Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie, along with host and producer extraordinaire Ryan Seacrest, were on hand when ABC’s American Idol kicked off judge auditions in New York City this week. The three judges round out the panel for the beloved music competition series’ first season on ABC, while Seacrest returns as host.

 

LANCO Visits the Academy of Country Music in LA

The Academy of Country Music welcomed Sony Music Nashville’s LANCO to their Los Angeles office last week. The band performed a stripped down version of their hit single, “Greatest Love Story,” as well as acoustic renditions of a few fan-favorites from their self-titled EP. LANCO also offered a dose of new music from their upcoming debut album.

To watch LANCO’s exclusive performance and discussion on the rapid rise of success behind their current single, click here.

 

NSAI in DC

Nashville Songwriters Association International was in Washington, DC last week for meetings with members of Congress about songwriter streaming royalties and music licensing legislation.

 

Kesha at Ryman Auditorium

SESAC songwriter and pop star Kesha performed the second night of her Rainbow Tour at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Sept. 27.

 

BMI, ALT 97.5 Host Rockin’ Eastside Sounds Event

BMI and ALT 97.5 showcased two up-and-coming rock bands at the Basement East last Wednesday night (Sept. 27) for another installation of the Eastside Sounds series. ALT 97.5’s current Local Artist in Residence, The Cunning, took the stage before South Carolina rock n’ roll band Hannah Wicklund & the Steppin Stones.

 

BMI Presents YEP Rewind: TRL

BMI presented YEP Rewind: TRL (Total Recall Live) to a sold-out crowd at Nashville’s The Basement East last Tuesday night (Sept. 26). JT Hodges hosted the throwback night of music while guests enjoyed performances by Jessie James Decker, Mickey Guyton, Jordan Rager, Maggie Rose and others.

The Music Business Association (Music Biz) will present its Presidential Award for Outstanding Executive Achievement to Cary Sherman, Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), during the Music Biz 2018 Conference’s Awards Breakfast on May 16, 2018, at the Omni Nashville Hotel.

Sherman joins a list of previous honorees that includes Mike Dungan, John Esposito, Dick Clark, Walter Yetnikoff, Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, Jim Urie, Clive Davis, Casey Kasem, Sylvia Rhone, Scott Borchetta, Akio Morito, Eric Paulson, Russ Solomon, and more.

“As the head of RIAA, Cary has worked tirelessly on behalf of the recording industry, and he has done so during some of the most challenging times in the history of the music business,” said James Donio, President of Music Biz. “As he prepares to retire at the end of 2018, we are thrilled to recognize his many achievements by presenting him with our prestigious Presidential Award in honor of the vision and leadership he has shown, and highlighting his commitment to ensuring the recording industry’s growth and vitality.”

Sherman began his career in 1971 at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter, where he worked his way up to Senior Partner. There, he served as outside counsel to the RIAA and head of the firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology Practice Group. In 1997, he joined the RIAA as General Counsel, becoming President in 2001 and Chairman and CEO in 2011.

Today, Sherman represents the interests of the $7.7 billion U.S. sound recording industry, which now derives more than three quarters of its revenues from digital formats.

New country duo Williams Honor hail from the Asbury Park, New Jersey area, an area that helped forge the music of artists such as Bruce Springsteen, but it was a love of both modern and classic country music that drew William Honor’s Reagan Richards and Gordon Brown together.

“We started to realize when we were talking about Jo Dee Messina’s second album, ninth cut on the album, that this isn’t just a very superficial love of country music,” says Richards. “It’s real. So we started writing and it just developed.”

Both Richards and Brown have had extensive careers in music. Richards has toured as a backup singer for artists including Bon Jovi, Joan Jett, and Lisa Loeb, and portrayed Patsy Cline in a two-week run of the musical Always Patsy Cline. Brown is a producer and multi-instrumentalist. His former band, Highway 9, was signed with RCA Nashville.

Williams Honor recently visited the MusicRow offices to preview music from their self-titled project, including the current single, “No Umbrella,” which Richards and Brown co-wrote with singer-songwriter Cyndi Thomson.

“I have been such a fan of Cyndi Thomson,” Richards says. “We were Facebook friends so I wrote to her that we were coming to Nashville and asked if she wanted to write together. I didn’t think she would ever write back, but she did and said she would love to try writing together. So we went to a place off Music Row and wrote ‘No Umbrella.’”

The single is currently at No. 32 on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart.

When Maren Morris penned the song “Dear Hate” back in 2015 with Tom Douglas and David Hodges two days after the church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, she had no idea the song would speak directly to another horrific tragedy just a few years later. Now, in response to the tragic events that occurred during the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, she is releasing the song to aid those affected by the shootings. A demo version of the song was previously posted to Soundcloud by Douglas’ daughter and promoted to Morris’ social media after the 2016 police shootings in Dallas.

Because of that overwhelming response to the song on YouTube and Morris’ social media, Columbia Nashville has released the song to digital service providers for purchase and/or streaming. Morris is donating 100 percent of her proceeds from the song to Las Vegas nonprofits for immediate and long-term needs of victims in the shooting via the Music City Cares fund.

Morris had performed at the Route 91 Festival the night prior to the shooting. The song, which can be heard here, features guest vocals by Vince Gill.

“Dear Hate” Lyrics:
Dear Hate,
I saw you on the news today
Like a shot that takes my breath away
You fall you like rain
Cover us in drops of pain
I’m afraid that we just might drown

Dear Hate,
Well, you sure are color blind
Your kiss is the cruelest kind
You could poison any mind, just look at mine
Don’t know how this world keeps spinning round and round

You were there in the garden like a snake in the grass
I see you in the morning staring through the looking glass
You whisper down through history and echo through these halls
But I hate to tell you
Love’s gonna conquer all

Dear Hate,
You were smiling from that Selma bridge
In Dallas when those bullets hit and Jackie cried
You pulled those towers from the sky
But even on our darkest nights
The world keeps spinning round

You were there in the garden like a snake in the grass
I see you in the morning staring through the looking glass
You whisper down through history and echo through these halls
But I hate to tell you
Love’s gonna conquer all

Dear Love,
Just when I think you’ve given up
You were there in the garden when I ran from your voice
I hear you every morning through the chaos and the noise
You still whisper down through history and echo through these halls
And you tell me
Love’s gonna conquer all

Gonna conquer all