AmericanaFest Celebrates Successful Year, Announces 2013 Dates

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Performing at the 2012 Americana Honors & Awards are (L-R): Sam Bush, John Hiatt, Brittany Howard, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Don Was, Buddy Miller, Amy Helm, Teresa Williams and Larry Campbell – Photo by Stacie Huckeba

Following its most successful year to date, the 2013 Americana Music Association Festival and Conference will be held September 18-22 in Nashville.

The 2012 Festival and Conference ran Sept. 12-16 and boasted a sold out Honors & Awards show that was broadcast live nationally on AXS TV, Sirius XM, WSM radio, and NPR.org. Segments of the show will be repurposed for the special presentation “ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival 2012” which will begin airing November 10 in the Austin City Limits time slot on PBS.

Anchored by exciting appearances and performances by Bonnie Raitt, Booker T. Jones, Richard Thompson, The Alabama Shakes, Punch Brothers, and more, the Festival–presented by Nissan–saw over 15,000 fans, 300 artist performances, and more than 1100 music industry professionals.

“I have never been more optimistic about the future in my 20 years in the music industry,” said Jed Hilly, Executive Director of the Americana Music Association, “The passion for this music and the community spirit we experienced last week was mind blowing.”

Attendance for the conference portion of the event saw an 8 percent increase, and registration for the event is up 40 percent over the last two years. Membership is up 18 percent over 2011, and 37 percent since 2010. Next, AMA will conduct its annual Board of Directors elections for membership for 2013.

Southern Ground Music & Food Festival Descends on Nashville

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Zac Brown Band’s Southern Ground Music & Food Festival will take place with newly announced headliner John Mayer joining Sheryl Crow, Gregg Allman, and ZBB on Nashville’s Lawn at Riverfront Park this weekend (9/21-22). In Addition, Alan Jackson will play exclusively on Friday evening, while Dwight Yoakam will play exclusively on Saturday (full lineup and schedule below).

The festival, which debuted in 2011 in Charleston, SC, is curated by the band and combines eclectic music with a fine dining experience directed by Southern Ground Executive Chef Rusty Hamlin. Additional Chefs, RJ Cooper (Rogue 24, Washington, DC), Matthew Lackey (Flyte, Nashville, TN), and Bob Waggoner (Watermark, Nashville, TN) will prepare a custom four-course menu for ticket-holders in the sold-out Front Porch Stage Boxes. Food trucks including Cookie (Zac Brown Band’s mobile kitchen) will join local Nashville outfits Biscuit Love, Riff’s Fine Street Food, Bistro Truck, and Delta Bound to feed additional ticket holders.

VIP upgrades are available for event ticket holders including access to a shaded backstage VIP hospitality area with couches and TVs, complimentary beverages including wine, LandShark beer, Jack Daniel’s cocktails and non-alcoholic selections, dinner buffet and snacks throughout the day and more.

The festival has released a free smartphone app outlining a full schedule, map, news and more. For more information, visit www.southerngroundfestival.com.

Friday:
4:00 – The Jerry Douglas Band (Jack Daniels Stage)
4:45 – John Driskell Hopkins & Brighter Shade (LandShark Stage)
5:15 – Michael Franti & Spearhead (Jack Daniels Stage)
6:15 – Nic Cowan (LandShark Stage)
6:45 – Amos Lee (Jack Daniels Stage)
8:00 – Sonia Leigh (LandShark Stage)
8:30 – Gregg Allman, Alan Jackson, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Zac Brown Band

Saturday:
12:45 – The Wheeler Boys (LandShark Stage)
1:15 – Vintage Trouble (Jack Daniels Stage)
2:00 – Holly Williams (LandShark Stage)
2:30 – Los Lonely Boys (Jack Daniels Stage)
3:30 – Dugas (LandShark Stage)
4:00 – The Lumineers (Jack Daniels Stage)
5:00 – Levi Lowrey (LandShark Stage)
5:30 – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (Jack Daniels Stage)
6:30 – Clay Cook (LandShark Stage)
7:00 – David Gray (Jack Daniels Stage)
8:00 – Blackberry Smoke (LandShark Stage)
8:30 – Gregg Allman, Sheryl Crow, Dwight Yoakam, John Mayer, Zac Brown Band

Little Big Town Scores Career-High Debut

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Capitol Records Nashville’s Little Big Town tops today’s Soundscan album chart as Tornado takes the No.1 spot for Country and No. 2 all-genre with 112,758 units sold in its first week. Tornado, the fifth studio album from LBT, more than doubles the first week sales of previous release The Reason Why, and is the highest-selling debut of the band’s career to date.

Additionally, the album’s Platinum-certified lead single “Pontoon,” spent two weeks at No. 1 on the country radio charts; another career first for the band.

The band promoted the release with appearances on ABC’s Good Morning America, CMT Unplugged, CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock and Ellen. Little Big Town will perform the title track Sept. 26 on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

At the upcoming 46th Annual CMA Awards the band is nominated for Vocal Group, Single for “Pontoon,” and Music Video for “Pontoon.”

For an in-depth analysis of today’s Soundscan report, check out MusicRow’s exclusive column, “Weekly Register.”

No. 1 Party: Luke Bryan’s “Boom Boom” Song

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(L-R) Front: Producer Jeff Stevens, Co-writer Josh Kear, Luke Bryan, and Co-writers Rodney Clawson and Chris Tompkins; Back: Big Red Toe Music's Craig Wiseman and Seth England, Big Yellow Dog Music's Carla Wallace, ASCAP's Mike Sistad, Red Light Management's Kerri Edwards, Capitol Nashville's Steve Hodges, and BMI's Jody Williams.

Luke Bryan celebrated his latest No. 1 song “Drunk on You” on Sept. 17 at the CMA offices on Music Row. The BMI and ASCAP-hosted event honored Bryan’s fifth career No. 1 song, which was produced by Jeff Stevens and co-written by Rodney Clawson (George Strait’s “I Saw God Today”) and Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear, (co-writers of Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats”).

Presentations were made by BMI’s Jody Williams, ASCAP’s Mike Sistad, Big Red Toe Music’s Craig Wiseman, Big Yellow Dog Music’s Kerry O’Neil and Capitol Nashville’s Steve Hodges. The accolades continued with presentations from producer Jeff Stevens, Red Light Management’s Kerri Edwards, Avenue Bank’s Ron Cox, CRB’s Michelle Kammerer and CMA’s Brandi Simms.

Clawson said, “These songs are like little babies. We hand them off and we pray they turn out the way we want them to.” He then quickly added, “It turned out the way we wanted it to!” Tompkins recalled thinking about Luke when he first came to town, “Dude, you’ve got dollar signs floating above your head,” and admitted Bryan is “still the same as he was back then.”

Kear thanked everyone involved in the “entire chain” explaining, “This is a perfect scenario. Sit around with your friends you like to hang out with anyway. Write a song and laugh your ass off while you’re writing it. The perfect artist finds it. The perfect producer makes it. You hand it off to the label and they turn it into a bigger hit than you could ever hope for.”

Luke Bryan took the stage and called the song the “crown jewel” on the album and added this is a “career-changing, life altering song that I will thankfully have the privilege to sing the rest of my life.” Luke admitted he didn’t know what to think about the “Boom Boom” line in the song at first, but then realized fans would be calling radio stations asking for “that Boom Boom song.” “That’s what historically the big songs have, that line the fans can gravitate to.” He added, “These are the days we look back and pinch ourselves as we remember the truly remarkable moments in our life.”

Closing the event, Bryan presented Jack Daniels Single Barrel whiskey donned with commemorative medal tags for the writers and team behind the success of the song.

Craig Wiseman shed a tear.

 

Weekly Register: ‘Tornado’ Triumphs While YTD Sales Dip

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Little Big Town’s Tornado easily blows onto the top spot of the country album charts this week with scans of almost 113k according to Nielsen Soundscan. Artistically, Tornado may be the vocal quartet’s best work since its remarkable 2008 Equity Records outing, The Road To Here. For comparison purposes, the group’s previous disc The Reason Why debuted 8-29-2010 with scans of 42k. By all measures, this week’s showing is a tour de force. And based upon the music, which these ears have been enjoying for a few weeks now, this new LBT set should benefit from WOM (word of mouth) throughout the holiday season.

But alas, LBT’s triumph was not enough to brace country YTD album sales from heading into negative territory, -1.4%! Exactly one year ago Lady A unleashed Own The Night with scans of (348k), more scans than this week’s entire Top Current 75 chart (327k), even including the LBT debut.

Kix Brooks landed inside the Top 10 with his debut this week, New To This Town (No. 10; 6.5k). Other debuts included Chris Knight (No. 25; 2.7k) and Idol alum Bucky Covington (No. 30; 2k).

Expect country’s YTD album numbers to head deeper into negative territory for the next few weeks. (Last year we also had a 197k debut from Scotty McCreery on 10/9/2011). However, the 2012 release schedule starts to shift gears soon with upcoming projects from power hitters Jason Aldean (10/16) and Taylor Swift (10/22), plus stocking stuffer holiday sets from Blake Shelton, Scotty McCreery and Lady Antebellum. For a full listing click here.

For those year-end prediction junkies, you can either read the tea leaves or wait and see how the Aldean and Swift CDs fare. As for this prognosticator, I’m seeing a positive finish shaping up…

Tracking The Sales
Tackling tracks is once again mostly about Ms. Swift who owns the No. 1 and No. 2 titles on this week’s Digital Genre Country tracks list. “We Are Never Ever…” was downloaded over 226k times for a RTD total of almost 1.7 million in five weeks! “Ronan” earned 116k credit card clicks for two-week RTD total of 327k. Very impressive. Those two Swift tracks equal 22% of the entire 100 track list. And lest we get called out by the affable Big Machine sales department, please note, that 22% doesn’t even include Swift’s six additional tracks included on the list.

Tracks are a bright spot this year, up 6% for all-genre and up 12.3% for country and the trend is expected to continue through the holiday season.

So as the year draws to a close, we’ll cross our fingers for the album numbers and good showings from the new offerings, while cheering as we break new records for  country track sales. However, when the bean counters hunker down to assess the year-end financial results, they will be less concerned with units sold and pay more attention to total revenue and profits. SoundScan numbers and percentages up and down tend to camouflage those dollar metrics because they don’t take into account pricing and margin.

Stay tuned...

Average Joes Management Announces Promotion

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President of Average Joes Management Ken Madson has announced the promotion of 20 year music industry veteran Rusty Harmon to Sr. VP of Management Services. The promotion is effective immediately.

“We have always prided ourselves building artist careers from the ground up,” says Madson. “Rusty’s experience developing Hootie and The Blowfish and Jason Michael Carroll will be invaluable to us as we continue to grow.”

Harmon says, “In one short year I’ve seen our team have No. 1 singles, No. 1 records, get artists signed to major labels, and grow at a rapid rate. We have a great group of artists, managers, and staff. I am proud to call Average Joes home, and I look forward to growing with the company as we continue to set trends others follow.”

Average Joes Management originated in 2007 with two employees and one client. Today, the company has grown to house 16 employees, 8 artist managers, and artists across a multitude of genres including Colt Ford, The Lacs, John Michael Montgomery, Bo Bice, Ira Dean, Scarletta, JB and the Moonshine Band, Rehab, Moonshine Bandits, Johnny T, Jesse Lee and others.

Kellie Pickler to Join “Opry Goes Pink” Event

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Kellie Pickler will continue her support in the fight against breast cancer by flipping the switch on The Grand Ole Opry barn backdrop for the fourth annual “Opry Goes Pink” event Tues., Oct. 30 supporting Women Rock For The Cure.

The special show will also feature performances by Jana Kramer, The Farm, and others as well as activities recognizing breast cancer survivors and the continuing fight against the disease.

Beginning today (9/19), $5 from each ticket will be donated to Women Rock For The Cure. Purchase tickets here.

Pickler is currently showing solidarity with a childhood friend facing cancer by shaving her own head, as revealed on a recent episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show (video below).

DISClaimer Single Reviews (9/19/12)

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Brent Cobb, Kenny Chesney

King Kenny fends off all challengers to win a Disc of the Day award this week.

Kenny Chesney has been topping the charts for more than 15 years now, and “El Cerrito Place” demonstrates why he continues to be so relevant. Despite the best efforts of Lonestar, Little Big Town, Wade Hayes, Gary Allan and Kix Brooks, he leads the field.

But the big news is our DisCovery Award winner, Brent Cobb. I can’t remember the last time a new singer-songwriter so delighted me with a debut disc.

BILLY RAY CYRUS/Change My Mind
Writer: Billy Ray Cyrus/Michael J. Sagraves; Producer: Brandon Friesen; Publisher: Sunnageronimo/Two Beats Down, BMI; Blue Cadillac (www.billyraycyrus.com)
—Pretty darn “big” sounding, with Cyrus’s processed voice practically buried in a cacophony of electric guitars, banjo and production what-not. Simultaneously muffled sounding and irritating.

LONESTAR/The Countdown
Writer: none listed; Producer: none listed; Publisher: none listed; 4 Star (www.lonestarnow.com)
—Very catchy and bright. The upbeat ode of a returning lover, who can’t rush home fast enough, is appropriately rocking. The interjecting “ticking” effects are a nice touch, too. Highly programmable.

KENNY CHESNEY/El Cerrito Place
Writer: Keith Gattis; Producer: Buddy Cannon & Kenny Chesney; Publisher: Gattis, BMI; Columbia/Blue Chair
—Dreamy. He searches for his love along the beaches, on the desert and in the neighborhoods of the pretty people while echoey guitars and harmony vocalists cushion him in loneliness. One more reason why Kenny is king.

THE CIVIL WARS/I’ve Got This Friend
Writer: none listed; Producer: Charlie Peacock; Publisher: none listed; Sensibility (track)
—The Gold-selling, double Grammy winning Barton Hollow CD offers up a third single/video, and it is a change-of-pace to a more lilting, melodic and relaxed sound. As captivating as their intense, soul-wailing tracks are.

LITTLE BIG TOWN/Tornado
Writer: Natalie Hemby/Delta Maid; Producer: Jay Joyce; Publisher: EMI Blackwood/Wruckestrike/San Remo Live/Songs of Kobalt, BMI; Capitol Nashville (track)
—LBT continues its quest for world domination with this marching, crunchy, relentless vow to destroy any man who gets in Karen’s way. As before, the Joyce injection has completely revived this group’s sound.

WADE HAYES/Is It Already Time
Writer: none listed; Producer: Don Cook; Publisher: none listed; RPM Entertainment
—As the country radio world knows by now, the team that made Hayes a Columbia Records star of the 1990s, has reunited to promote the autobiographical song about his harrowing ordeal with colon cancer. Beautifully written and powerfully moving.

KIX BROOKS/Bring it on Home
Writer: Kix Brooks/Rhett Akins/Dallas Davidson; Producer: Kix Brooks; Publisher: Sony-ATV Tree/Buffalo Prairie/EMI Blackwood/Rhettneck, BMI; Arista (track)
—A reformed honky-tonker puts on the brakes and decides to head for the homefront. Ultra commercial.

GARY ALLAN/Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)
Writer: Gary Allan/Matt Warren/Hillary Lindsey; Producer: Gary Allan & Greg Droman; Publisher: Crystal Beach/Third Tier/Always Alone/Kobalt/Raylene/BMG, BMI/ASCAP; MCA Nashville (CDX)
—Very cool and fevered sounding. Gary’s edgy growl offers odd comfort as he advises that tough times never last. Guitars chime around him and the rhythm track crashes in the background in this super compelling performance.

LYNYRD SKYNYRD/Last of a Dyin’ Breed
Writer: Gary Rossington/Johnny Van Zant/Ricky Medlock/Mark Matejka/Dan Sarafini/Bob Marlette; Producer: Bov Marlette; Publisher: Sleeping Indian/L&K/Bug/BobNal/Black Lava/Kobalt/Matejkamusic/Jaris, ASCAP/BMI; Roadrunner (track) (www.lynyrdskynyrd.com)
—Whether you’ve noticed it or not, rock music has completely disappeared from the mainstream pop chart. Everything is dance music or hip-hop there. That’s why a rock band like Jason Aldean is a “country” artist. Following this logic, lend these Southern-rock vets your ears on the rocking title tune of their latest CD. These old pros show the kiddies how its really done.

BRENT COBB/Love On Me
Writer: Brent Cobb/Jason Saenz; Producer: Matthew Miller & Oran Thornton; Publisher: Tiltawhirl/Carnival/Sony ATV Tree/Songs for My Good Girl, BMI; Carnival (CDX) (www.carnivalrecording.com)
—Now here’s a refreshing change: A country vocalist who isn’t afraid to put real personality on disc. This is easily the most charming performance of today, full of drawling, country-boy humor in a jaunty, sly come-on ditty. Absolutely essential listening.

Industry Pics: David Lee, Matt Rovey, SOLID

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BANZ Music / Ten Ten Music Group has signed Nashville hitmaker David Lee to an exclusive, worldwide publishing agreement. Lee has penned No. 1 songs for Easton Corbin (“Roll With It”), Montgomery Gentry (“Lucky Man”) and Mark Wills (“19 Somethin’”). His latest entry on the charts is Alan Jackson’s current single, “You Go Your Way.” His songs have also been recorded by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Lady Antebellum, George Strait, Trace Adkins, Lee Ann Womack and John Michael Montgomery. “We are thrilled to have David Lee joining us,” states Barry Coburn, who heads BANZ Music and is Co-President of Ten Ten Music Group. “He has written many great songs that have become major hits, and we are looking forward to helping him achieve many more.”

“David Lee is one of Nashville’s finest songwriters and a true master of the craft,” adds Ten Ten Music Creative Director Dave Pacula. “We are proud to have this opportunity to work with David as he continues to build a catalogue that will leave a legacy for future generations of country music fans.”

(L-R): Patrick Clifford, Fain Spray, David Lee, Barry Coburn and Dave Pacula

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Songs of Bigger Picture VP of Creative Matt Rovey won Album of the Year honors at the recent Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for producing Dean Brody’s popular album, Dirt. This achievement marks the second consecutive year that Rovey and Brody have received the award. Rovey is currently wrapping up Craig Campbell’s sophomore album with Keith Stegall. See complete list of CCMA winners here.

(L-R): Michael McCarty, ole Music Publishing; Matt Rovey, Bigger Picture Group; Dean Brody; Robert Ott, ole Music Publishing; Gilles Godard, ole Music Publishing; Ron Kitchener, Open Road Recordings; Denny Carr, Roots Three Publishing

• • • •

SOLID continued the celebration of its 15th year with a Habitat For Humanity Build. Over 50 SOLID members and alum participated in the build working on two houses; framing one and siding the other. The 15th year celebration continues tomorrow (9/20) with a job shadow day for students from local universities. A mixer will follow at 6 – 8 pm at Tin Roof’s Green Room. Tin Roof will donate 10% of proceeds back to SOLID. More on SOLID’s 15th anniversary here.

Industry Ink Tuesday

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Belmont students and staff at the Best Job Ever Conference. (L-R) Back: John Coker, Taylor Fish, Jamie Stamey (Internship Coord.), Alison Junker, Tori MacDonald, Alena Moran, Tish Stewart (Career Development Specialist) Front: Lucas Boto (Coord. of Sound Reinforcement and Live Events), McKinsay Burnside, Malia Aguilar, Hillary Bridges, Emily Clark, Hanna Easley (Coord. of Student Enrichment), Ansley McAlister, Sarah Cates (Sr. Director Curb College Initiatives)

Recording artist and songwriter Essra Mohawk with HFA’s Sr. VP & CFO Al Pedecine during a recent Nashville meeting. Mohawk first gained notoriety with Cyndi Laupers' 1986 hit "Change of Heart." Today she has a catalog of over 600 songs.

• Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business hosted another installment of its Best Job Ever conference Saturday (9/15). Creative Nation’s Beth Mason Laird and Luke Laird offered the keynote address, and panels featured dozens of industry executives discussing publicity, songwriting, touring, agencies, social media and radio promotion. An entertainment journalism panel included MusicRow Founder/Boss Ross Media President David Ross, MusicRow’s Eric Parker, USA Today’s Brian Mansfield and ABC News Radio’s Hunter Kelly.

• NSAI’s Songposium is going on until Sept. 22, offering over 100 classes, as well as stacked nighttime songwriter rounds at the Bluebird Café. Visit nashvillesongwriters.com or www.bluebirdcafe.com for details.

• Kelly Donley has joined Nashville-based Safford Motley PLC’s entertainment law practice as an associate. A native of Bowling Green, Kentucky, Donley earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University, and a bachelor’s from the University of Notre Dame.

Kelly Donley

• Music by Nashville rock act By Lightning!, which is signed to Universal Music Publishing Group/ Brentwood Benson, is featured in a new ad campaign for Subaru. See it here.

• BMG Rights Management is offering alleged copyright infringers the chance to avoid future prosecution by paying a $20 fine, according to Billboard. The offer will be attached to infringement notices sent by ISPs to customers accused of illegal file sharing.

• ole MusicBox, one of the world’s largest providers of pre-cleared production music, has launched a new client website at olemusicbox.com. The site boasts leading edge search, service, fulfillment and e-commerce capabilities.

• Publisher Reservoir has acquired leading U.K.-based independent music publisher, Reverb Music. The deal covers the entire Reverb operation, including its catalog of over 30,000 copyrights and agreements with over 100 songwriters. Among Reverb’s key songwriters are BMI Award winner Jamie Hartman (The Wanted, Joss Stone), writer-producer John Fortis (Ellie Goulding, Prodigy), and Italian writer-producer Matteo Saggese (IL Divo, Zucchero, Adrianno Celantano).