Pictured (L-R): Emily Weisband, RaeLynn, HARDY. Photo: RaeLynn/Instagram
RaeLynn made a tour stop on Nov. 1 at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville, a city she says has become her hometown.
“Nashville feels like home thanks to the incredible people God has put around me,” said RaeLynn, who has spent the past six years living and writing in Music City.
“[‘Boyfriend’] was the first song I wrote on Music Row,” said the Warner Music Nashville/Warner Bros. sweetheart before performing the title to what she said her OG fans would remember from her Big Machine Label Group days. BMLG interestingly reissued that track in a 12-song project in September.
Also among those throwback titles performed—and recently re-issued—is the age-appropriate, stand-out “Careless” in addition to “For A Boy” and the now Platinum-certified “God Made Girls.”
The outing debuted an array of new material. RaeLynn sparkled on the autobiographical “Camo,” written about not seeing her husband, who is in military service. New songs continued with “Keep Up,” a driving, redneck-proud play on the Annie Get Your Gun‘s “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” theme.
With pizazz, RaeLynn jogged through polished song transitions in her rhinestone encrusted fringe romper. Originality and authenticity glistened as she instilled confidence to her audience with titles like her 2018 stand-out, “Queens Don’t.”
On the heels of the Top 40 single, RaeLynn played the show-stopping, “Love Triangle,” which now has two publicly available versions, as the overlapping song from her current WMN album, Wildhorse, and the newly-released, BMLG shelved-project.
At times RaeLynn joined her four-person band, strapping on her guitar. When not leading the charge, she livened the crowd by inviting a few to join her in a stank face dance-off to a cover of Camila Cabello’s “Havana.”
Also on hand was Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and THiS Music writer Emily Weisband. RaeLynn cleared the stage for Weisband’s performance of Cabello’s latest single, “Consequences.” Weisband wrote the song with Nicolle Galyon, who intended to appear, but was under the weather.
RaeLynn also welcomed new Big Loud singer/songwriter HARDY to the stage for a performance of his first No. 1 as a writer, Morgan Wallen’s “Up Down.”
RaeLynn played another stand-out, “Trigger,” in addition to a new homage to Texas, the funky grooved “I Love My Hometown.” The star wrapped her show with her latest single, “Tailgate.”
RaeLynn will continue her tour through December with support act Ross Ellis, whose cover of Niall Horn’s “Slow Hands” showcased a range and dynamic also found in his SiriusXM hit “Ghosts.” Ellis shares a hometown with Tim McGraw, who released Ellis’ “Neon Church,” as his latest single from his forthcoming project.
Nomination Period Now Open For Songwriter-Member Seats Of Music Licensing Collective Board/Committees
/by Jessica NicholsonProspective nominees can be submitted at mlcsongwriters.com through 11:59 p.m. CST, Dec. 5, 2018.
Per the statutory requirements of the Music Modernization Act, a new digital music mechanical licensing entity is being formed called the Music Licensing Collective (MLC). By statute, there will be songwriter representatives on the Board of Directors of the Music Licensing Collective (MLC) as well as the Unclaimed Funds Committee and Dispute Resolution Committee.
Four (4) self-published songwriters will be selected for the Board of Directors; these positions require that an individual be a professional songwriter who currently controls his/her own publishing. Additionally, five (5) professional songwriters will be selected for the Unclaimed Funds Committee and three (3) professional songwriters will be selected for the Dispute Resolution Committee. The only requirement for these positions is that a songwriter be eligible to collect royalties in the US.
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), Songwriter’s Guild of America (SGA) and Songwriters of North America (SONA) have each named two songwriters to a 10-person selection committee to review nominations, evaluate candidates through a multi-step process and ultimately select songwriters for service to the original Board and Committees of the Music Licensing Collective (MLC) that will then be submitted to the US Copyright Office.
The selection committee members are Steve Bogard (NSAI), Rick Carnes (SGA), Lynn Gillespie Chater (SGA), Dallas Davidson (BMI), Chris DeStefano (NSAI), Bob DiPiero (BMI), Dan Foliart (ASCAP), Adam Gorgoni (SONA), Michelle Lewis (SONA) and Paul Williams (ASCAP).
New Townes Van Zandt Memoir Released
/by Lorie HollabaughA new memoir on Townes Van Zandt, My Years with Townes Van Zandt: Music, Genius, and Rage, by Harold F. Eggers, Jr. and L.E. McCullough, released in October on the Hal Leonard Backbeat Books imprint.
Eggers’ own personal journey of loss and redemption through music was entwined with that of his friend and business partner, Van Zandt. A veteran music industry executive in Nashville and Austin, Eggers worked with Van Zandt for 20 years as road manager and co-producer, helping bring the songwriter’s music to live audiences across Europe and North America.
A longtime musician and music journalist with a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology, L.E. McCullough has penned hundreds of articles on music and the music industry. While serving as country music columnist for the Austin American-Statesman in the 1980’s, he met Van Zandt and recorded with him on a Texas music anthology CD.
In a little over three decades, Van Zandt wrote over 130 songs, recorded 22 albums and toured constantly around the globe. His songs have been recorded by nearly 500 performers in over 40 countries worldwide, including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Don Williams, Ricky Skaggs, Cowboy Junkies, Guy Clark, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Norah Jones and more. In 2017, his “Buckskin Stallion Blues” was featured in the Oscar-winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
“The story of Townes and Harold is glorious, tragic and ultimately uplifting,” says L.E. McCullough. “It’s the story of a generation of American Romantics and the price they paid for holding on to their ideals and never letting go.”
“Townes often stated that his main musical mission was to write the perfect song that would save someone’s life,” says Eggers. “Like the master song craftsman he was, he was never truly satisfied with the final product but always kept giving it one more shot, one extra tweak, one last effort.”
peermusic Nashville Signs Rock Group The Weeks
/by Jessica NicholsonThe Weeks
Rock group The Weeks have signed an exclusive publishing and administration agreement with peermusic Nashville, as announced today by Kathy Spanberger, President/Chief Operating Office – Peermusic Anglo American Region and Craig Currier, Vice President, Director of Advertising Markets, peermusic.
The group, who was previously signed by Kings of Leon to their label Serpents and Snakes, are currently working on new material and plan to release a new album in 2019. The company’s creative team is working closely with The Weeks and have made the album one of their major priorities.
“We’re thrilled to have The Weeks join the peermusic family. They are probably one of the hardest working bands I’ve seen and their energy and passion both in their live shows and their records is simply contagious. They’re a band that knows how to rock and have fun doing it and it shows in the passionate fan base they have developed both in the US and across Europe. We’re excited to be able to be part of this next chapter in their already stellar career,” said Currier.
“We’re excited to announce our new partnership with peermusic. We have gotten to know the Nashville team over the past six months and this feels like a great next step for the band. peermusic has a strong global presence and reputation, and we’re excited to be part of the family,” said The Weeks.
The Weeks was formed in Jackson, Mississippi by twin brothers Cyle and Cain Barnes, Samuel Williams, and Damien Bone. Soon after they began playing together they signed to Esperanza Plantation and released their debut Cadillac Comeback in 2008 followed by the EP Rumspringa a year later. After self-released a second album, The Weeks relocated to Nashville and signed a deal with Serpents and Snakes label, where they released the albums Gutter Gaunt Gangster and Dear Bo Jackson. After leaving Serpents and Snakes the band released the Buttons EP, the album Easy, and this year’s live album Inside the Pines.
Allen Shamblin Set For Country Music Hall Of Fame And Museum’s Poets and Prophets Series
/by Jessica NicholsonSongwriter Allen Shamblin, whose compositions include the award-winning songs “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and “The House That Built Me,” will be the next subject in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s interview series exploring and documenting the work of songwriters, Poets and Prophets.
Set for Saturday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. in the museum’s Ford Theater, the program will feature an in-depth interview with Shamblin, conducted by Senior Museum Editor Michael Gray. The interview will incorporate vintage photos, film, and recordings from the museum’s collection. Following the program, Shamblin will sign commemorative posters from Hatch Show Print, available for purchase in the Museum Store.
Though he was born in Tennessee, Shamblin grew up in Huffman, Texas, near Houston. He worked for a time as a real estate appraiser in Austin, but moved from Texas to Nashville in 1987 to pursue a career as a songwriter. In 1990, he had his first hit, “He Walked on Water,” sung by Randy Travis. He has gone on to write impactful hits including “Thinkin’ Problem” (David Ball), “Life’s a Dance” (John Michael Montgomery), “We Were in Love” (Toby Keith), “Don’t Laugh at Me” (Mark Wills), “Where the Blacktop Ends” (Keith Urban) and “The House That Built Me” (Miranda Lambert). Some of Shamblin’s most notable work is in collaboration with Mike Reid. They wrote Reid’s No. 1 hit “Walk on Faith,” Collin Raye’s “In This Life,” and Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” which is in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Admission to Poets and Prophets is included with museum admission and free to museum members. Seating is limited and program passes are required for admittance. The program will also be streamed live at countrymusichalloffame.org.
This Poets and Prophets program is presented by SunTrust. “SunTrust is proud to support the legacy of songwriters here in Nashville and beyond and to partner with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to honor Allen Shamblin for his outsized contribution to our music and culture,” said Ashleigh Overly, managing director, sports & entertainment group for SunTrust.
Ryan Kinder Wraps UK Tour
/by Jessica NicholsonRyan Kinder performs during his UK Tour in Fall 2018.
Ryan Kinder has wrapped another successful tour in the UK, marking his third tour across the Atlantic this year. On his latest trek to the UK, Kinder joined fellow Alabaman and rising country star Drake White. Together, they performed sold-out shows all along the tour which included stops in Glasgow, Birmingham, Brighton, Manchester and London.
No stranger to the UK, Kinder performed at numerous high-profile events in 2018, including Country Music Week, C2C Road Show Tour and most recently, a sold-out concert in July at London’s Hyde Park featuring rock icons Eric Clapton, Santana and Gary Clark Jr.
“I have been so humbled by the response we’ve received from the amazing fans overseas,” Kinder says. “It’s incredible how well they know all the songs now. Each night I would end my set with ‘Still Believe In Crazy Love’ and I didn’t even have to sing the last chorus as everyone sang it back to me. That’s the biggest form of appreciation an artist can get.”
With a return visit to the UK in 2019 already in the works, Kinder is back in the studio working on a new full-length album, following the release of his latest single, “Stay.” The new music is slated for release next year.
Ryan Kinder on his UK Tour with Drake White in October 2018.
Jack White’s Third Man Records To Host Thanksgiving Turkey Drive
/by Lorie HollabaughJack White and Third Man Records are hosting a food drive this Thanksgiving season to benefit the Nashville Rescue Mission. Donors are encouraged to bring turkey and non-perishable goods donations, and as a thanks will have an opportunity to get discounted tickets to White’s upcoming concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 20, featuring special guests Margo Price and Joshua Hedley. Donors will also be entered to win a Jack White-signed Boarding House Reach test pressing and have their tickets upgraded to side stage seats at this special hometown show.
Donors will receive a 30 percent discount code and one entry into the ticket upgrade sweepstakes by bringing the following to Third Man Records or the Bridgestone Arena box office during normal business hours between today and Nov. 18: a) One frozen turkey (10 lbs+) – (Drop off at Third Man Records only), or b) Any three of the following items: #10 can of green beans, corn, or mixed vegetables, cornbread mix, stuffing mix, can of cranberry sauce, sugar, coffee.
Each additional donation of a turkey or three non-perishables equals an additional entry into the ticket upgrade sweepstakes. Winners will be chosen at random and notified on Nov. 19.
Michael Ray Partners With Nashville Humane Association For Hurricane Relief
/by LB CantrellMichael Ray has partnered with the Nashville Humane Association to launch a week-long pet supply drive in an effort to support pets displaced by Hurricane Michael.
Beginning today (Friday, Nov. 2) fans and community members can donate food, blankets, towels and more to help support the effort at the Nashville Humane Association, located at 213 Oceola Avenue in Nashville.
Ray will make a special appearance at the Nashville Humane Association on Friday (Nov. 9) at 2 p.m. CT. A truck will then dispatch to his native Florida, where it will distribute the provisions to shelters in need.
“Growing up in Florida and feeling what the aftermath of a hurricane is like, there are so many things going through your mind about what needs done and who needs help,” Ray said. “There are often a lot of animals that get separated from their families and end up last on the list of priorities, and since animals have always been important to me and my family, I felt like this donation drive was one way our community could help and support another community.”
Clearly an animal lover, Ray established Wrigley Cares, a pet-based charitable initiative named for his husky/shepherd mix in October 2017. Wrigley Cares provides financial and medical support for rescue animals, service pets and more, and collected an estimated 100,000 meals for shelter animals during his Get To You Tour last year.
Dave & Sugar Lead Singer Dave Rowland Dies At 74
/by Jessica NicholsonDave Rowland, the founder and lead singer of country group Dave & Sugar, died Nov. 1 in Nashville, following complications from a stroke. He was 74.
Prior to forming Dave & Sugar, Rowland toured with Elvis Presley as part of the J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet, and later with the Four Guys. He also toured as part of Charley Pride’s road show.
By 1975, with Pride looking for a backup band, Rowland hired Jackie Frantz and Vicki Hackeman, and Dave & Sugar was formed.
After signing on with Pride’s management team, Dave & Sugar signed with RCA Records and recorded their first album. The trio’s first single, “Queen of the Silver Dollar,” penned by Shel Silverstein, reached the Top 25 on the country singles chart in 1976. The group’s second single, “The Door Is Always Open,” went to No. 1.
The group would earn approximately a dozen Top 10 singles, as well as two additional No. 1 hits, 1978’s “Tear Time,” and 1979’s “Golden Tears.”
Rowland disbanded the trio briefly during the early 1980s to try a solo career, releasing the album Sugar Free and charting two singles of his own. He toured with Conway Twitty, Waylon Jennings, Barbara Mandrell and Hank Williams, Jr. He spent two years as Kenny Rogers’ opening act.
Rowland later reformed the trio with two new sets of “Sugar” partners.
Rowland is survived by his wife Terri Rowland, mother Ruby Rowland and sister Donna Fort and her husband Bob of Palm Desert, California, sister-in-law Angie Billis of Nashville, Tennessee, niece Vicki Martinka and husband John in Pennsylvania, and nephew Bobby Fowler and wife Belen and their two children in Argentina.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations in the name of Dave Rowland be sent to the Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2014, Rowland was honored by the Music City Tennis Invitational in recognition of four decades of event participation with proceeds to benefit the hospital.
Arrangements are pending for a celebration of life service.
RaeLynn Sparkles In Speaking Confidence To ‘Hometown’ Crowd
/by Eric T. ParkerPictured (L-R): Emily Weisband, RaeLynn, HARDY. Photo: RaeLynn/Instagram
RaeLynn made a tour stop on Nov. 1 at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville, a city she says has become her hometown.
“Nashville feels like home thanks to the incredible people God has put around me,” said RaeLynn, who has spent the past six years living and writing in Music City.
“[‘Boyfriend’] was the first song I wrote on Music Row,” said the Warner Music Nashville/Warner Bros. sweetheart before performing the title to what she said her OG fans would remember from her Big Machine Label Group days. BMLG interestingly reissued that track in a 12-song project in September.
Also among those throwback titles performed—and recently re-issued—is the age-appropriate, stand-out “Careless” in addition to “For A Boy” and the now Platinum-certified “God Made Girls.”
The outing debuted an array of new material. RaeLynn sparkled on the autobiographical “Camo,” written about not seeing her husband, who is in military service. New songs continued with “Keep Up,” a driving, redneck-proud play on the Annie Get Your Gun‘s “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” theme.
With pizazz, RaeLynn jogged through polished song transitions in her rhinestone encrusted fringe romper. Originality and authenticity glistened as she instilled confidence to her audience with titles like her 2018 stand-out, “Queens Don’t.”
On the heels of the Top 40 single, RaeLynn played the show-stopping, “Love Triangle,” which now has two publicly available versions, as the overlapping song from her current WMN album, Wildhorse, and the newly-released, BMLG shelved-project.
At times RaeLynn joined her four-person band, strapping on her guitar. When not leading the charge, she livened the crowd by inviting a few to join her in a stank face dance-off to a cover of Camila Cabello’s “Havana.”
Also on hand was Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and THiS Music writer Emily Weisband. RaeLynn cleared the stage for Weisband’s performance of Cabello’s latest single, “Consequences.” Weisband wrote the song with Nicolle Galyon, who intended to appear, but was under the weather.
RaeLynn also welcomed new Big Loud singer/songwriter HARDY to the stage for a performance of his first No. 1 as a writer, Morgan Wallen’s “Up Down.”
RaeLynn played another stand-out, “Trigger,” in addition to a new homage to Texas, the funky grooved “I Love My Hometown.” The star wrapped her show with her latest single, “Tailgate.”
RaeLynn will continue her tour through December with support act Ross Ellis, whose cover of Niall Horn’s “Slow Hands” showcased a range and dynamic also found in his SiriusXM hit “Ghosts.” Ellis shares a hometown with Tim McGraw, who released Ellis’ “Neon Church,” as his latest single from his forthcoming project.
Seaforth Inks Deal With RCA Nashville
/by Lorie HollabaughSeated (L-R): Brian Teefey, LH7 Management; Seaforth’s Mitch Thompson and Tom Jordan; Randy Goodman, Sony Music Nashville Chairman & CEO Standing (L-R): Dennis Reese, RCA Records Nashville SVP, Promotion; John Zarling, SMN EVP, Marketing & New Business; Taylor Lindsey, SMN VP, A&R; Steve Hodges, SMN EVP, Promotion & Artist Development; Tracy Fleaner, SMN VP, Creative; Ken Robold, SMN EVP & COO; Caryl Atwood, SMN VP, Sales; Jen Way, SMN Director, Marketing; Laura Worley, LH7 Management; Angie Magill, SMN SVP, Legal & Business Affairs
New duo Seaforth (Tom Jordan and Mitch Thompson) has signed a deal with RCA Records Nashville. They are slated to open for new labelmate Kane Brown at the Budweiser One Night Only concert series next Wednesday (Nov. 7) at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
“Nashville is the international home for the sound we’re making,” said Jordan. “From the day we wrote our first song together — a song that was organic and guitar-based, but also very modern in its approach — we knew we needed to be here. It’s a dream come true.”
“We both complement each other in this band,” said Thompson. “We have the kind of partnership where we both have our own personas, and we meet in the middle. The ship wouldn’t sail without both of us.”
The Aussie duo grew up in the same Sydney suburb as childhood friends, crossing paths for the first time as three-year-olds and sharing everything from soccer games to high school classes during the years that followed. The two, who took their name from the suburb where they grew up, are currently working on their debut project with producer Dann Huff.