Pictured (Front row, L-R): Chip Petree (Petree Law), Alicia Pruitt (Director, A&R, WCM), Chris Stapleton, Ben Vaughn (EVP, A&R, WCM). (Back row, L-R): Steve Markland (VP, A&R, WCM), Matt Michiels (Production Manager, WCM), Blain Rhodes (Creative Coordinator, A&R, WCM), Phil May (VP & CM, WCM), Kris Wiatr (Wiatr & Associates)
(WCM), the music publishing arm of Warner Music Group, has signed a worldwide publishing agreement with top-charting songwriter and Mercury recording artist
Chris Stapleton. Effective immediately, Warner/Chappell will publish Stapleton’s complete songwriting catalog as well as his future work.
“Chris is that rare songwriter who has earned commercial and critical acclaim, along with the widespread admiration of his peers,” said
Ben Vaughn, Executive Vice President, Warner/Chappell Music Nashville. “He’s an exceptional storyteller, singer, and musician, who weaves together country, bluegrass, and rock into songs that are genuine and captivating. We’re proud and thrilled to be representing Chris’s entire body of work, and everyone at Warner/Chappell is looking forward to working with him.”
“I’m very happy to be joining the team at Warner/Chappell,” said Stapleton. “The fact that all my material will be together in one house is a huge plus, and I’m excited by their forward-thinking approach to publishing. I have a feeling we’re going to do great things together.”
The Kentucky-born son of a coal miner, Stapleton moved to Nashville in 2001. He has since scored four No. 1 country hits, including “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright” by
George Strait, “Come Back Song” by
Darius Rucker,” “Your Man” by
Josh Turner, and five-week chart-topper “Never Wanted Nothing More” by
Kenny Chesney. Most recently, he co-wrote
Luke Bryan’s “Drink A Beer.”
Stapleton has racked up over 170 tracks on albums by,
Adele, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, and many others, while his songwriting partners have included the likes of
Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, and
Peter Frampton. He has won six ASCAP Awards and has contributed to the soundtracks of several feature films, including
Cars 2 and
Valentine’s Day.
Stapleton has had a diverse performing career since arriving in Nashville, including stints as the lead singer and guitarist of the acclaimed, three-time Grammy-nominated bluegrass band
The SteelDrivers, and lead vocalist in the rock band
The Jompson Brothers. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his solo country debut for Mercury Records.
CRS "Team UMG at the Ryman" Lineup Announced
/by Jessica NicholsonGary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Easton Corbin, Billy Currington, Vince Gill, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Scotty McCreery, Kip Moore, Kacey Musgraves, David Nail, Jon Pardi, Eric Paslay, Darius Rucker and Josh Turner are among the performers this year.
“Team UMG always puts together an amazing lineup,” says CRS Executive Director Bill Mayne. “The show is definitely one of the seminar’s entertainment highlights and it is always popular among the attendees.”
The luncheon will commence at noon inside the Ryman Auditorium. This will be the fifth consecutive year the event is held at the historic venue.
Seminar registrants will receive a box lunch prior to the event.
Artist Action: Dolly Parton Inks With APA
/by Sarah SkatesDolly Parton has signed with APA for North American touring and personal appearances. Parton kicks off her Blue Smoke World Tour later this month with dates across the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and Europe. Her Blue Smoke CD is slated for release this May from Sony Masterworks.
Parton is also repped by Danny Nozell of Nashville-based CTK Management. Neil Warnock from The Agency Group represents Parton worldwide, excluding North America.
Danny Nozell, Dolly Parton and Steve Martin
• • •
The Band Perry is paying for the funerals of a family who died in a fire last week.
Eight members of the Watson family, including mother Nikki Watson and seven children ages 4 to 15, died in a fire at their home in Greenville, Ky. Father Chad Watson and an 11-year-old daughter survived and are being treated at Vanderbilt Medical Center. According to reports, the band also offered to pay hotel expenses for family members staying near the hospital.
Coincidentally, The Band Perry is from Greeneville, Tenn.
• • •
Blake Shelton performed at an event surrounding the Super Bowl on Friday, Jan. 31 where PepsiCo saluted veterans with a $1 million donation to the Bob Woodruff Foundation. The night was hosted by Jon Stewart at #PEPCITY in Bryant Park in New York City.
(L-R): Jon Stewart, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi, and Shelton
• • • •
Lady Antebellum surprised tourmate Kacey Musgraves backstage on Jan. 30 with a cake celebrating her two Grammy wins. They celebrated during a Take Me Downtown tour stop in Philadelphia, PA.
(L-R): Dave Haywood, Kacey Musgraves, Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley
Lyor Cohen's Company 300 Teams With Twitter
/by Sarah SkatesLyor Cohen delivers the keynote address at Midem.
Twitter has entered a partnership with 300, a new company started by music execs Lyor Cohen, Todd Moscowitz and Kevin Liles.
300, backed in part by Google, is a label and music rights company founded last year which will use a nimble infrastructure and online marketing as keys to its strategy.
Cohen shared news of the Twitter partnership, which aims to discover rising talent and the habits of music fans, during his keynote Sunday at Midem in Cannes, France. The companies hope to discover artists and songs sparking an early buzz, and yield an understanding of how fans communicate and react to music.
According to the New York Times, Twitter will share information not publicly available with 300, such as tweets’ location tags. 300 will help Twitter organize data and develop software that could be used by artists or labels.
“We’re going to create A&R tools to find artists early, and help develop them,” Cohen said at Midem. “I’m really happy to be working with them. Certainly the modern A&R business, we all are looking for talent in various places, and certainly Twitter is a terrific place to look at talent, just like YouTube. If you wanna get signed, I think you have to engage with Twitter, and of course YouTube. And we’ll be looking and trying to develop tools that the rest of the music community can utilize. That’s super-exciting for us.”
The company’s name is a reference to the 300 Spartans that fought against thousands of Persians in 480 BC. “It was a battle that changed the way wars are fought,” Cohen explained last year. “These guys found that if you were well synchronized, strategic, loyal with great planning and preparedness you could do much more with less and be highly effective.”
Mark Your Calendar – February 2014
/by Eric T. ParkerFebruary 18
MusicRow’s 12th Annual CRS Meet & Greet CountryBreakout Awards
February 19-21
February 21
25th annual PollStar Live awards show at the Ryman Auditorium
February 24
February 3
Jake Owen/Beachin’/RCA Nashville
Natalie Stovall And The Drive/Baby Come On With It/Hitshop Records
Parmalee/Close Your Eyes/Stoney Creek
Hunter Hayes/Invisible/Atlantic-WMN
Eli Young Band/Dust/Republic Nashville
Erica Nicole/I Listen To My Bad Girl
Lucy Hale/You Sound Good To Me/DMG Nashville-Bigger Picture
Darius Rucker/Miss You/Capitol
Blair Mathews/It’s About Us/Stoneyhill Records
Stephanie Grace/How’s That Workin’ For Ya/SMG
February 5
Miranda Lambert/Automatic/RCA Nashville
February 10
Adrianna Freeman/No More/AFM Entertainment
Downday/The Last Song/Render
Sherry Lynn/Girls Will Be Girls/Steal Heart
Scott Coner/Feels Like Friday/Reedy’s Dream-MRI-Red
SaraBeth/That’s The Sound/Circle S
February 17
Gloriana/Best Night Ever/Emblem-Warner Bros.-WAR
North 40/Tell Me Something Good/Rhymetown Entertainment
Stevie Lee Woods/Hey, What Do I Know/Krazy Town Records
Clinton Gregory feat. Collin Raye/Some Real Good People/Melody Roundup Records
Homer Hart/The Good Drugs/Integrity Nashville
February 24
Lexi Larsen/You Can Leave/OWC Records
February 4
Eric Paslay/Eric Paslay/EMI Records Nashville
Suzy Bogguss/Lucky/Loyal Dutchess Records
Moonshine Bandits/Calicountry/Average Joes Entertainment-Suburban Noize Records
The Haden Triplets/The Haden Triplets/Third Man Records
February 11
Eric Church/The Outsiders/EMI Nashville
Frankie Ballard/Sunshine & Whiskey/Warner Bros.
Irene Kelley/Pennsylvania Coal/Patio Records
Shania Twain/The Discovery Of Eilleen Twain/MVD Entertainment Group [DVD/CD]
February 18
Cole Swindell/Cole Swindell/Warner Bros. Records
February 25
Dierks Bentley/Riser/Capitol Nashville
Nickel Creek Reveals New Song, Tour
/by Eric T. ParkerNickel Creek
Bluegrass trio Nickel Creek kicked back to life today (Feb. 3) with the promise of a new album, a new song – “Destination” (listen below) – and a string of eight tour dates posted to their official website.
The announcement was echoed on the band’s recently created Twitter account. Two Nashville dates (April 18-19) at the Ryman Auditorium go on sale tomorrow (Feb. 4), at 10 a.m. local time. Dates also include New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., Oakland, and at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
The trio has been on a hiatus since the conclusion of the Farewell (For Now) tour, which ended Nov. 29, 2007 with two performances at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
During the hiatus, Thile was named a 2012 MacArthur Fellow while releasing multiple projects including a T Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack for Inside Llewyn Davis with his band, Punch Brothers. Sara Watkins and her brother Sean have, for years, held an informal residency in Los Angeles. Nonesuch released Sara Watkins, in 2009 and she has toured as a solo artist and as guest fiddle player/vocalist with the Decemberists, for Garrison Keillor‘s tour and broadcasts, and recently opened for Jackson Browne—joined by Sean. Sean Watkins formed the acoustic folk/pop band Fiction Family (alongside Jon Foreman of the band Switchfoot) and assembled the eight-member Americana group WPA (Greg Leisz, Benmont Tench, Pete Thomas, Davey Faragher, Glen Philips, Luke Bulla, and Sara Watkins), in addition to co-producing its self-titled record. This year, Watkins will release All I Do Is Lie, his first solo record in eight years.
LifeNotes: Trace Adkins' Father Dies
/by Jessica NicholsonTrace Adkins left rehab recently to be with his ailing father. The singer-songwriter had entered the facility last month after a heated exchange with an impersonator while on a Country music cruise ship. Adkins’ representatives released a statement saying that the singer had a setback in his battle with alcoholism, and had taken his first drink in more than a decade.
Is Bobby Bones Quitting Country Radio?
/by Jessica Nicholson[Update 4:13 p.m. CT]
(MusicRow) – Skip the fuss, he’s staying on radio.
Bobby Bones shared a message of his decision with industry and fans via YouTube.
[Previous story, 3:30 p.m. CT]
Bobby Bones, host of the Premiere Radio Networks syndicated radio show The Bobby Bones Show, announced that he may be leaving the show–and radio. Bones, who is at CCM+E Country WSIX in Nashville, posted the following letter on his Twitter site:
“As you might have heard, or read on the internet, I’ve been offered a “job” outside of radio that has me reconsidering my decision to do mornings.
I love radio. I love the listeners of the show even more. And the culture we have created of “Keepin’ It Real”. That’s why I’m addressing this now and giving you all a heads up. I’m going to get off twitter for the next few days because of the rumors.
On Monday, before 3p, I need to let my agent know whether or not I’m accepting this offer. If I do, that will be the end of the Bobby Bones Show.
And to prove this is NOT a ratings stunt, I will not be making my announcement on my show. I will think it over this weekend – and on Monday at noon, I will go live on our local affiliate WSIX to explain the situation, and tell you all what I’ve decided to do.
I never wanted money to influence this sort of decision, but sometimes you can’t overlook the impact it can have. And I have been given the chance to do something that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time.
I will be letting you all know everything that’s happening at NOON CST on our Nashville affiliate WSIX. I get ZERO ratings for noon, and I’m not requesting that any other stations carry it. IF they want to, they can.
I just wanted to give you guys a heads up because you are the most loyal listeners I have ever seen or heard of anywhere. You have created us.
I will think long and hard about it. I will talk with friends and have conversations with Jay Shannon and Michael Bryan, as well as Rod Phillips – People who have been important to me, both professionally and personally.
Again, this isn’t a ratings stunt. And I could have dragged this out for a long time. But I have chosen not to. However, it’s starting to reach the message boards, etc. so I felt like I needed to address it before other people do. You all, the loyal listeners that got me to where I am today, deserve as much.
Monday. Noon Central. On WSIX.
Thanks B”
Smith Launches Artist Management Training Course
/by Jessica NicholsonMike Smith
Mike Smith, president of Michael Smith and Associates, has launched the 2014 edition of his Artist Management Training Course. The course designed for those seeking a career as an artist manager, as well as for artists who want a better understanding of the industry and proven tools to move themselves forward.
This on-demand video teaching program features Smith and Kyle Johnson (Artist Manager with Michael Smith and Associates) talking with a number of music industry veterans including artist manager Jim Chaffee, John Mays (Centricity Music), Charles Dorris (Charles Dorris & Associates), Jan Smith (Behind the Voice Agency), Brian Mayes (Nashville Publicity Group), Brian Smith (Turning Point Media), Beth Hood-Fromm (OMG Publicity), performance coach Tom Jackson, social media expert Brody Harper (Skorinc) and many more.
“There has never been anything done like this before,” explains Smith, who has guided the careers of Restless Heart, Jaci Velasquez, Salvador, Chonda Pierce, Yancy, Denver & the Mile High Orchestra, Go Fish, comedian Brad Stine and more. “We have put together a massive on-line video training course for the entertainment industry. Using state of the art teaching technology and interviews with some of the most influential people in the business, this course is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of every aspect of artist development. This is for serious folks who want to learn how to succeed in the industry as Artist Managers. I believe that passing on my years of experience, and all of the secrets to my success, will provide a thorough education for those who feel called to this field.”
New for 2014, Michael Smith and Associates will also be hosting a conference on artist management in Franklin, Tenn., on June 6. More details will be announced soon. Registration for the 2014 Artist Management Training Course closes on March 1. For more information, visit the Michael Smith & Associates website.
Third Man Records To Release 'The Haden Triplets' in February
/by Jessica NicholsonVocalist and violinist Petra has spent time as a member of rock bands That Dog and the Decemberists. Rachel has worked in a collection of rock bands including That Dog, while cellist Tanya is better known for her puppetry and work in animation.
The album features covers of Monroe’s “Memories of Mother and Dad,” The Louvin Brothers’ “A Tiny Broken Heart,” Pierce’s “Slowly I’m Falling,” and more.
Track Listing for The Haden Triplets:
1. Slowly I’m Falling
2. Single Girl, Married Girl
3. Voice From On High
4. Memories Of Mother And Dad
5. Raining
6. Making Believe
7. When I Stop Dreaming
8. My Baby’s Gone
9. Billy Bee
10. A Tiny Broken Heart
11. On A Lonesome Night
12. Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?
13. Oh Take Me Back
The project will be available on amazon.com.
Chris Stapleton Inks Deal with Warner/Chappell Music
/by Jessica NicholsonPictured (Front row, L-R): Chip Petree (Petree Law), Alicia Pruitt (Director, A&R, WCM), Chris Stapleton, Ben Vaughn (EVP, A&R, WCM). (Back row, L-R): Steve Markland (VP, A&R, WCM), Matt Michiels (Production Manager, WCM), Blain Rhodes (Creative Coordinator, A&R, WCM), Phil May (VP & CM, WCM), Kris Wiatr (Wiatr & Associates)
Warner/Chappell Music (WCM), the music publishing arm of Warner Music Group, has signed a worldwide publishing agreement with top-charting songwriter and Mercury recording artist Chris Stapleton. Effective immediately, Warner/Chappell will publish Stapleton’s complete songwriting catalog as well as his future work.
“Chris is that rare songwriter who has earned commercial and critical acclaim, along with the widespread admiration of his peers,” said Ben Vaughn, Executive Vice President, Warner/Chappell Music Nashville. “He’s an exceptional storyteller, singer, and musician, who weaves together country, bluegrass, and rock into songs that are genuine and captivating. We’re proud and thrilled to be representing Chris’s entire body of work, and everyone at Warner/Chappell is looking forward to working with him.”
“I’m very happy to be joining the team at Warner/Chappell,” said Stapleton. “The fact that all my material will be together in one house is a huge plus, and I’m excited by their forward-thinking approach to publishing. I have a feeling we’re going to do great things together.”
The Kentucky-born son of a coal miner, Stapleton moved to Nashville in 2001. He has since scored four No. 1 country hits, including “Love’s Gonna Make It Alright” by George Strait, “Come Back Song” by Darius Rucker,” “Your Man” by Josh Turner, and five-week chart-topper “Never Wanted Nothing More” by Kenny Chesney. Most recently, he co-wrote Luke Bryan’s “Drink A Beer.”
Stapleton has racked up over 170 tracks on albums by, Adele, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, and many others, while his songwriting partners have included the likes of Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, and Peter Frampton. He has won six ASCAP Awards and has contributed to the soundtracks of several feature films, including Cars 2 and Valentine’s Day.
Stapleton has had a diverse performing career since arriving in Nashville, including stints as the lead singer and guitarist of the acclaimed, three-time Grammy-nominated bluegrass band The SteelDrivers, and lead vocalist in the rock band The Jompson Brothers. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his solo country debut for Mercury Records.