Nashville-based Sound Healthcare, which aids in providing affordable healthcare to the creative community, has partnered with New York Life to offer financial and insurance services under the name Sound Healthcare & Financial. This marks the first time that New York Life has partnered with a Nashville firm.
Sound Healthcare’s range of services have included individual and true group health insurance, life insurance (term and permanent), Medicare supplement policies and more. Over the years, programs have been added for dental insurance, vision plans, critical illness/cancer plans, prescription help programs, and holistic consultation. The partnership will allow participants access to nearly every insurance and investment product offered by New York Life, including life insurance, long-term care insurance, and investment products for retirement income, investment annuities, mutual funds, tax savings and retirement plan services.
“We established Sound Healthcare with the aim of helping songwriters, musicians, artists and other creative types navigate the healthcare system to obtain affordable coverage,” said CEO and Sound Healthcare founder RJ Stillwell, who spent 15 years as a touring and studio musician, producer, artist manager and music publisher. “As we gained the trust of the music industry, clients started approaching us about long-term care, disability insurance and financial planning. We found that so many people in this community had very little knowledge about investing and were not at all prepared for retirement.
“Using the model of Sound Healthcare, we now have access to the greatest financial services and the most talented minds from the top-rated company in the world to create customized programs for the people we serve,” he continued. “We are using the same council, education and advocacy to motivate and inspire the creative community to start planning now for the future.”
Sound Healthcare and Financial has counseled many entertainment-related organizations and associations, including Americana Music Association, International Bluegrass Music Association, Leadership Music, Nashville Musicians AFM Local 257, Blues Foundation, Folk Alliance, The Songwriters Guild of America, Artist Growth and more. Clients also include Grammy, CMA, ACM and Americana Award winners.
For more information, visit soundhealthcare.org.

ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp brought campers from around the country to Nashville this week, for several days of activities and excursions around Music City. The residential camp has the dual purpose of studying Williams syndrome while providing music enrichment through performance and education.
The Swon Brothers stopped by the Wildhorse Saloon to spend time and swap stories with the campers. The Band Perry took part in a songwriting session. “What we love most about Country music is the storytelling,” said Kimberly Perry. The trio created the song “Bright Eyes,” with contributions from the campers.

Watch a clip of The Band Perry’s songwriting session below:

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SAE Institute Nashville Audio Technology Program graduate Ray “DJ Orig” Riddle has been added as a co-star on Big Smo, A&E Network’s new reality series that chronicles the developing career of country rapper Big Smo. The series debuted on June 11.
“We’d been shopping a pilot for the show for around a year, and we’re thrilled to be on A&E,” says Orig, who is also the co-producer of Big Smo’s debut album Kuntry Livin’ on Warner Brothers/Elektra Records (released June 3). “Viewers will see the development of Smo’s sound – which combines country, Southern rock, and hip-hop – and how he balances the complex demands of his work with his family responsibilities.”
Orig began to DJ in 1994, and met Smo in 1996. At the time, Orig had developed skills with a sampler, drum machine, and four-track tape recorder. Orig began his Audio Technology Program studies in 2005, where he learned additional recording skills. After graduation in 2006, he did DJ gigs around Nashville and did interviews at Nashville studios.
“In my interviews at Nashville studios, I was told the same thing: find a band or an artist and use any gear that you have to help them sound better,” says Orig. “I decided to take that advice and focus on producing Smo to make his ‘hick-hop’ vision a reality.”

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 The CRB board and CRS agenda committee recently enjoyed a special performance delivered by Red Bow recording artist, Chase Bryant. CRS 2015 will be held Feb. 25-27, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn.

Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert caused a stir at two recent awards shows, when they performed their new duet, “Somethin’ Bad,” during the Billboard Music Awards and the CMT Music Awards. Now, the feisty female singers have teamed up for a new video. Underwood and Lambert play on a familiar “good girl/bad girl” theme in the action-packed clip, with both donning dark wigs and prim outfits for their daytime office gigs. After hours, the duo has some not-so-legal plans, suiting up in black masks and bodysuits to steal a hefty sum of precious jewelry, and escape just before a fiery explosion.
Wednesday morning (June 25), CMT, MTV and VH1 simultaneously premiered the new clip for the song, which is the second single from Lambert’s album Platinum.

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Randy Houser saddles up in his forthcoming video clip for “Like A Cowboy,” which was directed by Dustin Rikert. Houser spent a week shooting the clip a various locations around Tucson, Ariz., including the Old Tucson studios, where westerns including Tombstone, Three Amigos, Arizona, and more were filmed.
The video’s cast includes William Shockley (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) and Tim Murphy (Sons of Anarchy), as well as 50 head of cattle, helping to bring to life an 1800s period piece.
“Like A Cowboy” will premiere on CMT and CMT.com on Saturday, June 28 at 9 a.m. CT.
The trailer for the clip can be seen below:

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Little Big Town premiered the video for their latest single, “Day Drinking,” Wednesday morning on people.com. The video was shot near Miami Beach, features the group using a Friday afternoon traffic jam as an excuse to leave their worries (and car) behind them and hit the beach a little early. Little Big Town’s sixth album, Painkiller, will release in fall 2014.