BOBBY KARL WORKS THE ROOM
Chapter 522

“Many of the people in this room have known Dierks for years,” said Kyle Young at the Thursday evening (March 3) party celebrating the opening of Dierks Bentley‘s “Every Mile a Memory” exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Some 20 years ago, Bobby Karl was bellied up to the bar at 3rd & Lindsley when a curly-headed youngster walked up and said, “I want to meet you. My name is Dierks Bentley. I am going to be a recording artist. I hope you’ll remember me.”

“Well, I’ve never met anyone named Dierks before,” I said, “so I promise I’ll always remember you.” And I did.

In 2001, Bentley issued an indie album on Big White Music called Don’t Leave Me in Love, which I duly noted. After signing with Capitol two years later, he moved into my neighborhood and began stopping over to play his new music. So I was one of the many, many attendees who have been so happy to watch him become the star that he is.

Other veteran Dierks pals in the crowd included Pat Rolfe, Brett Beavers, Mike Ward, Jessi Alexander & Jon Randall Stewart (who are also former neighbors), David Conrad, Luke Wooten and, of course, Jake, the star’s dog and video costar. Not to mention wife Cassidy Black, who has been his sweetie since junior high.

“I’m a country music singer; I’m a country music fan; I’m a country music student,” said Bentley during the cocktail party to celebrate this latest feather in his cap. “I love this music. I never really looked at country music as a path to stardom. I’ve been really lucky. It’s been a great ride. I’m really honored to be here, and I’m going to do my best to keep representing the genre.”

To that end, he’ll be co-hosting this spring’s ACM Awards from Las Vegas. That’s a long way from where he started in Music City.

“We are exactly one mile from a place that gave Dierks some of his early musical memories, The Station Inn,” Young recalled. “Dierks walked into The Station Inn 20 years ago and heard some of the finest bluegrass musicians. He found a community. They cheered him forward, backed him up and pushed him on. It’s been a long trip, but not one that he took alone.”

Along for this part of the journey were Tom Lord, Mike Sirls, Nina Miller, Hunter Kelly, Kathryn Richardson, Peter Cooper, Teresa George, Bob Paxman, Mary Hilliard Harrington, Michael McCall and Chris Horsnell.

After the cocktails and speeches, we toured the display. “Every Mile a Memory” features awards, costumes, posters, manuscripts and more. We’re as fond of it as we are of him.

[Updated March 9, 2016: Ali Harnell, Senior Vice President at AEG Live, has been announced as the featured speaker. In addition, Capitol Records Nashville artist Mickey Guyton will give a special performance.]

Originally published: March 3, 2016

MusicRow is proud to reveal the honorees of the fifth annual Rising Women on the Row celebration.

The premier breakfast event, saluting women in the Nashville music industry, will be held Friday, April 8, at 8:30 a.m. at the Omni Nashville Hotel.

City National Bank is again the presenting sponsor.

Tickets for the 2016 event are sold out. With any Rising Women on the Row inquiries, please contact Eric at eparker@musicrow.com.

Abbey Adams
Senior Creative Director, A&R – Sony/ATV Music Publishing

Since joining Nashville’s music business community, Abbey Adams has worked with some of the strongest and most diverse writer rosters and catalogs in Nashville. In her 10 years at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, she has pitched and placed numerous hits and had cuts with such artists as Keith Urban (including “You Gonna Fly” and “Raise ‘Em Up”), Billy Currington (“Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right”), Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley, Jake Owen, Ronnie Dunn, Lady Antebellum, and Martina McBride. She has placed songs in Grey’s Anatomy, ABC’s Nashville and the Sony film Country Strong.

She works closely with songwriters like Jaren Johnston, Joey Hyde, Casey Beathard, Brad Rempel, and more. She manages songwriter calendars, arranges creative collaborations for songwriters and pitches, and works closely with New York and Los Angeles offices for sync opportunities.

In 2015, with friend and 2013 Rising Women on the Row honoree Beth Laird, Adams co-founded Nurturing Outstanding Women (NOW), a mentoring organization for women in Nashville’s music business. NOW is select and strategic in creating opportunities for women to learn and broaden leadership skills and foster support among women in the business.

Amanda Cates
Head of Marketing and Digital Strategy – Maverick Nashville

Amanda Cates oversees all artist online, e-commerce, mobile, social, fan engagement, new business development and marketing initiatives for Maverick Nashville’s roster of high-profile country music clients.

A North Carolina native, Cates attended Appalachian State University where she earned a degree in Music Industry Studies majoring in Music Business with minors in Business and Computer Information Systems.

She began her career 14 years ago in Raleigh, N.C., for an artist management firm, then made her way to a Seattle-based, venture-funded mobile entertainment startup before heading to Nashville as a digital marketing consultant in artist management, most recently landing at Maverick management where she has been since 2009.

She is a board advisor to start-up companies Jammber and Ear.IQ, a member of the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association, a co-founder of the Digital Divas Nashville networking organization, and 2015’s Platinum Mentor Award recipient for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s Project Music accelerator program.

Cris Lacy
VP, A&R – Warner Music Nashville

Cris Lacy, originally from Chesapeake, Virginia grew up immersed in country music, with many of her favorite memories center around singing with her mother and grandfather on their front porch. For as long as she can remember, she wanted to move to Nashville.

Upon graduation, Lacy did just that. Enrolling in Vanderbilt University, she interned at various record labels and publishing companies, while waiting tables at live music bars in town. She graduated from Vanderbilt with a degree in English, and a minor in Communication and went to work for Tom Collins Music publishing. Over the next ten years, Lacy would gain employment with Rick Hall/Fame Publishing, Island Bound Publishing, and Warner/Chappell Publishing as a songplugger.

In 2005, Lacy accepted a position at Warner Music Nashville in the A&R dept. She now serves as Vice President in that department, signing and/or overseeing the projects of Cole Swindell, Frankie Ballard, Chris Janson, Charlie Worsham, William Michael Morgan, High Valley, Walker County, Kenny Rogers, Randy Travis, and Big Smo, as well as finding songs for the rest of the roster, including Blake Shelton, Jana Kramer, Hunter Hayes, Brett Eldredge and others.

Community service involvement includes YWCA Domestic Violence Shelter and Help Line, as well as Music City Tres Divas. She has twice traveled to Washington, D.C., to join a contingency from the RIAA speaking to female legislators about women in music. She is a 2016 member of Leadership Music.

Leslie Roberts
Executive Director, Writer/Publisher Relations – BMI

Leslie Roberts is responsible for signing and developing new talent and also supporting BMI’s extensive family of songwriters and publishers, focusing on, but not limited to, both country and Christian genres. Taylor Swift, Hillary Scott and Thomas Rhett are just a few of the artists she has worked with throughout her career.

She assists BMI songwriters with creative and administrative tasks and helps coordinate showcases, seminars and other events in BMI’s stacked calendar, including planning and hosting the BMI Christian Awards. She is also involved with college programs and outreach such as Catalog Cast, oversight of record company rosters and representing BMI within the AIMP. Roberts organizes networking events for the music business community, including the “Next Big Wave” songwriter event and the Young Music Business Professionals breakfast.

Roberts worked for five years with Sony BMG in Nashville, where she was Manager, A&R. She was also a songplugger for three years with Music City-based Mighty Isis Music. She has served on the NARAS Board of Directors and is currently on the board of the Gospel Music Association. The native Nashvillian also serves on the Cumberland Heights board, where she was honored with the Sheila Keeble Award, for women who have made a difference in the recovery community, and the Nashville Humane Association, where she earned the Julia Colton Award, recognizing lifetime dedication and commitment to homeless animals, and the Blake McMeans Foundation.

Risha Rodgers
Partner – WME

In her role at WME, Risha Rodgers oversees the daily touring, television, literary and sponsorship opportunities for artists including Lee Brice, Tyler Farr, Maddie & Tae, Miranda Lambert, The Swon Brothers, Neal McCoy, Mark Chesnutt, Brett Young, Tara Thompson and many more. Additionally, she works across the WME Nashville Roster booking concerts in arenas, amphitheaters, theaters, PACS and casinos in the Midwest. As the first female partner in WME’s Nashville office, Rodgers continues to break through glass ceilings and pave the way for her fellow female colleagues.

Rodgers devotes her time to both the WME Foundation and Hands on Nashville, and through her clients she has been granted the opportunity to get involved in military-related incentives such as the Wounded Warrior Project. In addition to her philanthropic work, Rodgers is also a member of CMA, ACM, and IEBA.

Rodgers considers her greatest accomplishment to be balancing a family and career as she raises her 17-year-old son.

Curb Records has acquired WMG’s stake in Word Entertainment, the Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville. Word Entertainment has become a wholly owned division of Curb, expanding on the long partnership between Curb and WMG.

Since 2002, Word Entertainment has been owned 80 percent by WMG and 20 percent by Curb. Under the terms of the transaction, Curb will purchase WMG’s share in Word’s recorded music, distribution, publishing, film, and live events divisions, as well as Word’s building in Nashville. Word’s printed music division remains jointly owned by WMG and Curb.

Rod Riley, President and CEO of Word, will continue to run Word Entertainment. WMG will continue to distribute Word releases to the general market, and Word will continue to distribute WMG releases to the Christian market. Word’s publishing catalog will continue to be administered by Warner/Chappell.

Curb Chairman and Word Chairman Mike Curb said, “We are proud to continue our relationship with the Warner Music Group that started 50 years ago when my own musical group was signed by Warner Reprise and later signed by Word Records when it was still located in Waco, Texas and operated by its original founder Jarrell McCracken. We’ve had a long, successful relationship with Espo and Paul Robinson and more recently with Stephen Cooper, Cameron Strang, Matt Signore, Jeremy Sirota and Tom Marcotullio. For almost 15 years, I’ve had the opportunity to serve as Chairman of Word Entertainment as well as being a minority shareholder in the company. During that time I’ve had a chance to work with great leaders such as Jim Van Hook and that led to the merger of Word with Fervent Records, which was the label that was started by Rod and Susan Riley and it turned out to be the most important moment for the future of Word. Rod Riley had led the transformation of Word into this century by developing some of the greatest contemporary Christian artists of our time. We look forward to working with Rod for the future leadership as we bring together Word Entertainment, Fervent Records and Curb Records, which have all had a long history in contemporary Christian music.”

“It has been an honor for me to be part of the Word and Warner families for the past decade,” said Word Entertainment President & CEO Rod Riley, “and so I am excited that our companies will be continuing to work closely together. I am grateful to Espo for his support and collaboration as we worked to continue to transform Word both creatively and commercially. Mike Curb has simultaneously served as a wise and thoughtful mentor to me for more than a decade, and I am thrilled that Word and Curb will continue on our journey to take Christian music to new heights. Our mission remains constant – to continually serve our artists and songwriters while we forge new ground as one of the preeminent faith-based entertainment companies.”

“Mike Curb is a legend in our business, with over five decades of discovering outstanding talent and making great music,” said Warner Music Nashville President & CEO John Esposito. “Since Curb and WMG became partners in the ownership of Word 14 years ago, we have been at the forefront of the Christian Music movement. Rod is a tremendously talented, motivating leader, and I join him in saying how excited we are that we will remain partners. This move is a great opportunity for Word’s artists, songwriters, and employees, and the ongoing combination of our amazing teams ensures that Word’s future is very bright.”

Founded in 1951, Word Entertainment has grown into an artist services company active in recorded music, publishing, film, live events, and church resources. Word’s roster of popular and influential artists and songwriters includes for KING & COUNTRY, the duo who won two Grammy awards in 2015, and Francesca Battistelli, who won Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song at this year’s Grammys.