Jason Murray

Due to its comprehensive and collaborative approach, Vector Management has become embedded in the global music scene with offices in Nashville, Los Angeles, New York and Toronto. Founded by industry veterans Ken Levitan and Jack Rovner, the Live Nation artist and brand development company represents an array of talent, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Brian Kelley, Allison Russell, Marcus King, Emmylou Harris, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Hank Williams Jr., Madeline Edwards, Kimberly Perry, Molly Tuttle, Peter Frampton, Chase McDaniel and more.

After carving out a path with Levitan and Rovner, Vector’s current President & Owner/Operator Jason Murray came over from BMG Canada and jumped in at the top of 2022 to further cement Vector as a management powerhouse. He merged his independent record label and artist management business, Black Box Music, with the company and fully immersed himself in Vector’s various components. Murray soon signed his first artist alongside Levitan, country-blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Charley Crockett, and his appointment as President & Owner/Operator was officially announced in January 2023.

Since then, the company has experienced immense growth in both the country and Americana space and continued to celebrate numerous accolades, including recent Grammy wins for Best American Roots Performance (Russell’s “Eve Was Black”), Best Bluegrass Album (Tuttle’s City of Gold) and Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella (The String Revolution Featuring Tommy Emamanuel’s “Folsom Prison Blues”). In April, Vector added RECORDS Nashville artist Alli Walker to its roster and her manager Brad Turcotte to its team.

Murray took some time to detail the company’s values and functions as well as share his visions for the future with MusicRow.

He notes that his first year with Vector was all about determining where the business was, how to move forward and how to build a globally competitive team. That plan was then put into action in 2023 and now, Murray feels the company has really hit its stride. He explains that the team they’ve built is based on what he realized managers needed while at the helm of BMG Canada in addition to what Murray himself as a manager needed when he was working within the larger label system.

“I believe you need hit five things to be a success manager: vision, strategy, organization, execution and client service,” he says. “One person can’t do all of that [on their own], it’s not possible. It doesn’t matter how amazing a single person is,” adding,”there were massive lay-offs that took place at Universal two weeks before Marcus King’s record was released, and TikTok banned all the music in the throws on the roll-out. But I was so proud of our team because we did not miss a beat—I mean not a single beat, and I couldn’t have done that on my own.”

Alongside Murray and its managers, Vector’s team consists of its General Manager, who has been with the company for over a decade, and Director of Marketing, who leads the creative content sector, as well as staff in DSP Relations and Label Relations, and its Director of Operations, among many others. Within its Touring division, which is a large portion of the business, Vector has a Director of Touring in addition to Tour Marketers and Coordinators. As a whole, the company seeks to promote and provide infinite opportunities for growth for all of its team members.

“I don’t want people to have to go elsewhere to feel valued or find a growth opportunity on the company side,” he says. “On the manager side, we’re a truly collaborative company and nobody is territorial. So what you end up getting when you come to Vector is a creative brain trust of managers that will see things that, inevitably, you won’t see and show up for you when you need them.”

With experience across multiple industry facets and music genres, Murray brings a specific perspective when it comes to signing new acts.

“I have a deep, deep love of music, and I love people,” he expresses. “I’ve produced records, I’ve A&Red records and I’ve written records. So for me, it’s about the artist having an insatiable appetite for art and the pursuit of it [as well as] a drive that’s not rational to anyone else in their world.”

Murray recalls signing rising Americana creator Bella White, who has appeared on several large festival lineups and was featured on the latest Hunger Games soundtrack. “This somebody who is living through their art,” he states when referring to the 22-year-old.

“Whether its developing artist who is not going to make us money for long time or an artist that’s going to help us fund those newcomers, we have to serve them with the same amount of commitment, moral obligation, creativity and hustle. You owe it to these new artists because they’re entrusting you with their dreams.”

From a client standpoint, Vector aims to offer a 360-degree strategy and execute the wildest ideas while being a fierce advocate. “We’re the holistic caretaker, cheerleader and problem-solver more,” says Murray. This coming year, he’s excited to see their core marketing and services team create their own identity and value in the music community, and watch the Americana crop they’ve planted begin to sprout in addition to breaking new ground with developing managers and artists. “I feel like we’ve been building a race car in a barn and now we’re going to put it out on the track, and people are starting to see it run with the likes of Marcus, Charley, Molly, Allison and more.”

For the future, he envisions an ecosystem where everyone continues to show up for one another. “Vector is not going to be attached to me or anyone else, it’s going to be how we treat our people, our artists and the good work we leave behind.”

Pictured (L–R): CMHOFM’s Michael Gray, Blanco Brown, Hubby Jenkins, The War and Treaty’s Tanya Trotter and Michael Trotter, Miko Marks, Darius Rucker, Cowboy Troy, Tony Jackson, Wendy Moten, Barrence Whitfield, Rissi Palmer, CMHOFM’s Lisa Purcell and Shannon Sanders. Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Black country staged a triumphant event at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Tuesday (June 18).

10 artists raised their voices at the CMA Theater to salute the release of From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music. This is a CD boxed set of Black country recordings that is being updated and revived by the institution via Warner Music Nashville this summer. The new version will contain new essays as well as a new fourth CD. Many of the artists who performed at the museum’s venue are featured on the set’s fourth CD. Music by some of the others was on the original, three-CD collection. This project updates that landmark release, compiling Black country music up to 1988.

The commemorating show for the updated From Where I Stand was co-produced by “Color Me Country” Founder Rissi Palmer and Grammy-winning bandleader Shannon Sanders. Palmer kicked things off with a jubilant performance of “Country Girl,” preceded by a vivid historical video of Hall of Fame member DeFord Bailey.

“We’re going to celebrate tonight!” Palmer said to the sold-out audience. She favored the crowd with “Bad Case of the Blues,” to honor Linda Martel, one of the collection’s featured stars. “This is a very historic and significant night of music,” Palmer continued. “It’s more than just music tonight. We are honoring the ancestors.”

Former Carolina Chocolate Drops banjo player Hubby Jenkins saluted Black, old-time, string-band music artists Frank Patterson and Nathan Frasier, who are also represented on From Where I Stand. Barrence Whitfield sang “Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul” to honor Stoney Edwards. He also sang Merle Haggard’s song of interracial love “Irma Jackson.”  Wendy Moten received the night’s first standing ovation after she performed a soul-saturated version of “Release Me.” The country standard’s original Black version by Esther Phillips is on the boxed set. Moten also performed a simmering version of Tammy Wynette’s “Til I Get It Right.”

“Normally, I feel like the only raison in the rice pudding; so this is new,” said Tony Jackson about the event. He sang “The Grand Tour,” represented on the original album by Aaron Neville. Jackson also added his own “I Didn’t Wake Up This Morning” to the evening’s entertainment. Miko Marks took the stage with a spirited rendition of “It Feels Good,” then drew a standing ovation for her version of “Misty Blue.” On the album, that country classic is represented by Dorothy Moore’s hit 1976 version. Good-time country “hick hop” artist Cowboy Troy delighted the room with his 2005 hit “I Play Chicken With the Train,” which drew another standing ovation.

Blanco Brown rocked out with a highly entertaining version of his hit “The Git Up,” highlighted by his instrumental solo, playing the spoons. The War And Treaty revived the Ray Charles hit “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” which was a Don Gibson/Kitty Wells/Conway Twitty/Sammi Smith country evergreen. The duo then sang “Yesterday’s Burn,” drawing another standing ovation.

Hootie & The Blowfish pop/rock star Darius Rucker has become contemporary country’s leading Black artist with seven No. 1 smashes. He sang his career-launching “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.” Rucker also saluted his forefather, Charley Pride, with “Kiss an Angel Good Morning.” Next, he brought the entire crowd to its feet with his 11-time Platinum hit “Wagon Wheel.” Rucker recalled the night he joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry. “Jimmy Dickens drew me aside and said, ‘Don’t ever let them tell you that you don’t belong [as a Black country artist].'” He then summoned all 10 artists back to the stage for the Hall’s anthem “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” with Sanders guiding the band and the massed singers to the evening’s climax.

The new version of the boxed set will also be available as an online experience, consisting of this concert, educational lesson plans and more, via countrymusichalloffame.org.