Cindy McLean Finke
CMT has promoted Cindy McLean Finke to Vice President, Program Publicity and Communications, while Stephanie Molina joins the network as Vice President, Program Publicity for the West Coast office. Both will report to Lisa Chader, Sr. VP, Corporate Communications, CMT. Finke is based at the network’s headquarters in Nashville, and Molina is based in CMT’s West Coast office.
“Cindy and Stephanie make a fantastic and experienced team, and are uniquely suited to lead CMT’s press efforts at a time of lightning-fast growth at the network,” said Chader. “Both are well-respected within the entertainment industry and amongst their peers, and I’m thrilled to have them in leadership roles.”
Finke joined the CMT Corporate Communications team as Senior Publicist in 2002. Since then she has led publicity efforts for such shows as the critically-acclaimed series, CMT Crossroads; CMT Music Awards; CMT Artists of the Year; films under the CMT Original Movies franchise, and more. In addition to leading the efforts on most Nashville and music-based shows and events, she will handle publicity for Dog and Beth: On The Hunt and the network’s first animated project, Bounty Hunters, premiering later this summer.
Prior to CMT, Finke was a publicist at E! Entertainment Television and The Style Network, creating and managing publicity campaigns for primetime series and specials including The E! True Hollywood Story, Celebrity Homes and Nigella Bites. Finke has also worked in the publicity department for Showtime Networks Inc.
Stephanie Molina
Leading original programming publicity efforts on the West Coast, Molina will work closely with Jayson Dinsmore, EVP Programming and Development, and his team. Molina comes to CMT from Rogers & Cowan, where she was VP of Television, handling such accounts as Food Network, Oxygen, G4, BET, 19 Entertainment, Electric Entertainment, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe as well as representation of Nigel Lythgoe Productions (NLP) in conjunction with Shine America.
Prior to Rogers & Cowan, Molina was with PR agency, BWR, where she also represented American Idol, and So You Think You Can Dance, and its executive producers, as well as developed and executed the plan for AEG and 19 Entertainment’s corresponding nationwide tours for seven seasons. She has also worked with Bunim/Murray and Twentieth Century Fox’s syndicated court shows.
Country Music Hall of Fame Exhibit To Spotlight 'Nashville'
/by Jessica NicholsonArtifacts on display in “Nashville: Like a Country Song” include:
-A metallic-toned cocktail dress, with bronze paillette overlay and copper sequins and beading, and snakeskin-look platform peep-toe shoes, worn by Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) when she performed “Wrong Song” with Juliette Barnes.
-A beaded, strapless mini-dress, worn by Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) when she and Rayna Jaymes performed “Wrong Song.”
-A 2009 Gretsch G6121-1955 Chet Atkins solid body guitar and personalized strap played by Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten) in the pilot episode of Nashville.
-A Boho-inspired black lace dress with silky skirt, worn by Scarlett O’Connor (Clare Bowen).
-A Gibson LG-2 guitar belonging to Gunnar Scott (Sam Palladio).
-Framed art featured in the episode “You Win Again,” in which fictional record label Edgehill Republic throws a party to celebrate the platinum success of the Rayna Jaymes-Juliette Barnes duet “Wrong Song.”
-A script of the Nashville pilot episode, autographed by cast members Powers Boothe, Bowen, Britton, Eric Close, Esten, Jonathan Jackson, Palladio, Panettiere and Robert Ray Wisdom.
CMT Adds Two Program Publicity Vice Presidents
/by Jessica NicholsonCindy McLean Finke
CMT has promoted Cindy McLean Finke to Vice President, Program Publicity and Communications, while Stephanie Molina joins the network as Vice President, Program Publicity for the West Coast office. Both will report to Lisa Chader, Sr. VP, Corporate Communications, CMT. Finke is based at the network’s headquarters in Nashville, and Molina is based in CMT’s West Coast office.
“Cindy and Stephanie make a fantastic and experienced team, and are uniquely suited to lead CMT’s press efforts at a time of lightning-fast growth at the network,” said Chader. “Both are well-respected within the entertainment industry and amongst their peers, and I’m thrilled to have them in leadership roles.”
Finke joined the CMT Corporate Communications team as Senior Publicist in 2002. Since then she has led publicity efforts for such shows as the critically-acclaimed series, CMT Crossroads; CMT Music Awards; CMT Artists of the Year; films under the CMT Original Movies franchise, and more. In addition to leading the efforts on most Nashville and music-based shows and events, she will handle publicity for Dog and Beth: On The Hunt and the network’s first animated project, Bounty Hunters, premiering later this summer.
Prior to CMT, Finke was a publicist at E! Entertainment Television and The Style Network, creating and managing publicity campaigns for primetime series and specials including The E! True Hollywood Story, Celebrity Homes and Nigella Bites. Finke has also worked in the publicity department for Showtime Networks Inc.
Stephanie Molina
Leading original programming publicity efforts on the West Coast, Molina will work closely with Jayson Dinsmore, EVP Programming and Development, and his team. Molina comes to CMT from Rogers & Cowan, where she was VP of Television, handling such accounts as Food Network, Oxygen, G4, BET, 19 Entertainment, Electric Entertainment, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe as well as representation of Nigel Lythgoe Productions (NLP) in conjunction with Shine America.
Prior to Rogers & Cowan, Molina was with PR agency, BWR, where she also represented American Idol, and So You Think You Can Dance, and its executive producers, as well as developed and executed the plan for AEG and 19 Entertainment’s corresponding nationwide tours for seven seasons. She has also worked with Bunim/Murray and Twentieth Century Fox’s syndicated court shows.
Artist Snapshots (3-26-13)
/by Jessica NicholsonRestless Heart visited Larry’s Country Diner recently to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary.
Photo Credit: Phil Johnson
• • •
At Saturday’s Grand Ole Opry, Arista Nashville’s Kristen Kelly is shown here welcoming “Walmart singer” Kayla Sloan to Music City. Kayla – a Logan, W.V., Walmart employee who sings to shoppers at the store and has become an internet sensation – made her debut at the Opry, and received a standing ovation.
Kristen Kelly with Kayla Sloan
• • •
Brett Eldredge (Atlantic/WMN) stopped into St. Louis on Taylor Swift’s Red Tour. He visited with Danny Montana of WIL.
Pictured (L-R): WMN’s Mark Niederhauser, Brett Eldredge, and WIL’s Danny Montana.
Industry Ink (3-26-13)
/by Jessica NicholsonIndustry awards, including Venue of the Year, will be formally presented September 10 at the Ryman during the ACM Honors event.
• • •
For more information about the firm, please contact (615) 600-4741.
• • •
March Music, Inc. and LioLamb Music are under new ownership. Staff for the companies include President Kimberly Mullen (also of Granite Music Group/Rock Solid Granite Music), David Allen Haggard (Creative Director), Chad Mullen (Sr. Director of Marketing) and Shelby Mullen (Administrative Director). March Music Inc., LioLamb Music and Granite Music have also welcomed new staff writer Corey Lee Barker to their roster. The Granite Group can be reached here.
• • •
Warner Music Nashville’s Northeast Regional Promotion representative Katie Bright and husband Grant welcomed their first child, William Leo Christenson, on March 21 at 8:49 p.m. Christenson weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz and was 21 inches long. Congratulate Katie here.
ACM Opens Voting for Entertainer of the Year, New Artist of the Year
/by Jessica NicholsonFan voting for Entertainer of the Year and New Artist of the Year is now open for the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music awards. Fans can vote at voteACM.com.
The awards will be given out during the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, to be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 7, beginning at 8 p.m. ET on the CBS Television Network.
Entertainer of the Year voting (powered by the Ram Truck Brand) will give fans the opportunity to vote for the Academy’s top honor. Nominees include Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton and Taylor Swift. ACM New Artist of the Year presented by Kohls nominees include Brantley Gilbert, Jana Kramer and Florida Georgia Line.
Nominees are doing everything they can to garner votes. Swift, up for Entertainer of the Year, recently posted a Vote ACM photo online, featuring an image of Swift as a 6-year-old.
Gilbert, a New Artist of the Year nominee, also posted an artistic photo encouraging fans to vote.
Kramer posted a video encouraging her fans’ votes for New Artist of the Year.
http://youtu.be/fLk2IRLp-hI
Florida Georgia Line also posted a series of videos reminding fans to vote for the duo as New Artist of the Year.
Music Films at the Nashville Film Festival
/by Sarah SkatesSelect Music Films
Beware of the Dogs (Director: Jeff Kennedy) The Sheepdogs were thousands of dollars in debt and struggling to break out of their native Saskatchewan when their demo won a contest that landed them on the cover of Rolling Stone. Featuring Kid Rock and Jimmy Fallon and live performances by the band. World Premiere.
FOLK (Director: Sara Terry) FOLK follows singer-songwriters of different ages Raina Rose, Hilary Claire Adamson and Dirk Hamilton. World Premiere.
Good Ol’ Freda (Director: Ryan White) Freda Kelly, The Beatles’ loyal secretary, tells her stories for the first time in 50 years.
Jim Lauderdale: The King of Broken Hearts (Director: Jeremy Dylan) Grammy-winner Lauderdale is an Americana stalwart. His story is told through interviews with him, Elvis Costello, Buddy Miller, John Oates, Jerry Douglas, and many more.
Muscle Shoals (Director: Greg ‘Freddy’ Camalier) Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Percy Sledge, Gregg Allman, Clarence Carter, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Bono, and others bear witness to the importance of the ‘Muscle Shoals Sound’ and FAME Studios.
Music Wood (Director: Maxine Trump) Famed guitar-makers travel to remote Southeast Alaska to negotiate with Native American loggers.
This Ain’t No Mouse Music! (Director: Chris Simon, Maureen Gosling) Chris Strachwitz (Arhoolie Records) takes viewers on a hip-shaking stomp from Texas to New Orleans, Cajun country to Appalachia, searching for the musical soul of America.
Very Extremely Dangerous (Director: Paul Duane, Nation: Ireland) Jerry McGill slipped from a rock ’n’ roll career into a life of crime, robbing banks and running from the FBI while touring and appearing in movies.
Presentation Films
Opening Night Selection (April 18): Mud (Director: Jeff Nichols) – Starring Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Sparks. An outlaw on the run searches for his true love and a clean getaway.
Closing Night Selection (April 25): Unfinished Song (Director: Paul Andrew Williams) – Starring Terrence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave, this film about seniors joining a singing group led by a charming and youthful director is said to make viewers laugh and cry.
Dead Man’s Burden (Director: Jared Moshe) – Starring Clare Bowen (from Nashville TV show). Set in New Mexico during the Civil War, this violent Western depicts a family in the lethal grip of its own civil war.
Hits from the Sundance Film Festival: The Kings of Summer, Sightseers, The Spectatular Now and Stories We Tell.
Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Film: Kon-Tiki.
Pistol Party Presses Plastic
/by Robert K OermannThat’s a saying people used to have about the vicissitudes of the music business. For the Pistol Annies, the slogan was revived via a listening party staged at United Record Pressing on Monday (March 25).
“We got to see our album actually being pressed, which is cool,” said group member Miranda Lambert at the event. “This is an album that’s meant to be vinyl.”
Guests toured the record-pressing plant, which was making gold-colored vinyl LPs of the group’s new Annie Up as they entered. In the event space upstairs, they then listened to selections from it.
“This place reminds us of why we got into the music business,” said Sony Chairman & CEO Gary Overton. “It was for those big, round things with grooves.”
Annie Up producers Frank Liddell, Chuck Ainlay and Glenn Worf presided. Liddell said that the female trio’s music had grown “exponentially” since its first album. Worf described the new album as “a brave record and a beautiful record.” Ainlay said it was in stark contrast to, “this era of paint-by-numbers records.”
“Their sense of artistry is astonishing, making their music on their own terms,” added Worf. “They’re among the most fearless people I’ve ever known. These three women have more balls than all of our male country artists.”
The producers first played the finger-popping, bluesy “I Feel a Sin Comin’ On,” which opens the album. The acoustic rocker “Damn Thing” features a throbbing upright bass and washboard percussion. “Girls Like Us” is a husky femme ballad. The thumping “Unhappily Married” drew audience chuckles with its tongue-in-cheek lyrics. The sweet, album-closing “I Hope You’re the End of My Story” is a waltz-time romance.
After the tunes, Pistol Annies members Ashley Monroe, Lambert and Angaleena Presley greeted the guests. “Did y’all like it?” asked Monroe. She was answered with a resounding cheer. “You’re all invited to my house for a jukebox party,” offered Presley.
Ainlay told the crowd that the album was recorded with the three women sitting in a circle facing one another. “It was essentially that easy and that fun,” he said. “Go out and sell this record for us, so that we get to go back and do this again.”
As guests departed, they were presented with the finished, gold-colored, vinyl copies of the album.
MusicRowPics: Second Annual Rising Women on the Row
/by Caitlin RantalaThe second annual MusicRow “Rising Women on the Row” breakfast at Maggiano’s (Friday, March 22) sponsored by City National Bank gathered folks from throughout the community to schmooze and to honor five women who are making their marks on the Nashville music industry.
The honorees this year were UMPG’s Cyndi Forman, Creative Nation’s Beth Laird, Monarch Publicity’s Cindy Heath, the CMA’s Brandi Simms and UMG’s Cindy Mabe.
See photos from the event below.
[slide]
George Strait To Release 'Love Is Everything' May 14
/by Jessica NicholsonIn the midst of his two-year final U.S. tour, The Cowboy Rides Away Tour, Strait recently set an all-time attendance record at Reliant Center when he closed out this year’s Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, performing to a crowd of 80,020 fans. The tour has so far sold out 16 of 16 venues played.
‘Love Is Everything’ track listing:
1. I Got A Car
2. Give It All We Got Tonight
3. Blue Melodies
4. I Just Can’t Go On Dying Like This
5. I Thought I Heard My Heart Sing
6. That’s What Breaking Hearts Do
7. When Love Comes Around Again
8. The Night Is Young
9. Sittin’ On The Fence
10. I Believe
11. Love Is Everything
12. You Don’t Know What You’re Missing
13. When The Credits Roll
Artist Updates (3-25-13)
/by Jessica NicholsonKatie Armiger was recently invited to become an honorary “Friends and Family” member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Pictured (L-R): Rachel Weingartner (Membership Manager, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum), Pamela Johnson (Vice President of Development, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum), Karen Krieschen (Cold River Records), Jay Orr (Vice President, Programs), Erica Johnson (Cold River Records), and Katie Armiger.
• • •
RED Bow Records’ Rachel Farley stepped onto the famous Grand Ole Opry stage on Friday (March 15) for the first time in her musical career. The evening was quite surreal for Farley, considering it was only six years prior that she visited the Opry as a spectator to see one of her musical idols, Martina McBride, during her very first trip to Nashville.
“The first step in that circle, you always hear people talk about it, but wow,” Farley told America’s Opry Weekend immediately following her performance. “Wow, I mean, you just had to take a deep breath and take it in. It was amazing.”
Photo 1: Pictured (L-R): Shelley Hargis, Michael Knox, Rachel Farley, Pete Fisher. Photo 2: Rachel Farley makes her Grand Ole Opry debut.
• • •
Event proceeds support educational programs and outreach to over 500 kids, ages 5 to 18, served annually at the two Williamson County Club locations (Fairview & Franklin). Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee operates five Club locations in both Davidson and Williamson Counties and serves over 2,000 kids total annually. More information can be found at www.SteakAndBurgerDinner.com.
• • •
• • •
Collin Raye, Mark Wills, Jim Ed Brown, Jan Howard, Eddy Raven and David Ball provided their support to the newly launched HonorOne Campaign by recording public service announcements and detailing their personal experiences with the military.
and women and their families. For each $10 spent at HonorOne.org, the supporter will receive a God Bless the USA Reminder Coin. 100 percent of the profits are donated to the best military charities, including those that provide vital family and post-traumatic stress disorder counseling for soldiers returning from the battlefield. For more information, or to support the HonorOneCampaign, please visit honorone.org.
The PSAs challenge Americans to make a pledge of $10 to the organization which assists service men