The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

Meredith Jones Long is a Music Agent at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Based in CAA’s Nashville office, Jones Long also books the greater mountain state region for the agency’s country, classic rock and Americana rosters. She represents successful acts, including Little Big Town, Whiskey Myers, Lori McKenna, Hailey Whitters, Wyatt Flores, Southall and more.

Jones Long graduated magna cum laude from Belmont University, receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration with an emphasis on music business. She just celebrated 16 years at CAA, having started her career at the agency in 2007. Jones Long was then promoted to Agent in 2012.

Her dedication to inclusiveness is evident throughout her work, both externally and within CAA. She has led the team that created THE HUBB, a networking and professional development summit that was designed to provide diverse internship- and career-ready college students with the tools and resources needed to successfully enter the music business. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the PENCIL Foundation Board, an organization that connects the local business community and Metro Nashville Public Schools through partnerships and programs.

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Hockessin, Delaware, which is in the greater Philadelphia region. I was really into music growing up, and actually played French horn and sang pretty poorly in like a children’s church choir.

I learned piano from my grandmother, who was an organist at her church in St. Michaels, Maryland, which is on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. She was very much into classical music and playing music for her grandkids. She helped motivate me and a lot of my cousins to foray into music.

What was high school like?

My high school in Delaware, AI DuPont, had an incredible marching band that was very large. We had a horrible football team because everybody wanted to be in the band. [Laughs] My band director had pushed the program to be elite, and we got to do really fun things like march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, the London New Year’s Day Parade and the Orange Bowl in Florida. We did concert band trips to Montreal and Toronto. As a teenager, getting a little freedom with your friends to run around in a foreign country was awesome.

Did you know you wanted a career in the music business then?

I fell really hard into country music in middle school, starting with Garth Brooks. In high school, I took it to a new level of exploration. I think part of me wanted to go against the grain of what everyone else thought was cool on MTV. I had a couple friends that were into country music, so we banded together and shared artists we were listening to and enjoying. Some of my first concerts were Kenny Chesney at the amphitheater in Hershey, Pennsylvania and Tim McGraw at the arena in Philly with The Chicks.

I heard about Belmont University through my dad’s cousin, who had a Lee Greenwood cut. He randomly showed up during one of our summer vacations and I was telling him that I was interested in music, but I wasn’t exactly sure if I was good at music. He was like, “You should move to Nashville and go to Belmont University.” On a whim, I came down here with my parents and toured it. I just felt the community of Nashville and that college immediately.

I remember seeing Jason Aldean in the house band at a bar on 2nd Avenue when I was here for orientation. We got his demo and my mom said, “You need to get it signed!”

Tell me about your time at Belmont.

Ashley Gorley was my publishing teacher. He had just gotten a few cuts with Carrie Underwood—this girl who won American Idol. [Laughs] I was actually in that publishing class with a bunch of executives that I run into and do business with now, which is really fun.

I really liked some of the core business classes, especially the number-driven ones like economics and accounting, as well as the marketing-driven business classes. There wasn’t a class on live music at the time, and I think the little rebel in me was like, “That’s what I want to do.” My advisor said, “You don’t want to be an agent. Agents are mean!” Then I really wanted to be an agent.

I started trying to use some relationships that I had. My internship boss [knew I wanted to be an agent] and said to me one day, “I’m in Bible study with this guy who runs an agency. His name is John Huie. I’ll introduce you.” That one introduction changed everything.

What happened?

I started as an intern filing paperwork. At the time we printed every single part of a show: the deposit slips, contracts, deal memos and offers. Everything fit into a file folde,r and we had to title all the folders with the artist name, show date, venue and city. There were cabinets all over the office.

I would get done and then have nothing to do, which was probably frustrating for the HR Director, but I would go around to all the assistants and just say, “What can I do?” I organized the CD closet, made grids of tour dates and other little projects here and there. A lot of those young assistants are now my colleagues, like Jeff Krones and Bobby Cory, and Brett Saliba [who is now at UTA]. I just started being a helpful hand. I would get them lunch if they wanted—I didn’t care.

What was next?

I did the Belmont West program, taking my last semester in Los Angeles. There I interned for a manager that wanted to hire me, but I got a call from CAA Nashville saying, “Hey, we have a receptionist position opening up. Would you like an opportunity for that job?” I was like, “Absolutely.” I loved everybody I hung out with there. They were interested in and passionate about the same things I was. I really didn’t even know what an agent did, but I wanted to learn more. So I ended up taking that job and starting the day after graduation. 17 years later, I’m still here.

How did you know you were in the right field?

Lady A was an unknown trio in town, and they were friends with one of the assistants who is now Head of Country Music at Amazon Music, Michelle Tigard Kammerer. At the old office, we had this thing called The Pit where all the assistant desks were, with all the agent offices were around it. CAA would invite young artists to play acoustically in The Pit—it was kind of a gauntlet thing. Michelle had Lady A come perform and they blew our socks off. She ended up helping them get signed at CAA and assisting with some of the early strategy. Watching the growth of their career is where I remember seeing how this all works.

What did you do as a receptionist?

It was fun. In classic Meredith form, they were like, “Here’s what you have to do.” I was like, “Great, I can do all of that in five minutes. What else can I do?” You’re kind of the frontline of the agency, so you have to be a good face. You get weird phone calls because your number is on artists’ websites, so having intuition mattered. I would also pick up random jobs around the office so that I could be more visible and be around all my colleagues. I was there for about six months before I moved onto the next position.

What was that?

It’s a position that doesn’t exist anymore, but Ticket Accounts. Before Ticketmaster and Axis had a fancy system where you can log in and see how your artist sales are progressing, my job was calling box offices and saying, “It’s me again! How many tickets has Martina McBride sold since we last spoke?” Then I would put them all into grid format so the agents could be tracking sales and understanding where marketing needed to be spent. Then I moved on from that to an assistant.

What was that like?

Scott Clayton was the first desk I had. He promoted Buster Phillips, who was going to start the college division and see if there was real business there. I became Buster’s assistant when that was created, so we trucked along together in the early days, trying to figure out the players.

I would get all the phone calls from the 19-year-olds running their college division in their student activities groups. I would have to tell them that they couldn’t afford Katy Perry, but we can talk about a young bubbling artist. It was a great education for me to learn how to deal with buyers that aren’t established yet. It was also great to learn what was happening and what college students were interested in. Some of our bosses in L.A. and New York were calling and asking, “Who are the college kids talking about and asking for?” It ended up being a really valuable resource and a big business.

From there, I got promoted to take over and do that job when Buster moved on to a different territory. Then I got promoted to Agent in 2012.

What was that transition like?

At the time, our training program sent us out to L.A. to work in the physical mail room there and learn the ropes of the whole agency, not just the music department. It took you out of your comfort zone and allowed you to network with a lot of other people with your same level of experience in all the different departments. It was brilliant and I loved it.

I came back to Nashville gung ho. I started signing clients in country music. Four years later, CAA pulled me out of the college world to give it to the next generation and keep me focused on country.

Who were the first clients you signed?

My first client was Chase Rice. He’s no longer a client, but I have deep love for that guy and the rise that we shared together. I worked with Maren Morris from the get go. I worked with Whiskey Myers after they had been a band for a few years. They were focused on Texas but I saw a vision outside of that, so they signed with me and we’ve developed a pretty strong business for those guys, internationally as well. I joined the Little Big Town team alongside Darin Murphy. I learned a lot from Darin and have more recently stepped in to run point on their career.

I’ve had a lot of fun being a part of developing artist’s teams. I’ve been on Hailey Whitters‘ team. We got her on Maren’s tour very early before she even had music out. I’ve been a part of Carter Faith‘s journey and Wyatt Flores. I was brought onto Shaboozey‘s team—he’s been a client for many years with Jenna Adler, and when he started writing songs with country themes a few years ago, I joined the team . He’s having an unbelievable ride, and he so deserves it.

What is your favorite part of your job now?

Being alongside these clients for years and watching the many iterations they’ve had, either musically or touring, those moments are absolutely the driver for me. What really sustains me, though, is the culture of this company and being here with the individuals that I get to sit around with and learn from. I’ve been working alongside a lot of them for all 17 years. I’ve been supported by them and never felt alone in a down moment. That’s a super important part of why I come in and do this job every day.

Who have been your mentors?

I’ve learned a lot from Darin and Jeff Krones. Doing business with Andrew Simon taught me a lot. Marlene Tsuchii has taught me so much.

What advice would you give someone who wants to do what you do?

I spoke to a student recently and told her two of the major qualities of a good agent are that they’re a good people person and an intelligent person. People have to like them, want be around them and trust them with their business, but agents also have to be incredibly intelligent on deal-making and have the ability to think outside the box with tour packaging or deal structures. It’s a numbers and a people job.

It’s not to be mean?

No! [Laughs] That’s not a quality! Maybe that’s from Entourage.