Pictured Front (L-R): Deric Ruttan, Brian Kelly, Tyler Hubbard, Jason Aldean, Josh Thompson, Michael Knox. Back: Wendell Mobley, Jimmy Robbins, Tony Martin, Brad Warren, Jordan Schmidt, Jerry Flowers, Brett Warren. Photo: Steve Lowry [CLICK TO ENLARGE]
The Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville was where
Benny Brown took
Jon Loba many years ago to watch
Jason Aldean, and then immediately sign backstage. So it was appropriate for Aldean to return to celebrate his 17th (“Lights Come On”), 18th (“A Little More Summertime”) and 19th (“Any Ol’ Barstool”) No. 1 hit songs.
ASCAP’s Beth Brinker and BMI’s Bradley Collins hosted the crowd, which included industry on the floor and fans on the second level balcony. Collins extended a thank you to Rick Shedd, Chris Parr and the GreenRoom for helping organize. ASCAP’s partner for No. 1 parties is First Tennessee Bank and BMI’s partner is Pinnacle Bank.
“Combined with Jason’s 19 No. 1’s, amongst the [11 songwriters] on stage, there is a total of 150 No. 1 songs represented,” noted Collins in welcoming all the songwriters to the stage. Aldean took turns performing each song with the songwriters after industry members spoke.
BMG/BBR’s Zach Katz offered remarks on behalf of the label. “Jason Aldean is an artist that consistently puts out incredible music while staying super true to who he is,” said Katz. “That’s why there are 19 No. 1’s. I’m confident there are going to be another 19, and another 19…What I will say is Jason Aldean means the world to Broken Bow and BMG. He is the reason why Broken Bow is where it is and one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, BMG decided to come in and partner with Broken Bow. Big congrats to Jason. You are one in a billion.”
BBR’s Jon Loba concluded label remarks by thanking the BBR promotion staff and recalled signing Aldean many years ago. “When he said it was someone that MCA Records and Capitol Records dropped, I said ‘Great, it’s a guy nobody wants.’ By the third song I said, ‘We better run backstage before MCA and Capitol realize what they just got rid of.’ Nineteen No. 1’s later, here we are.”
Collins and Brinker acknowledged producer Michael Knox, who marks 20 No. 1’s.
“Jason and I have been working together for over 15 years,” said Knox. “When you’re going through [the song selection] process with Jason, you notice he picks quality and believability over anything else. In Nashville he’s one of the rare artist that 90 percent, if not 100 percent of his album is outside songs. It’s a privilege to be a part of the quality he brings to our sessions. We’re in the middle of cutting the new record right now and I can promise you, [Jason] is in an incredible place and the songs are awesome.”
“Lights Come On” (Brad Warren, Brett Warren, Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley, Jimmy Robbins, Jordan Schmidt)
Jason Aldean performing “Lights Come On” with songwriters at the Broken Bow star’s triple No. 1 party. Photo: Steve Lowry
Collins introduced his BMI songwriters including Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard (Florida Georgia Line), who alone have written eight of their 13 No. 1’s, mark their third No. 1 with outside cuts as songwriters for “Lights Come On.” Their first was “Burnin’ It Down” in addition to a album cut Hubbard wrote for Night Train, “Black Tears.”
“[Jason] has created a path for guys like us who wanted to do things our way,” said Hubbard in remarks Kelley echoed. “Thanks for believing in this song, and thanks for letting us be songwriters.”
“It’s funny when you have artists who write songs too, sometimes artists want to hoard all their songs because they want to cut them, but that’s one thing I will say about these guys, is on top of being artists, they are songwriters,” praised Aldean who reminisced about the song’s last minute inclusion on They Don’t Know. “Michael Knox and I were last day in the studio tracking, not really looking for anymore songs. I checked my email on a lunch break and BK had sent me this song. I pulled Michael out of the control room and said, ‘I think I just found our first single so we might need to tell [the band] to stick around for the next hour.’ About four weeks later we sent it to radio.”
BMI writers also included sibling writing duo Brad Warren and Brett Warren (The Warren Brothers), also have written eight No. 1’s, with “Lights Come On” as their sixth No. 1 with more recent No. 1’s “Sober Saturday Night” (Chris Young) and “Every time I Hear That Song” (Blake Shelton).
ASCAP’s Jimmy Robbins celebrated his seventh No. 1 with “Lights Come On.”
Additionally, Jordan Schmidt celebrated his first No. 1 with “Lights Come On.” ASCAP will present him with an ASCAP-branded YETI cooler.
Collins also noted the publishers on “Lights Come On,” Big Loud’s Chief Zaruk and Matt Turner, and Round Hill’s Mark Brown. Brinker noted Tree Vibez, Extraordinary Alien and Major Bob.
“A Little More Summertime” (Wendell Mobley, Jerry Flowers, Tony Martin)
Jason Aldean performing “A Little More Summertime” with songwriters at the Broken Bow star’s triple No. 1 party. Photo: Steve Lowry [CLICK TO ENLARGE]
Collin’s BMI writers included
Wendell Mobley, who celebrated his 10th No. 1 with “A Little More Summertime.” Mobley has been atop the charts for 23 weeks for additional hits including Aldean’s “Tattoos On This Town,” and his songs have been on albums which have sold over 53 million copies.
Tony Martin is also a BMI writer. Martin celebrated his 16th No. 1. Martin is a 2017 nominee for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
ASCAP’s Jerry Flowers celebrated his second No. 1 with “A Little More Summertime,” as his current “Do I Make You Wanna” (Billy Currington) is atop the charts.
“I met Wendell in 1998 when I was writing for Warner/Chappell,” recalled Aldean. “The way this song came about is my wife and I were headed to our house in Florida and I had a CD of songs to possibly record for the next album. This song was almost like a picture being painted as we were driving through this beach town. The problem I had was Wendell is such a great singer that I thought, ‘It will be hard to top the demo, but we’ll do our best.'”
Collins thanks publishers Josh Van Valkenburg at Sony/ATV, John Ozier at ole, and BJ Hill at Warner/Chappell. Brinker noted Warner/Chappell and Atlas.
“Any Ol’ Barstool” (Josh Thompson, Derek Ruttan)
Jason Aldean performing “Any Ol’ Barstool” with songwriters at the Broken Bow star’s triple No. 1 party. Photo: Steve Lowry
Collin’s BMI writer was Josh Thompson, who also has a previous cut with Aldean, “Church Pew Or Barstool.” “Any Ol’ Barstool,” however, was Thompson’s first No. 1, and he received a BMI No. 1 guitar. In the last 18 months, the industry veteran has had 27 cuts.
Brinker’s ASCAP writer is Derek Ruttan, who celebrated his fourth No. 1 and is also Grammy nominated for Shelton’s 2013 “Mine Would Be You.”
“I think people are used to us putting out uptempo rockers” Aldean said, praising the writers, “but I grew up listening to a lot of traditional country music. On most every record we’ve put out there’s been traditional things on there, like ‘The Truth.’ This song is just killer. You might not expect a [slower song like this] to get a big reaction from the crowd, but when you sing it live we crank into it and people go crazy.”
Brinker thanked THiS Music and Warner/Chappell while Collins noted Big Machine Music.
Jason Aldeans Triple No. 1 party on August 2, 2017 brings out the who’s who of Nashville music industry publishers. Pictured (L-R): Kos Weaver, Exec. VP, BMG Nashville; Juli Newton-Griffith, VP Magic Mustang/BMG; Ben Vaughn, President, Warner Chappell Music; Rusty Gaston, GM/Partner THiS Music. Photo: MusicRow
Exclusive: Ricky Skaggs To Make First Country Homecoming In 20 Years In Nashville
/by Jessica NicholsonRicky Skaggs
While Ricky Skaggs’ voice and picking style have been affiliated primarily with bluegrass music for the past two decades, he launched a string of songs to the top of the country charts in the 1980s and mid-’90s, including “Honey (Open That Door),” “Lovin’ Only Me,” and “I Wouldn’t Change You If I Could.” In 1982, Skaggs earned both the Horizon Award and the Male Vocalist of the Year honors from the Country Music Association. Three years later, he had earned nine chart-topping singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, along with the CMA’s top honor, Entertainer of the Year.
On Sept. 2, he will briefly trade out some of his acoustic instruments for an electric guitar, to perform his first full country concert in 20 years at the Nashville Palace.
“It is reminiscent of the old clubs, the old Texas dance halls,” he tells MusicRow of the Nashville Palace, “the dance halls we played quite a bit back in the early days when we were getting started playing the country stuff, so it just seemed right and they were excited about it.”
He promises the approximately two-hour show will be packed with hits from his country albums, such as “Highway 40 Blues,” “Crying My Heart Out Over You,” “Uncle Pen,” and “Honey (Open That Door),” though Skaggs is admittedly excited about the chance to do some album cuts that are rarely featured in his sets, such as “(Angel On My Mind) That’s Why I’m Walkin’,” from his 1988 album Comin’ Home To Stay.
“Of course we can do songs like ‘Uncle Pen’ and ‘Highway 40 Blues’ with the bluegrass band, but it’s a little different when you are playing with a full electric band. We’ll have a steel guitar player and a full country band, so it’s the best of both worlds, really.”
Among Skaggs’ former band members joining him for the Nashville Palace show will be Keith Sewell, who, as a 19-year-old newcomer, toured as part of Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder band, a stint that lasted seven years. Sewell has also played for several years with the Dixie Chicks and Lyle Lovett. While there are no concrete plans for special guests to join him on the bill, Skaggs hopes to trade guitar licks with at least one musician who is slated to be in attendance, Johnny Hiland. “I’m going to see if he would want to come up and play something,” Skaggs notes. “That would be killer.”
“I really loved the music I was playing,” Skaggs says of his years working primarily in the country format. “It was a good career and really afforded me the abilities to come back to bluegrass and open my own record label [Skaggs Family Records] and all of that. That never would have happened without the kind of exposure and the name I built for myself in those early country days. It’s just time to celebrate that.”
When asked about the possibility of releasing a new country album, Skaggs isn’t as certain.
“We would love to do a new country record. I’ve got some really great songs that I’ve never recorded, but it’s kind of hard to sell records these days when people are getting songs for free. We as the artists, we make so little on streams, it’s like nothing. People are getting music for free because they think they deserve it. Art is not free. If you had to go buy a Van Gogh or a piece of art, if you see a beautiful piece of art that you love and you want to bring it to your house, you can’t just take it. Music is art and it should be paid for.”
What seems more likely is that Skaggs could soon bring his full country show to the “Mother Church of Country Music,” the revered Ryman Auditorium. Skaggs offered his bluegrass hits on the Ryman stage just last week, as part of the Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman series.
“I’d love nothing more than at some point in my career to get to do the Ryman with my country show. That would be fantastic. I’ve done some Grand Ole Opry shows there, where maybe we’d do just two songs on an Opry show, ‘cause it’s a multi-artist show, and it sounds so great in there. I’d love to be able to do a full-blown Ricky Skaggs show there sometime.”
Weekly Chart Report 8/4/17
/by Alex ParryClick here or above to access MusicRow‘s weekly CountryBreakout Report.
[WATCH]: Tim McGraw And Faith Hill’s Soul2Soul Tour To Air On Showtime In November
/by Eric T. ParkerTim McGraw and Faith Hill‘s Soul2Soul 2017 Tour has been filmed to debut as the first ever country music concert film for Showtime. A trailer for Tim & Faith: Soul2Soul is available online ahead of the on-air, on demand and online debut date, Nov. 17, 2017 at 8 C.T.
Directed and executive produced by the Magical Elves production team of Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz (Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, Katy Perry: Part of Me), the tour documentary celebrates the 10th anniversary of the highest-grossing U.S. multi-year country music tour of all time, Soul2Soul II Tour in 2006 and 2007. The video feature will include live performances from the 2017 Soul2Soul Tour, as well as never before seen interviews, behind the scenes, and apparently some dramatic footage of the first time Hill has toured since 2007.
The 80-date live outing, which is over halfway complete with its 2017 North American dates, was forced to cancel Thursday, Aug. 3 in Little Rock, Arkansas due to doctors putting Hill on vocal rest for two days.
Nashville stops—Friday Aug. 4 and Saturday, Aug 5—should not be affected and tickets are still available for both nights.
Upcoming dates on the couple’s journey will find them heading North, and to the Midwest. Soul2Soul began as a tour in 2000, and over the years has included a multi-year Las Vegas residency.
McGraw and Hill are currently in the process of finishing their duet album, due out this year on Sony Music Entertainment.
ASCAP, BMI Triple Toasts Jason Aldean For No. 1 Hits
/by Eric T. ParkerPictured Front (L-R): Deric Ruttan, Brian Kelly, Tyler Hubbard, Jason Aldean, Josh Thompson, Michael Knox. Back: Wendell Mobley, Jimmy Robbins, Tony Martin, Brad Warren, Jordan Schmidt, Jerry Flowers, Brett Warren. Photo: Steve Lowry [CLICK TO ENLARGE]
ASCAP’s Beth Brinker and BMI’s Bradley Collins hosted the crowd, which included industry on the floor and fans on the second level balcony. Collins extended a thank you to Rick Shedd, Chris Parr and the GreenRoom for helping organize. ASCAP’s partner for No. 1 parties is First Tennessee Bank and BMI’s partner is Pinnacle Bank.
“Combined with Jason’s 19 No. 1’s, amongst the [11 songwriters] on stage, there is a total of 150 No. 1 songs represented,” noted Collins in welcoming all the songwriters to the stage. Aldean took turns performing each song with the songwriters after industry members spoke.
BMG/BBR’s Zach Katz offered remarks on behalf of the label. “Jason Aldean is an artist that consistently puts out incredible music while staying super true to who he is,” said Katz. “That’s why there are 19 No. 1’s. I’m confident there are going to be another 19, and another 19…What I will say is Jason Aldean means the world to Broken Bow and BMG. He is the reason why Broken Bow is where it is and one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, BMG decided to come in and partner with Broken Bow. Big congrats to Jason. You are one in a billion.”
BBR’s Jon Loba concluded label remarks by thanking the BBR promotion staff and recalled signing Aldean many years ago. “When he said it was someone that MCA Records and Capitol Records dropped, I said ‘Great, it’s a guy nobody wants.’ By the third song I said, ‘We better run backstage before MCA and Capitol realize what they just got rid of.’ Nineteen No. 1’s later, here we are.”
Collins and Brinker acknowledged producer Michael Knox, who marks 20 No. 1’s.
“Jason and I have been working together for over 15 years,” said Knox. “When you’re going through [the song selection] process with Jason, you notice he picks quality and believability over anything else. In Nashville he’s one of the rare artist that 90 percent, if not 100 percent of his album is outside songs. It’s a privilege to be a part of the quality he brings to our sessions. We’re in the middle of cutting the new record right now and I can promise you, [Jason] is in an incredible place and the songs are awesome.”
“Lights Come On” (Brad Warren, Brett Warren, Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley, Jimmy Robbins, Jordan Schmidt)
Jason Aldean performing “Lights Come On” with songwriters at the Broken Bow star’s triple No. 1 party. Photo: Steve Lowry
Collins introduced his BMI songwriters including Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard (Florida Georgia Line), who alone have written eight of their 13 No. 1’s, mark their third No. 1 with outside cuts as songwriters for “Lights Come On.” Their first was “Burnin’ It Down” in addition to a album cut Hubbard wrote for Night Train, “Black Tears.”
“[Jason] has created a path for guys like us who wanted to do things our way,” said Hubbard in remarks Kelley echoed. “Thanks for believing in this song, and thanks for letting us be songwriters.”
“It’s funny when you have artists who write songs too, sometimes artists want to hoard all their songs because they want to cut them, but that’s one thing I will say about these guys, is on top of being artists, they are songwriters,” praised Aldean who reminisced about the song’s last minute inclusion on They Don’t Know. “Michael Knox and I were last day in the studio tracking, not really looking for anymore songs. I checked my email on a lunch break and BK had sent me this song. I pulled Michael out of the control room and said, ‘I think I just found our first single so we might need to tell [the band] to stick around for the next hour.’ About four weeks later we sent it to radio.”
BMI writers also included sibling writing duo Brad Warren and Brett Warren (The Warren Brothers), also have written eight No. 1’s, with “Lights Come On” as their sixth No. 1 with more recent No. 1’s “Sober Saturday Night” (Chris Young) and “Every time I Hear That Song” (Blake Shelton).
ASCAP’s Jimmy Robbins celebrated his seventh No. 1 with “Lights Come On.”
Additionally, Jordan Schmidt celebrated his first No. 1 with “Lights Come On.” ASCAP will present him with an ASCAP-branded YETI cooler.
Collins also noted the publishers on “Lights Come On,” Big Loud’s Chief Zaruk and Matt Turner, and Round Hill’s Mark Brown. Brinker noted Tree Vibez, Extraordinary Alien and Major Bob.
“A Little More Summertime” (Wendell Mobley, Jerry Flowers, Tony Martin)
Jason Aldean performing “A Little More Summertime” with songwriters at the Broken Bow star’s triple No. 1 party. Photo: Steve Lowry [CLICK TO ENLARGE]
Tony Martin is also a BMI writer. Martin celebrated his 16th No. 1. Martin is a 2017 nominee for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
ASCAP’s Jerry Flowers celebrated his second No. 1 with “A Little More Summertime,” as his current “Do I Make You Wanna” (Billy Currington) is atop the charts.
“I met Wendell in 1998 when I was writing for Warner/Chappell,” recalled Aldean. “The way this song came about is my wife and I were headed to our house in Florida and I had a CD of songs to possibly record for the next album. This song was almost like a picture being painted as we were driving through this beach town. The problem I had was Wendell is such a great singer that I thought, ‘It will be hard to top the demo, but we’ll do our best.'”
Collins thanks publishers Josh Van Valkenburg at Sony/ATV, John Ozier at ole, and BJ Hill at Warner/Chappell. Brinker noted Warner/Chappell and Atlas.
“Any Ol’ Barstool” (Josh Thompson, Derek Ruttan)
Jason Aldean performing “Any Ol’ Barstool” with songwriters at the Broken Bow star’s triple No. 1 party. Photo: Steve Lowry
Collin’s BMI writer was Josh Thompson, who also has a previous cut with Aldean, “Church Pew Or Barstool.” “Any Ol’ Barstool,” however, was Thompson’s first No. 1, and he received a BMI No. 1 guitar. In the last 18 months, the industry veteran has had 27 cuts.
Brinker’s ASCAP writer is Derek Ruttan, who celebrated his fourth No. 1 and is also Grammy nominated for Shelton’s 2013 “Mine Would Be You.”
“I think people are used to us putting out uptempo rockers” Aldean said, praising the writers, “but I grew up listening to a lot of traditional country music. On most every record we’ve put out there’s been traditional things on there, like ‘The Truth.’ This song is just killer. You might not expect a [slower song like this] to get a big reaction from the crowd, but when you sing it live we crank into it and people go crazy.”
Brinker thanked THiS Music and Warner/Chappell while Collins noted Big Machine Music.
Jason Aldeans Triple No. 1 party on August 2, 2017 brings out the who’s who of Nashville music industry publishers. Pictured (L-R): Kos Weaver, Exec. VP, BMG Nashville; Juli Newton-Griffith, VP Magic Mustang/BMG; Ben Vaughn, President, Warner Chappell Music; Rusty Gaston, GM/Partner THiS Music. Photo: MusicRow
Dylan Scott Celebrates Gold In NYC
/by Jessica NicholsonPictured (L-R): RJ Meacham (Curb Records); John Fox and Katie Neal (Nash FM 94.7 New York); John Clore and Mike Rogers (Curb Records); Dylan Scott; Mike Allan (Nash FM 94.7 New York); Benson Curb, Ryan Dokke, Jeff Tuerff, Lori Hartigan, Taylor Childress, Brooke Meris, Samantha DePrez and Jessie Lowe (Curb Records)
Curb Records artist Dylan Scott headlined his first concert in NYC to a sold-out crowd at Gramercy Theatre on Aug. 1.
As he prepared to perform his recent chart-topper “My Girl,” he was surprised by his Curb Records team, as well as members of NASH FM 94.7, with his first RIAA-certified Gold record.
Scott will release the deluxe edition of his 2016 self-titled album on Friday (Aug. 4). The album features three new tracks including “Hooked,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Can’t Take Her Anywhere.”
Kenny Chesney Plans ‘Live In No Shoes Nation’ Project
/by Lorie Hollabaugh“When you’re on stage, in the rush of it all, it hits you so hard and so fast. You take it in, but you never really digest it,” explains Chesney. “Once the noise in my head died down, I went in to relive some of those amazing nights I’d had with everyone in No Shoes Nation, and the more I listened, the more I wanted to hear. And the more I heard, the more I knew I needed to share these moments with all the citizens of what we call No Shoes Nation, so they could hear how freaking awesome they sound.”
The superstar combed through 10 years of stadium shows, pop-up bar gigs, amphitheaters and the occasional beach takeover, listening to over a thousand hours of concerts in search of the definitive performances that capture the spirit of his audience and document some of the most special moments in his touring life.
The track listing is still being finalized for the new project, which arrives Oct. 27.
MusicRowPics: Aubrie Haynie Accepts MusicRow Awards Honor
/by Jessica NicholsonAubrey Haynie. Photo: MusicRow
Aubrey Haynie accepts his MusicRow Awards plaque for Album All-Star Fiddle after a recording session for Luke Bryan kept him from attending the 2017 MusicRow Awards at SESAC.
Other musicians earning the most credits on Billboard‘s Top 10 albums during the 12-month timeframe, earning 2017 MusicRow Awards included Justin Niebank (engineer), Ilya Toshinskiy (guitar), Jimmie Lee Sloas (bass), Charles Judge (keyboards), Russell Terrell (vocals), Greg Morrow and Fred Eltringham (a tie for drums) and Dan Dugmore, Paul Franklin and Russ Pahl (a three-way tie for steel supremacy).
Songwriters and artists honored during the event included Maren Morris, Lauren Alaina, Hillary Lindsey, Clint Lagerberg, Jesse Lee and Steven Lee Olsen.
The event was hosted for the first time by SESAC and held in the CMA event space. Anderson Benson partnered with MusicRow again this year to sponsor the event. Insurance is a key part of having a successful business in this industry, and Nashville-based insurance broker Anderson Benson is dedicated to serving and supporting the entertainment industry.
Click here for Bobby Karl’s full recap of the 2017 MusicRow Awards.
Songwriter Travis Meadows Preps October Album With Jeremy Spillman, Jay Joyce
/by Eric T. ParkerTravis Meadows. Photo: Joshua Black Wilkins
Hit songwriter Travis Meadows will release a full-length album, First Cigarette, on Blaster Records, Oct. 13. The collection is produced by Jeremy Spillman with executive producer Jay Joyce.
“I’m an orphan who turned into a preacher, a preacher who turned into a songwriter, a songwriter who turned into a drunk, and a drunk that is learning to be a human being,” Meadows says, describing his journey.
Meadows grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and endured physical and emotional pain at an early age, coping with abandonment by his parents, the loss of a sibling, and a near-death experience with cancer at only 14. While music was his sanctuary, drugs and alcohol became his crutch as he laid the foundation for his musical career at local blues bars in his hometown. By 24 years old, a religious experience led him into the world of Christian music where even in the midst of his self-destruction, he had eight Top 20 singles in the genre.
Pursuing his dream of writing country music, Meadows scored a publishing deal with Universal Music bringing him to Nashville. Though Meadows was successful as a staff writer, his spiral of addiction continued until in 2010 when he hit an all-time low. Between jail and rehab, Meadows began a journal for his counselor, which transformed into Killin’ Uncle Buzzy. The album, which now has an almost cult-like following “changed everything” in Meadows’ words. The brutal honesty in his writing connected with other songwriters, publishers and artists and in the next two years he scored album cuts by artists including Eric Church (“Knives Of New Orleans”/”Dark Side”), Dierks Bentley (“Riser”) and Jake Owen (“What We Ain’t Got”) while maintaining his new-found sobriety.
First Cigarette paints a brighter outlook. Expanding on the themes of recovery and survival, Meadows delves into the healthy expression of emotion (“Sideways”) to finding contentment where you are in life (“First Cigarette”) to the quest for satisfaction in (“Hungry”).
Academy Of Country Music Names Tom Torii Sr. VP/Finance & Operations
/by Lorie HollabaughTorii joins the Academy from Anschutz Entertainment Group, where he served as CFO. During his nearly decade-long tenure as Vice President of Finance at AEG and Chief Financial Officer of AEG Sports, Torii oversaw all finance of sports entities including Amgen Tour of California, Houston Dynamo, Los Angeles Galaxy, Los Angeles Kings, and many other marquee brands. In addition, he led finance activities for non-sports entities such as AXS TV, JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton at LA Live, Ritz-Carlton condominiums at LA Live, ticketing platforms for AXS.com and Examiner.com, among others. Prior to AEG, Torii developed and implemented financial strategies at the operational level as Interim Chief Financial Officer at AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.
“It is with great excitement we announce Tom as the newest member of the Academy’s team. Tom’s skill set and experience are an exact match for what we need to transform the Academy and accomplish the strategic vision of our Board,” said Fisher.
“I am so thrilled to join the Academy of Country Music and ACM Lifting Lives team and become part of the ongoing growth of this entire organization. Previously being involved in finance of sports entertainment and studio entertainment, I look forward to expanding and pursuing my knowledge in the country music industry, and I am excited to help take the Academy to the next level,” said Torii.
Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Payne Added To Skyville Live Event Honoring Jerry Lee Lewis
/by Jessica NicholsonKris Kristofferson. Photo: Marina Chavez
Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Payne have been added to a special Skyville Live event that will honor Jerry Lee Lewis on Aug. 24 in Nashville.
The event will feature performances from Jerry Lee Lewis, as well as Kristofferson, Payne, and previously announced performers Chris Stapleton and Lee Ann Womack.
“This is going to be a tremendous night of music packed with so many memorable moments,” commented Wally Wilson, creator of Skyville Live. “We pride ourselves on being a show that artists really enjoy doing, and the amazingly talented group coming together to celebrate Jerry Lee Lewis will make it a great night for everyone and surely lead to some more of the fantastic collaborations we’ve seen on the Skyville Live stage.”
The show will film live in front of a studio audience on Aug. 24 and streaming details will be announced at a later date. The latest edition of Skyville Live will also feature the Skyville Live band of industry elites. Led by guitarist Kenny Greenberg, the band features the best session musicians around including Mike Rojas (keys,) Mickey Raphael (harmonica,) Fred Eltringham (drums,) Justin Schipper (pedal steel/utility) and backup singers.
Waylon Payne