Chapter 671

In my opinion, Music City’s greatest annual fiesta is the Grammy Block Party.

It certainly felt that way on Wednesday evening (May 31) at Ole Smoky Distillery. This event is staged every year by the Nashville chapter of the Recording Academy and has evolved into an essential calendar item for the music-biz community. If you work in this industry and you are not a member of the Recording Academy, you should be, if only to be invited to attend this awesome bash.

“I became a member last year, and I’m very proud of it,” said Breland.

He was one of the stellar performers at the party. Get this: The gig began with the Tennessee State University Band strutting across the street and onto the party plaza with the panache and pride of the Grammy winners they are. Once on stage, they did a jam presentation alternating rhythm-section romps with melodic brass interludes. It was youthful and electrifying.

Christian singer/keyboardist Blessing Offor offered a set that included the Bill Withers classic “Grandma’s Hands” and his “Real Magic” tune that’s become a national Coca-Cola commercial. The blind native Nigerian more than proved he’s a worthy member of the Nashville music community with his brilliant showcase.

Wendy Moten, who hosted, also presented a dynamic vocal session. It included the slinky groove of the inspiring “Don’t Give Up” as well as her spine-tingling arrangement of “You’re All I Need to Get By.” She reminded the crowd that she’d competed with the song on TV’s The Voice. The veteran R&B vocalist went on the talent competition in order to remain active during the COVID pandemic and became a crowd-favorite finalist.

The musically eclectic Breland did “Cross Country,” which he said describes his musical style. He danced nimbly across the stage as he presented everything from his current single “For What It’s Worth” to the gospel song “Praise the Lord.” He is presently on tour with Shania Twain, so you’ll be able to catch him at GEODIS Park when she headlines the venue’s opening concert next Wednesday (June 7). Breland’s energy got the crowd on its feet and dancing.

The superstar stardust of the event was sprinkled by Brothers Osborne. The multiple country award winning band features one of modern music’s most charismatic and gifted frontmen T.J. Osborne alongside his equally-gifted, guitar-slinger brother John Osborne, a class instrumentalist and now an amazing record producer for Ashley McBryde.

You will notice that those artists performing at the bash reflected diverse styles and social groups. This is one of the things I love most about the Nashville chapter of the Recording Academy. The crowd was also racially diverse. Which shows how effective the chapter has been in representing the many artists who live and record here. Yes, we are country and (usually) proud of it, but Nashville is a crib for many other genres. One of the things I liked about this event’s 22nd staging is that it has become more diverse and welcoming. Did I mention that the finale was scheduled to be a grand salute to hip-hop with Daisha McBride, Chuck iNDigo and Tim Gent?

In between the performers, DJ Megan Coleman grooved non-stop spinning choice tunes. Grooving along were Emily Peacock, Becky Parsons, Natalie McDonald, Pam Lewis, Steve Dorff, Leslie DiPiero and chapter executive director Alicia Warwick.

We were greeted on entering by Mike Kepler, a born fabulon if I’ve ever met one. After schmoozing the TSU band members in the the Mexi-food buffet line, we loved on the gig’s terrific publicist Ronna Rubin.

Then the proverbial floodgates opened — Nancy Shapiro, Ed Rode, Sherry Bond, Earle Simmons, Becky Hobbs, Bonita Hill, Ruby Amanfu, Dan Hill, Debbie Carroll, Neil Spielberg, Tracy Gershon, Beverly Keel, Jennifer Hanson, Jenny Tolman & Dave Brainard, Courtney White, Dan Daley, Mason Hunter, Tom Long, Laura Crawford, Ashley Ernst, Ben Fowler, Lyn Aurelius, Phil Thornton and a multitude of other fabulons worked the room. If you weren’t there, you should have been.

The 23rd Annual Truist Hot Dog Day will be held Thursday, June 8, from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Truist Bank on Music Row.

The event will include live entertainment provided by songwriters from Combustion Music, Ern’s Cadillac Music and Big Yellow Dog Music.

Truist will provide hot dogs, chips, cold drinks and ice cream to all attendees.

Big Machine Music (BMM) has extended its long-term, exclusive co-publishing agreements with chart-topping songwriters Laura Veltz, Jessie Jo Dillon and Maddie & Tae. The company is also celebrating its 11th anniversary.

“We’re ecstatic to celebrate 11 years of Big Machine Music with the continuation of our partnerships with Laura Veltz, Jessie Jo Dillon and Maddie & Tae,” says BMM’s General Manager, Mike Molinar. “We feel privileged to enjoy commercially successful and personal relationships with all four of these uniquely gifted songwriting talents. Their trust in us is truly a validation of our long-term vision and approach.”

Veltz, Billboard‘s 2022 Songwriter of the Year, has been with BMM for a decade. Since signing her deal in 2013, she has penned songs for Demi Lovato, Maren Morris, Idina Menzel, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, Kelly Clarkson, Monsta X, Kane Brown and more. Veltz has garnered four Grammy nominations, and was included in the Recording Academy’s inaugural class of nominees for Songwriter of the Year earlier this year. She took home both the 2020 ACM and CMA Awards for Song of the Year as well as the 2021 BMI Pop Song of the Year, for Morris’ chart-topping smash “‘The Bones.”

Dillon first signed to BMM in 2016. She co-wrote Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber’s global, crossover smash “10,000 Hours” as well as Cole Swindell’s Grammy-nominated No. 1 “Break Up in The End,” which earned her an ACM Awards Song of the Year nomination and NSAI Song of the Year. She is currently celebrating the rise of several tunes, including Old Dominion’s top 10-and-rising single “Memory Lane,” Catie Offerman’s debut single “I Just Killed A Man” and Megan Moroney’s critically-acclaimed “Girl in The Mirror.”

Maddie & Tae’s Maddie Font and Taylor Kerr have also been with BMM for a decade. The award-winning duo first topped the charts with their Platinum-certified debut “Girl In A Country Song.” They followed that up with top 10 Platinum “Fly” as well as Gold “Friends Don’t.” Maddie & Tae’s triple-Platinum No. 1 smash “Die From A Broken Heart” earned ASCAP Country and Pop Awards in 2022, and solidified them as the first and only female twosome to score multiple No. 1s on the Country Airplay chart.

Country music superstar Dierks Bentley will host the 2023 National Hockey League (NHL) Awards at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Monday, June 26 at 7 p.m. CT.

“Hockey plays a big part [in] my daily life,” says Bentley. “I’ve been to rinks all over the country with my travel-hockey son. I coach his spring league games and spend hours in the local hockey store, telling him, ‘No, you do not need a new stick!’ We love watching YouTube highlight reels, the whole family loves going to Nashville Predators games and watching the Stanley Cup Final together. And, I am a proud member of a beer league team here in Nashville. To get to add NHL Awards host to this list is truly an honor.”

The 2023 NHL Awards will open a week of NHL activities in Nashville. The NHL, in conjunction with the City of Nashville and the Nashville Predators, will stage the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft, June 28-29 at Bridgestone Arena.

“We can’t wait to celebrate the NHL’s best and brightest with the best of country music in Nashville,” says Steve Mayer, NHL Chief Content Officer & Senior Executive Vice President. “Dierks has rocked our stage over the years as a headline performer, and we’re so happy to welcome him as host of this year’s NHL Awards.”

A list of NHL and Predators public activities and events, including red carpet arrivals for the NHL Awards show and the NHL Draft, will be held in the area outside Bridgestone Arena and announced in the coming weeks.