Liam McMellon

Bluewater Music has appointed Liam McMellon as Creative Director, based in London UK. He will be responsible for a wide range of creative projects, including artist development and artist management for Bluewater’s creative division.

Bluewater’s president, Peter Roselli, says, “We’re thrilled to continue our work with Liam. His extensive experience and deep knowledge of the UK music industry aligns with Bluewater’s vision to further develop its international growth.”

McMellon joined Bluewater Music in a consultant role in 2017, signing UK Americana Award winners Curse of Lono, Norway’s Violet Road, hit songwriter Greg Becker, singer-songwriter Roseanna Reid, film production company Goldfinch Music and the new UK based band, The Violets.

The role will also include working with Bluewater client, VEVA Sound on their latest service VEVA Live. The VEVA Live service verifies, validates, and archives live performances during artist tours for future exploitation.

McMellon moves to Bluewater from the UK film and TV production company Goldfinch where he served as the in-house music supervisor. His industry career started at multi-award winning, UK independent record label, Silva Screen Records/ So Recordings, where he worked on notable film and TV soundtrack successes, before working for Silva Screen Records’ joint venture, Southern Crossroads Music during which he ran the Nashville entity.

Matthew West will release his upcoming album, Brand New, on Feb. 14, 2020. The album marks his first on Provident Label Group/Sony Music and his imprint with Story House Music.

“The title Brand New does represent where I find myself these days,” explains Matthew West about the upcoming release. “Signing with a new label, starting my own management company, building a new songwriting house and studio called The Story House, and with that, a flood of new songs. But the title really has an even deeper meaning than just a representation of where I’m at in my career. Brand New is actually inspired by the idea of looking back, or what’s more, going back. In many ways this is an album about returning to the days when I was a new Christian, and my faith felt fresh and alive.”

The album cover features an old polaroid picture of West sitting on a blue couch, which has significant meaning to him, as well as to the overarching theme of the project.

“I was 13 years old, sitting on a blue couch in my childhood home when I stumbled across a Billy Graham crusade on television, and my life changed,” he shares. “For the first time, something clicked. I realized what my parents had been teaching me was true: that God desired a personal relationship with me. I remember my heart pounding as I heard Billy Graham inviting a stadium full of people to find freedom in God’s love and forgiveness. I prayed that day with my mom and gave my life to Christ.”

As with some of West’s previous albums, his upcoming project will include songs inspired by others’ stories, such as “Too Young Too Soon,” which focuses on the issue of teen suicide.

Several songs from the album have already been released, including “The God Who Stays,” as well as “What If,” and “Truth Be Told.”

(L-R): Chris Lisle, moderator; Chris Cobb, owner, Exit/In; Melissa Bubela, production manager, Ascend Amphitheater, Nashville; David Graham, director of technical operations, Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena  Photos: Jason Davis/2019 Touring Career Workshop

The ninth annual Touring Career Workshop held in Nashville on Nov. 6 at the Soundcheck Annex attracted more than 350 attendees.

Created by Chris Lisle, owner of Chris Lisle Lighting Design and Erik Parker, CLLD production designer, the event featured panels of experts on topics geared towards everyone from tour managers to roadies to help navigate the touring life. Among the topics covered were taxes, retirement planning, health insurance options, mental and physical health, real estate investing and work safety. The event was completely free of charge and included networking opportunities with top lighting, sound and production companies.

During the evening Tom Addison, Dierks Bentley’s tour manager, was honored with the Sam ‘Old Skool’ Harden award for his dedication to mentoring those coming up through the ranks. Harden was a designer and lighting tech for Bandit Lites.

(L-R): Erik Parker, co-founder and associate director, Touring Career Workshop; Tom Addison, Dierks Bentley tour manager and recipient of the 2019 Sam ‘old skool’ Harden Award; Savannah Harden; Chris Lisle, co-founder and executive director, TCW