When Southern rock architects Lynyrd Skynyrd launch their upcoming two-year farewell outing, The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour on May 4 in West Palm Beach, Florida, the tour will feature a choice assembly of Southern rock and country artists. Among the performers are Kid Rock, Hank Williams, Jr., Charlie Daniels Band, Bad Company, Blackberry Smoke, and Marshall Tucker Band, a group that has been with Lynyrd Skynyrd from the beginning.
In the mid-1970s, both Lynyrd Skynyrd and Marshall Tucker Band were riding high from hits including Skynyrd’s iconic “Gimme Three Steps,” “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama,” and MTB’s “Can’t You See,” “Fire On The Mountain,” and “Heard It In A Love Song.”
“They would open shows for us and we’d turn around and open shows for them,” recalls Marshall Tucker Band founding member Doug Gray. “This is a tour in remembrance of what I call the ‘original band’ because we were there for that original band.”
“Heard It In A Love Song,” became a hit in June 1977, approximately five months before Southern Rock would be dealt a ruinous circumstance with the deaths of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Ronnie Van Zant, guitar player Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines and road manager Dean Kilpatrick in a plane crash on the evening of Oct. 20, 1977. After the crash, Lynyrd Skynyrd would go on to regroup after a hiatus; with Ronnie’s brother Johnny at the helm.
“It’s hard to talk about, because [original Lynyrd Skynyrd singer] Ronnie Van Zant was one of my best friends for a long time before the tragedy,” gray says. “Some of the crew that was in the plane crash still comes to hang out, [former Lynyrd Skynyrd stage manager/guitar and drum tech] Craig Reed being one of them. These guys are part of my history.”
Both bands released their debut albums in 1973. As bands with similar influences and similar audiences, Gray says they often played shows together in the early days. He says their shared love of music, and the tediousness of life on the road, would help their sets evolve into spontaneous jam sessions.
“The bus took us out on the road for four years, and we would get bored at times,” Gray says. “So we would change up the music to free up that space for the next person to come in and play.”
Musical influence wasn’t the only bond between the two groups; like countless musicians before them, members from both bands would use music as an escape from other blue-collar, labor-intensive career options. Ronnie Van Zant’s father was a trucker from Florida, while Gray’s worked in a cotton mill.
“My father took me to the mill when I was 12 years old and said, ‘Do you want to do this boy, or do you want to sing and try to make you some money?’ And if that’s not the way Ronnie Van Zant thought at the time…”
Gray’s decision was life-changing, and now, after more than four decades of touring with Marshall Tucker Band, it’s clear that Gray and company still share a youthful exuberance for performing, and a dedication to the fans that make it possible.
“Fans will give me notes or gifts after the shows, and I put them in my bunk so I can look at it before I lay down at night when we are out on tour. At the end of the year, the band will laugh and say, ‘How do you get in your bunk?’ I only clean it out once a year, after we get off the road. I’ve been doing that for 30-something years. The whole year of touring, I see little items or notes people have given me,” he says, recalling when a fan presented him with a blanket made of old Marshall Tucker Band t-shirts. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things we’ve gotten.”
“A woman came backstage with her husband the other night, and said she remembered her parents bringing her to one of our shows when she was eight years old, and we brought her onstage with us when she was a girl. She wanted to come and see the show again.”
Though the trek is billed as a farewell tour for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gray says The Marshall Tucker Band’s touring days are far from over.
“As long as I can do it, I will,” he says. “If you make great memories for people, they will always be there. They think, ‘I want that same feeling I had that same night I went to that Tucker concert.’”
For a full list of tour dates, visit lynyrdskynyrd.com or marshalltucker.com.
Newly Added Dates For The Last Of The Street Survivors Farewell Tour
July 13: Darien, NY
July 14: Hartford, CT
July 20: Mansfield, MA
July 21, Bethel, NY
July 27: Cleveland, OH
Aug. 3: Tinley Park, IL
Aug. 4: Noblesville, IN
Aug. 10: Detroit, MI
Aug. 24: Syracuse, NY
Aug. 25: Burgettstown, PA
Sugarland Reveals Album Track List, Taylor Swift Collaboration
/by Sarah SkatesSugarland’s highly anticipated sixth studio album, titled Bigger, will be released on June 8. After taking a hiatus to pursue a series of solo projects, Bigger is the duo’s first new music in seven years and the first project under their new joint venture with Big Machine Records and UMG Nashville.
Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush co-wrote nearly all of the songs on the album, which they co-produced with Julian Raymond. The only “outside” cut on the project is “Babe (featuring Taylor Swift),” written by Swift and Pat Monahan of Train.
“Our hopefulness and our sparkiness and our joy is one of the things I think we do uniquely well, especially in the country format,” says Nettles of the new music. “We offer that in a unique way.”
“This album has a whole bunch of mystery,” adds Bush. “I’m listening to it every two days just to see what’s in it. I have entire pints of blood in that thing, but I still don’t know where it all came from, and I love that.”
The project’s lead single, “Still The Same,” is climbing the country radio charts ahead of the duo’s Still The Same 2018 Tour, which visits Nashville Aug. 2.
The album will be available to pre-order at digital retailers and the title track, “Bigger,” will be available to download on April 13.
The duo will give fans a taste of the new material when they appear on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! May 2.
Since the band’s inception in 2002, Sugarland has sold nearly 10 million albums domestically, and earned seven No. 1 singles.
Bigger Track List
1. “Bigger” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
2. “On A Roll” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
3. “Let Me Remind You” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
4. “Mother” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
5. “Still The Same” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
6. “Lean It On Back” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
7. “Babe (featuring Taylor Swift)” | Taylor Swift, Pat Monahan
8. “Bird In A Cage” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
9. “Love Me Like I’m Leaving” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles, Tim Owens
10. “Tuesday’s Broken” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
11. “Not The Only” | Kristian Bush, Jennifer Nettles
MTSU Plans Fundraiser To Preserve Work of Late Music Photographer Alan Mayor
/by Sarah SkatesAlan Mayor and Garth Brooks
Middle Tennessee State University’s Center for Popular Music will hold a fundraiser for the preservation of the Alan Mayor Photography Collection on Wednesday, May 2 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Country Music Association in Nashville. The evening will feature a cocktail reception and a silent auction of beautifully framed prints of Mayor’s work, including some unpublished gems.
The Center for Popular Music acquired the Alan Mayor Photography Collection in late 2017. Mayor, a beloved photographer who passed away in 2015, documented more than four decades of Nashville’s musical life: the Opry, Fan Fair (now CMA Fest), music industry events, local shows, tours, and a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes photos of country’s biggest stars.
While the University employs two certified archivists who will manage this project, the Center needs to raise $50,000 to purchase materials to preserve the tens of thousands of photographs, negatives and slides. Once the project is completed, Mayor’s photos will be available to the public for reference and, pending his family’s permission, inclusion in publications and other media.
Those interested in attending the event or financially contributing to this project should contact Abby White (abby.white@mtsu.edu or 615-898-5756). Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible donation may donate online.
Paradigm Nashville Promotes Three To Agent Roles
/by Jessica NicholsonParadigm Nashville has promoted three staffers to agent roles, as part of the company-wide promotion of eight total staffers to agent across multiple offices.
In Nashville, Kylie Doyle, Zach Hartley and Jeremy Shpizner have all been promoted to agent.
Doyle joined Paradigm in 2014 as an assistant and became booking coordinator for Andrea Ambrosia and Clint Wiley in the Concerts Division two years later. She has worked with artists including Margo Price, The Lone Bellow, Lee Ann Womack, Marty Stuart and The Mavericks. She is now a territorial agent in the Concerts Division, handling venues in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic with capacity of 1,000 and under.
Hartley joined Paradigm’s Nashville office in 2014 as an assistant, then moved into the Festivals department in 2016. He now joins the growing agent team there alongside Keith Shackleford, Keith Richards and Alex Buck. He is responsible agent for Grand Funk Railroad, and has also worked closely with JOHNNYSWIM.
Shpizner joined Paradigm in 2014 as assistant to Jeffrey Hasson, and became booking coordinator for Jonathan Levine in 2016. He is now on the agent team for artists Colter Wall, Tyler Childers, Blackfoot Gypsies and Priscilla Renea, along with recent signings AHI, Ian Noe, Ian Ferguson and Midnight North.
These promotions follow the recent news that Lenore Kinder has joined Paradigm’s Nashville office as an agent. She was previously a promoter with AEG Presents for 10 years, earning the Rising Star at this year’s Pollstar Awards and Promoter of the Year at last year’s ACM Awards.
Columbia Nashville Signs Tenille Townes
/by Sarah SkatesToday the label is releasing her EP Living Room Worktapes, produced by co-writer Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves’s Golden Hour). Listen here and watch the first installment of “Tenille Townes: My Story” on VEVO.
Townes is also signed to Big Yellow Dog Music and is currently writing and recording her debut LP with producer Jay Joyce.
The singer recently made her Sundance Film Festival and SXSW debuts. She will join Devin Dawson, Maren Morris and Steve Moakler for select tour dates this spring, and has been tapped by Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town for their co-headlining The Bandwagon Tour launching July 2018.
Townes began singing at age 5 in her rural Canadian hometown, Grande Prairie, Alberta, and penned her first song by age 14. She moved to Nashville in 2013 to pursue her music career.
Living Room Worktapes Track Listing:
1. Where You Are
Tenille Townes/Daniel Tashian/Keelan Donovan
2. Jersey on the Wall
Tenille Townes/Tina Parol/Gordie Sampson
3. Somebody’s Daughter
Tenille Townes/Luke Laird/Barry Dean
4. White Horse
Tenille Townes/Jeremy Spillman/Daniel Tashian
Weekly Chart Post 4/13/18
/by Alex ParryClick here or above to access MusicRow‘s weekly CountryBreakout Report.
Brad Paisley Celebrates 20 Million Sales Milestone
/by Jessica NicholsonPictured, left to right, are: (kneeling) Sony Music Nashville’s National Promotion Director Lauren Thomas and Arista Nashville Regional Promotion Manager Luke Jensen; (standing) Arista Nashville’s Promotion VP Josh Easler, Sony Music Nashville’s EVP Marketing/New Business John Zarling; Paisley’s day-to-day manager Kendal Marcy; Sony Music Nashville’s EVP/COO Ken Robold and Chairman/CEO Randy Goodman; Paisley; Sony Music Nashville marketing lead Jen Way; Paisley’s manager Bill Simmons; and Sony Music Nashville’s EVP Promotion/Artist Development Steve Hodges, SVP A&R Jim Catino and SVP Media/Corporate Communications Allen Brown.
Sony Music Nashville execs recently surprised Brad Paisley with a plaque commemorating 20 million career total worldwide albums sales, track downloads and streaming equivalents.
ACM Partners With Aflac For ACM Lifting Lives Honor
/by Jessica NicholsonThis honor will recognize someone for his or her remarkable and selfless dedication to bringing the healing power of music to those who are in need. The inaugural recognition will honor excellence in music therapy. ACM Awards® Male Vocalist of the Year nominee Chris Young, will celebrate the honoree on Friday, April 13 from WME’s BASH at the BEACH at Mandalay Bay Beach during The Week Vegas Goes Country, prior to headlining the two-night ACM Party For A Cause® concert on Saturday, April 14.
“Music is a powerful thing,” said Young. “As a singer and someone who gets to experience the power of music every day, I’m honored to join Aflac and ACM Lifting Lives to recognize an outstanding music therapist who has helped bring the healing power of music to so many.”
Young, the Aflac ACM Lifting Lives Honor recipient and the famous Aflac Duck will also appear in a 30-second custom TV commercial for Aflac. The commercial, filmed and produced Friday from Las Vegas and airing nationally just 48 hours later during the 53rd ACM Awards, will celebrate the healing power of music.
“We were excited when Aflac approached ACM Lifting Lives with the idea for this co-branded honor because it not only helps propel our shared mission of helping those in need, but helps bring further awareness and recognition to aspects of the music industry that are perhaps, less visible including music therapy,” said Debbie Carroll, Chairman of ACM Lifting Lives.
The purpose of the Aflac ACM Lifting Lives Honor is to acknowledge an individual who has made significant contributions to music therapy through education, service, clinical practice and/or research. A committee from the ACM Lifting Lives Board will select the recipient based on his or her long-term efforts toward the development and growth of the music therapy profession.
The Week Vegas Goes Country culminates with the 53rd ACM Awards, hosted by Reba McEntire, which will broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 15, 2018 at 8 p.m. EDT/PDT on the CBS Television Network.
Marshall Tucker Band’s Doug Gray Talks Opening For Lynyrd Skynyrd Farewell Tour
/by Jessica NicholsonWhen Southern rock architects Lynyrd Skynyrd launch their upcoming two-year farewell outing, The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour on May 4 in West Palm Beach, Florida, the tour will feature a choice assembly of Southern rock and country artists. Among the performers are Kid Rock, Hank Williams, Jr., Charlie Daniels Band, Bad Company, Blackberry Smoke, and Marshall Tucker Band, a group that has been with Lynyrd Skynyrd from the beginning.
In the mid-1970s, both Lynyrd Skynyrd and Marshall Tucker Band were riding high from hits including Skynyrd’s iconic “Gimme Three Steps,” “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama,” and MTB’s “Can’t You See,” “Fire On The Mountain,” and “Heard It In A Love Song.”
“They would open shows for us and we’d turn around and open shows for them,” recalls Marshall Tucker Band founding member Doug Gray. “This is a tour in remembrance of what I call the ‘original band’ because we were there for that original band.”
“Heard It In A Love Song,” became a hit in June 1977, approximately five months before Southern Rock would be dealt a ruinous circumstance with the deaths of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Ronnie Van Zant, guitar player Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines and road manager Dean Kilpatrick in a plane crash on the evening of Oct. 20, 1977. After the crash, Lynyrd Skynyrd would go on to regroup after a hiatus; with Ronnie’s brother Johnny at the helm.
“It’s hard to talk about, because [original Lynyrd Skynyrd singer] Ronnie Van Zant was one of my best friends for a long time before the tragedy,” gray says. “Some of the crew that was in the plane crash still comes to hang out, [former Lynyrd Skynyrd stage manager/guitar and drum tech] Craig Reed being one of them. These guys are part of my history.”
Both bands released their debut albums in 1973. As bands with similar influences and similar audiences, Gray says they often played shows together in the early days. He says their shared love of music, and the tediousness of life on the road, would help their sets evolve into spontaneous jam sessions.
“The bus took us out on the road for four years, and we would get bored at times,” Gray says. “So we would change up the music to free up that space for the next person to come in and play.”
Musical influence wasn’t the only bond between the two groups; like countless musicians before them, members from both bands would use music as an escape from other blue-collar, labor-intensive career options. Ronnie Van Zant’s father was a trucker from Florida, while Gray’s worked in a cotton mill.
“My father took me to the mill when I was 12 years old and said, ‘Do you want to do this boy, or do you want to sing and try to make you some money?’ And if that’s not the way Ronnie Van Zant thought at the time…”
Gray’s decision was life-changing, and now, after more than four decades of touring with Marshall Tucker Band, it’s clear that Gray and company still share a youthful exuberance for performing, and a dedication to the fans that make it possible.
“Fans will give me notes or gifts after the shows, and I put them in my bunk so I can look at it before I lay down at night when we are out on tour. At the end of the year, the band will laugh and say, ‘How do you get in your bunk?’ I only clean it out once a year, after we get off the road. I’ve been doing that for 30-something years. The whole year of touring, I see little items or notes people have given me,” he says, recalling when a fan presented him with a blanket made of old Marshall Tucker Band t-shirts. “You wouldn’t believe some of the things we’ve gotten.”
“A woman came backstage with her husband the other night, and said she remembered her parents bringing her to one of our shows when she was eight years old, and we brought her onstage with us when she was a girl. She wanted to come and see the show again.”
Though the trek is billed as a farewell tour for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gray says The Marshall Tucker Band’s touring days are far from over.
“As long as I can do it, I will,” he says. “If you make great memories for people, they will always be there. They think, ‘I want that same feeling I had that same night I went to that Tucker concert.’”
For a full list of tour dates, visit lynyrdskynyrd.com or marshalltucker.com.
Newly Added Dates For The Last Of The Street Survivors Farewell Tour
July 13: Darien, NY
July 14: Hartford, CT
July 20: Mansfield, MA
July 21, Bethel, NY
July 27: Cleveland, OH
Aug. 3: Tinley Park, IL
Aug. 4: Noblesville, IN
Aug. 10: Detroit, MI
Aug. 24: Syracuse, NY
Aug. 25: Burgettstown, PA
On The Cover: MusicRow Magazine’s 31st Annual ‘InCharge’ Issue
/by Jessica NicholsonNow in its 31st year, MusicRow Magazine’s annual InCharge guide serves as the definitive collection of industry gatekeepers and key decision-making professionals within the Nashville entertainment community. Each of the 399 profiles includes updated contact information, career biography, and detailed board and organizational membership affiliations.
Three easily accessed appendices act as quick references to the 112-page industry resource. A company appendix lists individuals by their place of business. A label staff appendix corrals complete staff and artist rosters for Nashville record labels. The professional categories appendix lists professionals by their area of expertise, including publishing, legal, finance, label, etc.
“InCharge debuted in 1987 and continues today, stronger than ever, spotlighting top-tier gatekeepers,” said MusicRow Publisher/Owner Sherod Robertson. “This publication proves each year to be the most indispensable resource for industry members, with each person in the directory representing many others who serve vital roles of supporting and growing our business.”
RCA Nashville artist Kane Brown graces the InCharge cover this year. He broke a record for being the first artist to be No. 1 on Billboard’s five main country charts simultaneously, and his single “What Ifs” featuring Lauren Alaina is currently the most-streamed country song of 2018.
Single copies of InCharge are available for purchase online (www.musicrow.com) for $110, and are included with yearly subscriptions at no additional cost.
Industry Ink: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Hunter Hayes, SESAC, YEP
/by Sarah SkatesMary Chapin Carpenter at CMA Theater
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Mary Chapin Carpenter performed an acoustic set at the CMA Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on April 6. Featuring Matt Rollings and Glenn Worf, the performance celebrated Carpenter’s new album, Sometimes Just The Sky, which debuted March 30. The project features new versions of beloved songs from her acclaimed 30-year career.
Pictured (L-R): Peter Cooper of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, Glen Worf, Matt Rollings, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Darin Lashinsky of NS2 and Nando Rodriguez of the CMA Theater. Photo: Aimee Stubs
Hunter Hayes Hits 100 Million Mark
Hunter Hayes gathered with his Warner Music Nashville family to commemorate his five-times Platinum No. 1 single “Wanted” surpassing 100 million streams on Spotify. Hayes also released a video thanking fans for their support over the years.
Pictured (L-R): Clark Tedesco (WMN Manager, Artist Development), Shane Tarleton (WMN SVP, Artist Development), Kristen Williams (WMN SVP, Radio & Streaming), Hunter Hayes, Narvel Blackstock (Starstruck Entertainment Manager), Dan Wise (Starstruck Entertainment Manager), Tim Foisset (WMN VP, Streaming), Rohan Kohli (WMN Director, A&R)
SESAC Presents at the Bluebird
On Tuesday night (April 10), SESAC songwriters took the stage at the Bluebird Café performing songs of the past, present and future.
Photo (L-R): SESAC’s VP of Creative Services, Shannan Hatch, songwriter Ben Danaher; SESAC EVP/CFO Kelli Turner; songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman, SESAC’s Lydia Schultz, songwriters Erin Enderlin and Alex Kline.
YEP Rewind—Strait ’90s Show
Music industry organization, Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP) entertained a full house at The Basement East with a setlist of country songs from the ‘90s on Tuesday, April 10. The YEP Rewind Strait ‘90s Show raised $1,500 for the Opry Trust Fund.
Brinley Addington hosted a lineup including headliner William Michael Morgan, as well as Kree Harrison, Luke Pell, Maggie Rose, Brandon Lay and many more.
(L-R): Morris Light & Sound’s Alexa Simpson, YEP Executive Director Amelia Varni, William Michael Morgan, Luke Pell, and YEP Director of Alumni & Executive Relations MaryAnn Keen. Photo: Jason Myers Photography