Singer-songwriter Abbey Cone has joined The Valory Music Co. roster. The Valory Music Co. imprint is also home to Thomas Rhett, Brantley Gilbert, Justin Moore, Sheryl Crow, Eli Young Band, Aaron Lewis, Tyler Rich, Avenue Beat, Conner Smith and Heath Sanders.

“I’m always searching for uniqueness, individuality, vision, and a special star quality,” says BMLG President/CEO Scott Borchetta. “In Abbey, we’ve found all of these attributes and more. From the first note of her music, I was IN. The songwriting, the voice, her incredible vision…this is a WOW. I’m so excited that Abbey chose Valory and the BMLG as her home. This is going to be a helluva ride.”

Cone is managed by Borman Entertainment and Missi Gallimore‘s T.R.U.T.H. Management, and booked by Paradigm’s Lenore Kinder and Mike Betterton.

“Scott’s passion for my music was evident from day one; and his drive, determination, and vision are exactly what I was looking for in a label partner,” says Cone. “Being able to release my music with such an incredible team behind me is a dream come true. This is an exciting time for new music; and with a shared vision between Scott, George, and the entire Valory team, I know this partnership will be special.”

Cone first traveled to Nashville at age 15; now at 21, she was recently inducted into CMT’s Next Women of Country’s Class of 2020. She has collaborated with hit writers including Shane McAnally, Nicolle Galyon and Laura Veltz, and is working with writer/producer Nathan Spicer on new music.

SongData has released a review of country radio airplay in 2019 that revealed that females occupied 10% of the pie in airplay representation within the last year. The report was prepared in partnership with CMT’s Equal Play Campaign, with a goal of evaluating broader relationships between airplay, streaming, sales and awards through a variety of charts.

“Ten percent. Depending on the time of day a listener tunes-in to their local station, that’s barely enough to be heard. It’s certainly not enough exposure to become known, to build a fanbase, to climb charts, to gain enough recognition to have access to opportunities and resources within the industry,” says a statement from the report. “It’s just enough airplay to show that songs by women are receiving airplay, but not enough to make their work visible to viewers. Over the last 20 years, women’s music has become invisible through the quota system that has limited their space on playlists and their access to prime location in daily rotation.”

For the first time, this SongData report also includes information on race/ethnicity of artists within this cultural system. In most cases, the results point to absence of artists of color, especially women. The study draws on several datasets, including both Mediabase’s and Billboard’s Yearend Airplay Reports over the last 10 years, as well as the Weekly Reports and Charts in 2019 for both organizations. The study also includes data from SongData’s Spotify experiment, Billboard’s Streaming and Digital Song Sales Charts, and CMA’s nomination history. According to the report females accounted for:

• 10% of the spins for songs within the Top 150 on the Yearend Airplay Reports between 2010 and 2019;
• 10% of the daily spins on the Weekly Airplay Reports in 2019;
• 10% of the songs in the Top 20 of both Mediabase’s and Billboard’s Weekly Airplay Charts in 2019;
• 10% of the songs in the Top 10 of both Mediabase’s and Billboard’s Weekly Airplay Charts in in 2019; and
• 10% of the songs on the Billboard’s Yearend Airplay Chart in 2019.

Despite a 1.2% increase in daily spins for songs by women last year, from 8.9% in 2018 to 10.1% in 2019, the distribution in the daytime remains nearly identical to 2018, with the 1.2% increase occurring in the evening and overnights. Since any increase at the amount of spins for songs by women in 2019 is thus neutralized by the time these songs are spun, the potential impact on an audience is negligible and women’s voices continue to be nearly invisible to radio listeners.

“It’s time for a change in programming across all facets of the industry. Achieving parity in country music cannot be achieved by a handful of stations and CMT alone. And it certainly is not a problem isolated to dissemination platforms,” the report concluded. “Program directors need more songs by women in their programming database to be able to increase representation on their playlists. The entire country music community needs to play a role in increasing the 10% by supporting and promoting female artists, from labels to publishers to tour and festival rosters. The April and December 2019 reports offer a series of actions developed with WOMAN Nashville that could be taken by organizations within the industry, artists and even those outside of the industry such as advertisers.51 These actions were conceived as a suggested starting point for taking the necessary and meaningful steps to include more women in daily programming and develop strategies for a more inclusive and diverse country music. Only through a cross-industry collaborative approach will women start to be seen.”

Jameson Rodgers Launches Grew Up In The Country Tour

Jameson Rodgers launched his headlining Grew Up In The Country Tour on Friday (Feb. 14) in St. Louis, Missouri. He offered his Top 40 debut single “Some Girls,” as well as the fan favorite “Missing One” and more. To celebrate the opening night of the tour, he released the tour’s namesake track “Grew Up In The Country,” which Rodgers co-wrote with Jake Mitchell, Josh Miller and Smith Ahnquist.

Rodgers, who is signed to River House Artists/Columbia Nashville, will continue the tour on Feb. 28 at The Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri.

 

Chase Rice To Open Concert For Garth Brooks On Saturday

Chase Rice recently stopped by Garth Brooks‘ “Inside Studio G” to announce that he will be a special guest joining Brooks’ show at Detroit Lions’ Ford Field on Feb. 22. The moment was a full-circle one for Rice, who had previously been surprised during an Entertainment Tonight broadcast during CMA Fest when he was surprised with Brooks as a co-host for the segment. The two had chatted about Rice’s dream of performing at Nissan Stadium one day and Brooks offered a promise: “Let’s do a deal, okay? Let’s say if we ever did play Nissan Stadium, you want to open that show?”

That promise to open a Garth show is happening sooner rather than later, as Brooks invited Rice to open the stadium show in Detroit this weekend.

“Growing up, Garth was it for me,” Rice says. “He was the first concert I ever saw as a kid growing up in North Carolina, and like I told him when he surprised me on set – he’s the reason I play country music today. To open a show for him, let alone in a massive stadium like Ford Field, is an absolute dream come true.”

 

Charley Pride Returns To The Studio

Charley Pride recently returned to Nashville to record his latest as-yet-untitled album, and tapped many Nashville studio veterans in the process to lend their talents to the songs. The album is being produced by Billy Yates.