest music venue.

Dubbed Analog, the entertainment venue has a 300-person capacity and state-of-the-art sound, video and lighting systems. The club’s main floor contains couches and other lounge furniture, a low stage/bandstand and a substantial black-and-chrome bar.

The main floor is flanked by two balcony areas containing private banquettes, overlooks, lounge seating and full-service bars. The décor is moderne deco with ethnic accents. The central wall sports a large, colorful, geometric mural. Music posters decorate the lobby. The Hutton’s parking garage has direct access to the nightspot, which keeps it separate from the boutique hotel’s other functions.

At a Thursday night grand opening party, Dec. 7, music was provided by ATO and Capitol recording artist Allen Stone. The singer-songwriter and his band performed a set of rocking, blue-eyed soul sounds.

The Hutton also unveiled writer’s rooms designed for traveling musicians by singer-songwriters Dierks Bentley and Ryan Tedder. Attending the grand opening party were producer/engineer and Sugar Hill Records executive Gary Paczosa, WRLT music director and DJ Rev. Keith Coes, publishing executive Patrick Clifford, photographer Rick Diamond, publicist Lucy Ballantyne and Premiere Radio Network VP Rick Murray.