Kickoff Jam has set their 2024 lineup. The festival will take place Aug. 30-Sept. 1 in Panama City Beach, Florida. The event will celebrate five decades of country music on the beach.

Friday will feature headliners Alabama with a special appearance by Randy Travis, as well as Jamey Johnson, Tyler Farr, Gavin Adcock, Pam Tillis and Catie Offerman also taking the stage. Needtobreathe, Lauren Alaina, Restless Road, Carter Faith and Kayley Green will take the stage on Saturday before Carrie Underwood closes out the night. Garth Brooks serves as the final headliner appearing Sunday, preceded by Allie Colleen, Mackenzie Carpenter, Rhett Akins, The Oak Ridge Boys and Randy Houser. 

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and without question, this is the biggest show we’ve ever put on,” says Executive Producer Rendy Lovelady. “We’re excited to celebrate five decades of Country music in Panama City Beach!”

“It’s such a great honor to be a part of bringing the biggest names in Country music right here to our beautiful beaches,” said Kickoff Jam COO Mark Sheldon. “It’s our vision to not only support the local community, but to show the country how proud we are of our heritage and Country music in Panama City Beach.”

Passes for Kickoff Jam will be available starting April 24 at 10 a.m. CST.

Shore Fire Media, the full-service strategy and communications company that specializes in music and entertainment, has promoted Jaclyn D. Carter and four other team members to new leadership roles.

Carter has been elevated to Senior Vice President. With over a decade of experience at Shore Fire, she supervises the Nashville office while working with musicians, festivals and more. The University of Tennessee graduate has led award-winning campaigns for accolades ranging from the Grammy and Peabody Awards to the CMA Awards, Webby Awards and BET Awards in addition to The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame, among others.

Additionally, Allison Elbl in the company’s Los Angeles office as well as Matt Hanks, Mark Satlof and Rebecca Shapiro in the New York office have been named Co-Presidents. Collectively, the newly-selected leadership will guide a staff that has nearly doubled in size since Shore Fire was acquired by Dolphin Entertainment in 2019. Founder & CEO Marilyn Laverty will take on an expanded role at the parent company, focusing on collaborations and new initiatives between Dolphin’s component companies while continuing to oversee Shore Fire.

“These executives each put their imprint on Shore Fire in a unique and powerful way,” says Laverty. “They have shaped Shore Fire with their passions, creativity, broad interests and expertise. I’m so grateful to work with them and thrilled to recognize their leadership with the announcement of these new roles. I anticipate great success as Mark, Rebecca, Matt, Allison and Jaclyn drive innovation and growth for both Shore Fire and Dolphin in the future.”

The Naomi Judd Estate is debuting a series of virtual exhibits of rare and never-before-seen artifacts from the life of the late artist, activist and philanthropist in collaboration with Definitive Authentic and Mercy Community Healthcare.

The first collection entitled “Artist” will be publicly available on May 1—the two-year anniversary of The Judds‘ induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. “Artist” is the first installment of five archival collections to be rolled out throughout 2024, with each forthcoming collection highlighting a different area of Judd’s incredible life and work.

The Estate has curated a virtual exhibit of rare items that spotlight the impact of Judd’s creative work on country music and American culture at large. Featuring behind-the-scenes photos, awards, a personal stage map with handwritten notes, a shooting script for the “Grandpa” music video, countless well-wishes from country music luminaries and more, the “Artist” artifact collection frames the icon as not only a beloved musician, but a figure whose vision went well beyond the recording studio, as evidenced by her lifelong support of numerous philanthropic causes.

In tribute to that philanthropic spirit, a portion of the proceeds from the exhibits will be donated to The Naomi Judd Mental Health Clinic: A Bridge to Hope—a brand new mental health wing at Mercy Community Healthcare in Franklin, Tennessee. The facility includes a larger mental health area with counseling/psychiatric rooms, a parent-child interactive therapy room, group rooms, a waiting room and a prayer area.

“It is such a blessing for me to honor my wife’s life by giving the fans a look into the detailed archives that Naomi kept all of these years,” says Judd’s husband Larry Strickland. “I’d often walk through the barn and wonder why she insisted on keeping all of these objects that at the time seemed to be collecting dust; however, I now see that these were more than just things. These were her memories… our memories. These releases are our family’s gift to you, her public, for being there for all of us for the past 40 years. I hope they bring you a sense of peace and hope in regards to her memory and the legacy that is Naomi Judd.”

“Naomi kept meticulous records of photographs and artifacts,” says Director of Hill Entertainment Group and Naomi Judd Estate Archivist Kodi Chandler. “Through these we are able to explore how she viewed herself. It is our honor to help the family curate these collections for release. This first collection, simply titled ‘Artist’ is how she documented her time as she was best known, as one half of The Judds. The subsequent collections introduce and revisit other facets of Naomi that we can’t wait to share with those who meant the most to her, the fans.”

Country artist Timothy Wayne has signed with UMG Nashville, and is set to release new music next month.

The Franklin, Tennessee native is a sophomore at Louisiana State University (LSU) who spends his free time in the recording studio and playing live around the Southeast. He is slated to perform at this year’s CMA Fest, and is currently serving as support on Tim McGraw’s “Standing Room Only Tour.”

“Timothy Wayne has been honing his craft, his songs and his sound around the students and college scene of LSU,” says Cindy Mabe, Chair & CEO, UMG Nashville. “He’s bringing a new generation of core country music fans to his experiences of growing up around Nashville and country music as well as the country boy lifestyle he is living. He’s such a charismatic, outgoing, genuine artist, and it’s exciting to watch Timothy build his era of country music and bring in a rabid fan base of youth culture into country music.”

“I’m so excited to have this opportunity to make and record music with UMG Nashville,” says Wayne. “This has been a dream of mine, and I am working hard on music that I can’t wait to share with everyone.”

Singer-songwriter Tim Montana has renewed his publishing deal with Spirit Music Nashville.

Montana recently scored his first top five on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart with his single “Devil You Know,” and his debut rock album, Savage, will be released July 12 from Music Knox Records/BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville.

Montana taught himself to play guitar in an off-the-grid trailer where he lived with his family in Butte, Montana. After a stint at the Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles, and his return to Montana, he got his first break in 2007 when David Letterman was at a show and invited him to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman. At 21, he settled in Music City and formed his band the Shrednecks.

At a studio session in 2013, Montana was introduced to ZZ Top founder Billy F. Gibbons, and during an impromptu songwriting collaboration, they co-wrote and recorded the single “This Beard Came Here to Party.” The song became an anthem for the Boston Red Sox, as well as for the Nashville Predators during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Montana and Gibbons also shared credits on the songs “Fifty Fifty,” “Weed and Whiskey” and “Rust and Red,” and Gibbons invited Montana to open for ZZ Top on tour. Montana later released the album Tim Montana and the Shrednecks, featuring Gibbons on four tracks.

Montana also collaborated on tracks with Kid Rock including “Tennessee Mountain Top” and “Greatest Show On Earth” for 2017’s Sweet Southern Sugar, which bowed in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. In 2020, Montana signed a record deal with producer Michael Knox and Music Knox Records/BBR Music Group.

In addition to his music career, Montana has his own show Tim Montana’s Wild Side on Velocity Outdoor Channel. He is an avid supporter of U.S. military veterans and, for the past three years, has headed up the “Tim Montana & Friends American Thread Sporting Clays Shoot” in Nashville.

“Tim Montana is truly a one-of-a-kind human being and artist,” says Frank Rogers, Chief Creative Office, Spirit Music Group/CEO, Spirit Music Nashville. “We are excited to keep the party going with the Ol’ Boy!  Y’all get ready for what’s next—it’s going to melt your face off!”

“These guys should have dropped me a dozen times but they rolled with me through it all and in the bottom of the ninth (year) we hit one out of the park,” says Montana. “Stoked to keep rocking with the Spirit team and now we get to shake up the rock world! A marriage with a publisher that long can be tough for artists, but when the noises in the studio are getting louder that’s a good sign of things to come.”