Over the past few weeks as the COVID-19 novel coronavirus has spread across the United States, waves of artists from superstars to indie acts have canceled or postponed tours, causing the nation’s touring industry to grind to a halt as cities began ordering venues from the largest stadiums to smaller nightclubs and bars to close their doors in an effort to help slow the spread of the virus.
The orders came as the music industry’s Spring touring season has just gotten underway, with many of those tours either gearing up to launch or already afoot. Nashville’s music industry has been no exception.
Valory Music Co. artist Tyler Rich was on the road opening for band LANCO, and pulling in to Minneapolis for a show on March 12 when he began getting word about shows being canceled. Rich was also gearing up for his own headlining Rather Be Us tour, which has since been postponed.
“It’s been stressful,” he tells MusicRow. “We were going back to the venue when we got word that the weekend was canceled. We packed up and were driving 15 hours back to Nashville and I started to see the emails come through of different cities banning 250-person events so we were already bummed on this drive home that we were missing the shows and then it became inevitable that we were going to have to cancel my own tour. We will reschedule these dates but we’re seeing the dates that we are rescheduling these dates to, are also postponing. We’re already mentally trying to accept the fact that when we announce the new tour, that might also end up getting postponed.”
CCM artist Zach Williams and his crew were already well into several shows on the Spring leg of Williams’ The Rescue Story tour, in support of his 2019 album of the same name.
“We headed into Amarillo, Texas for the show [on March 12]. We got there and played, and the crowd was really somber,” he recalls. “It was an odd feeling all around, even though we were trying to have a great night, it just felt like there was some nervousness in the air. I remember talking to my guys and saying, ‘We’re not sure what is going on, but there is a chance we might not play the show in Dallas the next evening.’”
Sure enough, the band drove to Cross City’s First Euless campus in Dallas, Texas for a show on March 13 and set up to play, when they were told the show could not go on, as the city had banned gatherings larger than 200 people.
The Spring tours usually serve to kick off a new touring season following typically slower touring months in December through February. For the artists’ touring musicians and crew members, the sudden grounding of these spring tours means at least five or six months of unemployment.
“I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to take care of the guys on my payroll without income,” says Williams. “Obviously, I’m going to take care of them the best way that I can, but this is a first for everybody. It affects the bus companies, the sound companies, the entire music community.”
“That feels heavy,” says singer-songwriter Brandy Clark, who has had to shuffle tour dates aimed at helping promote her recently released album Your Life Is A Record. “For me, I think about the band I have and their livelihood depends on me playing shows and that’s a tough one. I’m so happy MusiCares has put in place a fund. It’s tough because I have a bus fee—you have these different costs but you don’t have an income. Luckily for me, there has been smart planning and I have a bit of a cushion that can offset some of those costs for a while, but who knows how long this will go on?”
Clark is also quick to keep things in perspective, with an eye on the greater medical and economic problems facing the nation.
“There is part of me that is disappointed, because you plan the tours so far in advance and you work on setting them up around the album release, but I’m lucky that I get to move them. Some tours are completely canceled. It’s a bit of a champagne problem, because there are people out there who are worried about if they are going to make it through the virus physically and worried financially, so as much as I’m disappointed, it’s small potatoes.”
As media companies scrambled to shift talk shows and other programming to an “at-home, on-air” model as social distancing has become the norm, the change has made the national television appearances and promotional stops that typically surround an album release difficult if not impossible. Aubrie Sellers released her latest album Far From Home in early February, while Clark released her third solo project Your Life Is A Record on March 6.
“I got to do some TV just as my album came out, and I feel lucky because I think I was one of the last people to get to do that for a little while,” Clark says. “When that stuff started to cancel, I thought ‘Wow a lot of things are going to move.’”
Sellers’ album release tour was doubly impacted—her tour was to begin at Nashville’s The Basement East, which was destroyed when tornadoes ravaged parts of Nashville and Middle Tennessee early on March 3. Soon after, other venues began postponing shows due to fears over the spread of COVID-19.
“We had radio, press interviews and an [Grand Ole] Opry appearance lined up. As the label team, we have spent a year setting up Aubrie’s sophomore release Far From Home, developing creative assets, developing fans and networks, generating release plans and strategies, organizing radio and press plans throughout the campaign,” says Soundly Music/Soundly Digital’s Stephanie Hudacek. “The tour was the main focus to support the release.”
“A lot definitely hit me at once at a really unfortunate time, just a few weeks after Far From Home came out,” Sellers says. “It’s devastating as an artist to know that all of the hard work you’ve put into something could be so negatively affected by all of this, not to mention having all of your tour dates pushed back five or six months and wondering how you’re going to make a living until then. But this isn’t a problem unique to musicians—a lot of people in the country are struggling to make ends meet and cope with this shutdown, but at the end of the day we have to take a breath and just do everything we can to help each other get through it.”
While artists may not be able to perform to crowded concert halls or sold-out arenas, they are staying connected with fans through the plethora of livestream options available, performing concerts with no live audience from their homes, empty concert venues and more.
As Williams and his crew had already arrived in Dallas to prepare for the evening’s show on March 13 when they got word the show was canceled, Williams and his team turned to Facebook Live, quickly retooling the show into a more intimate, stripped down version.
“We are all going through this stuff, and we’re all just trying to keep in contact with our fans. It was sad to see it all come to a halt after the first six shows,” he says.
Rich turned his shuttered Rather Be Us Tour into a virtual tour, with the idea being to hold several “tour dates” per week, including some shows with fellow guest artists.
“It’s been every version of scrambling you can imagine,” he said. “You have to change your entire business model in one second, which restaurants are dealing with, gyms are dealing with, everyone is trying to figure it out. It’s been a fun process in the sense that it’s forced us to be creative in ways we’ve never been.”
Rich and his team have talked about using Twitch for their livestream shows, which allows viewers the option to tip artists, or possibly doing PayPal or Venmo options to help raise funds for Rich’s band and crew members, though he says they will keep the shows free to view for now.
“Right now, as much as some people would probably like to help, they are scared for their own families and worried about money, so it might distract people from coming to watch us and kill the feeling of community, so right now we are going to do them for free, and maybe later add a financial aspect to help raise money for people.”
Sellers has already done a livestream show, while Clark did a show via livestream to celebrate her album release, and says she hopes to make the livestream shows a weekly thing, as a way to connect not only with fans, but to help support her fellow artists.
“Several of us have records out or will have records out and it’s a way to bring awareness to that. For me, I’ve been working all week while I’m home but when I’m not, I’m watching CNN. It’s important to stay informed but it can bog you down. I feel like for a lot of Americans right now, that’s what they are doing, so us playing a 20- or 30-minute Facebook Live can help somebody out of that for a little bit of time, I think that’s really valuable.”
As numerous tours and music events such as the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony reschedule for later in the year, artists are trying to make the best of the sudden free time.
“I’m doing some song writes and we are working on projects that we had planned to do later in the year,” Williams says. “We were going to work on a Christmas album during the summer, so maybe this is the time to get a few guys together and work on it now. We are just trying to take advantage of this time.”
Clark has focused on the other creative endeavors she has in the works. She has been in Los Angeles, continuing work with Shane McAnally on a musical they have had in the works for a few years. Above all, she aims to keep writing and keep being creative.
“I’m going to just continue to challenge myself to write by myself and make myself read. I always have a reading goal and that always turns into songs for me. The silver lining is it could be a productive, creative time. I think Rosanne Cash tweeted, ‘Keep in mind, Shakespeare wrote King Lear when he was quarantined for the plague.’ I thought, ‘That’s something for all of us creatives to hang on to.’ There’s no reason for us to not stay creative.”
Lee Brice, Rob Hatch Form Pump House Records
/by Lorie HollabaughPump House Records team breaks between recording sessions at Southern Ground Studios, Nashville. Pictured (L-R): Lee Brice, Kristi Hutchins, Derek Hutchins, Nick Norman, Rob Hatch, Elisha Hoffman. (Photo by Chase Lauer)
Lee Brice and songwriter Rob Hatch are joining forces to open a new artist development collective, Pump House Records. The company offers A&R, promotion and other label services. Years after co-writing the No. 1 hit “I Don’t Dance” together, the two entrepreneurially-minded artists are collaborating the artist “launch pad,” founded by Brice, Hatch, producer/engineer/songwriter Elisha Hoffman, and veteran business leaders Derek and Kristi Hutchins.
The name is a nod to the pump house behind his family church-turned makeshift recording studio where Brice first began making music.
“We are all, and have been, artists and have seen that side of the relationship between label, publisher and artist,” Brice says in a statement to MusicRow. “So I guess it’s natural in our hearts to want the best for the artist, what the artist really wants, and how the artist really feels. It’s just important to us.”
The company’s first project will be a new album by singer/songwriter Nick Norman, due out later this year. Recorded at Zac Brown’s Southern Ground Studios in Nashville, the project was produced by Brice, Hatch, and Hoffman, and is just the latest collaboration between Norman and Brice, who practically grew up together and have been making music together for decades.
“We all love making music…creating…working in the music business,” Brice adds. “But the bottom line is Nick is someone we all believe in, so the idea of all working together to let the world hear Nick just seemed like something we all just really wanted to dive into.”
“It is just a collection of talented friends from different parts of the music business working together to help create the best Nick Norman record we possibly can,” says Hatch, whose handful of No. 1 hits include Justin Moore’s “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” and Randy Houser’s “Goodnight Kiss.” “We’re looking forward to sharing his music, and the music of other great artists we believe in, in the coming months and years.”
Hatch adds, “It was basically a result of being super impressed with Nick, his voice, songwriting and point of view. He’s a true American original and it would be a shame for the world not to get to hear him and his music.”
As a songwriter, Brice has co-written hits including Garth Brooks’ “More Than A Memory” and Eli Young Band’s “Crazy Girl,” and as an artist has notched several hits including “I Drive Your Truck,” “A Woman Like You,” and his latest, “Rumor.” He is currently on the radio as part of “I Hope You’re Happy Now” with Carly Pearce.
Austin City Limits Offers Free Streaming Of Video Archives During Pandemic
/by Lorie HollabaughAustin City Limits is helping break up the boredom of sheltering in place for people by offering up some of the contents of the iconic show’s archives for free. Beginning now, the last two seasons and some of the current season’s shows are available for streaming, and include performances by Willie Nelson, Billie Eilish, Vampire Weekend and many others.
Available concerts in the long-running popular series can be found here.
Concord Inks Co-Pub Deal With Andrew Petroff
/by Jessica NicholsonAndrew Petroff. Photo: Courtesy Concord
Concord has inked a co-publishing deal with Nashville-based songwriter, producer and musician Andrew Petroff. The new agreement includes his full catalog going forward.
Petroff has worked with Sheryl Crow, Phillip Larue, Devon Gilfillian, David Nail, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, LANCO and Kevin Griffin, among others. His synch work has been heard on Grey’s Anatomy, The Blacklist, How to Get Away with Murder, Fox Sports, Nashville, Riverdale, and advertisements for brands including Dignity Health, Beyond Meat and Coca Cola.
“Coming to Concord feels like coming home,” said Petroff. “The people here feel like family and everyone has a passion for truly great music.”
“As a writer, producer, and human being, Andrew operates with integrity and authenticity as his guiding light,” says Brad Kennard, SVP A&R at Concord Music Publishing in Nashville. “Anyone who has worked with, or knows Andrew, loves him. We’re proud and humbled to be his publishing partner.”
New Dates Set For Tin Pan South
/by Jessica NicholsonSongwriter event Tin Pan South has set new dates for the popular gathering, after it was previously postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Nashville Songwriters Association International has revealed the organization’s Tin Pan Week has been rescheduled for Oct. 19-24, 2020, where the 28th annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival presented by Regions Bank will welcome a slew of songwriters performing their top hits. The organization states it is working to bring back as much of the originally scheduled programming as possible. Details on new venues, times, performers, and more will be announced in the coming weeks.
Ryman Hospitality To Suspend Operations At Gaylord’s Opryland Resort, Four Other Properties
/by Lorie Hollabaugh“We are working with our management company, Marriott, to temporarily suspend operations at our five hotels that comprise the Gaylord Hotels convention network,” said Colin Reed, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc, in a statement. “After taking into account the recommendations of local health authorities and expected demand levels over the upcoming weeks, we have determined that a temporary suspension of operations is in the best interests of the employees in our hotel properties, the local communities in which our hotels operate, and our shareholders. We will assess hotel demand levels throughout the month of April and in consultation with local health authorities determine an appropriate reopening date for the facilities.”
Ryman will hold a conference call tomorrow (March 26) to discuss the company’s action plan and its cost-containment efforts with its investors.
Icon Entertainment Launches Information Portal, Food Service For Employees
/by Lorie HollabaughPictured (L-R): House of Cards Operating Partner Blake Miller & Icon Entertainment’s Director of Culinary Operations Chef Gannon Leary
Icon Entertainment, the parent company of the House of Cards, Johnny Cash’s Kitchen & Saloon, the Johnny Cash Museum, Nudie’s Honky Tonk, the Patsy Cline Museum, Skull’s Rainbow Room and the forthcoming Sinatra Bar and Lounge, has launched an employee portal to connect with their staff and bands during the coronavirus pandemic. Among the many services they are providing through the portal is a complimentary meal service for its over 300 employees to ensure food security for their entire team.
“There is a long tradition of showing love and comfort to friends and family alike through sharing a warm and delicious meal with them,” says Icon Entertainment Founder & CEO Bill Miller. “While we can’t all gather at the family table right now, we will provide great hot meals to our entire Icon company staff and our bands. Acclaimed Executive Chefs and managers from our restaurants are in the kitchen personally preparing meals themselves. They stepped up beyond the call of duty. They are there because they care. I could say I’m surprised, but the opposite is true. Icon is a true family and it’s one for all and all for one.”
Icon Entertainment has established this online portal for all its employees to utilize to communicate with each other and with staff at all levels. A variety of resources are made available and updated numerous times daily.
“The portal is a crucial tool for every one of our 300 employees,” says Miller. “We update, support and communicate constantly so that no one feels disconnected or alone. Our HR department has taken no time off and directly assisted every employee to file for unemployment including handling the actual filing for everyone affected. In times like these, people want to know someone cares about them. We are blessed to have the best employees in the world at all levels.”
The Icon Entertainment establishments are currently closed to help mitigate the transmission of COVID-19, but gift cards, tickets and merchandise to their attractions and restaurants can still be purchased online.
Spotify Launches COVID-19 Music Relief Efforts
/by Jessica NicholsonSpotify has revealed two initiatives aimed at helping the music community cope with the effects of business loss in the wake of the coronavirus, including the launch of the COVID-19 Music Relief Project, as well as an addition to the service’s Spotify for Artists feature.
The service announced it will be donating funds to organizations including MusiCares, Help Musicians and the PRS Foundation, and that it will also match donations made via its website, with Spotify contributing up to $10 million.
The full initiatives were announced on Spotify’s blog Wednesday morning (March 25).
See the full text below:
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spotify has engaged partners across the industry to discuss how we can support artists and the creative community who have been deeply impacted by the effects of the virus. Though streaming continues to play a key role in connecting creators with their fans, numerous other sources of revenue have been interrupted or stopped altogether by this crisis.
Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief
Today we launched the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief project, which recommends verified organizations that offer financial relief to those in the music community most in need around the world. To begin, we’re partnering with MusiCares, PRS Foundation, and Help Musicians, and are looking forward to adding more partners worldwide. Spotify is making a donation to these organizations and will match donations made via the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief page dollar-for-dollar up to a total Spotify contribution of $10 million.
If you are interested in learning more about how to contribute, visit our website. If you’re a music industry professional in need, we encourage you to visit our partners’ sites for information on applying for relief.
We’re also working diligently to launch a feature that will enable artists to fundraise directly from fans during this challenging time. Soon, we will give artists the ability to drive listeners to a fundraising destination of their choice on their Spotify artist profile pages.This will give artists on Spotify the ability to link out to a verified funding page for themselves, for another artist in need, or for a separate initiative of their choice. (This feature will, of course, be optional for artists to leverage; no changes will be made to profile pages unless the artist chooses to participate, and Spotify will not take a cut of any contributions.)
If you’re a Spotify for Artists user interested in this feature, please sign up here, and we will email you when it’s ready — or follow us on Twitter.
Programs from Spotify Creator Tools
For those continuing to create at home, music talent marketplace SoundBetter is waiving its revenue share for the next 30 days, cloud-based audio recording platform Soundtrap will offer extended free trials for educators, and Anchor will waive fees on its Listener Support feature.
Combatting the impact of this pandemic on the music industry will take a massive global effort, and we are working quickly to assemble and optimize these new resources. We will share additional details and updates as soon as we have them. To learn more about Spotify’s broader efforts to address COVID-19, on-platform and off, please visit For the Record.
Moon Taxi Signs With BMG
/by Jessica NicholsonPhoto Credit: Dune Baydoun
Rock band Moon Taxi has signed with BMG and released its latest single, “Hometown Heroes.”
The track was recorded in Nashville and produced by Moon Taxi guitarist Spencer Thomson alongside Christian Medice. The band is slated to release its sixth studio album, Silver Dream, this summer. The album marks a return to working with BMG for the band, who released their 2013 album Mountains Beaches Cities via their own 12th South Records, via BMG.
Moon Taxi includes Trevor Terndrup (vocals, guitarist), Thomson (lead guitarist and producer), Wes Bailey (keyboardist), Tommy Putnam (bassist) and Tyler Ritter (drummer). The five-member group has issued five studio projects, including the 2018 album Let The Record Play via RCA, which included the single “Two High,” which hit No. 1 on the AAA radio airplay chart and the Top 10 on alternative stations. The song has earned more than 130 million Spotify streams to date.
Terndrup says, “We’ve been so excited to put this song out since the day we wrote it. More than anything, it is inspired by our long-lasting friendships. Putting it out into the world feels like the start of a new chapter for us but also an idealized look back. We hope it brings good memories to mind for you until we can create new ones together in the future.”
Glen Campbell, Eddy Arnold Classics Added To National Recording Registry
/by Jessica NicholsonPictured (L-R): Glen Campbell, Eddy Arnold. Photos: Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Hits from Eddy Arnold, Glen Campbell, Village People, Selena and Whitney Houston have been added to the National Recording Registry, the organization announced on March 25.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden named 25 songs and albums as “aural treasures worthy of preservation because of their cultural, historical and aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage,” according to a statement.
Among those selections are Eddy Arnold’s “Make The World Go Away” and Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman.”
Arnold’s “Make The World Go Away” released in 1965, and was penned by songwriter Hank Cochran; the song’s sweeping string section and Arnold’s smooth vocals are a sample of the countrypolitan brand of country music, part of the “Nashville Sound” that producer Chet Atkins and others made popular in the ’60s. Musicians on the track included guitarist Grady Martin, pianist Floyd Cramer and the Anita Kerr Singers, as well as an eight-piece string section.
Campbell’s 1968 hit “Wichita Lineman,” penned by Jimmy Webb, also crossed over onto the pop charts. The song topped the Hot Country Songs chart as well as the Adult Contemporary chart and rose to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Other songs selected for inclusion include the 1995 single “I Will Always Love You,” the Dolly Parton-penned track made into an 8x-multiplatinum, international smash by the late vocalist Whitney Houston as part of the soundtrack to the film The Bodyguard. Village People’s 1978 single “Y.M.C.A.” and late Tejano singer Selena’s 1990 album Ven Conmigo (the first album by a female Tejano artist to achieve Gold status, and which has now been certified 3x-multiplatinum) are also among the works selected to be added to the registry.
The new recordings added to the National Recording Registry bring the total number of titles on the registry to 550, a small part of the Library’s vast recorded-sound collection of nearly 3 million items.
The full list of selections is below:
Nashville’s Music Community Scrambles Amid Halted Tours, Lost Income: "You Have To Change Your Entire Business Model In One Second"
/by Jessica NicholsonOver the past few weeks as the COVID-19 novel coronavirus has spread across the United States, waves of artists from superstars to indie acts have canceled or postponed tours, causing the nation’s touring industry to grind to a halt as cities began ordering venues from the largest stadiums to smaller nightclubs and bars to close their doors in an effort to help slow the spread of the virus.
The orders came as the music industry’s Spring touring season has just gotten underway, with many of those tours either gearing up to launch or already afoot. Nashville’s music industry has been no exception.
Valory Music Co. artist Tyler Rich was on the road opening for band LANCO, and pulling in to Minneapolis for a show on March 12 when he began getting word about shows being canceled. Rich was also gearing up for his own headlining Rather Be Us tour, which has since been postponed.
“It’s been stressful,” he tells MusicRow. “We were going back to the venue when we got word that the weekend was canceled. We packed up and were driving 15 hours back to Nashville and I started to see the emails come through of different cities banning 250-person events so we were already bummed on this drive home that we were missing the shows and then it became inevitable that we were going to have to cancel my own tour. We will reschedule these dates but we’re seeing the dates that we are rescheduling these dates to, are also postponing. We’re already mentally trying to accept the fact that when we announce the new tour, that might also end up getting postponed.”
CCM artist Zach Williams and his crew were already well into several shows on the Spring leg of Williams’ The Rescue Story tour, in support of his 2019 album of the same name.
“We headed into Amarillo, Texas for the show [on March 12]. We got there and played, and the crowd was really somber,” he recalls. “It was an odd feeling all around, even though we were trying to have a great night, it just felt like there was some nervousness in the air. I remember talking to my guys and saying, ‘We’re not sure what is going on, but there is a chance we might not play the show in Dallas the next evening.’”
Sure enough, the band drove to Cross City’s First Euless campus in Dallas, Texas for a show on March 13 and set up to play, when they were told the show could not go on, as the city had banned gatherings larger than 200 people.
The Spring tours usually serve to kick off a new touring season following typically slower touring months in December through February. For the artists’ touring musicians and crew members, the sudden grounding of these spring tours means at least five or six months of unemployment.
“I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to take care of the guys on my payroll without income,” says Williams. “Obviously, I’m going to take care of them the best way that I can, but this is a first for everybody. It affects the bus companies, the sound companies, the entire music community.”
“That feels heavy,” says singer-songwriter Brandy Clark, who has had to shuffle tour dates aimed at helping promote her recently released album Your Life Is A Record. “For me, I think about the band I have and their livelihood depends on me playing shows and that’s a tough one. I’m so happy MusiCares has put in place a fund. It’s tough because I have a bus fee—you have these different costs but you don’t have an income. Luckily for me, there has been smart planning and I have a bit of a cushion that can offset some of those costs for a while, but who knows how long this will go on?”
Clark is also quick to keep things in perspective, with an eye on the greater medical and economic problems facing the nation.
“There is part of me that is disappointed, because you plan the tours so far in advance and you work on setting them up around the album release, but I’m lucky that I get to move them. Some tours are completely canceled. It’s a bit of a champagne problem, because there are people out there who are worried about if they are going to make it through the virus physically and worried financially, so as much as I’m disappointed, it’s small potatoes.”
As media companies scrambled to shift talk shows and other programming to an “at-home, on-air” model as social distancing has become the norm, the change has made the national television appearances and promotional stops that typically surround an album release difficult if not impossible. Aubrie Sellers released her latest album Far From Home in early February, while Clark released her third solo project Your Life Is A Record on March 6.
“I got to do some TV just as my album came out, and I feel lucky because I think I was one of the last people to get to do that for a little while,” Clark says. “When that stuff started to cancel, I thought ‘Wow a lot of things are going to move.’”
Sellers’ album release tour was doubly impacted—her tour was to begin at Nashville’s The Basement East, which was destroyed when tornadoes ravaged parts of Nashville and Middle Tennessee early on March 3. Soon after, other venues began postponing shows due to fears over the spread of COVID-19.
“We had radio, press interviews and an [Grand Ole] Opry appearance lined up. As the label team, we have spent a year setting up Aubrie’s sophomore release Far From Home, developing creative assets, developing fans and networks, generating release plans and strategies, organizing radio and press plans throughout the campaign,” says Soundly Music/Soundly Digital’s Stephanie Hudacek. “The tour was the main focus to support the release.”
“A lot definitely hit me at once at a really unfortunate time, just a few weeks after Far From Home came out,” Sellers says. “It’s devastating as an artist to know that all of the hard work you’ve put into something could be so negatively affected by all of this, not to mention having all of your tour dates pushed back five or six months and wondering how you’re going to make a living until then. But this isn’t a problem unique to musicians—a lot of people in the country are struggling to make ends meet and cope with this shutdown, but at the end of the day we have to take a breath and just do everything we can to help each other get through it.”
While artists may not be able to perform to crowded concert halls or sold-out arenas, they are staying connected with fans through the plethora of livestream options available, performing concerts with no live audience from their homes, empty concert venues and more.
As Williams and his crew had already arrived in Dallas to prepare for the evening’s show on March 13 when they got word the show was canceled, Williams and his team turned to Facebook Live, quickly retooling the show into a more intimate, stripped down version.
“We are all going through this stuff, and we’re all just trying to keep in contact with our fans. It was sad to see it all come to a halt after the first six shows,” he says.
Rich turned his shuttered Rather Be Us Tour into a virtual tour, with the idea being to hold several “tour dates” per week, including some shows with fellow guest artists.
“It’s been every version of scrambling you can imagine,” he said. “You have to change your entire business model in one second, which restaurants are dealing with, gyms are dealing with, everyone is trying to figure it out. It’s been a fun process in the sense that it’s forced us to be creative in ways we’ve never been.”
Rich and his team have talked about using Twitch for their livestream shows, which allows viewers the option to tip artists, or possibly doing PayPal or Venmo options to help raise funds for Rich’s band and crew members, though he says they will keep the shows free to view for now.
“Right now, as much as some people would probably like to help, they are scared for their own families and worried about money, so it might distract people from coming to watch us and kill the feeling of community, so right now we are going to do them for free, and maybe later add a financial aspect to help raise money for people.”
Sellers has already done a livestream show, while Clark did a show via livestream to celebrate her album release, and says she hopes to make the livestream shows a weekly thing, as a way to connect not only with fans, but to help support her fellow artists.
“Several of us have records out or will have records out and it’s a way to bring awareness to that. For me, I’ve been working all week while I’m home but when I’m not, I’m watching CNN. It’s important to stay informed but it can bog you down. I feel like for a lot of Americans right now, that’s what they are doing, so us playing a 20- or 30-minute Facebook Live can help somebody out of that for a little bit of time, I think that’s really valuable.”
As numerous tours and music events such as the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony reschedule for later in the year, artists are trying to make the best of the sudden free time.
“I’m doing some song writes and we are working on projects that we had planned to do later in the year,” Williams says. “We were going to work on a Christmas album during the summer, so maybe this is the time to get a few guys together and work on it now. We are just trying to take advantage of this time.”
Clark has focused on the other creative endeavors she has in the works. She has been in Los Angeles, continuing work with Shane McAnally on a musical they have had in the works for a few years. Above all, she aims to keep writing and keep being creative.
“I’m going to just continue to challenge myself to write by myself and make myself read. I always have a reading goal and that always turns into songs for me. The silver lining is it could be a productive, creative time. I think Rosanne Cash tweeted, ‘Keep in mind, Shakespeare wrote King Lear when he was quarantined for the plague.’ I thought, ‘That’s something for all of us creatives to hang on to.’ There’s no reason for us to not stay creative.”