CJ Solar. Photo: Haley Crow

For singer-songwriter CJ Solar, accepting an internship at publishing and recording company Sea Gayle was likely one of the best decisions he made while studying at Nashville’s Belmont University.

“My neighbor was working at Sea Gayle and helped me get an internship,” Solar says. “Marc [Driskill] listens to the interns’ music and was like, ‘Hey, if you’ve got any music let me know.’ I had just demoed some songs I was going to try to get a publishing deal with, so I brought them to him, and he played them for some of the other staff. A week later they wanted to sign me.”

Now, Solar has released his latest single for Sea Gayle Records, the harmonica-soaked, rock guitar-fueled “Just Another Day In The Country,” a musical ode to hunting, fishing, beer drinking and other leisurely pastimes.

The track is included on Solar’s latest EP Hard One To Turn Down. During his visit to the MusicRow office, the Louisiana native also offered a rendition of “Blue Bandana,” a track fellow Sea Gayle artist Jerrod Niemann released as a single in 2015. Solar wrote the track with Ben Goldsmith and Andrew Scott Wills

MusicRow Owner/Publisher Sherod Robertson and CJ Solar. Photo: Haley Crow

Solar recently shot the video for “Just Another Day In The Country” at a friend’s property in Mississippi.

“It was a ‘party in a field’ kind of thing,” Solar says. “It was like, ‘Let’s do as much stuff as we can in one day.’ We set up in front of a barn and did a performance and just fished, hung out, and shot some empty beer cans. It was fun.”

Solar will bring his live show to Nashville during Country Radio Seminar, with shows at the Omni Hotel on Feb. 23 (5 p.m.) and Feb. 24 (9 a.m.).

CJ Solar with MusicRow staffers.

Industry Events

February 12
59th Annual Grammy Awards

February 22
MusicRow Meet & Greet and CountryBreakout Awards

February 22-24
CRS 2017

February 25
An Evening For 65 Roses Cystic Fibrosis Foundation benefit at the Loveless Barn at 6 p.m.

February 27
The T. J. Martell Foundation’s 9th Annual Nashville Honors Gala at the Omni Hotel

Single Add Dates

February 6
Sam Hunt/Body Like A Backroad/MCA Nashville
Jamie Lee Thurston/Givin’ Up Breathin’/Thurston For Entertainment
Adam Craig/Just A Phase/Stoney Creek Records
Kane Brown Feat. Lauren Alaina/What Ifs/RCA Nashville
Denny Strickland/We Don’t Sleep/Red Star Productions
Christina Taylor/I Don’t Look Good In Your T-Shirt/Go Long Entertainment-SMG Nashville
Jeremy Bowman/American Party/SMG Nashville

February 13
Mo Pitney/Everywhere/Curb Records
Brooke Eden/Act Like You Don’t/Red Bow Records
Frankie Ballard/You’ll Accomp’ny Me/Warner Bros-WAR
Olivia Dvorak/Don’t Come Knocking/Spin Doctors Promotions
Cash Creek/The Hard Way/Heartland Records Nashville

February 20
Carly Pearce/Every Little Thing/Dot Records

February 27
Midland/Drinkin’ Problem/Big Machine
Kip Moore/More Girls Like You/MCA Nashville

Album Release Dates

February 3
Reba McEntire/Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope/Nash Icon-Capitol Christian Music Group
Cypress Spring/Denim/Average Joes

February 10
Brett Young/Brett Young/BMLG Records
Old Crow Medicine Show/Best Of
Lari White/Old Friends, New Loves (double-disc EP)
Cash Creek/The Hard Way/Heartland Records Nashville

February 17
Alison Krauss/Windy City/Capitol Records
Nikki Lane/Highway Queen/New West Records
Jenny Gill/The House Sessions [EP]

February 24
Little Big Town/The Breaker/Capitol Records Nashville
Aaron Watson/Vaquero/Big Label Records
Various/The Shack: Music From And Inspired By The Original Motion Picture/Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment

Leadership Music is now accepting applications for its Class of 2018. The organization has made some changes to the application process, upping the period for applying by one month. The eight-month, Nashville-based program begins in October and is designed to expose participants to every phase of the music industry and build channels of communication between established leaders, while exploring the challenges facing the music industry. Leadership Music will accept applications online through Feb. 28.

Chosen participants attend an initial orientation and alumni welcome reception in September, an Opening Retreat in October, followed by six all-day sessions once a month, ending in May with graduation at Closing Retreat. For the second year, three program days will be held on Tuesday and three on Friday. One-time tuition for the program is $1,000. Application forms, program dates, policies and FAQ’s are available at leadershipmusic.org/apply.

“We continue to experience an increase in applications to the Leadership Music program in record numbers, and we are gratified at the level of interest,” said Debbie Schwartz Linn, Executive Director. “So many factors enter into selecting the next, as we say in Leadership Music, ‘best class ever.’ Ideally, that means a class comprised of passionate, balanced and diversified professionals, who are, individually and collectively, the best and brightest leaders in their field and represent all segments of the music industry across the country.  We are fond of saying at Leadership Music, the class you are in is the class you were meant to be in.”

Thirty Tigers rings in the New Year by announcing a number of promotions and additions to the Nashville office. Robert Knotts, formerly Director of Digital Sales has been promoted to VP of Digital Strategy. In this newly expanded role, Knotts will oversee all digital monetization and marketing efforts on behalf of Thirty Tigers Distribution. A graduate of the University of Georgia, Knotts has been with Thirty Tigers since 2014.

Nathan Nicholson joins Thirty Tigers Music Publishing as Head of Creative. In his role Nicholson will oversee the development of Thirty Tigers music publishing efforts. Current clients include Massachusetts based indie-folk band Darlingside as well as Nicholson’s first signing, Dave Pahanish, who has co-written hits for Keith Urban, Toby Keith and Jimmy Wayne. Thirty Tigers Music Publishing is administered by independent stalwart Wixen Music Music Publishing.

Jay Steele joins Thirty Tigers Management as Day to Day Manager working with Jason Isbell, John Moreland and St. Paul & the Broken Bones, under the supervision of Traci Thomas. Steele brings 10 years of diverse music industry experience. Thomas Young will assist Thomas and Steele with day to day operations. Young graduates from Middle Tennessee State University this spring.

In addition, Thirty Tigers announces the promotions of Thomas Flood and Zach Bevill from the roles of Project Managers to the newly created roles of Senior Project Managers. In these new roles Flood and Bevill will oversee four project managers and help lead the project management marketing and organizational efforts.

Christopher Dornbusch, formerly Special Projects Manager, has been upped to Director of Operations, where he will assist in overseeing the financial and procedural aspects of the business.

This year, Thirty Tigers’ releases will include new albums from Jason Isbell, LeAnn Rimes, Lupe Fiasco, Big & Rich, CeCe Winans, Aaron Watson, Son Volt and Dead Man Winter. 2016 was a record breaking year for Thirty Tigers with releases from Santana, country outlaw Wheeler Walker, Jr., Blackberry Smoke, The Mavericks, the Grammy nominated Lori McKenna and a partnership with Oh Boy Records which included a new album from John Prine.

Thirty Tigers is a music marketing, management, distribution, and publishing company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Thirty Tigers Distribution has served as a label infrastructure for a vast client base including The Avett Brothers, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chase Rice, Lucinda Williams, Patty Griffin, St. Paul and The Broken Bones, Trampled By Turtles, Santana and many others. Based in Nashville with offices in North Carolina, New York, LA and London, Thirty Tigers is distributed by RED Distribution.