The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) and Easy Song Licensing are joining forces to present a free webinar, “Cover Song Licensing in the MMA Era,” on Tuesday, July 12 at 2 p.m. CT.

The MLC’s Head of Third-Party Partnerships, Dae Bogan, will be joined by Easy Song’s Aaron Green and his team for an in-depth discussion and Q&A that explores the landscape of cover song licensing since passage of the Music Modernization Act of 2018 (MMA).

During the 60-minute webinar, participants who want to record and perform cover songs to raise their artistic profile and build a fanbase will learn important details, including what constitutes a cover song, the potential streams of income that are available, and how to register a cover song correctly to ensure that they properly recognize rights holders and creators for their original works.

For additional details and to register, click here.

Pictured (L-R, front row): Vere Music’s Paige Heinemann and Alyssa Logan, River House Artist’s Alicia Jones, Southerland’s Matt Chase and Chris Rogers, Reservoir’s John Ozier and Beth St. Jean; (L-R, back row): Reliant Talent’s Seth Meganck and Matt McGuire, Vere Music’s Rusty Harmon, River House Artist’s Zebb Luster, Reservoir’s Greg Gallo and King Business and Financial Management’s Chris King. Photo: Allison Heffernan

Country duo Southerland has expanded their team, signing with new label Vere Music/ADA and with Reliant Talent for booking. The duo is slated to release a new song, “Down The Road” on July 22, which follows their 2021 debut EP Boot Up.

Charleston, South Carolina native Matt Chase and Washington, Georgia’s Chris Rogers met through mutual friends and played college towns and dive bars together for three years before morphing into the duo now known as Southerland.

The two made their CMA Fest debut earlier this month, and have previously shared the stage with Michael Ray, Mitchell Tenpenny, Jon Langston, Drew Parker, Parmalee and Ray Fulcher, among others.

“The village that is Southerland includes long-time friends and associates. Chris and Matt embody the talent, attitude, grit, and knowledge needed to succeed in today’s music industry,” says Vere Music’s Rusty Harmon. “Everyone at Vere is honored to be working on the Southerland team.”

“We’re really excited to work with the Vere and Reliant teams! We felt that they understood us, our music and where we wanted to go,” shares Southerland. “They integrate perfectly with our current teams at River House Artists and Reservoir and are the perfect addition to the Southerland family. We’re very thankful to have these two companies in our corner and cannot wait to share our new music with the world.”

Chris Burrus

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has promoted a handful of its staff from the CAA Elevate program, including new Nashville-based agent Chris Burrus.

CAA Elevate is the agency’s next-generation training and practical development curriculum. Building upon the agency’s Training Program, CAA Elevate was designed to cultivate best practices, encourage innovation, foster global strategic-thinking, and nurture the talents of CAA’s agents and executives in training.

Burrus was promoted to Agent in the Music Touring department and represents Nate Smith, Tyler Booth, Erin Kinsey, and After Midtown. He is also on the teams that support Jake Owen, Matt Koziol, and Brandon Ratcliff.

Burrus joined CAA upon graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He joined CAA in 2018 as an assistant to Sabrina Butera, and supported Marc Dennis, Meredith Jones, and Emily Van Allsburg in the Music Touring department before being promoted to Music Touring Coordinator in 2021.

Previously, Burrus held internships at such companies as Ole Publishing, Capitol Christian Music Group, and Yep Roc Music Group.

Inder Gill, Sophie Kavanagh, Zakaria Laaboudi, Arlen Papazian, and Kara Petit have also been promoted from CAA Elevate, and are located in some of the agency’s offices across the world.

The Grand Ole Opry is hosting Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-nominated songwriter Tom Douglas for a six-show residency of his one-man show Love, Tom, which inspired the acclaimed motion picture streaming on Paramount+, throughout July and August.

Douglas will share stories of some of his famed songs in Love, Tom, which will mark the first ticketed show/residency in the 80-seat Circle Room at the Grand Ole Opry House.

Among Douglas’ hits are Lady A’s “I Run to You,” Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me,” and Tim McGraw’s “My Little Girl.” He has also had songs recorded by Opry members Garth Brooks, Chris Janson, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, and Keith Urban, among others.

Love, Tom kicks off July 14 at 7 p.m. and runs on July 21, 25, 28, Aug. 3, and Aug. 10. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Friday, June 24 at 10 a.m at opry.com.

The show is being presented as part of the Opry’s “Opry Loves the 90s” celebration, as Douglas’ hit-making career began with his 1994’s Collin Raye hit “Little Rock,” a 1994 CMA Song of the Year nominee.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has announced its next major exhibit, “Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock,” with two separate events at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and the museum’s Ford Theater in Nashville.

Artifacts seen from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s announcement of the major new exhibition “Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock” at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on June 22, 2022. Photo: Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Housed in the museum’s newly transformed 5,000-square-foot gallery, the exhibit will open Sept. 30 for a nearly three-year run. “Western Edge” will examine the close-knit communities of Los Angeles-based singers, songwriters and musicians who, from the 1960s-1980s, embraced country music and created and shaped the musical fusion known as “country-rock.”

Also highlighted in the exhibit is the historical significance of the Troubadour in West Hollywood, which provided a space for creators to collaborate ­with a healthy dose of competition.

The exhibit will survey the rise of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco, Eagles, Emmylou Harris, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Linda Ronstadt and many others who found commercial success by merging rock & roll rhythms with country and bluegrass instrumentation and harmonies.

Pictured (L-R): Matraca Berg, Jeff Hanna and Emmylou Harris. Photo: Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The new exhibit announcement was accompanied by special performances from several artists central to the exhibit’s narrative, including Dwight Yoakam and country-rock luminary Chris Hillman performing “Sin City” and “Time Between” together at the Troubadour in Los Angeles; and Country Music Hall of Fame member Emmylou Harris singing “The Road,” in tribute to fellow country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons at the museum’s Ford Theater in Nashville. Harris also joined Jeff Hanna (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) and songwriter Matraca Berg for a performance of “Mr. Bojangles” in the museum’s theater.

“A new hybrid sound grew from humble beginnings in a few small LA nightclubs and quickly emerged as one of the most popular musical styles across the world,” explains Kyle Young, CEO, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “Inspired by the likes of Bob Dylan and the Beatles, these artists and musicians also found community in their appreciation of traditional country, folk and bluegrass music. They built on this foundation, crafting songs of uncommon lyrical depth and layered musical richness –adding new textures to rock sounds that resulted in a completely original form of American music.”

The exhibit’s opening weekend will include a pair of one-of-a-kind concerts in the museum’s CMA Theater, made possible in part by exhibit travel partner American Airlines:

• Western Edge: Los Angeles Country-Rock in Concert – Friday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m.
  • An all-star lineup of musical luminaries associated with country-rock will perform, along with torchbearers who have been influenced by the sounds and artists from the Los Angeles music scene. Performers include Dave Alvin (the Blasters, the Knitters), Alison Brown (in tribute to California bluegrass), Rodney Dillard (the Dillards), Rosie Flores, Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield, Poco), Jeff Hanna (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), Chris Hillman (the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Desert Rose Band), Bernie Leadon (Hearts & Flowers, Flying Burrito Brothers, the Eagles), John McEuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), Wendy Moten (in tribute to Linda Ronstadt) and Herb Pedersen (Desert Rose Band and instrumentalist for Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons and many more). The house band will be led by Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist John Jorgenson and includes JayDee Maness (steel guitar), Steve Duncan (drums) and Mark Fain (bass). More performers to be added.
• Desert Rose Band – Sunday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m.
  • For the first time in more than a decade, the Desert Rose Band will reunite for a special concert. In 1986, former member of the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers Chris Hillman founded the band with Herb Pedersen and John Jorgensen. The original lineup included Bill Bryson (bass guitar), JayDee Maness (pedal steel guitar) and Steve Duncan (drums). Original members of the band will take the stage for the highly anticipated event, with acclaimed Nashville bassist Mark Fain replacing the late Bill Bryson.