Phil Vassar and LBT Raise $100,000 At Benefit Concert

/by

L-R: Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town, Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town, Phil Vassar, Kenny Shelton - PD of WYYD, Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town, Jimi Westbrook of Little Big Town and Kayce Shelton

Phil Vassar recruited friends Little Big Town for a sold out concert last week in his hometown Lynchburg, VA to benefit the Miller Home. Together they raised over $100,000 for the safe haven for young girls.

••••••
Tracy Lawrence is hosting the 1st Annual Golf For A Cure Charity Golf Classic on Monday, May 2 benefitting Susan G. Komen Greater Nashville. Lawrence will be joined by Darryl Worley, Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down), Ira Dean, Keith Anderson, Bryan White, Matt Gary, Ty Brown (The Bachelorette) and more at the event at Five Oaks Golf & Country Club in Lebanon, TN. Details at www.tracylawrence.com. For information about sponsorship opportunities or to get involved, contact Tournament Director Joshua Lykins at 615-995-9316.
••••••
The Music City Tennis Invitational will be held April 30-May 1 at the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr., Tennis Center at Vanderbilt University. Organizers are seeking newcomers and old friends who want to play tennis and raise money for the Center for Child Development at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. The tournament is open to all levels. Register at www.musiccitytennis.com. Last year MCTI proudly donated $47,552.64 to the Center.
MCTI will also host a songwriter showcase at the Bluebird Café on Thursday, April 21 at 9:00 p.m. featuring James Slater, Bekka Bramlett, and Greg Barnhill. Reservations are required at www.bluebirdcafe.com.
••••••
The Colon Cancer Alliance’s Blue Note Fund, spearheaded by producer/artist/musician Charlie Kelley, recently awarded more than $31,000 to 104 families with loved ones with colon cancer.
••••••
The Foundation for Bluegrass Music distributed $20,000 in funds to charitable public programs. Among the recipients are the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY to support programs celebrating the 100th birthday of Bill Monroe in 2011.

Natalie Kilgore Leaving BMLG To Launch Division of GPJ

/by


Natalie Kilgore


Natalie Kilgore is leaving her post as Head of Publicity for the Big Machine Label Group to create and lead a new Public Relations Division for George P. Johnson’s Entertainment Marketing Group.
GPJ is a premier experience and event marketing agency working with brands including Coca Cola, RAM, Swarovski, Nissan, Blackberry and the Olympics. In the past year, it has worked with Jason Aldean, Zac Brown Band, Jewel, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, wil.i.am, and Stevie Wonder.
Kilgore says, “BMLG has been my life over the last four years and is comprised of some of the hardest working and most talented individuals I’ve known. I have the utmost love for Scott, the phenomenal staff and its amazing artists. However, I was offered an extraordinary opportunity that I couldn’t refuse…GPJ’s Andre Gaccetta is one of the most brilliant, innovative and tireless forces in this business and, together with his amazing team, has emerged as a leader in the changing landscape of artist and entertainment marketing. I am ecstatic to be joining the GPJ family and look forward to working with my Music Row family on exciting new opportunities.”
Erin Burr and Nikki Burns will helm the BMLG Publicity Dept until a replacement is named. They can be reached at Erin.Burr@bigmachinemail.com and Nikki.Burns@bigmachinemail.com.
Kilgore’s last day at Big Machine is today (4/13). Until she is in place at GPJ, she can reached at NothingButNAT@live.com.
The Nashville office of George P. Johnson is located at 4000 Centre Pointe Drive, La Vergne, TN 37086. Phone: 615-768-3200

Artists On Stage and Screen

/by

Gamma Blast Director/Editor Jeff Johnson directed the video for Billy Currington’s No. 1 “Let Me Down Easy,” capturing footage of the singer on and offstage as part of Kenny Chesney’s Goin’ Coastal tour to make the finished product. Johnson has also directed projects for Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Josh Groban, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and more. As a Director of Photography and Editor, his work includes Carrie Underwood, Timbaland, CNN, and more.
• • • • •
Good Housekeeping’s “Shine On” event to celebrate the contributions of women throughout history took place yesterday (4/12) in New York City. Featuring performers Trisha Yearwood, Eve, Lee Ann Womack, K’Naan, and Frangela, as well as guests Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Martha Stewart, Heather Graham and more along with host Rebecca Romijn, the event was a benefit for DC’s National Women’s History Museum. Womack performed “I Hope You Dance” and Yearwood took on the James Brown classic “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” with an all female band.
• • • •

Photo credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBC


RCA Nashville songstress Sara Evans (pictured at right) appeared on the April 12 edition of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where she performed her Gold-certified Top-10 hit, “A Little Bit Stronger,” from her just-released album Stronger.
• • • • •
Trace Adkins will serve as a guest judge on this week’s episode of CMT’s Next Superstar, which airs Friday (4/15) at 8 pm CT. Contestants will be given their second challenge where they will have to perform, in trios, on Nashville’s Lower Broadway for tips. The trio with the least tips will have to sing to survive, and one more contestant will be eliminated. The premiere of CMT’s Next Superstar last week (4/8) featured actress Kristin Chenoweth guest judging, and contestant Brian Smith went home.

Music Council Partners With Entrepreneur Center

/by

(L-R) Janet Miller, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; Butch Spyridon, Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau; Nashville Mayor Karl Dean; Tawn Albright, Rockhouse Partners; Joe Galante, former chairman, Sony BMG Nashville; Mary Ann McCready, Flood Bumstead McCready & McCarthy; and Michael Burcham, Entrepreneur Center. Photo: Judith Hill


The Nashville Music Council and Nashville Entrepreneur Center have launched a partnership to provide direct support to local start-ups in music, digital media and entertainment. The partnership includes a formalized agreement to work together to nurture and support business ideas with the potential to impact the digital media and music entertainment sector.
“Cities seeking to grow and prosper in the 21st century have to support innovation and entrepreneurship in key industries,” said Mayor Karl Dean at an April 12 event. “The music industry, in particular, is ripe for new ideas and new business models that will help shape its transition into the digital age. This partnership between the Music Council and the Entrepreneur Center will help ensure that the future leader and leading ideas of the music industry are being cultivated right here in Nashville.”
Led by Vanderbilt faculty member and accomplished business leader Michael Burcham, Nashville’s Entrepreneur Center is an incubator for ideas and business start-ups targeting four distinct areas for local growth: health care, technology, social enterprise and digital media & entertainment. Since its official launch in the summer of 2010 with private and public support, the EC now encompasses more than 8,000 square feet of physical space and a staff of successful industry leaders. The EC is the “front door” for new entrepreneurs, helping them navigate the available options and resources.
The new joint initiative is multi-faceted. It includes events held by the EC for the Music Council where entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to obtain valuable executive-level interaction and feedback on business plan presentations. The EC will also sponsor a formal mentoring program for the Music Council that will pair an industry leader with a start-up(s) venture. Four experienced and successful mentors have been elected to kick off the official mentor program:
>>Co-founder and Managing Partner of Rockhouse Partners Tawn Albright
>>ASCAP President Tim DuBois
>>Former Chairman of Sony Music Nashville Joe Galante
>>Entrepreneur in Residence of Claritas Capital Mark Montgomery
Have a start-up idea?
Requests for meeting and applications can be obtained via the EC website, www.entrepreneurcenter.com, or through email at connect@entrepreneurcenter.com.
“The music and entertainment industry is an entrepreneurial business,” said Mary Ann McCready, partner at Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy Inc. and co-chair of the Nashville Music Council. “It makes complete sense for the Music Council to support its local entrepreneurs, and the EC is a great vehicle for doing this.”

Ashton Shepherd Sets Sophomore Release

/by

It’s been three years since Ashton Shepherd released her debut album to promising critical acclaim. Now, she is heading into her sophomore album for MCA Nashville with rising single “Look It Up” leading the way (No. 19 on MusicRow’s Country Breakout Chart). It is the first song she recorded for the new project and has become the fastest-rising hit of her career.
Her second album, Where Country Grows, will be released July 12. She wrote or co-wrote 8 of the 10 songs on the project, teaming with top-notch tunesmiths like Dean Dillon, Dale Dodson, Bobby Pinson and Troy Jones. She also wrote two of the album’s most powerful songs “I’m Just a Woman” and “Rory’s Radio” by herself.
Shepherd reunited with producer Buddy Cannon for the latest album. The two worked together on her 2008 debut, Sounds So Good.
The Alabama native will perform the national anthem at the Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Talladega, AL on Sunday, April 17, set to be nationally televised on FOX.
The album isn’t the only new thing Shepherd has in the works—she’s expecting her second child this fall.

Aldean To Perform On "Idol"

/by

Jason Aldean will team up with Kelly Clarkson to perform their No. 1 hit “Don’t You Wanna Stay” on Fox’s American Idol tomorrow (4/14) 7 pm CT. Later in the evening, Aldean will perform his new single “Dirt Road Anthem” on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on CBS.
“Don’t You Wanna Stay” has now been certified platinum for digital sales over one million. Aldean’s massive My Kinda Party tour has been extended through August, and heads to the Northeast for a handful of dates at the end of April. See his website for full tour itinerary.

Aldean headlined Country Thunder in Florence, AZ last Friday (4/8). Pictured (L to R): Broken Bow's Jim Malito, KMLE’s Drew Bland, Jason Aldean, KMLE’s Jeff Garrison.

Artist News Wednesday

/by

John Michael Montgomery


>>Danville, KY native John Michael Montgomery became one of the newest members of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame recently, inducted by brother Eddie Montgomery, of the country duo Montgomery Gentry, at a ceremony in Lexington, KY.
 
>>Kris Kristofferson will receive the Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) 2011 Career Achievement Award when the Festival presented by Nissan takes place April 14-21 at the Regal Green Hills Stadium 16. Kristofferson will be presented with the award before the Friday, April 15, 8:00 p.m. spotlight screening of Bloodworth, in which the actor portrays a disgruntled and estranged father and musician returning to his family after 40 years of absence. Chely Wright will be in attendance for the Friday, April 15, 5:30 p.m. sneak preview screening of the documentary Wish Me Away. The documentary, by directors Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf, follows Wright leading up to and after her coming out as openly gay. For more details about the Film Festival, please visit http://www.nashvillefilmfestival.org.
 

Pictured during Friday night’s pre-hunt festivities are Beddingfield (l) and Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam (r).


>>Rebel Dawg Records artist Eric Lee Beddingfield took part in the 10th Annual Tennessee Governor’s One Shot Turkey Hunt benefiting the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Foundation in Pulaski, Tennessee recently. Participants were paired with a guide and given one opportunity to bag a bird. ELB came away empty handed, but he did get to perform his “The Gospel According to Jones” hit for the 1,000 or so attendees of the banquet that evening.
 
>>Chris Young is preparing to make his second visit to entertain U.S. troops stationed overseas, as part of the Stars For Stripes tour. Young will embark on the PIECE OF HOME tour, performing for service members stationed in Iraq and Kuwait, from April 13-21. Not only will Young and his full band perform 5 concerts at 5 camps, he will also offer special acoustic sets at various remote FOBs (Forward Operating Base) for troops who seldom receive celebrity entertainment.
 

Jacob Lyda (r) and Chumlee (l)


>>Davis Music Group artist Jacob Lyda was in Las Vegas recently to promote his debut single, “I’m Doing Alright” and spent time with Austin “Chumlee” Russell, one of the stars of the History Channel’s hit Pawn Stars. Lyda’s debut album is scheduled for a fall release.
 
 
 

Awards Sales Bumps Fading Fast

/by
Backstage at the ACM Awards; Two Ft. Fred and Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition cover girl Brooklyn Decker.

Once upon a time, Nashville sales execs enjoyed a great amusement ride called the “Post Awards Bump.” Marketers would line up to ride this thrilling machine a few times each year immediately following a high profile televised award show featuring country music. But alas, like the long-defunct Opryland amusement park, the “Sales Bump” ride also seems to have closed up. Yes, things have changed.
For example, last week’s ACM Awards show (4/3) got great reviews for its pacing and strong performance lineup. But nevertheless, according to Nielsen SoundScan, country album sales nudged up an anemic 1% from the previous week. (The Top 75 Current Country rose 2.9%.) Perhaps this is the result of change arriving at retail country music outlets in the form of shrinking shelf space? And although it’s yet to be officially announced, Best Buy, (like Wal-Mart) has agreed to use Anderson Media to rack its stores with music product instead of dealing with the labels directly, a transition which will likely exert added pressure on label margins. [You heard it here first.]
Fortunately, country track sales did light up the consumer scoreboard, posting a gain this week—and really the only overall ACM bump to be found—of 6%. (Top 100 country tracks jumped 17.7% or only 220,261 units.)
But even in today’s world of diminished expectations, there are some individual highlights. Blake Shelton immediately comes to mind. His personality sparkled as new ACM co-host and “Honey Bee” performance stung its way into most viewer’s hearts. Shelton’s Loaded: The Best of… received a modest 15% hike to almost 7,000 units, but his single flew to the top of the country tracks chart boasting more than twice as many units as the No. 2 track—almost 139,000. The track was released on Sunday so that fans could achieve instant gratification and buy it immediately after hearing it on the ACM show. Warner Sr. VP Brand Management & Sales Peter Strickland was on a plane this morning and unavailable for comment, but his Sunday release strategy (tracks usually get released on Tues.) paid off handsomely. And who’s counting, but Shelton also placed six additional tracks on the top 100 country tracks list.
Numerous artists enjoyed album bumps of about 20%, but in real numbers these meant only a few thousand additional units at best. A strange example is Sugarland. They hosted the Mandalay Bay venue during the show and Ms. Nettles got two performance slots. The unexpected result was a 5% drop in album sales, and even the duo’s top selling track “Stuck Like Glue” faltered, sliding 19% to just below 25k units. (Did the Rihanna pairing upset Jennifer’s fan base?)
Zooming out to the larger view, as we close the week of 4/10/2011 all genre album sales are only off 4.1%. Country album sales are in a deeper trough, down 11.7%. However, the year is young and country’s real sales test will develop later in the year when release schedules heat up and efforts to entice consumers begin in earnest.
 

Industry Ink Wednesday (4/13)

/by

Producer Charlie Peacock, Erika Attwater, Jonathan Richards, and Twenty Ten Creative Director, Sam Ashworth. Photo: Allister Ann


Grammy winning producer Charlie Peacock (The Civil Wars, Switchfoot), Sr. VP of A&R for Twenty Ten Music has signed new country band Attwater to an exclusive production and publishing deal.
The band, made up of Erika Attwater and Jonathan Richards, started recording with Peacock in January and the result is described as classic rock a la Fleetwood Mac with bluegrass flavoring. Among the Nashville tunesmiths who have contributed to the project are Luke Laird, Sam Ashworth, Trent Dabbs, and Matthew Perryman Jones. Peacock also recruited A-list session players, and engineers Justin Niebank and Richie Biggs. Attwater first met Peacock by following him on Twitter.
•••••••

Lindsay Bertelli


Tour production exec Lindsay Bertelli has launched Reach, LLC, an entertainment marketing agency. She has a long history of working with the star-studded CMT On Tour and will keep working with the tour as one of her first clients. Other clients include Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc, World Vision, and Calgary Stampede.
Bertelli began her career at Moore Entertainment Group, which later affiliated with both TBA Entertainment and AEG Live. As Senior Project Manager, she managed nine years of production and sponsorship for CMT On Tour. Other professional highlights include project management of Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson’s 2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour, Brooks and Dunn’s Neon Circus & Wild West Show and Playboy’s 50th Anniversary Club Tour. Corporate clients with product and touring projects have included Nescafe, Crown Royal, Yuban Coffee, and Toyota.
Serving as President of Reach, Bertelli brings with her Director of Talent Buying Amy Bryan, Producers Lauren Keckley and Katie Sanders, and Executive Assistant Whitney Williams.
Reach LLC can be contacted at 114 30th Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212, 615-340-5390, email addresses are firstinitiallastname@reachnash.com (ex. lbertelli@reachnash.com).
•••••••
WRVW-FM Nashville, TN was recently awarded the National Association of Broadcasters’ Crystal Radio Award for their outstanding commitment to community service.
•••••••
The radio tower of legendary Nashville station 650AM WSM has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. In more WSM AM news, the station set a ratings record last month according to Arbitron PPM ratings for the February 2 – March 2 time period. The station’s increase in share of the Nashville listening audience is the largest gain any country station in any market has ever generated between January and February.

McGraw Tour Opens In Texas

/by

Tim McGraw performs at the Houston Rodeo in March 2011.


Tim McGraw kicked off his Emotional Traffic Tour with special guests Luke Bryan and The Band Perry on Friday, April 8 in Corpus Christi, TX. The run of arenas and amphitheaters will cover at least 60 dates through August. He’s offering three different VIP packages for fan club members.
In the midst of touring, McGraw is set for an April 28 visit to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Fans can enter the “Band Bench” contest to surround the stage during his performance here (contest band code: TIM).
McGraw and his tourmates will also play an exclusive concert celebrating the 10th anniversary of SiriusXM at New York City’s Beacon Theatre on April 27. The show will air live on three SiriusXM channels, including his own “Tim McGraw Radio,” which will be available on the satcaster April 20 through April 27.