Following the devastation from last Saturday’s tornadoes in Middle Tennessee that took six lives and damaged the properties of thousands, Nashville artists will come together for a benefit concert this Sunday (Dec. 17) at Exit/In.

“Unplugged For Tennessee” will feature performances from Hardy, Nate Smith, Alana Springsteen, Dylan Marlowe, Chayce Beckham, Abby Anderson, Trey Lewis, Graham Barham, Payton Smith, Jay Allen and other surprise guests. The event is being produced by Media Farm Agency, the management team behind the @NashvilleTN Instagram, and will be hosted by country music personality and industry member Benji Chord.

Tickets are on sale now. 100% of the net proceeds from “Unplugged For Tennessee” will benefit Hands On Nashville and The American Red Cross – Tennessee Region.

“Nashville always seems to find a way to heal and come together after a tragedy,” says Matt Wilson, Founder of Media Farm Agency. “And music is a universal part of the healing process in our city. This benefit came together extremely fast, thanks to the help of our team and our great friends that wanted to make a difference in the lives of those impacted by the storm. We are so thankful for the artists who volunteered so quickly to help and donate their time and talent for such a worthy cause.”

The Country Music Association has named their 2024 Board of Directors.

New board members include John Zarling (615 Leverage + Strategy), Brent Daughrity (Gallagher), Shannan Hatch (SESAC), Rachel Whitney (Spotify), Michelle Tigard Kammerer (Amazon Music), Mike Harris (UMG Nashville), Annie Ortmeier (Triple Tigers Records), Austin Neal (The Neal Agency), Jeffrey Hasson (UTA), Adam Weiser (AEG Presents), Deana Ivey (Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp) and Stephen Parker (National Independent Venue Association).

The 2024 CMA Board Officers are Kella Farris (Farris Self & Moore, LLC), Jay Williams (WME), Jennie Smythe (Girlilla Marketing) and Ben Vaughn (Warner Chappell Music Nashville). Farris will serve as Chairman, Williams will serve as President-Elect, Smythe will serve as President and Vaughn will serve as Secretary/Treasurer.

CMA 2024 Board of Directors
Officers:
Chairman: Kella Farris (Farris Self & Moore, LLC)
President-Elect: Jay Williams (WME)
President: Jennie Smythe (Girlilla Marketing)
Secretary/Treasurer: Ben Vaughn (Warner Chappell Music Nashville)

Elected Directors:
Rhett Akins (Songwriter)
David Crow (Milom Crow Kelly Beckett Shehan PLC)
Karen Fairchild (Little Big Town)
Kella Farris (Farris, Self and Moore LLC)
Jenee Fleenor (Musician)
David Haskell (Gateway Studios and Production Services)
Mary Hilliard Harrington (Red Light Management/Wild Heart)
Kurt Johnson (Townsquare Media)
Curt Jenkins (Pink Dog Productions)
Chris Kappy (Make Wake Artists)
Chris Lisle (CLLD, LLC)
Katie McCartney (Monument Records)
Anna-Sophie Mertens (Live Nation UK)
Austin Neal (The Neal Agency)
TJ Osborne (Brothers Osborne)
Tim Roberts (Audacy)
Ken Robold (Sony Music Nashville)
Dan Rogers (Grand Ole Opry)
Brittany Schaffer (Belmont University)
Josh Van Valkenburg (Sony Music Publishing)
Ben Vaughn (Warner Chappell Music Nashville)
Wes Vause (Press On Publicity)
Stacy Vee (Goldenvoice)
Natalie Waller (ABC Music)
Candice Watkins (Big Loud Records)
Sally Williams (Live Nation Nashville)
Charlie Worsham (Musician)
John Zarling (615 Leverage + Strategy)

Directors At Large:
Jim Beavers (Songwriter)
Lindsay Bertelli (REACH)
Steve Blatter (SiriusXM)
Scott Borchetta (Big Machine Label Group)
Becky Brenner (Albright & O’Malley & Brenner)
Stephen Bryan (YouTube)
Virginia Bunetta (G Major Mgmt)
Terry Calonge (Richards & Southern, Inc.)
Debbie Carroll (Onsite Entertainment)
Jamie Cheek (FBMM)
Warren Copnick (Sony Music Canada)
RJ Curtis (Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc)
Brent Daughrity (Gallagher)
Marc Dennis (CAA)
Kerri Edwards (KP Entertainment)
Lindsay Ell (Artist)
John Esposito (SHW, LLC)
Sina Hall (Semmel Concerts Entertainment)
Mike Harris (UMG Nashville)
Jeffrey Hasson (UTA)
Shannan Hatch (SESAC)
Lon Helton (Country Aircheck)
David Kells (Bridgestone Arena/Nashville Predators)
Ben Kline (Warner Music Nashville)
Jonathan Levine (Wasserman Music)
Jay Liepis (Apple Music)
Jon Loba (BMG Nashville)
Charlie Morgan (Apple Music)
Annie Ortmeier (Triple Tigers Records)
Brian O’Connell (Live Nation Nashville)
Chris Parr (Maverick)
Tyne Parrish (The GreenRoom PR)
Rod Phillips (iHeartCountry)
Danny Rader (Musician)
Liz Rose (Songwriter)
Shannon Sanders (BMI Nashville)
Jennie Smythe (Girlilla Marketing)
Michelle Tigard Kammerer (Amazon Music)
Troy Tomlinson (UMPG Nashville)
Troy Vollhoffer (Premier Global Production)
Ed Warm (Joe’s Concerts)
Derek Wells (Spirit Music Nashville)
Adam Weiser (AEG Presents)
Rachel Whitney (Spotify)
Jay Williams (WME)

Ex-Officio:
Jim Free (The Smith-Free Group, LLC)
Deana Ivey (Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp)
Stephen Parker (National Independent Venue Association)
Kyle Young (Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Legal:
R. Horton Frank, III (Watkins & McNeilly)

More performers have been added to New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash, the special hosted by Elle King and Entertainment Tonight’s Rachel Smith.

Trace Adkins, Grace Bowers, Kane Brown, Jackson Dean, Hardy, Cody Johnson, Parker McCollum, Megan Moroney, Brothers Osborne, Jon Pardi, Carly Pearce, Blake Shelton, Trombone Shorty, Morgan Wallen and Bailey Zimmerman have been added to the star-studded list of performers set to help ring in the New Year on the Music City special.

TV and radio host Cody Alan and CBS anchor Lonnie Quinn will be corresponding from New York City’s Times Square during the show, along with Dustin Lynch, who will also be performing live. The celebration to ring in the new year will air live Dec. 31 on CBS, and stream on Paramount+, and the five-hour broadcast will feature more than 50 back-to-back performances, with Nashville counting down with the east coast at midnight and keeping the party going through midnight CT with the city’s renowned Music Note Drop at the Bicentennial Mall stage.

The special event will feature once-in-a-lifetime collaborations with artists inviting special guests and artist friends to perform together throughout the night, taking on their biggest hits as well as covers of some of the most iconic country music songs of all time. Additional details will be announced in the coming weeks.

Anastasia Brown

Anastasia Brown has left her position as Chief Content Strategist at Visionary Media Group (VMG), where she oversaw creative, culture and music since 2020 for the start-up.

During her tenure, the company optioned the life rights for the Cowboy Jack Clement film and The Cowboy Writes Again album, which are both currently in development. She also signed Leigh Nash, O.N.E The Duo, Cody Belew and Clayton Anderson, and helped VMG to secure multiple sync placements with NBC, Ford Trucks, Hulu, ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, Netflix, Hallmark, FX and more.

Brown began her entertainment career in 1993 with Miles Copeland of Firstars Management, where she signed and developed artists including Keith Urban, John Berry, Junior Brown and Paul Jefferson. As an A&R consultant for Copeland, she signed Waylon Jennings and Leon Russell to Ark 21 Records.

She moved over to music supervision in 2001, first working on the Emmy-winning, Steven Spielberg mini-series Taken. That led to feature film and television credits including Tell Me Your Secrets, The Shack, Hot Pursuit, The Americans, The Darkest Hour, Footloose, August Rush, It’s Complicated and the bio-pic about the Rev. Billy Graham called The Early Years: Billy.

As a music consultant, Brown has placed close to 50 songs in major films and television series. She also served as a judge on USA Network’s Nashville Star, which led to her writing the book Make Me A Star with journalist Brian Mansfield. She has also written columns for various publications.

Brown can be reached at nashvilleanastasia@gmail.com.

Pictured (L-R, top row): Alexes Aiken, Jackie Ebnet, Haley Fairman, Kenyon Glenn and David Hawkins; (L-R, bottom row): Lacey Hayes, Gator Pizer, Nathan Pyle, Lizzy Stone and Bryan Webb

A new cohort has been selected for the Academy of Country Music’s LEVel Up: Lift Every Voice program. The new members were announced alongside a celebration of the inaugural 2022 cohort’s completion of the Nashville-based two-year professional development program.

Designed to elevate and drive the next generation of rising leaders in the industry, the ACM LEVel Up Rising Leaders curriculum was created to empower participants to play a pivotal role in expanding the horizons of the country music industry into new audiences that transcend demographics and geography.

Pictured (L-R, back row): ACM DEI Task Force Chair Shannon Sanders; Haley Fairman; David Hawkins; Gator Pizer; Bryan Webb; ACM CEO Damon Whiteside; Former ACM Board Chair Chuck Aly; (L-R, front row): ACM Manager of Programming & Community Engagement Kortney Toney; Alexes Aiken; Kenyon Glenn; Jackie Ebnet; Lacey Hayes; Nathan Pyle. Not pictured: Lizzy Stone. Photo: John Jo for the Academy of Country Music

Funded entirely by the ACM, the program is at no cost to participants. The first year is spent learning from leaders across the industry as well as collaborating as a cohort to develop a proposed plan to expand country music’s reach. The second year sees the class implement their plan, working intentionally to shape the future and move the industry forward.

The inaugural 2022 cohort worked together to create an undergraduate series for college students across Nashville focused on highlighting various sectors of the music business and diving into behind-the-scenes education beyond textbooks to prepare them for the music industry. The 2022 cohort collaborated with the Academy and Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) to ideate and develop the initiative that became OnRamp, a guaranteed income program for young Black members of the Nashville music community, including artists and industry professionals.

The 2022 cohort also helped bring to life the ACM Lift Every Voice Award, which celebrates an individual in the industry who has played a pivotal role in elevating underrepresented voices throughout the country genre. The inaugural award was presented to Breland at the 2023 ACM Honors show in August.

“I celebrate the commitment of these individuals in leading the evolution of Nashville’s country music industry, confident that with the LEVel Up program’s support, they will achieve remarkable feats,” states Shannon Sanders, Chair of the ACM DEI Task Force. “The 2022 cohort has set a high bar, and the 2023 cohort is well-positioned to effect substantial change in 2024. The latest LEVel Up members are at the forefront of this transformation, and I am eager to witness the enduring contributions they, and future participants, will make in the coming years.”

ACM LEVel Up, 2024 Cohort, revealed in December 2023:
Alexes Aiken, Westwood One
Jackie Ebnet, Mtheory
Haley Fairman, UTA
Kenyon Glenn, ASCAP
David Hawkins, MY Public Relations Lab
Lacey Hayes, Romeo Entertainment Group (REG)
Gator Pizer, Farris, Self & Moore
Nathan Pyle, Songfluencer
Lizzy Stone, Wiles + Taylor & Co.
Bryan Webb, Apple Music

ACM LEVel Up, 2023 Cohort, who have just completed the first year of the program:
Sabrina Butera, CAA
Nick Coulson, SiriusXM/The Highway
Ellen Ford, BBR Music Group
Aimee Graham, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Synnovea Cleveland, Sony Music Publishing
Alex Heimerman, UMG Nashville
Roxy King, UMPG
Markus Koger, Smoking Section Podcast
Jenn Tressler, Opry Entertainment Group

ACM LEVel Up, 2022 Cohort, who have just completed the program:
Kaela Allen, Singer-Songwriter
Mackenzie Cooper, Triple Tigers Records
Stephanie Davenport, Warner Music Nashville
Morgan Kenney, WME
Daniel Killian, FBMM
Shelby White, AEG Presents