Lisa Chader

Public relations and media veteran Lisa Chader has been named Principal at Wortman Works Media & Marketing by company president Jules Wortman.

Effective immediately, Chader is charged with client branding, communications and business development for new and existing Wortman Works clients, including country music/lifestyle brand, Rare Country.

Wortman states, “Lisa Chader is one of the sharpest and most respected public relations strategists I have had the pleasure to work with throughout my career. We are thrilled to bring her insights and energy into the firm at this very pivotal time in the industry.”

Chader joins Wortman after an almost two-year stint as Executive Vice President at PR agency, NPG. While at NPG, Chader worked with a wide variety of entertainment and hospitality clients including AT&T, BMI, City Winery, CMT, dick clark productions, NCAA Women’s Final Four, Wild West Comedy Festival and more.

Prior to joining NPG, Chader served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications for CMT in Nashville. During her nine-year tenure, she was responsible for creating and executing all network and program publicity strategies for original series, live music events, benefit concerts, specials and corporate strategy across all CMT brands. She spearheaded publicity for the CMT Music Awards and all CMT concerts.

Chader is a native of Atlanta and a graduate of Florida State University. She is a graduate of the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute via Women in Cable and Telecommunications (WICT) and is a past member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Southern Foodways Alliance, the Academy of Country Music, and the Americana Music Association. She is an alumna of Leadership Music’s Class of 2009.

The Wortman Works team also including account executive Elyse Wiser and social media coordinator Jake Wheat.

Wortman Works’ management clients include Grammy-nominated bluegrass band The SteelDrivers, Deana Carter, and Taylor Brashears. PR and marketing clients include Salt Life, the Dove Awards, eOne Entertainment Nashville, Redneck Riviera and more.

Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival has partnered for the ninth consecutive year with Watkins College of Art, Design & Film for its festival artwork. Select Watkins students competed to create a concept that captured the essence of the event, and this year, Chris Robertson‘s design has been chosen to represent all Tin Pan South marketing, passes, posters and banners.

Chris Robertson

The competing students were all enrolled in department chair Dan Brawner’s Illustration I class. Robertson is an artist and writer from Alabama now living in Nashville. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from the University of Alabama and is a junior in Graphic Design at Watkins.

The popular Tin Pan South Fast Access Passes are scheduled to go on sale at tinpansouth.com on Tuesday, March 8 at 10 a.m. Information about venues, lineups, schedules and more will also be available on the website. Updates can also be found on the Tin Pan South Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram.

Produced by Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), Tin Pan South is the world’s largest all-songwriter festival. Last year, close to 350 talented songwriters performed 92 shows at 10 of Nashville’s top music venues. Thousands of music fans attend the event annually to hear songwriters tell stories behind hit songs they have written and perform the songs as they were originally composed.

Regions Bank returns for the ninth year as the presenting sponsor of the event. Additional sponsors include ASCAP, BMI, Ford, News Channel 5 (official broadcast sponsor), ole, SESAC, Southwest Airlines (official airline sponsor), Vident Financial, and Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.

Ronnie Dunn and Brett Eldredge.

The sixth season of public television series Front and Center kicks off this month with five all-new CMA Songwriters Series episodes featuring Ronnie Dunn, Brett Eldredge, Kip Moore, Darius Rucker, and Steven Tyler.

Filmed at Marathon Music Works in Nashville (Dunn, Eldredge, and Rucker), and New York’s Iridium (Moore) and Melrose Ballroom (Tyler), the new season will begin airing this month on public television (check local listings).

Pictured (L-R): Lindsey Lee, Steven Tyler, Eric Paslay.

Dunn tapped craftsmen Dallas Davidson, Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Tommy Lee James, Tony Martin, Wendell Mobley, Neil Thrasher, and Craig Wiseman to perform No. 1 hits including “Red Dirt Road” and “Neon Moon,” as well as songs from his solo album Ain’t No Trucks In Texas. Dunn was also joined onstage by Eldredge for special performances of the Brooks & Dunn smash “Believe” and Eldredge’s “One Mississippi.”

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience shooting Front and Center in Nashville with a bunch of my buddies, not to mention the best songwriters in Twang Town,” said Dunn.

Kip Moore

In addition to his performance with Dunn, Eldredge takes the stage for his own show featuring songwriters Scooter Carusoe, Ross Copperman, Douglas, and Heather Morgan. Eldredge offers chart-topping hits from his debut album Bring You Back including “Beat of the Music,” “Mean To Me,” and “Don’t Ya.”

Moore, whose current release Wild Ones hit No. 2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart, performs an acoustic set with the help of fellow songwriters Brett James and The Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston.

Darius Rucker

Rucker is joined by songwriters Casey Beathard, Nathan Chapman, Chris DuBois, Ashley Gorley, Tim James, Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum, Clay Mills, Frank Rogers, and Rivers Rutherford. The group gives a performance filled with hits like “Homegrown Honey,” “Alright,” “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” and “Come Back Song.”

Rounding out the lineup for season six is Tyler. The stripped down, country-inspired set marks his CMA Songwriters Series debut and features stories behind the making of his first country single, “Love Is Your Name,” written by (and performed with) Lindsey Lee and Eric Paslay. Tyler also shares the stage with Nuno Bettencourt for “More Than Words” and the band Loving Mary for performances of “Jaded” and “Sweet Emotion.”

The sixth season of Front and Center is a production of Front and Center Entertainment, LLC in association with WLIW21 for WNET, and distributed by American Public Television.