Pictured (Clockwise, from top left): Avery Bashaw, Aaryn Cantu, Jen Dalton, John Smalt, Kelly Kresen, and Alec Edmonds.

Triple 8 Management partners George Couri and Bruce Kalmick have made staff additions in both the company’s Austin, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee offices. The staff changes include five new hires and one promotion in management and marketing, creating a total of 35 Triple 8 team members. The Triple 8 Nashville team has also moved their offices from Music Row to a newly renovated space in Wedgewood-Houston.

Joining the company are Aaryn Cantu, Jen Dalton, Alec Edmonds, Kelly Kresen and Jon Smalt. Additionally, former Marketing Assistant Avery Bashaw will take on a new role as Marketing Manager.

“Bruce, Jesse, Paul, and I are always looking to serve artists in more ways, and we have made it a priority to find driven, smart, dedicated professionals who share our vision” said Couri.

Jon Smalt joins Triple 8 Management as a Manager in the Nashville office. He is bringing with him artists Devon Gilfillian and Becca Mancari. He has drummed professionally for 10+ years, managed artists and produced records. He also owns two boutique music festivals.

Kelly Kresen joins the team as Day-to-Day Manager for Kaleo and will work out of the Nashville office. Kresen comes to Triple 8 from her role as VP of Partnerships and Strategy for Los Angeles-based music management company, Gin + Tonic. Prior to relocating to Nashville in July 2017, Kresen was a business and legal affairs executive at APA.

Jen Dalton joins Triple 8 Management as a Marketing Director. She has spent the last 13 years as a Regional Promotion Manager for Concord Music Group, RCA Records and Epic Records. Prior to that, she was the Music Director at KUBE-FM/Seattle, the Marketing, Events and Music Director at KKRZ-Portland and the Promotions Director for KNRK-Portland. Dalton will work out of Triple 8’s Austin office, where she has lived for eight years.

Aaryn Cantu joins the team as Marketing Assistant. Cantu has interned for Triple 8 on two separate occasions and will be based out of the Austin office.

Alec Edmonds completed internships at Triple 8 Management and Universal Music Group. Edmonds joins the team as a Day-to-Day Management Assistant in the Nashville office.

Avery Bashaw has been promoted from Marketing Assistant to Marketing Manager. In her new role, she will continue to work out of Triple 8’s Austin office.

John Hiatt is set to release his first new album in four years with The Eclipse Sessions, due out Oct. 12 on New West Records. The 11-track set was produced by Kevin McKendree and features Hiatt’s longtime drummer Kenneth Blevins and bassist Patrick O’Hearn, as well as Yates McKendree, who also engineered.

Hiatt places The Eclipse Sessions alongside two of his other notable works — 1987’s mainstream breakthrough Bring the Family, which sprung from an impulsive four-day session with an all-star combo led by Ry Cooder, and 2000’s Crossing Muddy Waters, an unplanned and largely unplugged effort that garnered a Grammy Award nomination and set Hiatt on the rootsier path he’s still pursuing today. “The three albums are very connected in my mind,” Hiatt says. “They all have a vibe to them that was unexpected. I didn’t know where I was going when I started out on any of them. And each one wound up being a pleasant surprise.”

True to its title, Hiatt and his band were hard at work on August 21st, 2017 when a solar eclipse traveled the length of the U.S. “I think we recorded three songs that day, and then we took a break to go outside and watch everything happen,” Hiatt says. “It seemed everything stopped for a minute or two. It was like a magical little bit of time, a harmonic convergence or something. Like everybody was on the same page.”

The Eclipse Sessions will be available across digital platforms, and on CD, vinyl, as well as a limited split metallic & white vinyl edition available at independent retailers. The album is available for pre-order now.

Hiatt has also announced his initial tour dates in support of The Eclipse Sessions, which launch Saturday, October 20th in New Orleans, LA at the House of Blues. Preceding The Eclipse Sessions Tour, John Hiatt and The Goners featuring Sonny Landreth will perform live dates throughout August celebrating the 30th anniversary of his 1998 album, Slow Turning.

Kenny Chesney’s heart for helping those in need has earned him some extra accolades as well. His new album, Songs for the Saints, has achieved the No. 1 sales debut in the country, and also debuted at the top of the country album chart, and at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top 200 right behind Drake’s Scorpion. Chesney crafted the album in response to the destruction brought upon the Virgin Islands by Hurricane Irma, and proceeds from the project go to benefit Chesney’s Love for Love City Fund, for Virgin Island relief.

“This album means the world to me, because of what it’s about and what it means to the people of the Virgin Islands,” Chesney said. “A lot of who I am is because of the time I’ve spent down there, and how it’s shaped the man I’ve become. It’s how I see the world, and how my music has evolved. So the fact No Shoes Nation has supported this record – a record where all the proceeds go to island recovery – does my heart good. There’s a lot of life, and a lot of truth in these songs. The more you listen, the more you’ll find. And I hope these songs, which really celebrate the spirit of the people, will keep inspiring us all no matter what we’re facing, and give back for years to come.”

The album debuted with sales in excess of 64,600 copies, and including consumption, totals over 77,300 albums in its first week, making it one of the year’s/country’s most successful debuts without a ticket bundle.

“Get Along,” the first single from the album, recently became Chesney’s 30th chart-topper.