Some of Nashville’s top songwriters are teaming with Big Machine Label Group and non-profit organization CreatiVets to help offer military veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress and brain injuries a creative outlet to help the healing process.

All songs created through the venture will be released via the Big Machine Records imprint, with Big Machine Music serving as co-publisher for CreatiVets to provide licensing, administration and royalty collection services for mentor songwriters as well as participants who opt in.

Scott and Sandi Borchetta‘s Music Has Value Fund has also contributed to CreatiVets’ operational initiatives and will continue to serve as a connector for opportunities that can magnify CreatiVets within the entertainment space.

An 11-track album, Veteran Songs, will release July 3. One of the songs from the project, “Stories,” was penned by combat veteran Geneo Graves alongside CreatiVets co-founder/executive director Richard Casper and Nashville songwriters Heidi Raye and Johnny Bulford, who also performs the recorded version of the song.

“Richard’s vision and passion to help veterans understand their value and offer them the chance to heal through creating music is nothing short of groundbreaking,” said Big Machine Label Group President/CEO Scott Borchetta. “We welcome this partnership with CreatiVets to provide therapeutic solutions not only with our record and publishing divisions but also with our Music Has Value fund, which is dedicated to providing support to music programs that educate and encourage those who aspire to make music.”<

“CreatiVets’ vision for this partnership is to be in the homes of every veteran in the United States,” said Casper. “We are so thankful that Big Machine Label Group wants to help spread our message, our music and give us the opportunity to reach thousands more veterans that may need our programing. I know that this partnership will change and save veterans’ lives.”

Carolina Story has released “Hold Of Me,” an inspirational, autobiographical new track about finding strength in one another while weathering life’s biggest storms. The song is featured on their upcoming new sophomore album, Dandelion, which is due out Sept. 4 on Black River Americana.

“‘Hold of Me’ is an autobiographical song about our family and chasing down a dream,” explain Carolina Story’s Ben and Emily Roberts. “It’s about holding onto and leaning on one another to keep going one day at a time in the face of wanting to give up and give in. The overall realization and truth of the matter is that the only way to keep the pieces of ourselves intact is to do it together.”

Recorded with producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Paul Moak (Joy Williams, Ashley Monroe), Dandelion is infused with Carolina Story’s organic, homespun craftsmanship and features a captivating collection of raw, to-the-heart storytelling and a lush instrumental blend of folk intimacy, country grit and alt-rock muscle. The project offers a reflective look at moments of loneliness, depression and economic hardship. “There’s just something about the dandelion that spoke to us,” said Ben. “It’s this humble, unassuming plant that’s so tough it can grow through cracks in concrete. It’s an underdog, just like us.”

Mary Chapin Carpenter. Photo: Aaron Farrington

Mary Chapin Carpenter has released the title track from her upcoming new album, The Dirt And The Stars, which will be released Aug. 7 on Lambent Light Records via Thirty Tigers.

Produced by Ethan Johns and recorded entirely live at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath, England, the album is filled with songs penned by Carpenter at her rural Virginia farmhouse before stay-at-home orders became the new normal. She describes the songs as difficult in some ways, inspired by places of hurt but also happiness as well.

“The writer Margaret Renkl once said, ‘We are all in the process of becoming.’ That doesn’t stop at a certain age,” said Carpenter of the new project. “To be always a student of art and music and life, as she says, that, to me, is what makes life worth living. It’s certainly what makes me want to still write songs. No sugar coating, the songs are very personal and they’re difficult in some ways, and definitely come from places of pain and self-illumination, but also places of joy, discovery and the rewards of self- knowledge. They arrived from looking outward as much as inward, speaking to life changes, growing older, politics, compassion, #metoo, heartbreak, empathy, the power of memory, time and place. So, I suppose I could say there are many themes, but they all come back to that initial idea that we are all constantly ‘becoming’ through art and expression.”

Carpenter has been connecting with fans during the pandemic with her successful “Songs From Home” virtual concert series, which will continue to run throughout the summer. Filmed at her home, the performances have already been viewed over 10 million times across her socials.

Hailey Whitters‘ Pigasus Records has formed a partnership with Big Loud Records and Songs & Daughters, the female-driven label formed by Big Loud Records and songwriter Nicolle Galyon.

“To me, Hailey represents the heart of my favorite kind of Nashville success story,” said Galyon, President of Songs & Daughters. “She’s had the tenacity to master her craft for 12 years, the gift to turn that into compelling music, and the authenticity to win over the Music Row community with a record she made all on her own. I’m honored to get to be a small part of the incredible story she’s writing.”

Big Loud Records and Songs & Daughters will continue marketing and promotion of Whitters’ new album, The Dream, which was originally self-released via her label Pigasus Records.

“Artists like Hailey Whitters rarely come along – she can be one of the biggest stars in the genre, that’s why we decided to team up and pitch her together rather than compete for her,” said co-managers Matt Graham (Brnd Mgmt) and Chris Kappy (Make Wake Artists). “We’ve spent the last year building a team worthy of her talent. Big Loud Records / Songs & Daughters has been an immediate force on that team and we couldn’t be happier with this new partnership.”

Seth England, Partner/CEO of Big Loud, shares, “Entering our fifth year as a record company, we knew it was time to evolve Big Loud’s roster in creative directions we haven’t been before. Today’s announcement marks a big step in that. We have been so drawn to what Hailey and team have been building, and the incredible music they make.” Adding, “Hailey is the quintessential Nashville success story and we couldn’t be more proud to be a part of her future. Thank you Hailey, for trusting Big Loud Records / Songs & Daughters to partner in your next chapter.”

“I’m proud to partner with Big Loud Records / Songs & Daughters, and to be represented by a label that is building artist’s careers in innovative ways that are unrestrained by industry standards and norms,” said Whitters.