Walker McGuire
BBR Music Group’s Wheelhouse Records duo Walker McGuire recently stopped by the MusicRow offices to perform tracks from their debut album, including the single “‘Til Tomorrow.” The duo’s Jordan Walker and Johnny McGuire offered tight-knit harmonies and southern-tinged vocals enveloping songs with a classic rock sensibility.
Texas native Walker and Kansas native McGuire met in 2012 when they performed during the same open mic night at music venue The Commodore. They discovered they shared similar influences and a passion for writing songs. Soon after, they began collaborating as the duo Walker McGuire. They began working with producer/engineer Mickey Jack Cones early on in their career. Cones, who has produced and/or engineered for artists including Jason Aldean and Dustin Lynch, introduced the duo to BBR Music Group.
In the meantime, the group has been on the road, fine-tuning their sound by playing more than 200 dates last year.
Much like Walker McGuire’s swift formation, once BBR Music Group was ready to move on the signing, the deal happened almost instantly. “Last year, [Jon] Loba called us in to play for the staff,” recalls McGuire. “We had a meeting with BBR and UMG on the same day. After playing for them, we were told not to take the other meeting, and Benny [Brown] committed to drawing up the record deal right then.”
The duo co-wrote nine out of the 12 songs on their upcoming album. “Til Tomorrow,” a track written while in the earliest days as duo, gained early buzz from Spotify’s John Marks. “He has been super gracious, and he believed in what we had going on.” The track now has more than 19 million plays on Spotify.
One of the few they did not co-write, “I’m On It,” features writing from members of Old Dominion.
“When we find a good song, we run with it,” Walker says. “We did send them some whiskey, though.”
The members are also finding success as writers for other artists. Walker is also a co-writer on Luke Combs’ latest single, “When It Rains It Pours.”
Walker McGuire with MusicRow owner/publisher Sherod Robertson.
Walker McGuire with MusicRow staffers.
MusicRowPics: Walker McGuire Previews Tracks From Wheelhouse Records Debut
/by Jessica NicholsonWalker McGuire
BBR Music Group’s Wheelhouse Records duo Walker McGuire recently stopped by the MusicRow offices to perform tracks from their debut album, including the single “‘Til Tomorrow.” The duo’s Jordan Walker and Johnny McGuire offered tight-knit harmonies and southern-tinged vocals enveloping songs with a classic rock sensibility.
Texas native Walker and Kansas native McGuire met in 2012 when they performed during the same open mic night at music venue The Commodore. They discovered they shared similar influences and a passion for writing songs. Soon after, they began collaborating as the duo Walker McGuire. They began working with producer/engineer Mickey Jack Cones early on in their career. Cones, who has produced and/or engineered for artists including Jason Aldean and Dustin Lynch, introduced the duo to BBR Music Group.
In the meantime, the group has been on the road, fine-tuning their sound by playing more than 200 dates last year.
Much like Walker McGuire’s swift formation, once BBR Music Group was ready to move on the signing, the deal happened almost instantly. “Last year, [Jon] Loba called us in to play for the staff,” recalls McGuire. “We had a meeting with BBR and UMG on the same day. After playing for them, we were told not to take the other meeting, and Benny [Brown] committed to drawing up the record deal right then.”
The duo co-wrote nine out of the 12 songs on their upcoming album. “Til Tomorrow,” a track written while in the earliest days as duo, gained early buzz from Spotify’s John Marks. “He has been super gracious, and he believed in what we had going on.” The track now has more than 19 million plays on Spotify.
One of the few they did not co-write, “I’m On It,” features writing from members of Old Dominion.
“When we find a good song, we run with it,” Walker says. “We did send them some whiskey, though.”
The members are also finding success as writers for other artists. Walker is also a co-writer on Luke Combs’ latest single, “When It Rains It Pours.”
Walker McGuire with MusicRow owner/publisher Sherod Robertson.
Walker McGuire with MusicRow staffers.
Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Jerrod Niemann, Chris Young Set For ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp
/by Jessica NicholsonThe 8th annual ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp, set for June 21-28 in Nashville, will welcome several country artists and entertainment personalities to spend time with attendees at the week-long residential camp.
Dierks Bentley and songwriter-producer Ross Copperman will host a songwriting workshop, while Jerrod Niemann will host a dinner/karaoke party. Kelsea Ballerini and Copperman will welcome campers into the studio for a day to see how music is recorded.
iHeartMedia radio personality Bobby Bones will spearhead a visit at Vanderbilt’s Seacrest Studios, while television personalities Todd and Savannah Chrisley will host a meet & greet at the Wildhorse Saloon.
The annual finale takes place on the Grand Ole Opry stage, as the campers will offer a live performance with Chris Young.
The event is open to individuals with Williams syndrome, with the dual purpose of studying Williams syndrome while also offering music enrichment to campers. The cost of the camp is funded by ACM Lifting Lives, which also provides scholarships to several campers.
Florida Georgia Line Transform Lower Broadway’s aVenue Into Four-Story FGL House
/by Eric T. ParkerTyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley cut the ribbon to their FGL House. Photo: John Shearer / Getty Images
Superstar duo Florida Georgia Line opened their first restaurant and entertainment destination on Monday night (June 5) in downtown Nashville. The private event turned public when the line of hopeful fans, wrapped around the block, was let in.
The four-story building, once home to aVenue (120 3rd Avenue South), is now a world-class entertainment space, featuring edgy live music, the city’s largest “Cruise” rooftop bar.
Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard added countless personal touches to the space, next to the Big Machine store, including framed photos of influential ’90s entertainers and movies.
Guests sipped custom craft cocktails and sampled Southern-inspired food with a California twist including burgers, ahi tuna salad, surf and turf, soft pretzels, salmon and grits, among others. The duo also offered a sneak peek of their hilarious new BK-directed music video for “SMOOTH,” starring Craig Wiseman in a pink Cadillac in Vegas.
Electro-Pop hitmakers The Chainsmokers will perform “Last Day Alive” with the three-time nominees on the FGL House rooftop during the 2017 CMT Music Awards Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
FGL House Rooftop. Photo: John Shearer / Getty Images
The duo is busy, with the recent launch of an emoji app (FGLmoji) and headlining Saturday’s CMA Music Festival before heading out on their The Smooth Tour 2017 with Nelly and Chris Lane with the Backstreet Boys joining on select stadium concerts in Boston (July 7), Minneapolis (July 29), and Chicago (Aug. 12).
For more information about FGL House, please visit fglhouse.com.
Industry Ink: Blair Garner’s Disco Party, Banner Music, YNOT Songwriter’s Showcase, John Anderson
/by Lorie HollabaughBlair Garner And Friends Disco To End Alzheimer’s
Back row (L-R): Todd O’Neill, CJ Solar, Jamie O’Neal, Blair Garner, Chuck Wicks, Ryan Kinder, Jerrod Niemann, Brad Paisley, Brad & Curtis Rempel (High Valley); Front row (L-R): Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Hunter Hayes, Lindsay Ell, and Charles Esten.
Sunday night’s (June 4) “Disco Party to End Alzheimer’s” hosted by Blair Garner of “The Blair Garner Show” and actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley at Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon featured a star-studded line-up including Brad Paisley, Hunter Hayes, Charles Esten, Lindsay Ell, Chuck Wicks, Jerrod Niemann, Jamie O’Neal, High Valley, Ryan Kinder, Todd O’Neill, and CJ Solar. The glitz was all for a good cause: to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association.
Banner Music Hosts Parking Lot Jam
YNOT Wednesday Spotlights Barton, Jenkins, and Reeves
John Anderson’s Career Spotlighted At Country Music Hall Of Fame
Tamara Saviano, Dave Cantwell Earn Honors During International Country Music Conference
/by Jessica NicholsonTamara Saviano with Belmont University’s Dr. Don Cusic
Tamara Saviano and Dave Cantwell were honored during the International Country Music Conference, held at Nashville’s Belmont University, on Friday, June 2.
Saviano was honored with the Belmont Book Award for her work on Without Getting Killed Or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark.
Cantwell was honored with the Rolling Stone Chet Flippo Award for country music journalism. Cantwell is the author of Merle Haggard: The Running Kind and co-author of Heartaches By The Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles, and has written for publications including The New Yorker.
Pictured (L-R):Rolling Stone Chet Flippo Excellence in Country Music Journalism Award winners Pete Finney (2016), Dave Cantwell (2017), and Jewly Hight (2015).
‘CMA Fest’ TV Special To Air August 16
/by Lorie HollabaughPhoto: Bob D’Amico / ABC
The CMA has rebranded its CMA Music Fest TV special as CMA Fest, The Music Event of Summer, and will air the special Wednesday, Aug. 16 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on ABC. Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini will host the three-hour show that brings Country Music’s Ultimate Fan Experience to a national audience. The special is executive-produced by Robert Deaton.
Formerly known as “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock,” the special first aired in 2004. Filmed during CMA Music Festival June 8-11 in Nashville, this year’s special features a bevy of stars as they hit the stage during the four-day, mega-music celebration.
A limited number of tickets for the nightly concerts at Nissan Stadium are still available at CMAfest.com or through the CMA Box Office at 1-800-CMA-FEST.
Date Set For 48th Annual GMA Dove Awards
/by Jessica NicholsonThe 48th annual GMA Dove Awards will return again to the Allen Arena at Nashville’s Lipscomb University, and is slated for Oct. 17, 2017.
Each year the Dove Awards, produced by the Gospel Music Association, honors the best in all styles of faith-based music, including pop, rock, praise & worship, urban Gospel, R&B, hip-hop, Southern Gospel, bluegrass, country, Latin and more.
During last year’s awards, Lauren Daigle was named Artist of the Year, while Chris Tomlin‘s “Good Good Father” earned Song of the Year honors. Jordan Feliz earned the New Artist of the Year award.
Sony Music Nashville Teams With Omni Nashville For CMA Music Festival
/by Jessica Nicholson“We’re very excited to be partnering with Sony Music Nashville for this year’s festival to create an unforgettable experience for our guests,” says Tod Roadarmel, Area Director of Sales and Marketing, Omni Nashville Hotel.
“There’s no more centralized hub during CMA Music Fest than the Omni Nashville Hotel, connected to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum and across the street from Fan Fair Hall in Music City Center—so it became the perfect headquarters for Sony Music Nashville’s activations,” remarks EVP/Marketing & New Business John Zarling. “Our team worked hard with our friends at Omni to create unique fan experiences with our artists as a thank you for all of the support they show us throughout the year. The engagement from our artists and our partners will ensure unforgettable moments during this year’s Music Fest.”
Attendees of the Omni – Sony Music Nashville CMA Music Fest experience can enter to win a trip back to Nashville for a Brad Paisley & Friends Band Against Cancer℠ Opry concert event. Band Against Cancer℠ is a Brad Paisley and Sarah Cannon partnership that unites music and healthcare to help connect those touched by cancer with community-based treatment options and resources.
Throughout CMA Music Fest, the Sony Music Nashville radio channel will air in the Omni’s lobby, retail areas and Bongo Java. In guest rooms, the Sony Music Nashville video channel will air.
The Sony Music Nashville booth will be open 10 am to 6 pm, Thursday through Sunday, and will be positioned outside of Bongo Java, adjacent to the Omni Nashville lobby.
Lightning 100 Toasts All Things Nashville With Seventh Annual Block Party
/by Lorie HollabaughLocal artists including Moon Taxi, The Wild Feathers, Will Hoge, Omega Swan, Paul McDonald and more will perform throughout the day at the party, which started in 2011 with Lightning 100’s original concept to feature programming dedicated to local music from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for one entire day. Since then, the city has adopted the “holiday” as its own, and the day has expanded to an entire day featuring all-local programming, celebrating Nashville events, and spotlighting local businesses and non-profits.
“Overall, one of our initiatives as a local station is to help Nashville artists. The Local Lightning Spotlight started in 2005 and was one of the first official programming features we implemented to highlight local music. It started with spinning a few local artists a day and that began the excitement both from our staff and our listeners,” said Gary Kraen, VP Programming and Operations.
615 Day Music Schedule:
11 a.m. – Mountains Like Wax
12 p.m. – Moon Taxi
1 p.m. – Carey Ott & Shelly Fairchild
2 p.m. – Paul McDonald
3 p.m. – Omega Swan
4 p.m. – Will Hoge
5 p.m. – Wild Feathers
6 p.m. – KS Rhoads
8 p.m. – Jeremy Lister & Street Corner Symphony
Little Big Town, Opry Entertainment To Reveal Second Curated Collection June 8
/by Jessica NicholsonThe collection is the second offering from Little Big Town and Opry Entertainment, which announced their initial Boondocks collection with a celebration at the Grand Ole Opry in April. The “Why Don’t We Do A Little Day Drinking?” collection, inspired by Little Big Town’s 2014 chart-topping hit, will include drinkware, beach towels, T-shirts, and more. The collection will be available at Opry Entertainment websites including ryman.com and opry.com, and in the Opry Entertainment retail stores in Nashville.
As part of the launch, Opry Entertainment’s retail store The Nashville Collection, located adjacent to the Wildhorse Saloon on Second Avenue, will be transformed to the Little Big Town Pop-Up Shop featuring collections inspired by Little Big Town’s hits “Day Drinking” and “Boondocks” as well as other collections from the band including Kimberly Schlapman’s Love & Daisies kitchen line and the Fair Child clothing line from Karen Fairchild. The fun will continue two blocks over on the Ryman Auditorium Plaza with a “Day Drinking Day” bar featuring signature cocktails created by and named after the group’s members Jimi, Karen, Kimberly, and Phillip.
The day begins at 9 a.m. at Ryman Auditorium’s Café Lula with a Kegs and Eggs breakfast featuring a breakfast special including draft beer. The band is scheduled to appear on SiriusXM’s “Music Row Happy Hour” at 12:30 p.m. before signing merchandise from the new collection at the group’s pop-up shop from 2 – 4 p.m.