The SOURCE Hall of Fame Awards will celebrate 15 years in 2017 with a sold-out show slated for Tuesday, Aug. 22 at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum at the Historic Municipal Auditorium. Over the past 15 years, 103 women have been inducted into the SOURCE Hall of Fame.
This year, the organization will add seven more accomplished businesswomen to that exclusive list.
Lula C. Naff, who served as manager Ryman Auditorium for more than 50 years, will be inducted posthumously into the SOURCE Hall of Fame, with Sally Williams accepting on her behalf. The Ryman Auditorium celebrates its 125th year in operation this year.
Fittingly, the Bluebird Café’s founder Amy Kurland will be inducted this year, coinciding with the Bluebird Café’s 35th anniversary.
Other 2017 inductees include Bonnie Sugarman (APA), Joyce Rice (First American National Bank, BMI), Judith Newby (Top Billing, J.P. Newby Management, Tapped Into), Martha Moore (WLAC Radio, MCA/ABC Records, PolyGram Records, So Much MOORE Media), and Susan Turner (Capitol Records, RCA Records, Moress/Nanas/Peay Management Co., Shindler/Turner Promotions, Turner & Associates).
SOURCE launched as a nonprofit organization in 1991, with the aim of fostering professional relationships and career opportunities for its members.
In 2003, spurred by SOURCE member Kay Smith’s idea to honor women who tirelessly dedicated their careers to the music industry, Smith along with Sheila Shipley Biddy, Judy Harris, and Pat Rolfe launched the SOURCE Foundation Awards, which would later be called the SOURCE Hall of Fame Awards.
SOURCE Awards 2016
“When I began my career in the music industry in 1966, almost all of the publishing companies had a two person office: the boss and the secretary,” Rolfe recalls. “The boss always had a salary that vastly overshadowed what the secretary earned, even though most companies would have folded without the behind the scenes women who made the company function. Commerce Union bank used to host a luncheon for all of the “secretaries” on the row and I will always remember how much all of us appreciated that kind of recognition, because that was all the recognition we had to look forward to.”
Smith, who began her career in the music industry in 1972, joined SOURCE as a member in 1992.
“Over the years, I worked with and got to know many incredible women and as the years went by, many of my associates retired. I thought about all of their contributions to the entertainment industry,” Smith says. “Unlike artists, songwriters and executives that received accolades and awards, these women who dedicated their lives to the companies they worked for retired quietly and were rarely thanked or publicly acknowledged. They had nothing tangible to show for their many years spent in the entertainment industry helping others attain their goals, accolades and awards.”
Pictured (L-R): Ruth White, Francis Preston, Michael Bolton. Photo: SOURCE
Smith contacted then-SOURCE president Rolfe with an idea to honor and acknowledge women who worked in the entertainment industry. After Smith presented her proposal to the SOURCE Board in March 2003, the first SOURCE Foundation Awards was held in October 2003.
“To date, we’ve honored 103 women who’ve taught, inspired and positioned us all to succeed,” Shipley Biddy says. “Some have broken the glass ceiling while others did the work behind the scenes with very little recognition but they changed the destiny of many. This award is so important to each and every woman who is acknowledged because it is voted on by a peer committee within our industry. I congratulate this years’ inductees on the recognition of their contributions to an industry they have served so well.”
A few of the many artists who have acknowledged and praised the accomplishments of the SOURCE Hall of Fame inductees have included Michael Bolton, Vince Gill, Dierks Bentley and more.
SOURCE Foundation Awards 2009. Pictured (standing, L-R): Kay Smith, Pat Rolfe, Judy Harris, Lamb, Teena Camp, McCoy, Neese, Linda Chambers and Judi Turner. Seated: Margaret Parker and Karen Conrad.
Two well-known SOURCE Hall of Fame honorees, Brenda Lee and Jeannie Seely, have also served as hostesses for the awards ceremony over the years.
“Being a woman in the industry I know what it’s like to compete in a world that sometimes, especially in the past, is not that female friendly,” Lee says. “My mother in law always said, ‘If you want to get something done get a woman to do it.’ That is what SOURCE means to me. Women helping women. I have been involved with SOURCE from its creation through my good friend Kay Smith. The Source Hall of Fame awards ceremony is one of my favorite events of the year. I am humbled to be invited back year after year.”
“These inductions are hard won and well deserved and it has been an honor and a joy for me to share in this wonderful event,” Seely says. “Hats off to the founders of Source for finally bringing recognition to women who have been overlooked and under appreciated for too long.”
SOURCE Hall of Fame Members
Class of 2003: Lorene Allen, Mary Bridges Lynch Jarvis, Joyce Bush, Maggie Cavender, Harrianne Condra, Mary Irene Flowers Stanton, Cecile Light, Charlotte Loather, Emily Mitchell, Polly Roper Edenton
Class of 2004: Patsy Bradley, Janet S. Butler, Dollie Dearman Denny, Loudilla, Loretta & Kay Johnson, Mary Claire Rhodes, Marie Ratliff, Jean Stromatt, Emily Bradshaw Weiland
Class of 2005: Ruby Bradley Strange (posthumously), Peggy Bradley (posthumously), Dean May, Dianne Petty, Judy Roberts, Louise Scruggs, Peggy Sherrill, Marijohn Wilkin
Class of 2006: Brenda Lee (Jo Walker Meador Lifetime Achievement Award), Carolyn Sells, Peggy Motley, Anita Kerr, Cora Lee “Corky” Wilson, Jane Grams, Mae Boren Axton (posthumously), Hatty Louise “Tootsie” Bess (posthumously)
Class of 2007: Mary Martin, Hope Powell, Jan Ray Suk, Maggie Carter Ward, Trish Williams Warren, and Felice Bryant (posthumously)
Class of 2008: Lucy Coldsnow Smith, Rose Drake, Helen Farmer, Hazel Smith, Virginia Team, Reba Cash Hancock (posthumous)
Class of 2009: Joyce Jackson, Peggy Lamb, Pat McCoy, Sandy Neese, Margaret Parker, Marion Keisker MacInnes (posthumous)
Class of 2010: Celia Froehlig, Carol Phillips, Sherytha Scaife, Liz Thiels, Ruth White
Class of 2011: Roberta Edging, Millie Kirkham, Barbara Orbison, Evelyn Shriver, Georgia Twitty Chellman (posthumous), Janice Erickson Wendell
Class of 2012: Connie Bradley, Judy Harris, Judy Wray, Karen Conrad, Kay Smith, Pat Rolfe, Shelia Shipley Biddy
Class of 2013: Bebe Evans, Bonnie Garner, Debu Fleischer-Robin, Donna Hilley, Gerrie McDowell, Paula Szeigis, Sarah Trahern
Class of 2014: Areeda Schneider-Stampley, Audrey Winters, Betty Clark, Dometra Bowers, Katie Gillon, Kitty Moon Emery, Mary Ann McCready, Patsi Bale Cox
Class of 2015: Cindy Mabe, Gayle Holcomb, Mary Del Scobey, Nancy Shapiro, Phyllis Deen Hill, Sally Williams
Class of 2016: Alison Booth, Tammy Brown, Diane Cash, Nancy Jones, Callie Khouri, Gail Pollock (posthumous)
Class of 2017: Amy Kurland, Bonnie Sugarman, Joyce Rice, Judith Newby, Martha Moore, Susan Turner, Lula Naff (posthumous)
Olivia Rudeen Signs With Deluge Music
/by Lorie HollabaughPictured (L-R): Mark Friedman (President Deluge Music) Olivia Rudeen and
Emily Dryburgh (Deluge Music Creative Manager)
Singer/songwriter Olivia Rudeen has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Deluge Music.
Rudeen grew up in Colorado and moved to Nashville in 2013. She has had songs featured in several TV shows, including Nashville.
“When I heard her songs I had the same feeling I did back in 2008 when I heard Brandy Clark for the first time! Olivia is multi talented and one to watch for sure!” says President Of Deluge Music Mark Friedman.
CMA’s Jo Walker-Meador Passes
/by Robert K OermannJo Walker-Meador
By Robert K. Oermann
Country Music Hall of Fame member Jo Walker-Meador passed away on Tuesday evening (Aug. 15), following a stroke. She was 93.
Her grace and guidance as the 30-year executive director of the Country Music Association (CMA) served as a role model for a generation of women in the Nashville music business. Furthermore, she piloted the CMA from its struggling infancy to becoming a powerful force in America’s music industry.
There were fewer than 100 full-time country radio stations when she was hired by the CMA in 1958. By the time she retired, there were in excess of 2,000, more than any other music format. Under her leadership, the CMA built a Country Music Hall of Fame, launched the CMA Music Festival and inaugurated annual the CMA Awards telecast.
She was born Edith Josephine Denning in Orlinda, TN and initially had the career goal of becoming an English teacher and/or a women’s basketball coach. After college, she married WKDA radio executive Charles F. “Smokey” Walker in 1954.
She worked as a secretary in a gubernatorial political campaign, for the Nashville movie-theater chain Crescent Amusements and at a variety of other businesses before she took the job as office manager for the then-new CMA in late 1958.
The organization had been born out of the ashes of the Country Music Disc Jockey Association, founded in 1953. WSM radio’s Harry Stone was the first executive director, but the organization couldn’t afford to pay him.
Jo Walker-Meador was hired as the “girl Friday,” the executive assistant who did bookkeeping, typing and general office-running work. In 1959, she organized a CMA banquet, which eventually was spun off into a number of annual events presented by the organization.
Former CMA CEO Jo Walker Meador and CMA CEO Sarah Trahern at the 2016 Medallion Ceremony at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Sunday, Oct.17, 2016.
After Stone left in 1959, Minnie Pearl exhorted the CMA board to hire Jo as executive director because she was already essentially doing the job. Jo later ruefully recalled that she was hired because no man would work for so low a salary.
She officially assumed the paid executive-director job in 1962. Then came an aggressive campaign to convince radio stations that they should adopt the country format. Her diplomacy background in politics served her well as she navigated through a music business she initially knew little about.
The first Country Music Hall of Fame inductees were announced in 1961 – Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers and Fred Rose. This became the organization’s first annual ritual. In 1966, the CMA successfully marketed an all-star album of country music’s biggest hits to raise funds for a Hall of Fame building. It was sold via TV, and was one of the first telemarketing music successes. The Hall of Fame building opened on Music Row on April 1, 1967. That fall, Smokey Walker passed away, making his widow the primary breadwinner for her family. Also in 1967, the CMA began a second annual ritual, the presentation of the CMA Awards.
Jo Walker-Meador and leaders on the CMA board went to ad agencies and network television to convince them that their ceremony was worth becoming a TV special. In 1968, the CMA Awards became the first music honors presented on national television. It has been a ratings blockbuster ever since.
The annual Grand Ole Opry Birthday celebration began in 1952. It evolved into the Country Disc Jockey Convention, rebranded in 1969 as Country Radio Seminar. Organizers were concerned that country fans were showing up to this industry event to star gaze. In response, Jo Walker-Meador and her CMA founded Fan Fair in 1972.
Initially held at Municipal Auditorium, it attracted little attention that first year. To boost the crowd, Jo reached out to the Fort Campbell army base with free passes. Thanks to the soldiers who came, attendance at that first Fan Fair was roughly 5,000.
She married Nashville businessman Bob Meador in 1981. The CMA’s annual fan celebration moved to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in 1982. By the time it moved to downtown Nashville in 2001, it was attracting 25,000 annually. Now known as the CMA Music Festival, it has more than 88,000 participants. It became a network TV special in 2004. Jo Walker-Meador attended every year, including in 2016.
There were only 200 members of the CMA when it was born. Under Jo’s leadership, membership swelled to more than 7,000 and the CMA became known as “the world’s most active trade association.” Although she retired from the CMA in 1991, Jo Walker-Meador continued to make appearances at Nashville music-industry events.
She was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1995 and was present for every successive Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony for other inductees. Jo Walker-Meador was given the Cecil Scaife Visionary Award in 2013. Husband Bob Meador accompanied her when she was presented with a star in the Music City Walk of Fame in 2008. He died in early 2015.
Jo Walker-Meador is survived by her brother Pete Denning, daughter Michelle Walker, stepchildren Karen Meador and Rob Meador.
Carrie Underwood, Sam Hunt Take Home Teen Choice Honors
/by Jessica NicholsonTwo country artists took home honors from the recent Teen Choice Awards when it aired Sunday (Aug. 13) from the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Carrie Underwood earned Choice Country Artist, while Sam Hunt‘s “Body Like A Back Road” earned Choice Country Song.
The honor marks Underwood’s sixth Teen Choice Award, including her third consecutive as Choice Country Artist. Underwood was also nominated in the Choice Country Song category this year, as part of “The Fighter” with Keith Urban.
This marks Hunt’s first Teen Choice Award. He was also nominated for Choice Country Artist, Choice Summer Tour, and Choice Song: Male Artist (for “Body Like A Back Road”) this year.
Additionally, The Voice, which stars Warner Music Nashville artist Blake Shelton, won the Choice Reality TV Show honor.
CMA Music Festival 2017 Brings In $57.7 Million In Direct Visitor Spending, Down Slightly From 2016
/by Jessica NicholsonLast year brought a daily attendance of 88,500 fans. Daily attendance totals for 2017 was not available at press time.
The number of visitors attending decreased from 85 percent in 2016 to 80 percent in 2017, as the number of Nashville locals attending increased to 20 percent of total attendees. The number of international visitors to CMA Music Festival remained approximately the same as past years, at 11.2 percent of total attendees.
The event saw an increase in attendance for millennials (25.8 percent in 2017 vs. 21.2 percent in 2016) and families (12.6 percent in 2017 vs. 8.8 percent in 2016).
New features this year included the free Cracker Barrel Country Roads Stage at Ascend Amphitheater and the Budweiser “Forever Country” Park Stage, as well as the VIP Nash Pass, all providing more activations for both locals and visitors to enjoy.
“It was a historic and exciting year for all of us in Nashville as all eyes were on our city with CMA Music Festival and the Stanley Cup Finals, both with a national TV audience,” said CMA CEO Sarah Trahern. “CMA Music Festival has long welcomed fans from around the globe, and much of their interest in visiting, and desire to return, is due in part to the generous hospitality that our neighbors, those that call Nashville home, extend to our visiting fans. We are glad that more people from our community participated as well.”
The three-hour ABC Television Network special CMA Fest, co-hosted by Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini, airs Wednesday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. CT, bringing even more global marketing exposure to Nashville.
Music City Roots Presents Dylan, Cash And The Nashville Cats Show
/by Lorie HollabaughTickets are $15 for reserved seats or $10 for general admission and can be purchased at musiccityroots.com or at the door. The first 50 people to arrive at the concert will receive an exhibit book for Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats, and every ticket buyer will receive a coupon for $3 off museum adult general admission.
Legendary “Nashville Cat” Lloyd Green and veteran West Coast session musician Jay Dee Maness, who both played pedal steel guitar on the Byrds’ 1968 classic album Sweetheart of the Rodeo, will perform instrumental versions of songs from that album. They will be accompanied by an ace band that includes bassist Dennis Crouch, drummer John Gardner, and guitarists Russ Pahl and Al Perkins. Tracy Nelson will perform songs that she originally recorded in San Francisco and Nashville in the late 1960s while fronting Mother Earth. Charlie Worsham will pay tribute to some of his musical heroes who are featured in the exhibit, and Jon Randall and friends will also perform on the special show.
The concert will be live-streamed at musiccityroots.com/livestream. The exhibition Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City runs through Feb. 18, 2018.
Scotty McCreery Signs with Triple Tigers Records
/by Alex ParryPictured (Top row, L-R): Nate Towne (WME), David Boyer (FBMM), Scott Stem (Triple 8), David Crow (MHCRK), George Couri (Triple 8/ Triple Tigers), Nancy Quinn (Thirty Tigers), Kevin Herring (Triple Tigers). (Bottom row, L-R): Norbert Nix (Triple Tigers), Scotty McCreery, David Macias (Thirty Tigers/ Triple Tigers)
Triple Tigers Records announced today (Aug. 15) that the record label has signed Scotty McCreery to its roster.
“We are very proud to represent Scotty McCreery,” said Triple Tigers Records General Manager Norbert Nix. “He is an absolute pro and an artist of great integrity. We were blown away when we heard “Five More Minutes” and are looking forward to representing Scotty’s new music to his millions of fans.”
“I’m very excited to become part of the Triple Tigers/Sony Music Entertainment family,” said McCreery. “They believe in me and my music, they work hard, and for being a brand new company, they are already succeeding. I am fired up to see what we can achieve together.”
The ACM, BMI and CMT Award winner is currently rising up the charts with his emotional single, “Five More Minutes,” which has already earned more than 15 million streams. The song is currently #40 on the Billboard Country Airplay Chart, #46 on the Country Aircheck/Mediabase Chart, and #58 on the MusicRow CountryBreakout chart. In its first week of release, it sold more than 22,000 paid downloads and earned the No. 6 spot on the Billboard Country Digital Sales Chart, his highest ranking on that chart since his debut single in 2011.
“Five More Minutes” was released independently without a record label; instead it has been entirely marketed and promoted by McCreery and his Triple 8 Management team.
McCreery is managed by Triple 8 Management and booked by WME Entertainment.
SOURCE Hall Of Fame Awards Celebrate 15 Years, Sold-Out 2017 Show
/by Jessica NicholsonThe SOURCE Hall of Fame Awards will celebrate 15 years in 2017 with a sold-out show slated for Tuesday, Aug. 22 at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum at the Historic Municipal Auditorium. Over the past 15 years, 103 women have been inducted into the SOURCE Hall of Fame.
This year, the organization will add seven more accomplished businesswomen to that exclusive list.
Lula C. Naff, who served as manager Ryman Auditorium for more than 50 years, will be inducted posthumously into the SOURCE Hall of Fame, with Sally Williams accepting on her behalf. The Ryman Auditorium celebrates its 125th year in operation this year.
Fittingly, the Bluebird Café’s founder Amy Kurland will be inducted this year, coinciding with the Bluebird Café’s 35th anniversary.
Other 2017 inductees include Bonnie Sugarman (APA), Joyce Rice (First American National Bank, BMI), Judith Newby (Top Billing, J.P. Newby Management, Tapped Into), Martha Moore (WLAC Radio, MCA/ABC Records, PolyGram Records, So Much MOORE Media), and Susan Turner (Capitol Records, RCA Records, Moress/Nanas/Peay Management Co., Shindler/Turner Promotions, Turner & Associates).
SOURCE launched as a nonprofit organization in 1991, with the aim of fostering professional relationships and career opportunities for its members.
In 2003, spurred by SOURCE member Kay Smith’s idea to honor women who tirelessly dedicated their careers to the music industry, Smith along with Sheila Shipley Biddy, Judy Harris, and Pat Rolfe launched the SOURCE Foundation Awards, which would later be called the SOURCE Hall of Fame Awards.
SOURCE Awards 2016
“When I began my career in the music industry in 1966, almost all of the publishing companies had a two person office: the boss and the secretary,” Rolfe recalls. “The boss always had a salary that vastly overshadowed what the secretary earned, even though most companies would have folded without the behind the scenes women who made the company function. Commerce Union bank used to host a luncheon for all of the “secretaries” on the row and I will always remember how much all of us appreciated that kind of recognition, because that was all the recognition we had to look forward to.”
Smith, who began her career in the music industry in 1972, joined SOURCE as a member in 1992.
“Over the years, I worked with and got to know many incredible women and as the years went by, many of my associates retired. I thought about all of their contributions to the entertainment industry,” Smith says. “Unlike artists, songwriters and executives that received accolades and awards, these women who dedicated their lives to the companies they worked for retired quietly and were rarely thanked or publicly acknowledged. They had nothing tangible to show for their many years spent in the entertainment industry helping others attain their goals, accolades and awards.”
Pictured (L-R): Ruth White, Francis Preston, Michael Bolton. Photo: SOURCE
Smith contacted then-SOURCE president Rolfe with an idea to honor and acknowledge women who worked in the entertainment industry. After Smith presented her proposal to the SOURCE Board in March 2003, the first SOURCE Foundation Awards was held in October 2003.
“To date, we’ve honored 103 women who’ve taught, inspired and positioned us all to succeed,” Shipley Biddy says. “Some have broken the glass ceiling while others did the work behind the scenes with very little recognition but they changed the destiny of many. This award is so important to each and every woman who is acknowledged because it is voted on by a peer committee within our industry. I congratulate this years’ inductees on the recognition of their contributions to an industry they have served so well.”
A few of the many artists who have acknowledged and praised the accomplishments of the SOURCE Hall of Fame inductees have included Michael Bolton, Vince Gill, Dierks Bentley and more.
SOURCE Foundation Awards 2009. Pictured (standing, L-R): Kay Smith, Pat Rolfe, Judy Harris, Lamb, Teena Camp, McCoy, Neese, Linda Chambers and Judi Turner. Seated: Margaret Parker and Karen Conrad.
Two well-known SOURCE Hall of Fame honorees, Brenda Lee and Jeannie Seely, have also served as hostesses for the awards ceremony over the years.
“Being a woman in the industry I know what it’s like to compete in a world that sometimes, especially in the past, is not that female friendly,” Lee says. “My mother in law always said, ‘If you want to get something done get a woman to do it.’ That is what SOURCE means to me. Women helping women. I have been involved with SOURCE from its creation through my good friend Kay Smith. The Source Hall of Fame awards ceremony is one of my favorite events of the year. I am humbled to be invited back year after year.”
“These inductions are hard won and well deserved and it has been an honor and a joy for me to share in this wonderful event,” Seely says. “Hats off to the founders of Source for finally bringing recognition to women who have been overlooked and under appreciated for too long.”
SOURCE Hall of Fame Members
Class of 2003: Lorene Allen, Mary Bridges Lynch Jarvis, Joyce Bush, Maggie Cavender, Harrianne Condra, Mary Irene Flowers Stanton, Cecile Light, Charlotte Loather, Emily Mitchell, Polly Roper Edenton
Class of 2004: Patsy Bradley, Janet S. Butler, Dollie Dearman Denny, Loudilla, Loretta & Kay Johnson, Mary Claire Rhodes, Marie Ratliff, Jean Stromatt, Emily Bradshaw Weiland
Class of 2005: Ruby Bradley Strange (posthumously), Peggy Bradley (posthumously), Dean May, Dianne Petty, Judy Roberts, Louise Scruggs, Peggy Sherrill, Marijohn Wilkin
Class of 2006: Brenda Lee (Jo Walker Meador Lifetime Achievement Award), Carolyn Sells, Peggy Motley, Anita Kerr, Cora Lee “Corky” Wilson, Jane Grams, Mae Boren Axton (posthumously), Hatty Louise “Tootsie” Bess (posthumously)
Class of 2007: Mary Martin, Hope Powell, Jan Ray Suk, Maggie Carter Ward, Trish Williams Warren, and Felice Bryant (posthumously)
Class of 2008: Lucy Coldsnow Smith, Rose Drake, Helen Farmer, Hazel Smith, Virginia Team, Reba Cash Hancock (posthumous)
Class of 2009: Joyce Jackson, Peggy Lamb, Pat McCoy, Sandy Neese, Margaret Parker, Marion Keisker MacInnes (posthumous)
Class of 2010: Celia Froehlig, Carol Phillips, Sherytha Scaife, Liz Thiels, Ruth White
Class of 2011: Roberta Edging, Millie Kirkham, Barbara Orbison, Evelyn Shriver, Georgia Twitty Chellman (posthumous), Janice Erickson Wendell
Class of 2012: Connie Bradley, Judy Harris, Judy Wray, Karen Conrad, Kay Smith, Pat Rolfe, Shelia Shipley Biddy
Class of 2013: Bebe Evans, Bonnie Garner, Debu Fleischer-Robin, Donna Hilley, Gerrie McDowell, Paula Szeigis, Sarah Trahern
Class of 2014: Areeda Schneider-Stampley, Audrey Winters, Betty Clark, Dometra Bowers, Katie Gillon, Kitty Moon Emery, Mary Ann McCready, Patsi Bale Cox
Class of 2015: Cindy Mabe, Gayle Holcomb, Mary Del Scobey, Nancy Shapiro, Phyllis Deen Hill, Sally Williams
Class of 2016: Alison Booth, Tammy Brown, Diane Cash, Nancy Jones, Callie Khouri, Gail Pollock (posthumous)
Class of 2017: Amy Kurland, Bonnie Sugarman, Joyce Rice, Judith Newby, Martha Moore, Susan Turner, Lula Naff (posthumous)
Eagles To Play Four Cities This Fall With Vince Gill
/by Lorie HollabaughTickets for the shows go on sale to the general public beginning Saturday, Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. through LiveNation.com. American Express Card Members will have the exclusive opportunity to purchase tickets before the general public beginning Tuesday, Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. through Friday, Aug. 18 at 10 p.m. A limited number of VIP ticket packages will be also be available, including premium tickets, pre-show VIP lounge, exclusive merchandise and more. Complete ticket information can be found at eagles.com.
On The Cover: 2017 ‘MusicRow’ Artist Roster Issue
/by Jessica NicholsonBMLG Records’ breakout star, Brett Young, graces the cover of MusicRow’s 2017 Artist Roster print magazine, available now.
Named as the only country act on Shazam’s “Emerging Artists of 2017,” Young has captured the hearts of fans everywhere through his honest lyrics and West Coast-meets-Southern sound, aptly dubbed “Caliville” style. The ACM New Male Vocalist of the Year nominee released his self-titled, debut album on BMLG Records earlier this year. The album was recorded in Nashville with producer Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, Steven Tyler) and features 11 of the 12 tracks co-written by Young, including his current single “Like I Loved You” and the No. 1 Gold-certified debut “Sleep Without You.”
His follow-up single, the Billboard and Mediabase No. 1 hit “In Case You Didn’t Know,” solidified Young as the first country artist to hit the Platinum-certification sales mark with a song released in 2017. The video was No. 1 on Vevo’s country chart for six consecutive weeks and is currently the only country song on Vevo’s list of Top 10 Videos of 2017. “In Case You Didn’t Know” is currently nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Choice Country Song and it was also nominated for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2017 CMT Music Awards.
Young was also nominated for two Association of Independent Music Publisher (AIMP) Awards for Artist-Writer of the Year and Song of the Year for “Sleep Without You.” In addition to his own headlining dates, the California native is currently on the road with Lady Antebellum’s You Look Good World Tour 2017 after joining Luke Bryan’s Kill The Lights Tour earlier this year.
Also within the 56-page 2017 Artist Roster print issue are directory listings for various Nashville-related business categories, including Talent Agency, Record Label, Management, Publicity and Artist Services (Business Management, Legal, Digital, Marketing, and Promotion). The Artist Grid concludes the print directory, matching top Nashville talent with their associated industry representatives.
Exclusive print editorial for the 2017 Artist Roster includes a roundtable with top public relations executives Jake Basden (BMLG Label Group), Ebie McFarland (Essential Broadcast Media), Kristie Sloan (The GreenRoom) and Jensen Sussman (Sweet Talk Publicity) about dealing with crises in media. The issue extends to the recent launch of pop/rock divisions expanding the Nashville Sound, with Mark Abramowitz (Sony/ATV), Steve Robertson (Atlantic) and Kevin Williamson (Interscope Records). MusicRow also covers Kenny Chesney’s reigning CMA Touring Awards Video Director of the Year, Jay Cooper.
Single copies of the MusicRow Artist Roster print issue are available for purchase at musicrow.com for $30, and are included with yearly subscriptions.
Amazon/Geico Celebrates 25th Anniversary Of Garth Albums With Free Downloads
/by Lorie HollabaughGarth Brooks
It’s been 25 years since Garth Brooks released his hit albums The Chase and In Pieces, and in celebration of the special anniversary, Amazon Music and Geico are offering fans a free download of both releases today (Aug. 15). A limited quantity of downloads are available and can be accessed at amazon.com/
Both albums were history-making: The Chase was the second album ever to debut at No. 1 on both the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and the Billboard Country Albums Chart, while In Pieces was Garth’s third album in a row to debut at No. 1 on both Billboard charts. The Chase included the smash singles, “Somewhere Other Than The Night,” “That Summer,” and “Learning To Live Again,” while In Pieces featured the hits “Ain’t Goin’ Down (Til The Sun Comes Up,”) “Standing Outside The Fire,” and “Callin’ Baton Rouge.”
“The Chase and In Pieces are two of the biggest and most enduring albums in country music history,” said Ryan Redington, Director of Amazon Music. “When these albums were released 25 years ago, Garth fans flocked to music stores to purchase CDs. Starting today, Amazon Music customers can easily download these iconic albums free for a limited time.”
Brooks’ entire studio collection is exclusively available to stream and download on Amazon Music. Since his debut to streaming on Amazon last October, he has become one of the top-streamed artists on the service. All of Brooks’ 16 studio albums are currently available for Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers, and select albums are also available to stream for Prime members.
Brooks appeared at an exclusive Nashville event, hosted by Amazon last night (Aug. 14), touting the importance of album sales for songwriter royalties.