BREAKING: Cris Lacy Promoted at Warner Music Nashville

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Cris Lacy

Warner Music Nashville executive Cris Lacy has been promoted to the role of SVP, A&R where she will continue to sign and develop new artists and the existing roster by helping to identify songs, songwriters and producers while providing A&R resources and creative support. Additionally, Lacy will oversee the day to day operations of the A&R department. She will report directly to EVP A&R, Scott Hendricks.

On her promotion, WMN Chairman and CEO John Esposito said, “Cris is an incredibly gifted A&R executive who also has an amazing leadership skill set. The combination of Cris, Scott, Stephanie Davenport and Rohan Kohli has created the strongest and most diverse ‘ears’ in this town and they will be a driving force behind WMN for many years to come.”

Hendricks added, “Developing artists and executives is actually pretty similar, and Cris has grown into a superstar. Artists sign to this label because of her passion and expertise and seek her council on a daily basis. I’m so proud of Cris and the future of Warner Music Nashville.”

Lacy graduated from Vanderbilt with a degree in English before beginning her first full-time industry job at Tom Collins Music Publishing. She continued her publishing experience at Rick Hall / FAME Publishing, Island Bound Music and Warner/Chappell Music before accepting an A&R position at Warner Music Nashville in 2005. In 2016, Lacy was selected as a “Rising Women on the Row” honoree by MusicRow magazine and was highlighted as one of the “100 Most Powerful Executives” in Billboard’s “Women in Music” feature.

“The musical heroes that shaped my life were signed to Warner before I came to Nashville,” said Lacy. “Under Espo’s and Scott’s leadership that history is not only being preserved, but that artist-friendly culture is flourishing. It’s truly an honor to work with the special artists who’ve chosen to trust us with their music and their hearts. Every facet of this company is made up of people I admire, and I’m excited to move forward with all of them to build what I believe is the best record label in this town.”

Warner Music Nashville is home to Warner Bros. Nashville, Atlantic Nashville, Elektra Nashville and the LoudMouth comedy label.

Blake Shelton To Celebrate Grand Opening Of Ole Red Tishomingo

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Blake Shelton’s Ole Red Tishomingo restaurant and live music venue will celebrate its grand opening with an Opry-style performance and block party on Saturday, Sept. 30 in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.

Operated by Ryman Hospitality Properties, Ole Red Tishomingo will open its doors with a party featuring an outdoor stage with performances by RaeLynn and Opry members Jeannie Seely, John Conlee, and Ronnie Milsap. Shelton will co-host the Saturday, Sept. 30 show with 650 AM WSM’s Bill Cody. The free “Blake & Friends” concert will begin at 7 p.m. Central and will be live streamed on Ole Red’s Facebook page, facebook.com/OleRedTish/.

“For a song that meant so much to me to take this shape and come to life as Ole Red has is really mind-blowing,” said Shelton. “Our community is in for a treat with the Opry bringing their famed broadcast to Tishomingo for this special show. It’s a proud day for us Oklahomans.”

On Friday, Sept. 29 Shelton will perform an intimate, private concert from the Ole Red Tishomingo stage. Proceeds from the show will benefit the non-profit J.C. Reaching Out, a local charity that provides financial assistance to family members of people battling cancer. Just 130 tickets will be sold at $200 apiece and will be available on olered.com beginning Sept. 6 at 10 a.m. Central.

Ole Red Tishomingo opens just a few months before Ole Red Nashville, a multi-level 26,000-square-foot entertainment venue in the heart of Nashville’s famed Lower Broadway expected to debut in the spring of 2018.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Chronicles 50-Year Career On ‘Anthology’

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The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s unparalleled 50-year career is celebrated in a new retrospective two-disc set, Anthology, due out Sept. 29 on Capitol Nashville/ UMe. The collection covers the band’s recording career from “Buy For Me The Rain,” the first track from their 1967 self-titled Capitol Records debut, all the way to “The Resurrection,” from their most recent studio release, 2009’s Speed of Life.

“We really wanted this collection to historically reflect our band’s timeline, but in addition to that, felt like it was important to include deeper cuts,” says NGDB member Jeff Hanna.

Among the songs fans can expect on the 39-track career overview are the classic 1970 hit “Mr. Bojangles,” “An American Dream” featuring Troubadour pal Linda Ronstadt, “Make a Little Magic” with Nicolette Larson, 1984’s “Long Hard Road (Sharecropper’s Dream)” penned by Rodney Crowell and featuring Ricky Skaggs on fiddle and a young Jerry Douglas on Dobro, 1987’s platinum-certified “Fishin’ In The Dark,” and many, many more, all in chronological order of release.

The set also includes favorites from the groundbreaking Will The Circle Be Unbroken album and its sequels, featuring a dozen cuts from the three volumes. Will The Circle Be Unbroken has been inducted into the U.S. Library of Congress as well as the GRAMMY Hall of Fame.

Anthology is available for preorder now at UMe.lnk.to/NGDBAnthology.

ANTHOLOGY TRACK LISTING

DISC 1

  1. Buy For Me The Rain
  2. Some Of Shelly’s Blues
  3. Uncle Charlie Interview
  4. Mr. Bojangles
  5. Randy Lynn Rag
  6. House At Pooh Corner
  7. Opus 36
  8. Fish Song
  9. Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
  10. Grand Ole Opry Song (featuring Jimmy Martin)
  11. You Are My Flower
  12. Tennessee Stud (featuring Doc Watson)
  13. I Saw The Light (featuring Roy Acuff)
  14. Honky Tonkin’
  15. Will The Circle Be Unbroken (featuring Mother Maybelle Carter)
  16. Cosmic Cowboy (Part 1)
  17. Battle Of New Orleans
  18. Bayou Jubilee/Sally Was A Goodun
  19. Ripplin’ Waters
  20. Mother Earth (Provides For Me)
  21. Bowlegs

DISC 2

  1. An American Dream (featuring Linda Ronstadt)
  2. Make A Little Magic (featuring Nicolette Larson)
  3. Shot Full Of Love
  4. Dance Little Jean
  5. Colorado Christmas (featuring Emmylou Harris)
  6. Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper’s Dream)
  7. Fishin’ In The Dark
  8. Workin’ Man (Nowhere to Go)
  9. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (featuring Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman)
  10. The Valley Road (featuring Bruce Hornsby)
  11. When It’s Gone
  12. Waitin’ On A Dark Eyed Gal
  13. Bless The Broken Road
  14. Catfish John (featuring Alison Krauss)
  15. The Lowlands (featuring Jaime Hanna and Jonathan McEuen)
  16. Tears In The Holston River (featuring Johnny Cash)
  17. Midnight At Woody Creek
  18. The Resurrection (featuring Matraca Berg)

Dustin Lynch To Hold Hurricane Harvey Benefit

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Photo Credit: Ford Fairchild

Dustin Lynch is the latest artist to step forward to lend a hand to Hurricane Harvey survivors. The artist will hold a benefit concert in Dallas Tuesday (Sept. 12) to support ongoing emergency storm relief efforts throughout the state. Lynch spontaneously made the decision to hold the benefit after visiting with storm victims in a Dallas shelter following his performance in the city Saturday (Sept. 2).

“The spirit of Texas, and of Country music, is to help your neighbor—to pitch in when others are struggling,” says Lynch. “So many people have stepped up to lend a hand to those affected by this storm, and I’m proud to do my small part to support the citizens of Houston and surrounding communities. After visiting the storm shelter, and meeting people whose lives have changed forever, the least I can do is come back to Dallas and try to raise spirits.”

The benefit will be held Tuesday at Cowboys Red River in Dallas. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased on the KPLX and KSCS websites as well as at the door. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a physical copy of Lynch’s hotly-anticipated upcoming album Current Mood, due out Sept. 8.

All ticket proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross Storm Relief.

The concert will cap off a busy week for Lynch, who will perform on NBC’s Today show tomorrow (Sept. 7) and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Sept. 14 to launch Current Mood. Tomorrow night he will visit the iHeartRadio Theater in New York City for a live performance and Q&A session about the new project. The event will be broadcast across iHeartRadio’s mainstream Country stations, and also live-streamed on the iHeartRadio YouTube channel and iHeartRadio app.

CMT Reveals 2017 Artists of the Year

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CMT will honor Chris Stapleton, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban and Luke Bryan as the premiere country artists of 2017 during the CMT Artists of the Year television special. The eighth annual event will air live from Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

With this year’s honors, Aldean and Bryan extend their lead as the artists with the most wins, with six each. Additionally, Bryan earns the distinction as the artist with the longest winning streak to date (2012 to present). This marks both Aldean and Urban’s return to the list for the first time since 2014. Stapleton and Florida Georgia Line notch their second and fifth consecutive wins, respectively.

This year, the special will extend beyond music to honor those impacted by Hurricane Harvey and the volunteers contributing to the ongoing recovery efforts. In addition, throughout the event, country’s biggest stars will encourage fans to continue supporting the extensive recovery over the next year. More information will be announced at a later date.

During the 90-minute special, artists will toast one another with one-of-a-kind performances. Previous CMT Artists of the Year performances have included Adele and Darius Rucker performing Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now;” Meghan Trainor, Jill Scott and Kelsea Ballerini honoring Shania Twain with a medley of her biggest hits; Adam Lambert and Leona Lewis paying tribute to Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush;” and Maroon 5 covering Taylor Swift’s “Mine.”

Last year’s annual special honoring Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Florida Georgia Line, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Bryan, Shania Twain and Thomas Rhett fueled growth across the board with L+3 ratings climbing 21 percent from the prior year among A18-49, attracting nearly 2 million total viewers on premiere night and nearly 4 million total viewers throughout six telecasts throughout the weekend on CMT.

George Strait Plans Hurricane Benefit Concert Featuring Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton

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George Strait‘s benefit concert for Hurricane Harvey Relief will be held Tues., Sept. 12 at San Antonio’s Majestic Theatre. Joining him for Hand in Hand Texas will be Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton, Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen.

Select performances from the Majestic Theatre will air as part of Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Harvey Relief, being broadcast on ABC, CBS, CMT, Fox and NBC on Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. EST on the East Coast with a replay on the West Coast at 8 p.m. PST. The telethon broadcast, as well as Strait’s Hand in Hand Texas show will also be available internationally via live stream on Facebook.

Strait, a Country Music Hall of Fame member, pledged to lead the country music world with this concert serving as the start of his ongoing relief efforts, with all proceeds from the show benefiting Rebuild Texas Fund thanks to event sponsor Cavender Auto Family and with assistance from the Majestic Theatre, Ticketmaster, VER, Bill Young Productions and the City of San Antonio.

Tickets to Strait’s Hand in Hand Texas show at Majestic Theatre will go on sale Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017 at 10 a.m. CST at ticketmaster.com.

Artist Updates: Dierks Bentley, Annelle Staal, Jillian Cardarelli

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Dierks Bentley’s 2017 What The Hell World Tour Brings In More than 750K Fans

Dierks Bentley‘s 2017 What The Hell World Tour wrapped this weekend, after bringing more than 60 shows to arenas and amphitheaters across the country since January and consistently bringing crowds of more than 25,000. The tour has sold more than 750,000 tickets this year to date. The tour featured openers Cole Swindell and Jon Pardi.

“This tour has been one of those experiences you wait for your entire life,” said Bentley. “To the fans and all the people who filled every seat in the house, who stood on their feet for hours and spent their hard-earned money to come see a show, you have made this an unforgettable journey. It’s going to be weird not having Cole and Pardi around, but I can’t thank those guys enough for coming along for this ride. Night after night the crowds were more explosive than the last…it will be a really hard year to top!”

 

Annelle Staal Makes SESAC Performance

Pictured (L-R): Wes Mayers, manager Redline Entertainment, Annelle Staal, Cristina Wheeler, manager Creative Services SESAC, and Tim Fink, VP Event Production SESAC. Photo: Moments By Moser Photography

New artist/songwriter Annelle Staal recently performed songs from her EP MARS as well as other originals for the staff at SESAC’s Nashville office. Staal was part of SESAC’s Living Room Sessions that feature SESAC writers performing in a casual atmosphere with up close seating for the staff.

 

Jillian Cardarelli’s New Video To Debut On CMT Today

CMT will debut the new music video for Jillian Cardarelli‘s single “Rerun” Tuesday (Sept. 5) as part of their Artist Discovery Program, which releases new videos along with a short bio about the artists.

“Rerun” was penned by Maren Morris, Tina Parol and Jordan Reynolds. Cardarelli is currently opening shows for Lonestar, Jake Owen and Jana Kramer. She is signed with William Morris Endeavor and with Suretone Entertainment.

 

Weekly Register: Old Dominion’s ‘Happy Endings’ Tops Country Albums Rankings

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Old Dominion‘s Happy Endings tops this week’s country titles, according to Nielsen Soundscan’s Top 200 albums rankings. The album, which released Aug. 25, moved 41K in total consumption. The group earned multiple CMA Awards nominations yesterday (Sept. 4), including New Artist and Group of the Year.

Fellow CMA Awards New Artist nominee Luke Combs is at No. 2 this week, with This One’s For You selling 13K.

Chris Stapleton, who is included among the nominees for CMA Entertainer of the Year, lands at No. 3 this week with his 2015 album Traveller moving 11K. Stapleton also earned CMA nods for Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year (for his latest release From A Room: Vol. 1).

Kane Brown‘s self-titled album is at No. 4 with 9.1K.

Sam Hunt‘s Montevallo rounds out the Top 5 with 8.8K.

The Cadillac Three‘s Legacy is this week’s top country debut, at No. 13 and selling 5.9K.

Big Machine Label Group’s Taylor Swift ascends to the pinnacle of the digital songs chart, with her new single “Look What You Made Me Do” selling 352K.

In the digital core country songs rankings, Sam Hunt remains at No. 1 with “Body Like A Back Road” selling 26K, totaling more than 1.6 million to date. The record-breaking track is nominated for Song of the Year and Single of the Year at the upcoming CMA Awards.

Current CMA Entertainer of the Year nominee Luke Bryan‘s “Light It Up” is at No. 2, with 21.9K, followed by Kane Brown‘s “What Ifs” at No. 3 with 21.5K. Luke Combs’ “When It Rains It Pours” is at No. 4 with 16.3K, while Dustin Lynch‘s “Small Town Boy” is at No. 5 with 15.5K.

Lynch also has this week’s top country debut with “Why We Call Each Other,” which lands at No. 27 country and moved 5.1K.

Information provided by Nielsen Soundscan.

 

High Valley, Ashley McBryde, Adam Doleac To Join The Highway Finds Tour

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Pictured (L-R): Curtis Rempel of High Valley, Ashley McBryde, SiriusXM host Storme Warren, Adam Doleac and Brad Rempel of High Valley announce The Highway Finds Tour live on SiriusXM’s The Highway channel at the SiriusXM Studios in Nashville on Sept. 5, 2017. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for SiriusXM

SiriusXM and Live Nation will present The Highway Finds Tour featuring High Valley, Ashley McBryde and Adam Doleac. Visiting 20 cities in North America, the outing will kick off Wednesday, Oct. 18 in Washington, DC and include stops in New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Denver, and more before wrapping on Dec. 9 in San Diego. The tour will visit Nashville’s Mercy Lounge on Friday, Oct. 27.

SiriusXM and Live Nation presented The Highway Finds Tour for the first time in March 2017, when the inaugural outing featured Steve Moakler, Drew Baldridge and Smithfield.

The “Highway Finds” spotlight on SiriusXM’s Highway channel is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to discovering and breaking new artists. Past “Highway Finds” artists include Florida Georgia Line, Cole Swindell, Maren Morris, William Michael Morgan, Carly Pearce and Chase Rice.

Qualified subscribers will have the opportunity to win tickets to these shows through dedicated listener emails. Listeners can also enter for the chance to win tickets to the event. SiriusXM listeners will have the chance to purchase tickets to the tour via a special SiriusXM Presale, before tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, Sept. 8 at 10 a.m. local time in each tour market.

Visit siriusxm.com/highwayfindstour for more information.

Darcie Van Etten Named Marketing Manager For Country Radio Broadcasters

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Darcie Van Etten has joined the CRB/CRS staff as Marketing Manager, effective immediately. In her new position Van Etten will focus on marketing and strategy for Country Radio Broadcasters, Country Radio Seminar, and its affiliated events.

Van Etten joins the Country Radio Seminar team from Round Hill Music, where she served as Administration Coordinator. A recent graduate of Belmont University’s Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, she previously volunteered and interned for CRS.

“In the time that Darcie has assisted our staff, she has been such a bright shining star,” said CRB/CRS Executive Director, Bill Mayne. “She knows the part, and she’s going to be great.”

“After several years of helping the CRS team, I am thrilled to officially join their staff as Marketing Manager,” said Van Etten. “I could not ask to work for a better company, or to be a part of a better team.”

Van Etten can be reached at 615-327-4487 or darcie@crb.org.