Garth Brooks will be recognized with the coveted ICON Award at the upcoming 2020 Billboard Music Awards. As a 19-time Billboard Music Award winner, Brooks joins only eight other artists who have ever received the honor. The superstar will also take the stage during the show for a highly anticipated performance.

Brooks is the first and only artist in history to achieve eight Diamond-certified albums at over 10 million album sales each. He remains the No. 1-selling solo artist in U.S. history, certified by the RIAA with more than 156 million album sales. He has earned nine No. 1 albums on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart (the most of any country artist), with chart-toppers in the ’90s, ’00s and ’10s. Seven of them debuted at No. 1. Brooks also claimed 17 No. 1s on the Top Country Albums chart and 89 hits on the Hot Country Songs chart including 19 No. 1s. In January, Billboard announced that Brooks became the first artist to have appeared on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in the ‘80s, ‘90s, ‘00s, ‘10s and ‘20s.

Previous recipients of the ICON Award include Cher, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey.

The 2020 Billboard Music Awards will broadcast live from Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 29 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

The Shires will release their new album, Good Years, in the U.S. on March 13 via BMG. The project was recorded in Nashville and includes 12 new tracks, 10 of which are co-written by the duo, Crissie Rhodes and Ben Earle.

The followup to the UK duo’s album Accidentally on Purpose and Gold-certified albums Brave and My Universe, Good Years features songs from writers and artists including Cam, Bob DiPiero and Canaan Smith.

“For me, growing up so inspired by country music through my grams and knowing Nashville was the home of that music, I always wanted to find a way to get over there,” said Rhodes. “When Ben and I met and we had the opportunity to go to Nashville, it was everything I imagined that it could be and more. To be surrounded by so much talent, it was quite overwhelming. Then getting in there with people who’d been writing songs for years…that was quite daunting to try to do that and to try to put our Brit spin on it at the same time. It’s been an amazing place for us. We just love landing on that runway and feeling like, ‘Ah. Here we are. We’re back.’ It feels great every single time.”

The duo will embark on their UK headlining tour in May including shows at the London Palladium, the Bristol Academy and more.

Good Years Track Listing:
“Lightning Strikes” (Josh Williams, Camaron Ochs, Evan Bogart)
“On The Day I Die” (Ben Earle, Peter Hammerton, Fiona Bevan)
“Good Years” (Dan Couch, Ben Earle, Crissie Rhodes, Canaan Smith)
“No Secrets” (Ben Earle, Danny Shah, Sky Adams)
“About Last Night” (Katya Edwards, Rachel Furner)
“New Year” (Ben Earle, Kaity Rae)
“Only Always” (Ben Earle, Kaity Rae)
“Independence Day” (Ben Earle, Peter Hammerton, Fiona Bevan)
“Thank You Whiskey” (Ben Earle, Peter Hammerton, Kipp Williams)
“People Like Us” (Ben Earle, Bob DiPiero, Jeff Garrison)
“Better Place” (Ben Earle, Kara Dioguardi, Jeff Cohen, Crissie Rhodes)
“Crazy Days” (Ben Earle)

 

Longtime Nashville journalist Demetria Kalodimos is making major donations to help support the challenging commercial media landscape.

Kalodimos says in a statement obtained by MusicRow, “Together with Meredith Corporation, I am pleased to make a significant donation to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, which will be used by Nashville Public Media, and a separate donation to the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. Both organizations champion the public good and the bedrock values of quality journalism. I appreciate Meredith Corporation’s willingness to support this important cause.”

This effort joins Steve Cavendish with plans to relaunch Nashville news media brand The Nashville Banner as a non-partisan, nonprofit, civic news organization, with hopes to begin publishing online later in 2020.

Cavendish, a former Editor-in-Chief of the Nashville Scene, will serve as president and editor for the soon-to-be-relaunched The Nashville Banner, with former longtime WSMV news anchor Kalodimos as executive producer, according to its website.

More than a year ago, Cavendish announced his plans to revive The Nashville Banner, which was published from 1876 until 1998, when it closed after being purchased by Gannett, parent company of The Tennessean. The Nashville Banner briefly ran online content in 2014, under the ownership of Bruce Dobie.

According to the official site, The Nashville Banner will be a free (no paywalls) digital service, and will focus on local news, beginning with an emphasis on Metro government, Capitol Hill and state government, education, business and criminal justice, though the goal is to eventually add additional coverage areas.

“Soon, we will announce the online return of a familiar name: the Nashville Banner. This ‘electronic newspaper’ will also offer high-quality video, audio and visual storytelling designed to quench the thirst for meaningful news coverage that is fair, accurate, interesting, thorough, and human.” Kalodimos says.

“Nashville Public Media is an emerging civic news organization that will operate as a nonprofit, offering relevant, intelligent, in-depth coverage of local news and issues of importance to the city,” says Kalodimos. “The contribution will help seed this important and unique new resource in a challenging commercial media landscape.”

She adds, “It remains my wish to offer a significant public platform to talented, experienced reporters and visual storytellers whose voices contribute greatly to our public conversation.”

Kalodimos joined Nashville news station WSMV in 1984, and became one of Nashville’s most well-respected news anchors. After more than 30 years with the organization, Kalodimos and WSMV had an acrimonious parting of ways in 2017. In 2018, she sued WSMV for age discrimination; it was announced in January 2020 that they had settled the suit.

The Opry Entertainment Group has formed a new Artist & Label Strategy Team specifically devoted to supporting the growing opportunities for artists under its umbrella of brands including the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, 650 AM WSM, Ole Red and the Circle network. Jenn Tressler and Haley Montgomery have both joined the new team as Artist & Label Strategy Managers reporting to Jordan Pettit, Director of Artist Relations & Programming Strategy.

Tressler joins the company with eight years of artist and label relations experience at Vevo before joining L3 Entertainment in Nashville where she worked in artist management. Montgomery joins the company from her most recent role as Strategic Partnerships Project Manager at CMA, bringing seven years of experience in partnership acquisition, project management and event planning.

“Just like the world of entertainment overall, there are more ways than ever at Opry Entertainment Group for artists to connect with fans,” said Pettit. “I’m thrilled to have Jenn and Haley’s expertise on board as we work to provide unique value to the artists who partner with us and deliver exceptional entertainment to fans who visit and tune in. The two of them will be invaluable additions to this growing team.”

Opry Entertainment Group is looking to fill one additional position of Manager, Artist & Label Strategy. For more information and to apply visit rhpcareers.com.