Ashley Cooke Joins Forces With Busch Light To Surprise Fans

Ashley Cooke joined forces with Busch Light to surprise fans on Nashville’s Broadway on Monday (July 8).

She performed her first-ever US country radio No. 1, “Your Place,” as well as “I Almost Do” and unreleased song “Twenty Six,” which hasn’t been recorded yet. The beer brand will continue to be pop up in bars across Broadway all summer long with surprise performances by artists from its Busch Country roster.

 

The MLC Hosts David Hodges

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) recently hosted singer-songwriter and producer David Hodges at their Nashville office, where he treated the team to an acoustic performance

The two-time Grammy winner and former member of Evanescence has written numerous chart-toppers, including Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You,” Ed Sheeran’s “2 Step” and “Afterglow” and Carrie Underwood’s “See You Again,” among others.

 

CMA & Morgan Wallen Recognize AEG’s Jim King & Live Nation’s Anna Sophie-Mertens

The Country Music Association and Morgan Wallen presented Jim King, AEG’s Chief Executive Officer, European Festival Division, and Anna Sophie-Mertens, Live Nation Vice President, Touring, with a token of appreciation commemorating contemporary country music on a mainstream music stage outside of North America last Thursday (July 4) at London’s Hyde Park.

Wallen then took the stage for the largest country concert in the U.K. to date.

“This is a milestone for the country genre and it’s important that we acknowledge the promoters who are supporting country music’s rapidly growing and mainstream appeal in the U.K.,” says Milly Olykan, CMA Vice President, International Relations & Development. “As the fastest-growing genre in the U.K., thanks to countless artists who are focused on building a global audience, we are grateful for the foundation that has been laid that has led to opportunities like BST Hyde Park, and we are more excited than ever to see what’s to come.”

Big Machine Records singer-songwriter Chase McDaniel stepped into the historic Grand Ole Opry circle for the first time on Friday (July 5).

The Greensburg, Kentucky native has dreamed about playing on the stage since he was five years old, after his grandfather took him to the venue for the first time.

“My Great Papaw was always my biggest supporter of this crazy dream and the only thing he loved more than Country music was my Great Mamaw, so the fact that my debut fell on their wedding anniversary makes me feel like he is right there with me, still cheering me on,” he shared. “I’ve wanted to play ‘the most important stage in country music’ since I was about five years old and the magnitude of the moment is indescribable. I’m so unbelievably grateful to all of the wonderful people that are in my corner, cheering me on and making this two-plus decade-long dream a reality. I’m overwhelmed with emotions.”

He started the set with his forthcoming single “Heart Still Works,” which will be released on July 19. Afterwards, he told a bit of his story, sharing what it felt like to make his debut and inspiring hope for anyone who may be struggling. Before he even started the next track, the Opry House crowd rose to their feet for a roaring standing ovation.

The moment was made more special with McDaniel’s parents in the audience, who made their first trip to Nashville for the occasion. He then closed out his Opry debut with emotional track “Your Daughter,” which was succeeded by another roaring applause.

Singer-songwriter Bryan Martin has turned heads with his bold, gritty and unapologetically authentic style. Following the Platinum certification of his top-10-and-climbing country radio single “We Ride,” and the release of his latest tune “Wishbone,” Martin took some time to share his story and some of his work with the MusicRow team.

The 36-year-old recounts real experiences in his music and, as his songwriting signifies, is no stranger to struggle. Martin briefly served in the U.S. military as a young adult. After returning home, he continued to fight, but in a different kind of war, and attempted to take his own life at the age of 19. Martin shared that the first song he ever penned came from the suicide note he wrote. While battling to break down mental barriers, he got married, became a father and accepted a job in the oil fields in his home state of Louisiana, where he worked for 15 years. During the pandemic, Martin dealt with family conflict and moved into a camper behind his father’s house with his guitar. While living there, he started soul-searching and wrote close to 800 songs by himself within a year—including tunes that fans are hearing today.

Martin continued to power through hardships, as he later suffered a brain injury from an almost fatal car crash in Kentucky. Due to the head trauma, the songsmith couldn’t remember how play any of the music he’d created, and doctors told him he’d likely never be able to write songs again. Martin reunited with his family after the accident, and was contemplating selling his guitar and returning to the oil industry. But he was soon talked out of it and began playing again while consulting with medical professionals. After receiving medication, Martin relearned his music and picked the pencil back up.

He released his debut project titled If It Was Easy in 2019, and had composed nearly 3,000 songs by the time he made the move to Music City in 2021, the same year he signed a record deal with Average Joes Entertainment. Once in Nashville, Martin was told by various industry members that it would take a him a few years to make it big and advised him to trust the process. Determined to take care of his family, he felt as though he didn’t have a few years to wait and wrote “We Ride,” which was released in 2022 after his sophomore album, Self Inflicted Scars. The chart-climber was featured on his third studio collection, Poets & Old Souls, that dropped last year.

Average Joes CEO Shannon Houchins and Martin then made a deal that if he reached five million streams per week on Spotify, Houchins would give him his truck. Martin’s social media followers tripled the two weeks that followed, and he ended up signing with WME. Six months later, he had garnered more than five million Spotify streams per week and found himself in Houchins’ truck.

After brawling with addiction, Martin is now over 140 days sober and tries to write five to 10 songs a week. A recent free agent in the publishing world, he has around 1,500 co-writes under his belt.

“I’m all my family has to depend on. My happiness and motivation comes from seeing them comfortable and happy,” said Martin. “I’ve almost died a couple times, and [since then] I’ve thought about what my legacy is going to be. I had to ask myself ‘Am I going to be known as someone who just kept bailing and giving up or someone who got out of their own damn way and made it happen?’ and I decided to get out of my own way.”

With fingers strengthened by hard work, he poured his heart into the viral smash in addition to the powerful “Goin’ For Broke” and unreleased tunes “Don’t Come Lookin’ For Me,” which seeks to give a speakeasy vibe, and “What About Me” as well as “Ain’t That My Ole Man,” a beautiful ballad about Martin’s dad that he wrote alongside Lee Thomas Miller and Nick Walsh, and newly-penned “Home Sweet Livin’ Hell.”

He expressed his immense gratitude for the established artists he has toured with, including Morgan Wallen, who reached out to Martin personally about joining his “One Night At A Time World Tour,” and shared how he hopes to help others.

“We’re all human, and we all come to this town with dreams. But we put so much pressure on ourselves that we ultimately set ourselves up to fail, and I’m just trying to change that trend,” expressed Martin. “I want to show people that they don’t have to be scared of falling off the deep end, that they can come here and enjoy their time chasing their dreams.”

He is set to open for Wallen this Thursday (July 11) and Friday (July 12) in Tampa, Florida.

BMI has announced the appointment of two senior executives: Tom Kershaw as Chief Technology Officer and Justin Rohde as Chief Transformation Officer. They will lead major initiatives as the company advances its strategic growth plan, reporting to President & CEO Mike O’Neill.

With over 20 years of experience working in technology-based markets, Kershaw co-founded open-source software organization prebid.org. He joins BMI from Travelport, a leader in travel distribution for air, hotel, car and rail. Kershaw has also held positions at Google and Ericsson. He received his undergraduate degree from New York University (NYU) and his master’s degree from London School of Economics. Kershaw will succeed BMI’s Chief Information Officer Mike West, who recently announced his retirement from the company.

“Tom’s background and track record of driving digital transformation, coupled with his passion for innovation and experience working with large scale data, position him well to lead BMI’s significant technological advancement and modernization,” notes O’Neill. “These include our efforts to manage the opportunities and challenges of AI and create new avenues for affiliates and licensing partners to enhance their BMI experience through technology.”

Rohde has more than two decades of experience in strategic management and building growth opportunities for corporations and consulting firms. He brings knowledge in process improvement, sales effectiveness, product development and global business management to BMI from Xplor Technologies, a Global SaaS and Payments conglomerate, where he served as Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Transformation Officer. His previously led product development and growth strategies at Integramed America as well as management and strategy consulting at Bain & Company. Rohde received his undergraduate degree and two master’s degrees from Northwestern University.

“Justin brings a wealth of experience in driving business growth by pairing strategic vision with practical implementation. He will not only help us enhance our processes and programs, but also will lead our efforts to obtain new revenue sources for our affiliates. This is the absolute right time for our company to add the position of Chief Transformation Officer, as we continue to accelerate our plan to maximize royalties and improve the service we provide to our creative community,” says O’Neill.