Pictured (L-R): Kelby Ray, Jaren Johnston, Neil Mason. Photo: Dylan Rucker
The Cadillac Three have been using the term ‘country fuzz’ to describe their unique southern rock sound for some time. Their COUNTRY FUZZ album, out today (Feb. 7), personifies the music the Big Machine Records trio makes perfectly.
Singer-guitarist Jaren Johnston, drummer Neil Mason, and lap-steel player Kelby Ray have been playing together for over a decade. The versatile band makes music that transcends genre, allowing them to fit perfectly alongside the live shows of modern country stars Eric Church, Dierks Bentley and Luke Bryan, country veterans Travis Tritt and Charlie Daniels, plus iconic rockers Metallica and Slayer.
COUNTRY FUZZ deepens the band’s country-rock hybrid with songs like “Labels,” “Heat” and “Slow Rollin’,” while also exploring new sounds like funk on tracks like the super-charged “Blue El Camino” and “The Jam.” They produced the album themselves, with the exception of “Crackin’ Cold Ones With The Boys,” which Dann Huff co-produced.
MusicRow sat down with Johnston, Mason and Ray recently to talk about the sonic kaleidoscope of a fourth record.
MusicRow: What does ‘country fuzz’ mean?
Ray: ‘Country Fuzz’ is us. It’s something we’ve been saying for years. We just decided to jus go all in with it on this album.
Johnston: We were in an interview in Europe somewhere and the guy said, ‘It’s like [Black] Sabbath on cornbread, right?’ I was like that’s fucking genius, but you can’t really coin that. We wanted to come out with something that was similar because, basically, it’s country songwriting at the heart of it—like story songwriting where you come down to that end hook where you wrap it up in a cool way that only country music does—with just the right amount of things that influenced us when we were 13, 14 years old, like Nirvana and stuff like that. When you’re 13 and that kind of movement [like Nirvana] happens, you get pretty into it no matter where you’re from or what you’re really into. I grew up listening to a lot of like that stuff, but being raised in country music, Nashville, Tennessee, and my dad being the business, that’s just kind of what we came up with, the Country Fuzz type.
Talk about “The Jam.” The message is interesting that when you hear something, if you like it, then it’s the jam. And then the song itself has like elements of funk, country and rock.
Johnston: It was two years ago, I wrote it with BK [Brian Kelley] from Florida Georgia Line, Corey Crowder and James McNair. We were all super hungover because we were at the 30A Songwriter Festival. Corey had that little track and I was under the impression we were writing it for Florida Georgia Line. FGL cut it and it didn’t make the record, so I took it in the back lounge of the bus and just like took it more of a Jerry Reed meets some sort of P-Funk slash Cadillac somewhere where it would make sense around what we were doing on this new record.
Ray: It’s ‘Country Fuzz.’
Johnston: We really had never cut anything like that, so I played it for the guys and they were like, “Man, that’s a jam!” Also, a lot of these things you record, you’re looking for something that’s going to be fun for the live show that really like is a jam in every sense of the word. Tempo is hard to write these days for some reason; I have a really good niche of like 85 BPM, whatever that is. This thing was tough, but we’ve won a couple of times with sounds like that, like “Days of Gold” was a big song for us and I just feel like it would be cool for this record so we went for it and I think it came out great.
You guys produced COUNTRY FUZZ on your own, other than “Crackin’ Cold Ones With The Boys,” and there’s definitely some surprising sounds there. What were you inspired by sonically?
Mason: Stretching it as far as we can.
Johnston: You’re trying to experiment with things. You might end up on something really cool that nobody’s doing, and then we try to take that every time to the next level. I say this every time we do record prep, but every record you’re trying to show growth because we’re not 19 anymore. So you’re trying to show people we’re a little smarter and better at what we do than the last record, or different at least.
You’re known for your high-energy live shows. How would you say these songs are going to feel live?
Ray: [“Slow Rollin'” and “Whiskey and Smoke”] we’ve been playing live already and they’re fun. It’s fun for us to work on new stuff and play stuff like ‘The Jam” and figure out how we’re going to do that live.
Johnston: You’re looking at three dudes with no tracks. You gotta really know it. I’m having a lot of fun playing “Blue El Camino” live because in my mind during that one song in the set, I’m like, “We’re ZZ Top.”
Tell me about working with Travis Tritt and Chris Janson on “Hard Out Here For A Country Boy.”
Mason: We were on tour with Travis this past spring and he would come on the bus after the shows pretty much every night. He’d blow on there about 20, 30 minutes after his set with his acoustic guitar and he would pour a big ole drink and kind of take over the front lounge of the bus until bus call, which was usually three or four in the morning.
Johnston: Which is a lot of fun, him telling stories and singing songs.
Mason: One of those nights in between him playing us a bunch of old Waylon covers, he was like, “Let me hear some of y’all’s shit.” So Jaren was playing him some of the new record and he played “Hard Out Here.” I guess he just really liked it.
Johnston: He was just singing it the next day at soundcheck and I heard him and I was like, “Man, that sounded good.” He goes, “Yeah, I like that.” I said, “Did you want to sing on it? Because I’ve got a little studio set up in the back lounge of the bus.” He’s like, “Yeah! When?” I’m like, “Well, what are you doing now?” So he came over and sang that. Jansen and I had been playing phone tag because we were talking about maybe trying to do some shows in 2020 together, and he called me and said, “What are you doing?” I said, “Man, you’re not going to believe this, I’m recording Travis Tritt’s vocal on a new Cadillac thing.” And he goes, “What’s it called?” I said “Hard Out Here,” and he said “Send it to me, I want to sing on it!” I sent it to him and he, he sang on it and put harmonica on it, and gave it to me back in like two days. It was really quick.
Did you record most of COUNTRY FUZZ on the bus?
Johnston: All the vocals are sang on the back of the bus. All the overdubs and shit, for the most part, was done on the bus.
Ray: We go in the studio mainly for drums.
Johnston: You get out there and it’s hurry up and wait. We have all day so if we’re not writing, I’m usually back there working on something that’s record related. It’s pretty convenient to have that little space. I wish we could do drums on the bus.
Mason: We need another bus for drums. That’d be cheaper, right?
“Back Home” is the first outside song you guys have ever cut. Why did you cut it?
Johnston: I thought it was cool and I could relate to the story of it. The first time I heard it, James McNair played it for us on the bus and it was late night and we were drinking pretty good. I was just like, “Man, this is really good,” and I didn’t think about it again at all. Then he sent it to me or something like that and I listened to it and my bunk before I went to bed one night and I was like, “This is really good.” I didn’t like the demo vocal, like Chris Tompkins was singing one part and Craig Wiseman was singing the bridge and I was just like…it’s confusing. So I sent a message to Craig and said, “Man, you should put a vocal on this. I think somebody would cut it,” not even thinking about us. He sends it back to me two weeks later and I was like, “Great, he did it,” because that was because I was drunk, but he sent me the same damn demo that I had. But I was already in love with the song, I guess. It’s cool to get to play something extremely Allman Brothers, but with modern country songwriting. The key was taking it out of that vein and making it sound like us, because otherwise it would just sound like the Black Crows or something. We had to be careful with that, but I think it’s really cool. It reminds me of “Angels” a little bit from an American Bang record.
“Heat” and “Long After Last Call” sound like an instant classic Cadillac Three songs.
Mason: We wrote “Heat” on the back of the bus with Jimmy Robbins. I just know that happened really quickly, it kind of wrote itself in an hour or something.
Johnston: We didn’t even think about cutting it for the longest time.
Mason: No, it was sitting around. We’ve been working on this record for two years and we tried a lot of different kinds of songs and, recording wise, I think it’s one of the coolest ones. It’s got a lot of great layers to it.
Mason: “Long After Last Call” has been around for a while. Jaren wrote that by himself and it was one that I always really liked. I had a little work tape demo that he had done on it. We had looked at it for the Legacy record and then it didn’t end up fitting. It came back up for this record and when we decided that we were going to do call the record COUNTRY FUZZ, we wanted to have all the sounds that we’ve done over the last few records and do some new things, so that we kind of encapsulate everything.
Johnston: And that’s pretty country.
Mason: Yeah, it felt like a cool way to kind of close out the record.
The Cadillac Three Brings A ‘Country Fuzz’ Of Sounds To Their Fourth Album
/by LB CantrellPictured (L-R): Kelby Ray, Jaren Johnston, Neil Mason. Photo: Dylan Rucker
The Cadillac Three have been using the term ‘country fuzz’ to describe their unique southern rock sound for some time. Their COUNTRY FUZZ album, out today (Feb. 7), personifies the music the Big Machine Records trio makes perfectly.
Singer-guitarist Jaren Johnston, drummer Neil Mason, and lap-steel player Kelby Ray have been playing together for over a decade. The versatile band makes music that transcends genre, allowing them to fit perfectly alongside the live shows of modern country stars Eric Church, Dierks Bentley and Luke Bryan, country veterans Travis Tritt and Charlie Daniels, plus iconic rockers Metallica and Slayer.
COUNTRY FUZZ deepens the band’s country-rock hybrid with songs like “Labels,” “Heat” and “Slow Rollin’,” while also exploring new sounds like funk on tracks like the super-charged “Blue El Camino” and “The Jam.” They produced the album themselves, with the exception of “Crackin’ Cold Ones With The Boys,” which Dann Huff co-produced.
MusicRow sat down with Johnston, Mason and Ray recently to talk about the sonic kaleidoscope of a fourth record.
MusicRow: What does ‘country fuzz’ mean?
Ray: ‘Country Fuzz’ is us. It’s something we’ve been saying for years. We just decided to jus go all in with it on this album.
Johnston: We were in an interview in Europe somewhere and the guy said, ‘It’s like [Black] Sabbath on cornbread, right?’ I was like that’s fucking genius, but you can’t really coin that. We wanted to come out with something that was similar because, basically, it’s country songwriting at the heart of it—like story songwriting where you come down to that end hook where you wrap it up in a cool way that only country music does—with just the right amount of things that influenced us when we were 13, 14 years old, like Nirvana and stuff like that. When you’re 13 and that kind of movement [like Nirvana] happens, you get pretty into it no matter where you’re from or what you’re really into. I grew up listening to a lot of like that stuff, but being raised in country music, Nashville, Tennessee, and my dad being the business, that’s just kind of what we came up with, the Country Fuzz type.
Talk about “The Jam.” The message is interesting that when you hear something, if you like it, then it’s the jam. And then the song itself has like elements of funk, country and rock.
Johnston: It was two years ago, I wrote it with BK [Brian Kelley] from Florida Georgia Line, Corey Crowder and James McNair. We were all super hungover because we were at the 30A Songwriter Festival. Corey had that little track and I was under the impression we were writing it for Florida Georgia Line. FGL cut it and it didn’t make the record, so I took it in the back lounge of the bus and just like took it more of a Jerry Reed meets some sort of P-Funk slash Cadillac somewhere where it would make sense around what we were doing on this new record.
Ray: It’s ‘Country Fuzz.’
Johnston: We really had never cut anything like that, so I played it for the guys and they were like, “Man, that’s a jam!” Also, a lot of these things you record, you’re looking for something that’s going to be fun for the live show that really like is a jam in every sense of the word. Tempo is hard to write these days for some reason; I have a really good niche of like 85 BPM, whatever that is. This thing was tough, but we’ve won a couple of times with sounds like that, like “Days of Gold” was a big song for us and I just feel like it would be cool for this record so we went for it and I think it came out great.
You guys produced COUNTRY FUZZ on your own, other than “Crackin’ Cold Ones With The Boys,” and there’s definitely some surprising sounds there. What were you inspired by sonically?
Mason: Stretching it as far as we can.
Johnston: You’re trying to experiment with things. You might end up on something really cool that nobody’s doing, and then we try to take that every time to the next level. I say this every time we do record prep, but every record you’re trying to show growth because we’re not 19 anymore. So you’re trying to show people we’re a little smarter and better at what we do than the last record, or different at least.
You’re known for your high-energy live shows. How would you say these songs are going to feel live?
Ray: [“Slow Rollin'” and “Whiskey and Smoke”] we’ve been playing live already and they’re fun. It’s fun for us to work on new stuff and play stuff like ‘The Jam” and figure out how we’re going to do that live.
Johnston: You’re looking at three dudes with no tracks. You gotta really know it. I’m having a lot of fun playing “Blue El Camino” live because in my mind during that one song in the set, I’m like, “We’re ZZ Top.”
Tell me about working with Travis Tritt and Chris Janson on “Hard Out Here For A Country Boy.”
Mason: We were on tour with Travis this past spring and he would come on the bus after the shows pretty much every night. He’d blow on there about 20, 30 minutes after his set with his acoustic guitar and he would pour a big ole drink and kind of take over the front lounge of the bus until bus call, which was usually three or four in the morning.
Johnston: Which is a lot of fun, him telling stories and singing songs.
Mason: One of those nights in between him playing us a bunch of old Waylon covers, he was like, “Let me hear some of y’all’s shit.” So Jaren was playing him some of the new record and he played “Hard Out Here.” I guess he just really liked it.
Johnston: He was just singing it the next day at soundcheck and I heard him and I was like, “Man, that sounded good.” He goes, “Yeah, I like that.” I said, “Did you want to sing on it? Because I’ve got a little studio set up in the back lounge of the bus.” He’s like, “Yeah! When?” I’m like, “Well, what are you doing now?” So he came over and sang that. Jansen and I had been playing phone tag because we were talking about maybe trying to do some shows in 2020 together, and he called me and said, “What are you doing?” I said, “Man, you’re not going to believe this, I’m recording Travis Tritt’s vocal on a new Cadillac thing.” And he goes, “What’s it called?” I said “Hard Out Here,” and he said “Send it to me, I want to sing on it!” I sent it to him and he, he sang on it and put harmonica on it, and gave it to me back in like two days. It was really quick.
Did you record most of COUNTRY FUZZ on the bus?
Johnston: All the vocals are sang on the back of the bus. All the overdubs and shit, for the most part, was done on the bus.
Ray: We go in the studio mainly for drums.
Johnston: You get out there and it’s hurry up and wait. We have all day so if we’re not writing, I’m usually back there working on something that’s record related. It’s pretty convenient to have that little space. I wish we could do drums on the bus.
Mason: We need another bus for drums. That’d be cheaper, right?
“Back Home” is the first outside song you guys have ever cut. Why did you cut it?
Johnston: I thought it was cool and I could relate to the story of it. The first time I heard it, James McNair played it for us on the bus and it was late night and we were drinking pretty good. I was just like, “Man, this is really good,” and I didn’t think about it again at all. Then he sent it to me or something like that and I listened to it and my bunk before I went to bed one night and I was like, “This is really good.” I didn’t like the demo vocal, like Chris Tompkins was singing one part and Craig Wiseman was singing the bridge and I was just like…it’s confusing. So I sent a message to Craig and said, “Man, you should put a vocal on this. I think somebody would cut it,” not even thinking about us. He sends it back to me two weeks later and I was like, “Great, he did it,” because that was because I was drunk, but he sent me the same damn demo that I had. But I was already in love with the song, I guess. It’s cool to get to play something extremely Allman Brothers, but with modern country songwriting. The key was taking it out of that vein and making it sound like us, because otherwise it would just sound like the Black Crows or something. We had to be careful with that, but I think it’s really cool. It reminds me of “Angels” a little bit from an American Bang record.
“Heat” and “Long After Last Call” sound like an instant classic Cadillac Three songs.
Mason: We wrote “Heat” on the back of the bus with Jimmy Robbins. I just know that happened really quickly, it kind of wrote itself in an hour or something.
Johnston: We didn’t even think about cutting it for the longest time.
Mason: No, it was sitting around. We’ve been working on this record for two years and we tried a lot of different kinds of songs and, recording wise, I think it’s one of the coolest ones. It’s got a lot of great layers to it.
Mason: “Long After Last Call” has been around for a while. Jaren wrote that by himself and it was one that I always really liked. I had a little work tape demo that he had done on it. We had looked at it for the Legacy record and then it didn’t end up fitting. It came back up for this record and when we decided that we were going to do call the record COUNTRY FUZZ, we wanted to have all the sounds that we’ve done over the last few records and do some new things, so that we kind of encapsulate everything.
Johnston: And that’s pretty country.
Mason: Yeah, it felt like a cool way to kind of close out the record.
Hope Darst Signs With Fair Trade Services, Releases New Single “Peace Be Still”
/by Lorie HollabaughPictured: Fair Trade Records with Hope Darst.
Hope Darst has signed with Fair Trade Services and is releasing her debut song, “Peace Be Still,” available everywhere today. The song was co-written with Mia Fieldes and Andrew Holt.
“I’m blown away thinking about this right now,” said Darst. “I’m turning 40 this year, and to think that at 40 I’m signing my first recording contract makes me cry knowing the story God has written for me—and the beautiful stories He writes for all of us that we can’t even imagine. I dreamed of being an artist for 25 years, and then laid that dream aside to pursue what God had called me to do—raise a family and serve local church. I never imagined that 15 years later, God would lead me back to my first dream of writing and releasing music as an artist. What I’ve learned is that when we stay surrendered and keep saying ‘Yes’ to the season God puts in front of you, He writes an amazing story over our lives. So whatever you have in your life that might look finished or over, you have no idea what God could bring to life again.”
In 2013, Darst found herself in a moment of crisis and realized she needed ministry more than she needed to minister. Darst transitioned to being a full-time mom and committed herself to a season of healing. During that time of seeking wholeness, a friend invited their family to a grassroots Bible study that eventually grew into The Belonging Co. in Nashville. She eventually started leading worship again and soon found herself co-writing with her worship team. While on a worship team retreat, Darst, along with seasoned songwriters, Fieldes and Holt, penned “Peace Be Still.” Over the next two years, Darst saw the song become an anthem of hope for their congregation and soar to new heights as churches around the globe embraced its truth as their own.
Darst will be releasing a full-length debut on Fair Trade Records in the Summer of 2020.
Curb Publishing Adds Michael Farren To Roster
/by Jessica NicholsonPictured (L-R): Trevor Mathiesen (Publishing and A&R Director), Michael Farren, Jonathan Mason (VP, Christian A&R and Publishing), John Nemoy (VP, Legal Affairs)
Curb Publishing has signed songwriter Michael Farren. The deal represents a reunion for Farren and Curb | Word, as Farren previously signed to Word in 2005 as an artist-songwriter with the band Pocket Full of Rocks.
“Michael Farren is one of Christian music’s most gifted writers and producers, and valued mentors, and we are honored he’ll be joining our family of writers,” said Jonathan Mason, VP Curb | Word Christian A&R and Publishing. “His addition to our roster is just one piece of the greater puzzle God is building here. With Mike Curb’s involvement, building on the rich legacy of Word Records, our team is more excited than ever about the future of Christian music.”
As a songwriter, Farren’s recent cuts include Lauren Daigle’s Grammy-nominated, Platinum-selling single “Trust In You,” as well as the title track on Reba McEntire’s Grammy-winning album Sing It Now, as well as Michael W. Smith’s worship classic “Let It Rain.” Farren also produced Christine D’Clario’s 2015 Dove Award-winning Eterno (Live).
Farren’s songs have also been recorded by Natalie Grant, Mandisa, Karen Peck & New River, Darlene Zschech, Blind Boys of Alabama, Big Daddy Weave, Brian Free & Assurance, Unspoken, and more.
The Curb publishing roster also includes Tedd T, Jason Walker, Sarah Reeves, Tony Wood, Benji Cowart, Joel Lindsey, Rebekah White, Kenna West, Wayne Haun, Molly Reed, Josh Bronleewe, Ben Backus, Mark Campbell, Joseph Prielozny, and Chris Mackey, among others.
Tin Pan South Expands With Daytime Events
/by Lorie HollabaughThe 28th annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival has announced some details for this year’s festival, taking place March 24-28. This year, Tin Pan South week will not only include five nights of back-to-back shows in 10 venues, but daytime programming at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Thursday – Saturday, an NSAI open house, a Whiskey Jam takeover, the first annual Member Awards presented by Regions Bank, and one of NSAI’s premier educational events, the Tin Pan South Songwriting Seminar.
This year’s full lineup and schedule will be revealed on tinpansouth.com Tuesday, Feb. 25 when Fast Access Passes go on sale. For a sneak peek at the line-up, download the festival app to see the performer list on Friday, Feb. 21.
March 23 – Tin Pan South will kick off the 2020 festival with a Whiskey Jam takeover, giving attendees a taste of what to expect for the upcoming week.
March 23-24 – Tin Pan South Songwriting Seminar offering an opportunity to learn from over a dozen industry professionals (including several songwriters who will be performing later in the week during the festival)
March 25 -NSAI will host an Open House at its location on Music Row from 2 PM to 5 PM
March 26 – In an invitation-only event, NSAI will hold its first Member Awards (presented by Regions Bank). First-year honors include awards voted by NSAI’s global membership and select honorees recognized by NSAI staff members.
March 26-28 – Afternoon programming at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum beginning at 2 PM each day.
Prescription Songs Signs Tim Gent
/by Jessica NicholsonPictured (L-R): Christian Conant (Prescription Songs), Rachel Wein (Prescription Songs), Farrah Usmani (Loeb & Loeb LLP), Tim Gent, Katie Fagan (Prescription Songs), Eric Holt (SYZGY Management), Zack Cobb (SYZGY Management)
Prescription Songs has signed hip-hop artist, writer and rapper Tim Gent to its publishing roster. Gent is managed by SYZYGY Management’s Eric Holt and Zack Cobb.
“Just feels good to be a part of the actual underground culture here in Nashville and have the opportunity to bring that to the forefront by partnering with a company like RX,” Gent says.
Gent has become a mainstay on the local Nashville music scene, thanks in part to songs such as 2016’s “Lady America,” which featured Drisana DeSpain. In 2018, Gent released the full-length project Life Away From Home, which features collaborations with Jamiah Hudson, Bryant Taylorr, Case Arnold, Kyro $wanks and more. Two tracks from the album are slated to be featured in the upcoming film The Violent Heart.
“We couldn’t be more happy for Tim! His talent, work ethic and personality proves that he is on his way to an amazing career. We are excited he joined the RX team and look forward to continuing our work together,” added SYZYGY Management’s Holt and Cobb.
“Tim Gent and his managers have worked tirelessly to elevate homegrown hip-hop in Nashville, and Katie Fagan has played an important role in nurturing the city’s non-country songwriting community for many years,” says Usmani. “As such, Tim’s partnership with RX is a natural fit, and I look forward to seeing what they can accomplish together,” said Farrah Usmani of Loeb & Loeb.
CD Baby To Receive Music Biz 2020 Independent Spirit Award
/by Lorie HollabaughIndependent music distributor CD Baby will receive Music Biz’s 2020 Independent Spirit Award during the Music Biz 2020 Annual Conference, taking place May 11-14 at the JW Marriott Nashville. The award will be presented during the annual Music Biz Awards Dinner.
CD Baby was founded in 1998 as a way to easily sell independent music on the internet. As more and more artists learned of the platform and asked for their music to be included, the CD Baby storefront was created. Over time, the company expanded the slate of services it offered, from digital distribution to sync licensing to marketing and, most recently, publishing. Now representing more than 750,000 artists from around the globe and a catalog of more than 9 million tracks, CD Baby is the largest distributor of independent music in the world.
“Coming from the indie sector myself, I’ve always admired that CD Baby were early to the DIY party, spending the last 22 years putting flesh on the spirit of independent music,” said Music Biz President Portia Sabin. “Through the years, CD Baby has helped more and more indie artists realize their dream of releasing their own music, truly embodying the independent spirit through their service to the indie musician community in the digital age.”
“Over many years, we’ve learned that what independent artists often need most is a partner that listens,” said CD Baby CEO Tracy Maddux. “That’s why we’ve expanded our artist services in groundbreaking ways that unlock more opportunities, from royalty administration to sync placements, and why we provide the best customer support, not only in the US but now internationally. We’re proud to enable powerful connections between artists with a distinct vision, and major tech platforms and music services, while always remembering that the artist comes first.”
Music Biz’s Independent Spirit Award honors those who embody the spirit of new thinking, entrepreneurship, and success in their business models, those who help grow and enhance the business of independent music for retailers and content providers. Previous Independent Spirit Award winners include Richard Storms and Alayna Alderman of Record Archive; the Radakovitz family and Dimple Records; Terry Currier of Music Millennium; Glenn Dicker and Tor Hansen of Redeye USA; John Kunz of Waterloo Records & Video; Jonathan Poneman of Sub Pop Records; the organizers of Record Store Day; and Brett Gurewitz of Epitaph Records.
Cirque du Soleil Brings AXEL To Bridgestone Arena For Six-Night Run
/by LB CantrellCirque du Solei’s AXEL
Cirque du Soleil premiered its new on ice spectacle, AXEL, at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena last night (Feb. 6) for the first of a six-night run.
With spectacular skating, breathtaking acrobatics on ice, beautiful visual effects, and live music, AXEL is a must-see production. The story follows Axel, a young graphic artist and musician, as he dives into his hand-drawn universe while he falls in love with Lei. When Lei’s light is stolen from the supervillain Vï, the two make the quest to retrieve her stolen light.
The musical score, and live band, were a perfect match for the captivating story and amazing tricks, interweaving pop songs like Radiohead’s “Creep” with new original scores.
AXEL will be at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for five more performances from Feb. 7-9, 2020. Tickets are available online at cirquedusoleil.com/axel.
Cirque du Solei’s AXEL
Cirque du Solei’s AXEL
Cirque du Solei’s AXEL
Cirque du Solei’s AXEL
Cirque du Solei’s AXEL. Photo: MusicRow
How Brett James’ “Nashville Soul Record” Helped Him Find His Voice Again
/by Jessica NicholsonBrett James. Photo: Jay Gilbert
Brett James has had the kind of songwriting success that the thousands of dreamers who pour into Nashville each year aspire to have: He’s penned 25 No. 1 hits, including Carrie Underwood’s massive breakthrough single, “Jesus Take The Wheel,” which earned James a Grammy for Best Country Song in 2007. He’s twice been named ASCAP’s Country Songwriter of the Year. In 2006, he earned two CMA Triple Play Awards, followed by a third CMA Triple Play Award in 2016.
At 51, James has had more than 500 of his songs recorded by artists such as Bon Jovi, Kelly Clarkson, Tim McGraw, Nick Jonas, Backstreet Boys, Luke Bryan, Martina McBride, The Fray, Taylor Swift, Paulina Rubio and more. He wrote the opening theme for the broadcast of Super Bowl LII.
But back in 1995, he was another aspiring country artist—“cowboy hat and all,” he recalls with a chuckle—signed to now-defunct Arista Nashville sister label Career Records, and hoping to spin the radio singles from his debut self-titled album into a viable long-term career. Two singles from that album, “If I Could See Love” and “Worth The Fall,” failed to crack the Top 40 on the country charts, and eventually the deal fell apart. In the early 2000s, James re-joined Arista, releasing the singles “Chasin’ Amy” and “After All.” Again, neither single gained adequate traction with radio programmers. With two attempts at an artist career behind him, James began to shift his focus to songwriting, a move that would bring him an arsenal of hits—though they were hits recorded by other artists.
“I never made a record that was really me at all,” James says. “The first one was a country album I made when I was 25. Then I became a songwriter and have been for so many years. The day after I turned 50 I thought, ‘It’s time to do this.’”
Now, James is taking all those years spent crafting lyrics that put words to the stirring of an artist’s soul, and melodies that bring out the emotional best in an artist’s voice—and he’s applying that talent once again to his own voice, his own perspectives.
Today, James is sharing his true voice on “True Believer,” the first single from his upcoming five-song EP I Am Now. The EP will release March 27 via Songs of Brett/Label Logic/Ingrooves.
The project began in James’ living room, a few days after his 50th birthday, where he sat down with a guitar, determined to pen music that he alone would perform. The songs came pouring out.
“I just had more fun writing than I think I ever had in my life,” he recalls. “As you get a little older you come to the point in life, and the career I’m in now, where the last thing you want to do is be someone you’re not. So that was the rule for this, to really be my authentic self, in lyric writing, what I want to say and how I want to say it.”
James self-produced the project, with Paul Moak mixing it. He recorded the album over two days at Moak’s Nashville studio The Smoakstack.
“I called some of my studio musician buddies when it was time to record. I think we cut 10 or 11 tracks in two days. But Nashville musicians, they are so good and we just kind of partied for a few days making it. I did quite a few overdubs with Andrew DeRoberts, he did a lot of electric guitar work afterwards and I did a lot of vocals at my house.”
The songs that resulted were what James calls a “Nashville soul record,” evidenced by James’ surprisingly passionate voice, which flows from velvety to gritty on a whim and could easily draw comparisons to the sandpapery tones of Chris Stapleton and occasionally the smooth phrasings of Darius Rucker.
“My kids have never really heard me sing until they heard this album,” he muses. “They’ve heard me sing on cuts and demos but they’ve never really heard me be me. My kids were like, ‘Dad, we didn’t know you could do that!’ But I didn’t put any parameters on this album, any genres on it.”
The horn-drenched “I Am Now” determines to share feelings of love that have been long been hidden, while patient, longing musings of “Wait” pulsate with soulful grooves, supple guitar work and smoky, soaring choir backings.
Brett James. Photo: Jay Gilbert
The album’s first release, “True Believer,” is a tribute to James’ 19-year-old daughter Clare.
“I didn’t set out to write it for her, but I started writing it and just lyrically as it fell out, I literally texted my daughter about halfway through writing it and said ‘I’m writing you a song today.’ I don’t typically do that. Over my career as a pro songwriter, most of the time you are not writing incredibly personal things. Most of the time we are making up something we think will work or be a hit. But that first verse and chorus fell out and I just knew it was about my daughter. It’s about all my kids, but my daughter is the one that would admit she would like that—my three boys wouldn’t admit they like a song written about them,” he says.
“It was the last song I wrote in that first batch of tracks. It’s just me playing acoustic guitar—it doesn’t match the record at all, which is this warm, kind of soul sisters feel to it. I was going to make [“True Believer”] a bonus track, but it was one of those songs people were drawn to every time they heard it.”
Many of James’ most signature hits as a songwriter—songs like Underwood’s “Something In The Water,” Martina McBride’s “Blessed,” Chris Young’s “The Man I Want To Be” and Dierks Bentley’s “I Hold On”—deal in themes of spirituality, positivity, hope and determination.
Those themes are the centerpiece of I Am Now.
“It ended up being all about love, which is kind of where I am in life. Lyrically, that was the inspiration for this record. When you get older, nothing else matters except how much you love people and how well you are loved.”
“I Am Now,” is the sole co-write on the album, which James penned alongside JT Harding and Chris Stevens. With his new collaboration with Ingrooves and Label Logic, James says they plan to send the track to Triple-A radio in March.
“The game’s changed a little bit. It’s easier to make music and put it out than it was, even 10 years ago. I think those of us who have that spark in us to do both—I love my day job and getting to write for other artists, it’s the greatest thing ever—but I think none of us come to town wanting to sit in rooms and write a song with another person and never sing it again, forget about it and hope someone records it. That’s not what music is about as a writer. The idea is to write something you can experience with other listeners. That never left me. I love to play live music for people. I’ve gotten to do that a lot over the years with songwriters shows and things, but it’s a whole different animal when it’s my music. Just finding my voice has been such fun.”
He hopes I Am Now is just the start of more music to come.
“Literally, today I wrote two songs for the next project. It’s never too late to try something new, or try something again,” he says.
‘I Am Now’ Tracklist:
Cody Alan Pledges Equal Play For Females On CMT Radio Live
/by Lorie HollabaughThe move follows CMT’s recent announcement to establish a 50/50 programming policy for music videos from female artists on both its CMT and CMT Music channels. Of the full 29-hour primetime video hours across CMT’s platforms, female artists will account for half of those videos aired, an increase from its previous 40/60 ratio.
In January, CMT added a deal point to its radio distribution partnership extension which allows CMT to impact programming on over 230 stations. CMT’s Next Women of Country: Artist of the Month on-air feature allows CMT control of one spin per week for rising female artists, directly increasing airplay for females and the country charts.
Alexis Wilkins Signs With The AMG and WME
/by Lorie HollabaughPictured (L-R): Kassie Perkins (Wiatr & Associates), Ali Nageotte (Wiatr & Associates), Kris Wiatr (Wiatr & Associates), David Crow (Milom Horsnell Crow Kelley Beckett Shehan PLC), Lance Alleman (Agent, WME), Nate Towne (Partner, WME), Kristy Reeves (the AMG), Alexis Wilkins, Jay Williams (Partner & Co-Head, WME Nashville), Cindy Watts (the AMG), Mike Snider (Agent, WME), Rob Beckham (President & CEO, the AMG)
Alexis Wilkins has signed with the AMG for management and WME for booking.
The Arkansas-bred and Nashville-based singer/songwriter is debuting new music via all digital outlets on March 6, and is backed by a team of industry vets including Rob Beckham, Kristy Reeves and Cindy Watts of the AMG, Kris Wiatr of Wiatr & Associates, David Crow of Milom Horsnell Crow Kelley Beckett Shehan PLC, Luke Burland of BB Gun Press, and a team of WME agents.
“The AMG is thrilled to announce the signing of another dynamic talent to our management roster,” said manager Kristy Reeves. “It is rare to find a 21 year old with such an established sense of who she is and what she wants to say. Alexis is fiercely dedicated to remaining true to her country roots and telling stories that speak to life, love, pain and everything in between.”
Beckham, President and CEO of the AMG, added, “My colleagues and I are happy to officially welcome Alexis to the AMG family and to introduce the world to this authentic new voice in country music.”