Keith Whitley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Joe Galante will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The inductees were revealed Tuesday morning (May 17) via a virtual press conference by Hall of Famers Brooks & Dunn.
Whitley will be posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in the Modern Era category. Lewis was selected for induction for the Veteran Era category. Renowned Nashville label head Galante will be inducted in the Non-Performer category.
Joe Galante, Jerry Lee Lewis and Keith Whitley (Lorrie Morgan attending on Whitley’s behalf) are announced as the Country Music Hall of Fame class of 2022. Photo: John Russell/CMA
“When I heard the news I was being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, it was the first time in my entire career I was speechless,” says Galante. “I’m humbled, beyond honored and honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.”
“To be recognized by country music with their highest honor is a humbling experience,” says Lewis. “The little boy from Ferriday, LA listening to Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams never thought he’d be in a Hall amongst them. I am appreciative of all those who have recognized that Jerry Lee Lewis music is country music and to our almighty God for his never-ending redeeming grace.”
“In my heart, this feels like an absolutely appropriate honor, but at the same time, I know that Keith would be painfully humbled, and even shy about accepting an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame,” says Grand Ole Opry star, Lorrie Morgan, who was married to Whitley until his untimely passing. “Music was all about emotion to Keith. It was personal. There were so many great artists he admired, even worshipped. To stand in their company in the Hall of Fame would’ve been overwhelmingly emotional for him. I am thrilled to see him honored this way, and for what it means to my children, Morgan and Jesse Keith; to Keith’s grandchildren; the Whitley family; and to the many, many fans who continue to point to Keith as one of the all-time greats.”
“This year’s inductees are trailblazers who each paved their own unique path within country music,” says Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “Jerry Lee, Keith and Joe each found their musical callings early in life and displayed a strong-minded and fierce passion for music making. In very different ways, they all have left a lasting impact on the industry and generations of fans alike. I am thrilled to welcome this deserving class into the Country Music Hall of Fame.”
“Our new inductees come from three very different places, but in October they will be enshrined in the very same place,” says Kyle Young, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Chief Executive Officer. “Jerry Lee Lewis is a God-fearing rabble-rouser from a Mississippi River town, way down South. Keith Whitley was a Lefty Frizzell-loving country boy from rural Kentucky. And Joe Galante is a game-changing executive from the urban northeast. They all filled our worlds with music. They are all deserving of our respect and adulation, and their elections into the Country Music Hall of Fame ensure that respect and adulation will endure through the ages.”
A formal induction ceremony for Galante, Lewis and Whitley will take place at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in the CMA Theater this fall. Since 2007, the Museum’s Medallion Ceremony, a reunion of the Hall of Fame membership, has served as the official rite of induction for new members.
Bios for each inductee are below:
Joe Galante. Photo: Courtesy of Joe Galante
Non-Performer Category – Joe Galante
When then RCA Records transferred Joe Galante from New York to its Nashville office in 1974, he never imagined he’d still be in Music City 49 years later. Nashville certainly had no clue how the 24-year-old “New Yorker” would transform the Country Music industry, becoming the longest-tenured major-label head in its history. During his 39 years with what is now known as Sony Music Nashville, Galante displayed marketing acumen, strategic sense and tenacious competitiveness that motivated other labels and raised the bar for the industry at large.
Galante grew up in Queens, NY as the oldest of three children in a typical Italian family household. He attended catholic schools for his primary education and graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx with a finance and marketing degree.
Galante joined RCA Records in New York as a budget analyst in 1971, shortly after graduating from Fordham. The move to Nashville came at a time when the label wanted to develop more decision-making autonomy within its Country division. Galante, who had moved into product management by the time, had little familiarity with Country Music outside the occasional crossover hit he’d heard on New York radio, but he learned the music and the business from RCA giants Jerry Bradley and Chet Atkins.
Galante entered a closed system that often viewed outsiders with suspicion, yet what he had initially envisioned as a two-year assignment turned into a life’s path. In less than a decade, Galante succeeded Bradley as the head of RCA’s Nashville office, that promotion coming after he had led and re-imagined the division’s promotion and marketing departments. It’s no coincidence that RCA Nashville’s first Platinum album — 1976’s Wanted! The Outlaws compilation — came after Galante’s arrival. He also helped steer RCA’s late-1970s and early 1980s crossover successes with such artists as Waylon Jennings, Ronnie Milsap, Sylvia and Dolly Parton.
Galante was 32 when he took the helm at RCA Nashville, the youngest person to ever lead a major label’s Nashville division. Under his leadership, RCA became Country’s top label in 1982 and held that spot for 11 years.
He shepherded the multi-Platinum ascendance of Alabama using a pop marketing model. He signed a wide roster of talent including Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans, Vince Gill, The Judds, Martina McBride, Lorrie Morgan, K.T. Oslin, Carrie Underwood, Keith Whitley, Chris Young and others.
In 1990, Galante married Phran Schwartz in Nashville before the couple returned to New York where he was named President of RCA Record Label – U.S., becoming the first Music Row label chief to run a major label’s entire U.S. operation. His signings while there included the Dave Matthews Band, SWV and Wu-Tang Clan.
He came back to Nashville in 1994 as chairman of RCA, which had been purchased by Bertelsmann and operated under the name BMG/Nashville, including both the RCA and BNA Records labels. In 2000, Arista Nashville came under the BMG/Nashville umbrella with a roster that included Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson and Brad Paisley. In 2004, BMG/Nashville became the first label group of the SoundScan era to place three Country albums — Jimmy Buffett’s License to Chill (RCA/Mailboat), Kenny Chesney’s When the Sun Goes Down (BNA Records) and Alan Jackson’s What I Do (Arista Nashville) atop the Billboard 200 chart in a calendar year.
In 2006, Galante oversaw the evolution of BMG/Nashville into Sony BMG Nashville, with the addition of the former Sony Nashville and its Columbia Nashville imprint, with artists like Miranda Lambert, Gretchen Wilson and Montgomery Gentry. Sony BMG Nashville became Sony Music Nashville in 2009. Galante exited Sony Music Nashville as chairman in 2010.
While his record label prowess remains a highlight of his legacy, his dedication to mentoring younger generations of music professionals is perhaps one of his most admired and impactful contributions. Since leaving Sony Music Nashville, Galante has served as a mentor-in-residence for Nashville Entrepreneur Center, where he founded Project Music. He is also a founding member of Leadership Music, now in its 33rd year.
Galante has been a member of the Country Music Association Board of Directors since 1978 and the CMA Foundation Board of Directors since 2011, serving as chairman of both organizations. In 2021, CMA honored him with the J. William Denny Award, to honor a lifetime of dedication, distinguished service and meritorious contributions to the CMA Board of Directors. Additionally, he received the Bob Kingsley Living Legend Award from the Opry Trust Fund in 2015, becoming the second person, after national radio host Kingsley, to be so honored.
Galante has served as a consultant to BMG Music and Morris Higham Management, and he has chaired the Music City Music Council, a group of leaders dedicated to further establishing Nashville’s position as the global music capital.
He currently serves on the boards of Pinnacle Financial Partners and Cumberland Pharmaceuticals. He also serves on the board of Fishbowl Spirits, LLC, and on the Music Advisory Council for Abe’s Garden, an Alzheimer’s care and learning center. He established the Phran Galante Memorial Fund for Lung Cancer Research at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, in the wake of Phran’s passing in September 2019.
Galante has raised the bar for executives in the Country Music industry — whether they were working for him, in concert with him or competing against him. He becomes the third chief of Sony Music Nashville to join the Country Music Hall of Fame, following Atkins (1973) and Bradley (2019).
As Trahern says, “Nashville would not be Nashville without Joe Galante.”
Jerry Lee Lewis. Photo: Sean Gowdy
Veterans Era Artist Category – Jerry Lee Lewis
When 21-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis arrived at Memphis, TN’s Sun Records, he was introduced to owner Sam Phillips as a man who could play the piano the way Chet Atkins played guitar. That description may have piqued Phillips’ curiosity, but, truth was, Lewis didn’t sound a thing like Atkins, and he played the piano like nothing anybody had ever heard before.
Lewis’ ferocious, key-pounding style derived from a combustible mix of cultural sources — the Assembly of God holiness church of Ferriday, LA; Haney’s Big House, a chitlin’ circuit nightclub on the other side of town where Lewis witnessed a young B.B. King and all manner of other blues and R&B acts; the Jimmie Rodgers records embedded deep within his formative memories; the Al Jolson 78s played before Gene Autry matinees at the local movie house; and Hank Williams’ mournful wail carried across the air via “The Louisiana Hayride.” Those things all came together in Lewis and came out through his fingers with the speed of lightning and the force of thunder.
He is, as music historian Colin Escott has noted, “a rock ‘n’ roller who could never quite get the Country out of his soul, and a Country singer who could never forget rock ‘n’ roll.”
The first record Sun released on Lewis was a cover of Ray Price’s “Crazy Arms,” cut while the original was still on the charts. The first hit, though, came with a song originally recorded by R&B singer Big Maybelle but that Lewis had learned via a Natchez, MS, DJ named Johnny Littlejohn. “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” simultaneously spent two weeks in 1957 atop Billboard’s Country and R&B best-sellers charts, peaking at No. 3 on the Top 100. The following year saw follow-up “Great Balls of Fire” top the Country chart for another two weeks.
Controversy derailed Lewis’ early success, but not before Lewis hit the Country Top 10 three more times with “You Win Again,” “Breathless” and “High School Confidential,” each of which peaked higher on the Country charts than they did on the pop side.
In the 1960s, Lewis left Sun for Smash Records. Where Sun had emphasized Lewis’ abilities as a boogie-woogie rock-and-roll piano man, Smash producers Jerry Kennedy and Eddie Kilroy decided to focus on his Country side. They returned him to the radio with songs like “Another Place Another Time” and “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me).” That may have seemed like a radical idea given Lewis’ wild-man reputation, but it also fit the moment. Within months of Lewis having his first chart-topping Country hit in 11 years — “To Make Love Sweeter for You” in 1969 — Johnny Cash, Sonny James and Conway Twitty, all singers who’d hit it big during the dawn of rock and roll, topped the Country charts, as well.
The Country hits continued into the 1970s as Lewis moved to Smash’s parent label, Mercury Records, and later the Nashville division Elektra Records. He reached No. 1 with “There Must Be More to Love Than This,” “Would You Take Another Chance on Me” and a cover of the Big Bopper’s 1950s rock and roll classic, “Chantilly Lace.” He hit the Top 5 with a pair of signature ballads, the 1977 waltz “Middle Aged Crazy” and the 1981 honky-tonker “Thirty Nine and Holding.”
In all, he placed 28 Top 10 Billboard Country singles across four decades, a greater number of hits over a longer period of time than what appeared on the pop charts, where only a half-dozen sides made the Top 40.
Lewis has continued to record as his acolytes take him into the studio and as subsequent generations discover his music, even recording a 2011 live album at Jack White’s Third Man Records. His name has appeared in Country hits by George Jones (“Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes”), John Michael Montgomery (“I Love the Way You Love Me”), Tim McGraw (“Southern Voice”) and the Statler Brothers (“How to Be a Country Star”) — though, of course, nobody drops his name more in their songs than he does himself.
“Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” is now part of the National Recording Registry. That and “Great Balls of Fire” are in the Grammy Hall of Fame. While those two records are, by far, his most famous, those who know his catalog more deeply understand that he has full mastery of a century’s worth of popular music, from 19th-century minstrel tunes to the songs of Tin Pan Alley standards to classic rock.
Lewis joins Sun Records compatriots Cash, “Cowboy” Jack Clement, Phillips and Elvis Presley in the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is also the fourth member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s founding 1986 class of inductees to also gain membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame, along with Presley (1998), the Everly Brothers (2001) and Ray Charles (2021).
While Lewis now joins a select group, he also remains uniquely individual in that company. “My style of Country Music is just me,” Lewis told the Associated Press in 2017. “I wouldn’t know how to do anyone else’s.”
Keith Whitley. Photo: Courtesy of Keith Whitley
Modern Era Artist Category – Keith Whitley
Most Country Music Hall of Fame careers are marked by their longevity. It’s not a requirement, though. Lefty Frizzell, Jim Reeves, and the Louvin Brothers’ Ira Louvin all died in their 40s. Patsy Cline was just 30 at the time of her passing. The first two performers inducted into the Hall of Fame — Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams —were gone by 35.
Four years seven months and 10 days passed between Keith Whitley’s first appearance on the Billboard Country singles charts and his death on May 9, 1989, at 34. It’s the briefest chart span of any Hall of Famer during their lifetime, nearly six months shorter than Williams’.
From another perspective, Whitley had a 30-year career, one that began when he was 4 years old, dressed in a black cowboy outfit and singing Marty Robbins’ “Big Iron” and George Jones’ “A Wandering Soul” for talent shows around his hometown of Sandy Hook, KY.
Whitley made his radio debut at age 8, appearing on singer Buddy Starcher’s show on WCHS-AM in Charleston, WV. In his teens, he formed a bluegrass band, the East Kentucky Mountain Boys, with his brother Dwight, performing on WGOH-AM in Grayson, KY, and once a month on a UFH television show out of Hazard, KY. During that time, he met future Hall of Famer Ricky Skaggs, and the two teens bonded over their shared love of the Stanley Brothers. Whitley and Skaggs soon began performing the Stanleys’ songs together, and within months, Ralph Stanley hired them as members of his Clinch Mountain Boys.
Whitley recorded several albums with Stanley, as well as two early 1970s albums with Skaggs — Tribute to the Stanley Brothers (Jalyn Records) and 2nd Generation Bluegrass (Rebel Records). After leaving Stanley’s band, he joined J.D. Crowe and the New South from 1978 to 1982.
Whitley had been coming to Nashville since his teens, having been told by Mac Wiseman that his real future was in Country Music, and he moved there after leaving Crowe’s band. He met Lorrie Morgan in a studio at Acuff-Rose Music, where Morgan worked as a receptionist and Whitley was cutting the demo of “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind,” which would become a chart-topper for George Strait. Whitley and Morgan married in November 1986.
By that time, Whitley had been signed to RCA Records by then-Vice President of Nashville Operations Joe Galante. Whitley’s debut EP, 1984’s A Hard Act to Follow, achieved little success, its two singles peaking outside Country’s Top 40. A full-length album, L.A. to Miami, fared better the following year, putting “Miami, My Amy” into the Top 20 followed by three Top 10 singles — “Ten Feet Away,” “Homecoming ’63,” and “Hard Livin’.”
Whitley found his artistic and commercial breakthrough with the next album, 1988’s Don’t Close Your Eyes. Three tracks produced with Garth Fundis – the title track, “When You Say Nothing at All” and “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” — found a perfect blending of bluegrass and honky-tonk traditions into contemporary Country, giving Whitley his first No. 1s. They still resonate more than 30 years later, a trio of singles with few parallels in terms of impact.
For a new version of Lefty Frizzell’s “I Never Go Around Mirrors,” Whitley convinced writer Whitey Shafer to craft an additional verse. On the day Whitley recorded the song, he visited Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens near his house in Goodlettsville, TN, and read the new lyrics over Frizzell’s grave.
One month after “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” hit the top of the charts, Whitley passed away in his home.
Unlike so many of his fellow Country Music Hall of Fame members, he never performed at the CMA Awards. He never became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. (Unknown to him, his invitation had been set for three weeks after his death.) His first Gold-record certification, for Don’t Close Your Eyes, came two months after his death, and his Grammy Awards nominations and CMA Awards came posthumously. A completed third album, I Wonder Do You Think of Me, came out in August 1989 and added two more singles, the title track and “It Ain’t Nothin’,” to his streak of No. 1s.
Whitley has been gone now for almost as long as he lived, and his legacy is immeasurable, influencing subsequent generations of Country singers and songwriters the way that icons like Frizzell and Williams influenced him.
What Country Music would have looked like without Whitley’s music — especially that trio of game-changing singles — is unimaginable. Tim McGraw, inspired by his love of Whitley’s music, moved to Nashville, arriving on the day Whitley died. A young Trisha Yearwood heard Don’t Close Your Eyes and dreamed of working with the same creative team, leading her to ask Fundis to produce her records. Chris Young signed with RCA in part because it had been Whitley’s label. Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, Blake Shelton and others have acknowledged Whitley’s influence. Dozens of artists have covered his material on record or in concert.
Perhaps Garth Brooks, who specifically noted that Whitley deserved to be in the Hall of Fame during his own induction announcement in 2012, put it best recently. “Keith Whitley,” he said, “is the definition of Country Music.”
Nominees Unveiled For The 2022 K-Love Fan Awards
/by Lydia FarthingNominees for the 2022 K-Love Fan Awards have been unveiled. The Fan Awards will take place at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House on May 29, with ASCAP Christian Songwriter of the Year Matthew West and 10x Grammy nominee Tauren Wells serving as hosts for the evening. The show will air on TBN June 3 at 7 p.m. CT.
Anne Wilson, Casting Crowns, For King & Country, Katy Nichole, Maverick City Music, and TobyMac all lead the nominations with three each. Cain, Crowder, Brandon Lake & Jenn Johnson, Tasha Layton and Zach Williams follow with two each. Fans can begin voting for their favorites now.
Additionally, a brand new category has been added to honor the Podcast of the Year. This year’s inaugural nominees include Annie F. Downs‘ That Sounds Fun, Christine Caine‘s Equip and Empower, the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast, John Cooper‘s Cooper Stuff, Lisa Harper’s Back Porch Theology, and Sadie Robertson Huff‘s Whoa That’s Good.
The biggest fan weekend in Christian music will take place May 27-29 in Nashville, with a kick-off concert on Friday followed by an emerging artist showcase and songwriter showcase on Saturday, and the annual Sunday morning worship service. All events will be hosted at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.
2022 K-Love Fan Award Nominees:
Male Artist of the Year
Crowder
Danny Gokey
Matthew West
Tauren Wells
TobyMac
Zach Williams
Female Artist of the Year
Anne Wilson
Blanca
CeCe Winans
Katy Nichole
Riley Clemmons
Tasha Layton
Group/Duo of the Year
Cain
Casting Crowns
Elevation Worship
For King & Country
Maverick City Music
MercyMe
Artist of the Year
Casting Crowns
Crowder
For King & Country
Maverick City Music
TobyMac
Zach Williams
Song of the Year
Anne Wilson – “My Jesus”
Brandon Lake & Jenn Johnson – “Too Good To Not Believe”
Cain – “The Commission”
Casting Crowns – “Scars In Heaven”
For King & Country – “For God Is With Us”
TobyMac – “Promised Land”
Breakout Single
Anne Wilson – “My Jesus”
Dante Bowe – “Joyful”
Jon Reddick – “God Turn It Around”
Jordan St. Cyr “- Weary Traveler”
Katy Nichole – “In Jesus Name (God of Possible)”
Tasha Layton – “Look What You’ve Done”
Worship Song of the Year
Brandon Lake & Jenn Johnson – “Too Good To Not Believe”
Chris Tomlin feat. Thomas Rhett & Florida Georgia Line – “Thank You Lord”
Elevation Worship – “Rattle!”
Katy Nichole – “In Jesus Name (God of Possible)”
Maverick City Music – “Promises”
Phil Wickham – “House Of The Lord”
Film & Television Impact
American Underdog
Blue Miracle
The Case For Heaven
The Jesus Music
Journey with Jesus
Book Impact
Jennie Allen – Find Your People
Louie Giglio – Don’t Give The Enemy A Seat At Your Table
Michael W. Smith – The Way Of The Father
Michael Todd – Crazy Faith
Shannon Bream – The Women Of The Bible Speak
Podcast of the Year
Annie F. Downs – That Sounds Fun
Christine Caine – Equip and Empower
Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast
John Cooper – Cooper Stuff
Lisa Harper’s – Back Porch Theology
Sadie Robertson Huff – Whoa That’s Good
‘Opry Loves the ‘90s’ Interactive Exhibit Open Now
/by Lorie HollabaughPhoto: Chris Hollo
The Grand Ole Opry’s “Opry Loves The ‘90s” new interactive exhibit opens today (May 17) as part of the Opry’s celebration of ‘90s country.
The “Opry Loves The ‘90s” new tour exhibit celebrates the artists, songs and songwriters that defined the music in the 1990s. Featured displays include iconic stage wear and artifacts representing career milestone moments and performances from Opry members Clint Black, Garth Brooks, Terri Clark, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Lorrie Morgan, Marty Stuart, Travis Tritt, Trisha Yearwood and more.
Photo: Chris Hollo
The exhibit also includes interactive experiences such as photo opportunities and a digital gaming console for fans who want to try their hand at answering ‘90s country music trivia and identify some of the most famous musical riffs of iconic ‘90s country songs.
The “Opry Loves The ‘90s” experience will run through Dec. 31. Tickets for the “Opry Loves The ‘90s” exhibit, Grand Ole Opry ,and backstage tours are on sale now at (615) 871-OPRY and opry.com.
Through the end of the of year, “Opry Loves The 90s” will include the new exhibit as part of the backstage tour package and continue the celebration on the Opry stage with special in-show Opry programming, ‘90s-themed Opry Plaza Parties and surprise artist collaborations honoring one of the most celebrated decades in country music.
The Opry will also include special nods to ‘90s country during each Opry show, including featured performances from some of the artists who rose to fame in the ‘90s, artists who were influenced by the music from the ‘90s, and video highlights from the Opry archives.
Beginning Memorial Day weekend, the Opry will host free and open to the public ‘90s Country Plaza Parties that will run each Friday and Saturday through Labor Day weekend and again on Fridays and Saturdays in October to celebrate the 97th Opry anniversary.
Keith Whitley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Joe Galante To Be Inducted Into Country Music Hall Of Fame
/by LB CantrellKeith Whitley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Joe Galante will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The inductees were revealed Tuesday morning (May 17) via a virtual press conference by Hall of Famers Brooks & Dunn.
Whitley will be posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in the Modern Era category. Lewis was selected for induction for the Veteran Era category. Renowned Nashville label head Galante will be inducted in the Non-Performer category.
Joe Galante, Jerry Lee Lewis and Keith Whitley (Lorrie Morgan attending on Whitley’s behalf) are announced as the Country Music Hall of Fame class of 2022. Photo: John Russell/CMA
“When I heard the news I was being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, it was the first time in my entire career I was speechless,” says Galante. “I’m humbled, beyond honored and honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.”
“To be recognized by country music with their highest honor is a humbling experience,” says Lewis. “The little boy from Ferriday, LA listening to Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams never thought he’d be in a Hall amongst them. I am appreciative of all those who have recognized that Jerry Lee Lewis music is country music and to our almighty God for his never-ending redeeming grace.”
“In my heart, this feels like an absolutely appropriate honor, but at the same time, I know that Keith would be painfully humbled, and even shy about accepting an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame,” says Grand Ole Opry star, Lorrie Morgan, who was married to Whitley until his untimely passing. “Music was all about emotion to Keith. It was personal. There were so many great artists he admired, even worshipped. To stand in their company in the Hall of Fame would’ve been overwhelmingly emotional for him. I am thrilled to see him honored this way, and for what it means to my children, Morgan and Jesse Keith; to Keith’s grandchildren; the Whitley family; and to the many, many fans who continue to point to Keith as one of the all-time greats.”
“This year’s inductees are trailblazers who each paved their own unique path within country music,” says Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “Jerry Lee, Keith and Joe each found their musical callings early in life and displayed a strong-minded and fierce passion for music making. In very different ways, they all have left a lasting impact on the industry and generations of fans alike. I am thrilled to welcome this deserving class into the Country Music Hall of Fame.”
“Our new inductees come from three very different places, but in October they will be enshrined in the very same place,” says Kyle Young, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Chief Executive Officer. “Jerry Lee Lewis is a God-fearing rabble-rouser from a Mississippi River town, way down South. Keith Whitley was a Lefty Frizzell-loving country boy from rural Kentucky. And Joe Galante is a game-changing executive from the urban northeast. They all filled our worlds with music. They are all deserving of our respect and adulation, and their elections into the Country Music Hall of Fame ensure that respect and adulation will endure through the ages.”
A formal induction ceremony for Galante, Lewis and Whitley will take place at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in the CMA Theater this fall. Since 2007, the Museum’s Medallion Ceremony, a reunion of the Hall of Fame membership, has served as the official rite of induction for new members.
Bios for each inductee are below:
Joe Galante. Photo: Courtesy of Joe Galante
Non-Performer Category – Joe Galante
When then RCA Records transferred Joe Galante from New York to its Nashville office in 1974, he never imagined he’d still be in Music City 49 years later. Nashville certainly had no clue how the 24-year-old “New Yorker” would transform the Country Music industry, becoming the longest-tenured major-label head in its history. During his 39 years with what is now known as Sony Music Nashville, Galante displayed marketing acumen, strategic sense and tenacious competitiveness that motivated other labels and raised the bar for the industry at large.
Galante grew up in Queens, NY as the oldest of three children in a typical Italian family household. He attended catholic schools for his primary education and graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx with a finance and marketing degree.
Galante joined RCA Records in New York as a budget analyst in 1971, shortly after graduating from Fordham. The move to Nashville came at a time when the label wanted to develop more decision-making autonomy within its Country division. Galante, who had moved into product management by the time, had little familiarity with Country Music outside the occasional crossover hit he’d heard on New York radio, but he learned the music and the business from RCA giants Jerry Bradley and Chet Atkins.
Galante entered a closed system that often viewed outsiders with suspicion, yet what he had initially envisioned as a two-year assignment turned into a life’s path. In less than a decade, Galante succeeded Bradley as the head of RCA’s Nashville office, that promotion coming after he had led and re-imagined the division’s promotion and marketing departments. It’s no coincidence that RCA Nashville’s first Platinum album — 1976’s Wanted! The Outlaws compilation — came after Galante’s arrival. He also helped steer RCA’s late-1970s and early 1980s crossover successes with such artists as Waylon Jennings, Ronnie Milsap, Sylvia and Dolly Parton.
Galante was 32 when he took the helm at RCA Nashville, the youngest person to ever lead a major label’s Nashville division. Under his leadership, RCA became Country’s top label in 1982 and held that spot for 11 years.
He shepherded the multi-Platinum ascendance of Alabama using a pop marketing model. He signed a wide roster of talent including Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans, Vince Gill, The Judds, Martina McBride, Lorrie Morgan, K.T. Oslin, Carrie Underwood, Keith Whitley, Chris Young and others.
In 1990, Galante married Phran Schwartz in Nashville before the couple returned to New York where he was named President of RCA Record Label – U.S., becoming the first Music Row label chief to run a major label’s entire U.S. operation. His signings while there included the Dave Matthews Band, SWV and Wu-Tang Clan.
He came back to Nashville in 1994 as chairman of RCA, which had been purchased by Bertelsmann and operated under the name BMG/Nashville, including both the RCA and BNA Records labels. In 2000, Arista Nashville came under the BMG/Nashville umbrella with a roster that included Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson and Brad Paisley. In 2004, BMG/Nashville became the first label group of the SoundScan era to place three Country albums — Jimmy Buffett’s License to Chill (RCA/Mailboat), Kenny Chesney’s When the Sun Goes Down (BNA Records) and Alan Jackson’s What I Do (Arista Nashville) atop the Billboard 200 chart in a calendar year.
In 2006, Galante oversaw the evolution of BMG/Nashville into Sony BMG Nashville, with the addition of the former Sony Nashville and its Columbia Nashville imprint, with artists like Miranda Lambert, Gretchen Wilson and Montgomery Gentry. Sony BMG Nashville became Sony Music Nashville in 2009. Galante exited Sony Music Nashville as chairman in 2010.
While his record label prowess remains a highlight of his legacy, his dedication to mentoring younger generations of music professionals is perhaps one of his most admired and impactful contributions. Since leaving Sony Music Nashville, Galante has served as a mentor-in-residence for Nashville Entrepreneur Center, where he founded Project Music. He is also a founding member of Leadership Music, now in its 33rd year.
Galante has been a member of the Country Music Association Board of Directors since 1978 and the CMA Foundation Board of Directors since 2011, serving as chairman of both organizations. In 2021, CMA honored him with the J. William Denny Award, to honor a lifetime of dedication, distinguished service and meritorious contributions to the CMA Board of Directors. Additionally, he received the Bob Kingsley Living Legend Award from the Opry Trust Fund in 2015, becoming the second person, after national radio host Kingsley, to be so honored.
Galante has served as a consultant to BMG Music and Morris Higham Management, and he has chaired the Music City Music Council, a group of leaders dedicated to further establishing Nashville’s position as the global music capital.
He currently serves on the boards of Pinnacle Financial Partners and Cumberland Pharmaceuticals. He also serves on the board of Fishbowl Spirits, LLC, and on the Music Advisory Council for Abe’s Garden, an Alzheimer’s care and learning center. He established the Phran Galante Memorial Fund for Lung Cancer Research at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, in the wake of Phran’s passing in September 2019.
Galante has raised the bar for executives in the Country Music industry — whether they were working for him, in concert with him or competing against him. He becomes the third chief of Sony Music Nashville to join the Country Music Hall of Fame, following Atkins (1973) and Bradley (2019).
As Trahern says, “Nashville would not be Nashville without Joe Galante.”
Jerry Lee Lewis. Photo: Sean Gowdy
Veterans Era Artist Category – Jerry Lee Lewis
When 21-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis arrived at Memphis, TN’s Sun Records, he was introduced to owner Sam Phillips as a man who could play the piano the way Chet Atkins played guitar. That description may have piqued Phillips’ curiosity, but, truth was, Lewis didn’t sound a thing like Atkins, and he played the piano like nothing anybody had ever heard before.
Lewis’ ferocious, key-pounding style derived from a combustible mix of cultural sources — the Assembly of God holiness church of Ferriday, LA; Haney’s Big House, a chitlin’ circuit nightclub on the other side of town where Lewis witnessed a young B.B. King and all manner of other blues and R&B acts; the Jimmie Rodgers records embedded deep within his formative memories; the Al Jolson 78s played before Gene Autry matinees at the local movie house; and Hank Williams’ mournful wail carried across the air via “The Louisiana Hayride.” Those things all came together in Lewis and came out through his fingers with the speed of lightning and the force of thunder.
He is, as music historian Colin Escott has noted, “a rock ‘n’ roller who could never quite get the Country out of his soul, and a Country singer who could never forget rock ‘n’ roll.”
The first record Sun released on Lewis was a cover of Ray Price’s “Crazy Arms,” cut while the original was still on the charts. The first hit, though, came with a song originally recorded by R&B singer Big Maybelle but that Lewis had learned via a Natchez, MS, DJ named Johnny Littlejohn. “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” simultaneously spent two weeks in 1957 atop Billboard’s Country and R&B best-sellers charts, peaking at No. 3 on the Top 100. The following year saw follow-up “Great Balls of Fire” top the Country chart for another two weeks.
Controversy derailed Lewis’ early success, but not before Lewis hit the Country Top 10 three more times with “You Win Again,” “Breathless” and “High School Confidential,” each of which peaked higher on the Country charts than they did on the pop side.
In the 1960s, Lewis left Sun for Smash Records. Where Sun had emphasized Lewis’ abilities as a boogie-woogie rock-and-roll piano man, Smash producers Jerry Kennedy and Eddie Kilroy decided to focus on his Country side. They returned him to the radio with songs like “Another Place Another Time” and “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me).” That may have seemed like a radical idea given Lewis’ wild-man reputation, but it also fit the moment. Within months of Lewis having his first chart-topping Country hit in 11 years — “To Make Love Sweeter for You” in 1969 — Johnny Cash, Sonny James and Conway Twitty, all singers who’d hit it big during the dawn of rock and roll, topped the Country charts, as well.
The Country hits continued into the 1970s as Lewis moved to Smash’s parent label, Mercury Records, and later the Nashville division Elektra Records. He reached No. 1 with “There Must Be More to Love Than This,” “Would You Take Another Chance on Me” and a cover of the Big Bopper’s 1950s rock and roll classic, “Chantilly Lace.” He hit the Top 5 with a pair of signature ballads, the 1977 waltz “Middle Aged Crazy” and the 1981 honky-tonker “Thirty Nine and Holding.”
In all, he placed 28 Top 10 Billboard Country singles across four decades, a greater number of hits over a longer period of time than what appeared on the pop charts, where only a half-dozen sides made the Top 40.
Lewis has continued to record as his acolytes take him into the studio and as subsequent generations discover his music, even recording a 2011 live album at Jack White’s Third Man Records. His name has appeared in Country hits by George Jones (“Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes”), John Michael Montgomery (“I Love the Way You Love Me”), Tim McGraw (“Southern Voice”) and the Statler Brothers (“How to Be a Country Star”) — though, of course, nobody drops his name more in their songs than he does himself.
“Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” is now part of the National Recording Registry. That and “Great Balls of Fire” are in the Grammy Hall of Fame. While those two records are, by far, his most famous, those who know his catalog more deeply understand that he has full mastery of a century’s worth of popular music, from 19th-century minstrel tunes to the songs of Tin Pan Alley standards to classic rock.
Lewis joins Sun Records compatriots Cash, “Cowboy” Jack Clement, Phillips and Elvis Presley in the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is also the fourth member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s founding 1986 class of inductees to also gain membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame, along with Presley (1998), the Everly Brothers (2001) and Ray Charles (2021).
While Lewis now joins a select group, he also remains uniquely individual in that company. “My style of Country Music is just me,” Lewis told the Associated Press in 2017. “I wouldn’t know how to do anyone else’s.”
Keith Whitley. Photo: Courtesy of Keith Whitley
Modern Era Artist Category – Keith Whitley
Most Country Music Hall of Fame careers are marked by their longevity. It’s not a requirement, though. Lefty Frizzell, Jim Reeves, and the Louvin Brothers’ Ira Louvin all died in their 40s. Patsy Cline was just 30 at the time of her passing. The first two performers inducted into the Hall of Fame — Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams —were gone by 35.
Four years seven months and 10 days passed between Keith Whitley’s first appearance on the Billboard Country singles charts and his death on May 9, 1989, at 34. It’s the briefest chart span of any Hall of Famer during their lifetime, nearly six months shorter than Williams’.
From another perspective, Whitley had a 30-year career, one that began when he was 4 years old, dressed in a black cowboy outfit and singing Marty Robbins’ “Big Iron” and George Jones’ “A Wandering Soul” for talent shows around his hometown of Sandy Hook, KY.
Whitley made his radio debut at age 8, appearing on singer Buddy Starcher’s show on WCHS-AM in Charleston, WV. In his teens, he formed a bluegrass band, the East Kentucky Mountain Boys, with his brother Dwight, performing on WGOH-AM in Grayson, KY, and once a month on a UFH television show out of Hazard, KY. During that time, he met future Hall of Famer Ricky Skaggs, and the two teens bonded over their shared love of the Stanley Brothers. Whitley and Skaggs soon began performing the Stanleys’ songs together, and within months, Ralph Stanley hired them as members of his Clinch Mountain Boys.
Whitley recorded several albums with Stanley, as well as two early 1970s albums with Skaggs — Tribute to the Stanley Brothers (Jalyn Records) and 2nd Generation Bluegrass (Rebel Records). After leaving Stanley’s band, he joined J.D. Crowe and the New South from 1978 to 1982.
Whitley had been coming to Nashville since his teens, having been told by Mac Wiseman that his real future was in Country Music, and he moved there after leaving Crowe’s band. He met Lorrie Morgan in a studio at Acuff-Rose Music, where Morgan worked as a receptionist and Whitley was cutting the demo of “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind,” which would become a chart-topper for George Strait. Whitley and Morgan married in November 1986.
By that time, Whitley had been signed to RCA Records by then-Vice President of Nashville Operations Joe Galante. Whitley’s debut EP, 1984’s A Hard Act to Follow, achieved little success, its two singles peaking outside Country’s Top 40. A full-length album, L.A. to Miami, fared better the following year, putting “Miami, My Amy” into the Top 20 followed by three Top 10 singles — “Ten Feet Away,” “Homecoming ’63,” and “Hard Livin’.”
Whitley found his artistic and commercial breakthrough with the next album, 1988’s Don’t Close Your Eyes. Three tracks produced with Garth Fundis – the title track, “When You Say Nothing at All” and “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” — found a perfect blending of bluegrass and honky-tonk traditions into contemporary Country, giving Whitley his first No. 1s. They still resonate more than 30 years later, a trio of singles with few parallels in terms of impact.
For a new version of Lefty Frizzell’s “I Never Go Around Mirrors,” Whitley convinced writer Whitey Shafer to craft an additional verse. On the day Whitley recorded the song, he visited Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens near his house in Goodlettsville, TN, and read the new lyrics over Frizzell’s grave.
One month after “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” hit the top of the charts, Whitley passed away in his home.
Unlike so many of his fellow Country Music Hall of Fame members, he never performed at the CMA Awards. He never became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. (Unknown to him, his invitation had been set for three weeks after his death.) His first Gold-record certification, for Don’t Close Your Eyes, came two months after his death, and his Grammy Awards nominations and CMA Awards came posthumously. A completed third album, I Wonder Do You Think of Me, came out in August 1989 and added two more singles, the title track and “It Ain’t Nothin’,” to his streak of No. 1s.
Whitley has been gone now for almost as long as he lived, and his legacy is immeasurable, influencing subsequent generations of Country singers and songwriters the way that icons like Frizzell and Williams influenced him.
What Country Music would have looked like without Whitley’s music — especially that trio of game-changing singles — is unimaginable. Tim McGraw, inspired by his love of Whitley’s music, moved to Nashville, arriving on the day Whitley died. A young Trisha Yearwood heard Don’t Close Your Eyes and dreamed of working with the same creative team, leading her to ask Fundis to produce her records. Chris Young signed with RCA in part because it had been Whitley’s label. Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, Blake Shelton and others have acknowledged Whitley’s influence. Dozens of artists have covered his material on record or in concert.
Perhaps Garth Brooks, who specifically noted that Whitley deserved to be in the Hall of Fame during his own induction announcement in 2012, put it best recently. “Keith Whitley,” he said, “is the definition of Country Music.”
Capitol Christian Music Group Promotes Josh Bailey, Matt Reed To SVPs
/by Lorie HollabaughPictured (L-R): Josh Bailey and Matt Reed. Photo: Robby Klein
Josh Bailey and Matt Reed have been promoted at Capitol Christian Music Group (CCMG) to SVP, A&R and SVP, Marketing, respectively.
Bailey leads the team that oversees the creative development of the current Capitol CMG artist roster and works directly with TobyMac, Crowder, We The Kingdom, Jeremy Camp, Tauren Wells and Anne Wilson, among others. He began his career as a Business Manager for industry veteran Tom Jackson and joined Word Entertainment in 2005, working in the A&R department. He rose to Senior Vice President of A&R and Publishing at the label and was instrumental in the careers of for King & Country, We Are Messengers, Francesca Battistelli and others.
“It is such an honor to work alongside our industry-leading team developing artists, elevating their brands, and supporting their ministries,” explains Bailey. “Thank you Brad [O’Donnell] and Hudson [Plachy] for entrusting me with this incredible opportunity. I’m grateful to continue to lead in this expanded role as we partner together to build bright futures for our entire artist roster and this extraordinary team.”
Reed began his career at CCMG in 2014 as head of the label group’s digital marketing team. In 2018, he was promoted to VP, Digital Marketing & Content to lead the company’s digital strategy, innovation and advertising efforts. Reed has been integral to campaigns for Tauren Wells, Anne Wilson, We The Kingdom, Hillsong United, Chris Tomlin, TobyMac, Crowder, Riley Clemmons and more. Prior to joining the Capitol CMG team, Reed oversaw Provident Label Group’s digital marketing department, as well as contributed to the marketing and development of the Essential Worship label.
“I’m thankful to Hudson, Brad, and the CMG team for this opportunity and their belief in me over the years,” adds Reed. “I’m proud to be a part of a market-leading company that has a long history of success, innovation and developing the next generation of industry leaders. Our team is passionate about being an artist-first label with a globalized approach to artist development, and I’m excited to continue this vision as we connect with audiences in a digitally forward and culturally relevant way.”
“We couldn’t be happier to announce the promotions of Matt Reed and Josh Bailey,” Co-Presidents Brad O’Donnell and Hudson Plachy share. “Both have long and proven track records in artist development and care deeply about our roster and the artists on it. We are excited to see them take on expanded responsibilities and are confident they’ll achieve even more in their new roles.”
Taylor Swift, Dan + Shay, Eric Church, More Win At 2022 Billboard Music Awards
/by Lydia FarthingThe 2022 Billboard Music Awards took place on Sunday night (May 15) at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. Hosted by Sean “Diddy” Combs, the show aired on NBC and celebrated some of music’s biggest hits and artists from the last year.
Among the night’s winners, Nashville was well represented across the board.
Dan + Shay. Photo: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images for MRC
Taylor Swift took home four awards, including for Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Country Artist, Top Country Female Artist, and Top Country Album (Red (Taylor’s Version)). Morgan Wallen walked away with Top Country Male Artist, while Dan + Shay won their third trophy for Top Country Duo/Group. The pair also performed “You” from their current album Good Things.
“Thank you Billboard Music Awards, this is truly an honor,” noted Dan + Shay’s Dan Smyers of the win. “Thank you to our team and our road crew, our band, and the fans. We love you so much!”
Ahead of closing out the U.S. leg of his 55-show “The Gather Again Tour” at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on May 20, Eric Church took home the award for Top Country Tour. Breakout country star Walker Hayes, who racked up six nominations leading up to the awards, earned the trophy for Top Country Song for his smash mega-hit “Fancy Like.”
BBMA winners are determined by Billboard chart performance, from album and song sales to radio airplay, streaming, touring and social engagement.
Partial List of 2022 Billboard Music Award Winners:
Top Billboard 200 Artist
Adele
Drake
Juice WRLD
Morgan Wallen
Taylor Swift
Top Song Sales Artist
Adele
BTS
Dua Lipa
Ed Sheeran
Walker Hayes
Top Country Artist
Chris Stapleton
Luke Combs
Morgan Wallen
Taylor Swift
Walker Hayes
Top Country Male Artist
Chris Stapleton
Luke Combs
Morgan Wallen
Top Country Female Artist
Carrie Underwood
Miranda Lambert
Taylor Swift
Top Country Duo/Group
Dan + Shay
Florida Georgia Line
Zac Brown Band
Top Country Tour
Luke Bryan – “Proud to Be Right Here Tour”
Eric Church – “Gather Again Tour”
Chris Stapleton – “All-American Road Show Tour”
Top Billboard 200 Album
Adele, 30
Doja Cat, Planet Her
Drake, Certified Lover Boy
Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album
Olivia Rodrigo, SOUR
Top Country Album
Florida Georgia Line, Life Rolls On
Lee Brice, Hey World
Taylor Swift, Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor’s Version)
Walker Hayes, Country Stuff: The Album
Top Selling Song
BTS, “Butter”
BTS, “Permission to Dance”
Dua Lipa, “Levitating”
Ed Sheeran, “Bad Habits”
Walker Hayes, “Fancy Like”
Top Viral Song
Doja Cat ft. SZA, “Kiss Me More”
Gayle, “abcdefu”
Glass Animals, “Heat Waves”
Masked Wolf, “Astronaut In The Ocean”
Walker Hayes, “Fancy Like”
Top Country Song
Chris Stapleton, “You Should Probably Leave”
Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood, “If I Didn’t Love You”
Jordan Davis ft. Luke Bryan, “Buy Dirt”
Luke Combs, “Forever After All”
Walker Hayes, “Fancy Like”
Top Rock Song
Coldplay X BTS, “My Universe”
Elle King & Miranda Lambert, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”
Imagine Dragons, “Follow You”
Måneskin, “Beggin’”
The Anxiety: Willow & Tyler Cole, “Meet Me at Our Spot”
Ben Johnson Maintains Top Three Positioning On MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart
/by LB CantrellBen Johnson
Hit songwriter Ben Johnson stays at No. 3 this week on the MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart. Johnson is currently receiving co-writer credit for five charting songs, including “Best Thing Since Backroads” (Jake Owen), “Give Heaven Some Hell” (Hardy), “Holy Water” (Michael Ray), “New Truck” (Dylan Scott), and “Take My Name” (Parmalee).
Ashley Gorley remains at No. 2 this week and Shane McAnally continues his reign at the top.
The weekly MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart uses algorithms based upon song activity according to airplay, digital download track sales and streams. This unique and exclusive addition to the MusicRow portfolio is the only songwriter chart of its kind.
Click here to view the full MusicRow Top Songwriter Chart.
Winners Announced For 57th Annual ACM Industry & Studio Recording Awards
/by Lorie HollabaughPictured: Charlie Worsham with his first ACM Award on stage during Friday’s Grand Ole Opry. Photo: Chris Hollo
The Academy of Country Music announced the Industry and Studio Recording Award winners from the 57th ACM Awards at the Grand Ole Opry House on Friday night (May 13).
Pictured (L-R): Executive Producer and Vice President of the Opry Dan Rogers, Charlie Worsham, ACM CEO Damon Whiteside, and ACM Manager of Awards & Membership Haley Montgomery. Photo: Chris Hollo
During Charlie Worsham’s performance, he was interrupted by a special announcement that surprised the guitarist-singer-songwriter
Other winner highlights include Basement East receiving their first-ever ACM Award for ACM Club of the Year following the venue’s destruction during the March 2020 Nashville tornadoes and subsequent rebuild. The Ryman, which is celebrating its 130th anniversary, received its 7th lifetime ACM Award.
Pedal steel guitar player Paul Franklin received his 17th career ACM Award, and first win for Specialty Instrument(s) Player of the Year. Promoter Brian O’Connell and producer Dann Huff each received their 10th career ACM Award.
In addition to Worsham and Basement East, other first-time ACM Award recipients include Chicago’s Windy City Smokeout Festival, San Antonio Rodeo, audio engineer Jim Cooley, drummer Evan Hutchings, and piano/keyboard player David Dorn.
All Industry Award, Studio Recording Award, and soon-to-be-announced Special Award recipients will be celebrated during the 15th Academy of Country Music Honors ceremony on Aug. 24 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
Performers, host, and ticket on-sale information will be announced in the coming weeks.
Industry Award Winners:
Casino Of The Year – Theater: Choctaw Casino & Resort – Durant, Ok
Casino Of The Year – Arena: Mohegan Sun Arena – Uncasville, Ct
Festival Of The Year: Windy City Smokeout Festival – Chicago, Il
Fair/Rodeo Of The Year: San Antonio Rodeo – San Antonio, Tx
Club Of The Year: Basement East – Nashville, Tn
Theater Of The Year: Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, Tn
Outdoor Venue Of The Year: Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, Co
Arena Of The Year: Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, Tn
Don Romeo Talent Buyer Of The Year: Todd Boltin – Variety Attractions
Promoter Of The Year: Brian O’connell – Live Nation
Studio Recording Award Winners:
Bass Player Of The Year: Jimmie Lee Sloas
Drummer Of The Year: Evan Hutchings
Acoustic Guitar Player Of The Year: Charlie Worsham
Electric Guitar Player Of The Year: Tom Bukovac
Piano/Keyboards Player Of The Year: David Dorn
Specialty Instrument(S) Player Of The Year: Paul Franklin
Audio Engineer Of The Year: Jim Cooley
Producer Of The Year: Dann Huff
Brandi Carlile, Yola, Allison Russell Among Americana Awards Nominees
/by LB CantrellBrandi Carlile. Photo: Neil Krug
The nominees were revealed for the 21st Annual Americana Honors & Awards during a ceremony at Nashville’s National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM). This year’s nominations were revealed by hosts and Duo/Group of the Year nominee, The War and Treaty. The ceremony featured performances from the duo, as well as the Fisk Jubilee Singers and Adia Victoria.
Pictured (L-R): Henry Hicks (President & CEO of NMAAM), Allen Christian (Fisk Jubilee Singers), Dr. Paul Kwami (Musical Director of Fisk Jubilee Singers), Michael and Tanya Trotter (The War and Treaty), Adia Victoria, Jed Hilly (Executive Director of Americana Music Association). Photo: Erika Goldring
Brandi Carlile, Allison Russell and Yola lead the nominees this year with three each, including for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year. Also nominated for Artist of the Year are Jason Isbell and Billy Strings.
The Emerging Act of the Year category includes some new faces, with Morgan Wade, Brittney Spencer, Sierra Ferrell, Neal Francis and Adia Victoria nominated.
The winners will be named at the Americana Honors & Awards on Sept. 14 at the historic Ryman Auditorium. Taking place during AmericanaFest, tickets to the awards ceremony are available to conference registrants now. Americana Music Association members will receive access on July 21.
The full list of nominees is below:
Album of the Year:
In These Silent Days, Brandi Carlile, Produced by Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings
Outside Child, Allison Russell, Produced by Dan Knobler
Raise The Roof, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Produced by T Bone Burnett
A Southern Gothic, Adia Victoria, Produced by Mason Hickman and Adia Victoria, Executive Produced by T Bone Burnett
Stand for Myself, Yola, Produced by Dan Auerbach
Artist of the Year:
Brandi Carlile
Jason Isbell
Allison Russell
Billy Strings
Yola
Duo/Group of the Year:
Big Thief
Los Lobos
The Mavericks
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
The War and Treaty
Emerging Act of the Year:
Sierra Ferrell
Neal Francis
Brittney Spencer
Adia Victoria
Morgan Wade
Instrumentalist of the Year:
Ethan Ballinger
Brian Farrow
Larissa Maestro
Shelby Means
Justin Moses
Song of the Year:
“Canola Fields,” James McMurtry, Written by James McMurtry
“Diamond Studded Shoes,” Yola, Written by Dan Auerbach, Natalie Hemby, Aaron Lee Tasjan and Yola
“Juanita,” Sturgill Simpson featuring Willie Nelson, Written by Sturgill Simpson
“Persephone,” Allison Russell, Written by Jeremy Lindsay and Allison Russell
“Right On Time,” Brandi Carlile, Written by Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth
Weekly Register: Morgan Wallen Sweeps Top Country Songs, Albums Charts
/by Lydia FarthingMorgan Wallen. Photo: David Lehr
Morgan Wallen takes the country charts by storm this week, taking up three of the top five spots on the country streaming songs chart, and two spots in the country albums top five.
Wallen’s newest release, “Thought You Should Know,” is at No. 1 on the country songs chart this week with 16 million first week streams, according to Luminate data. “Wasted On You,” his current radio single, drops down one spot to No. 3, gaining 7.4 million streams, while his other recent release, “Don’t Think Jesus,” adds 6.9 million streams and sits at No. 4. On the album front, Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album continues its run in the top spot, earning 53K in total consumption (1.4K album only/64 million song streams), and If I Know Me jumps up one spot to No. 4 with 17K in total consumption.
Elsewhere on the top country albums chart, Luke Combs takes the second spot as What You See Is What You Get racks up 19K in total consumption, as well as the third position with This One’s For You adding 18K in total consumption. Red (Taylor’s Version) places Taylor Swift at No. 5, earning 17K in total consumption, according to Luminate data.
Filling out the remaining spots on the top country streaming songs chart, Zach Bryan‘s “Something In The Orange” rises one spot to No. 2, adding 8.1 million streams. Walker Hayes seals the top five as “AA” earns 6.1 million streams.
Dr. Dan Barnard Named Executive Director Of Marty Stuart’s Congress Of Country Music
/by Lorie HollabaughDr. Dan Barnard has been named inaugural Executive Director of Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music and the Historic Ellis Theatre in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
Barnard is an award-winning composer, conductor, and arts presenter with a doctorate in music composition from the University of Kansas and other degrees from Northern Colorado and West Texas State. He directed collegiate choral music programs in Nebraska, South Dakota, and at Penn State Erie, where he first fell in love with the arts presenting industry. He went on to open a new $26 million performing arts center in Brownsville, Texas; managed an 1100-seat performance hall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and served for two years as Executive Director for the MSU Riley Center in Meridian, Mississippi.
Stuart announced the appointment at the recent opening of “The World of Marty Stuart” exhibit at Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson, Mississippi on May 6. The ceremony also included the unveiling of Texas sculptor Craig Campobella’s statue of Marty Stuart entitled “The Pilgrim,” which will take up permanent residence at MSCCM when the Two Museums exhibit closes.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has partnered with University of Mississippi to print a 256 page book to accompany the exhibit, The World of Marty Stuart, which provides an up-close look at important moments in country music and reaffirms Stuart’s dedication to preserving the genre’s rich history in addition to chronicling Stuart’s 50-year journey as a traveling musician.
“Having opened a brand-new venue once already, I know the immense satisfaction of seeing a new facility come to life and to be embraced by its community,” Barnard shares. “In serving as the Executive Director for Marty Stuart Congress of Country Music and the Historic Ellis Theatre, my goal is to attract visitors from across the US while at the same time making life better for all of the Philadelphia community.”
Marty Stuart’s 19th “Late Night Jam” will return to Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Wednesday, June 8 at 9 p.m. CT.