The Academy of Country Music’s LEVel Up: Lifting Every Voice program has announced a special series for undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing careers in the music industry. The string of workshops, which will take place in Nashville, is set to begin Oct. 20.

The LEVel Up series will give attendees an insider’s perspective of the music business from rising leaders and executives. The first session will cover Music Industry Etiquette, with sessions continuing throughout the spring of 2023 pertaining to production, business management, publishing, marketing, A&R and more.

All participants must register to attend in-person or virtually, with sessions being filled first come, first serve. Sign-ups for the inaugural session on Oct. 20 are open now.

ACM LEVel Up: Lifting Every Voice program is a two-year professional development and enrichment curriculum for rising leaders in country music. For more information on ACM LEVel Up and upcoming LEVel Up sessions, click here.

LEVel Up Class of 2022:
Kaela Allen, Singer/Songwriter
Mackenzie Cooper, Westwood One
Stephanie Davenport, Warner Music Nashville
Morgan Kenney, WME
Daniel Killian, FBMM
Shelby Moran, AEG Presents
Vanna Moua, Rhythm House
Kortney Toney, Naxos of America

Sister duo The Pretty Wild have expanded their artist team by signing with Records Co./Columbia Records, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Burning Ground Entertainment.

The Pretty Wild– composed of Jill and Julia Wylde–describe their music as “y’allternative,” a hybrid of country, alternative and rock. It has earned them spots on the lineup for events such as Stagecoach and Route 91 Harvest Festival, as well as opening slots for Kelsea Ballerini, Halsey, Josh Turner and Alien Ant Farm.

Their debut single “Xanax And Champagne,” written by Shane McAnally, Brandy Clark and Old Dominion‘s Trevor Rosen, gained traction on streaming and was featured on Spotify’s Fresh Finds Country, Pandora’s Rising Women in Country, and TIDAL’s Rising Tidal Masters, among others.

As the duo continues to round out their team and prepares to release new music, they continue their partnership with manager David Nathan and D&D Endeavors.

Tracy Lawrence will be frying up turkeys again this Thanksgiving to help the homeless across Middle Tennessee at his 17th annual Mission:Possible Turkey Fry & Benefit Concert at the Wildhorse Saloon on Nov. 22.

This year’s event aims to fry a record-breaking 1,200 turkeys. The concert following the turkey fry will also feature performances by Gary Allan and rising artist Travis Denning.

Since its inception, Mission:Possible has fried over 8,000 turkeys, provided more than 90,000 meals to the homeless across Middle Tennessee, and raised over $600,000 to Nashville Rescue Mission.

“Over the last 17 years we have served about 64,000 meals and touched countless people’s lives. When we first started frying a few turkeys, I never thought we’d fry more than a dozen or two, let alone be raising hundreds of thousands of dollars while doing it,” Lawrence reflects. “I’m proud of how this event has grown and I’m thankful to have others in the community willing to participate to make it what it is today.”

In 2021, the annual Thanksgiving week concert raised $175,000–the largest sum raised through the Turkey Fry event to date.

Following the success of the Turkey Fry & Benefit Concert series, Mission:Possible launched an annual Celebrity Classic Golf Tournament in 2020. The springtime fundraiser has raised more than $800,000 towards various Middle Tennessee homeless charities in just two short years.

Grammy winning country legend Jeannie Seely commemorated her past while she celebrated the future at the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night (Sept. 17). The show marked her 55th anniversary as a cast member. Not only that, Seely is now officially the artist who has appeared on the Opry more times than anyone in history. Her 5,226 performances mark her as the all-time record holder in the show’s 97-year history.

“I’m just enjoying every minute of it,” she said to a wildly enthusiastic audience. “I didn’t come here 55 years ago to impress you. I came here to entertain you, and I hope I still can.”

She could. Seely charmed the crowd with the rockabilly romp “Rock-a-Bye Boogie,” her Grammy-winning 1966 torch-song hit “Don’t Touch Me” and 2017’s “Who Needs You,” almost certainly the first song sung on the Opry with a weed-smoking lyric (“It is legal in some states,” she reminded the audience. “Anybody here from Colorado?”).

Opry executives Dan Rogers and Gina Keltner presented her with a commemorative plaque. “This lady is very, very special,” said Rogers. “She is beloved by the staff, her fellow artists and fans like you around the world.”

Seely always refers to Rogers as her “Boss.” As a gag, Rogers prepared an “employee evaluation” review for her. “Attendance? A+ Commitment? A+ Talent? A+ Follows the rules? Needs improvement.”

Backstage, she recalled that her first performance on the Opry was May 28, 1966. “I remember feeling every emotion you’ve ever known, from sheer terror to extreme excitement,” she reflected. “I had never been to the Opry until I was on it.

“Ernest Tubb was extremely generous to me. He said, ‘Miss Jeannie, you’re going to be fine on the Opry. Just remember: It’s not your show. It’s not about you. You’re part of something bigger.’

“I never come here [and not] learn something,” Seely continued. “The commitment to the Opry has always been very important to me… This night doesn’t make me feel old; it makes me feel grateful.”

Jeannie Seely was the first Pennsylvanian to become an Opry member. She was the first to record a live album at the Opry House (1978). She broke ground when she wore mini skirts on the Opry’s stage, paving the way for women to wear whatever they choose. She was the first woman allowed to host a segment of the Opry. Until then, only male stars were selected to be segment hosts.

“The changes weren’t for me,” she commented. “They were for all of us. They were for the show. There weren’t many women [in the cast] when I came here — Loretta, Jean Shepard, Wilma Lee Cooper, Connie Smith. But they made it look like we weren’t as important to the show [as men]. You’re ignoring half the people who come to the show, who listen, who buy the tickets.”

Tubb also gave her career a boost when he invited Seely to appear on his “Midnight Jamboree.” This was a live show and WSM broadcast that followed the Saturday night Opry from 1947 until May 7, 2022. The Jamboree was regarded as a showcase for newly minted country recording artists. It was also a promotion for the Ernest Tubb Record Shop’s famed mail-order business that made country records available to fans worldwide. When the record shop folded last spring, so did the show. Jeannie Seely brought the venerable Jamboree back on Saturday night. And she plans to keep it going again as a weekly show from the Texas Troubadour Theater on Music Valley Drive near the Opry complex. Her guests on the comeback broadcast were Sunny Sweeney, Mark Wills, Moore & Moore, Dallas Wayne and the new duo Diane Berry & Joe Wade Smith.

Seely has long made it a habit to introduce newcomers at the Opry. “Somebody held it together for years so I could be here,” she explained. “I need to do that for others.” So she continued her tradition on Saturday night by introducing Chapel Hart. She left champagne in the trio’s dressing room, along with a welcoming note.

“We’re putting them on as the closing act of the segment,” said Rogers backstage. “We’ve never had a debut Opry act close a segment before. We’ll see how it goes.” He needn’t have worried. Nobody could have followed Chapel Hart’s performance. Backstage, cameras captured the trio holding hands and praying in the hallway before their performance. A steady stream of well-wishers crowded the women’s dressing room.

When Seely announced them on stage, the crowd erupted in excitement. Chapel Hart has been competing on national TV on America’s Got Talent and has clearly already won country lovers’ hearts.

The act’s Opry set created pandemonium. The crowd shouted encouragement, offered several standing ovations and shook the hall with cheers. It was the most enthusiastically embraced Opry debut in memory.

Sweeney, Wills, Alex Williams, Everette, the Opry Square Dancers and new Opry cast members Charlie McCoy (inducted in July) and Don Schlitz (inducted in August) were the other stars on Saturday night’s Opry show. McCoy and Schlitz are also members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

But the night belonged to Jeannie Seely. In addition to her regular Grand Ole Opry appearances, she has been hosting her weekly “Sundays With Seely” show on the Willie’s Roadhouse channel of SiriusXM since 2018. She and Brenda Lee co-host the annual SOURCE Awards in Music City. But what she’s most excited about is ramping up her songwriting activity. “Like I Could,” which Seely cowrote with Erin Enderlin and Bobby Tomberlin, became a No. 1 bluegrass hit for Rhonda Vincent last year. The Opry performance champ has also been co-writing with Buddy Cannon, Gary Burr, Victoria Shaw and Bill Anderson.

Her advice to aspiring Opry performers? “People won’t remember what you say. But they’ll remember how you made them feel. All you gotta do is make them feel good.”