Chapter 560

It was perfection.

It is also official: Tuesday’s Grammy Block Party was the music biz’s social event of the year to date.

Staged at the mini amphitheater in Cumberland Park (May 2) on the East Nashville riverbank, this annual Recording Academy fiesta is now in its 19^th year. On every level, it achieved nirvana.

“Who did you have to pay off to have perfect weather the second year in a row?” asked Julian King, one of the many Grammy winners in attendance. “This park is the perfect setting,” commented Martha Moore. “I think this is the kind of thing they had in mind when they built it,” added MusicRow owner/publisher Sherod Robertson.

As always, the event showcased a thorough diversity of genres that blossom in Music City. From the Americana talent pool came singer-songwriter Anderson East. Soul rockers Muddy Magnolias blasted girl power.

I am a huge fan of Moon Taxi, and the homegrown Nashville band did not disappoint. Their bright, jangling, pop-rock set was absolutely addictive.

CeCe Winans is the best-selling female gospel star alive. She took no prisoners as she commanded the stage with horns, backup soul sisters and a blazing band. The event booked the superstar trio Lady Antebellum to represent Nashville’s country world.

The 70-degree weather was super balmy, with a lovely breeze blowing off the water and puffy clouds drifting overhead. Some folks brought blankets on which to lounge on the lawn. Others had portable folding seats. Those on the upper rim of the amphitheater enjoyed café tables and chairs.

But most of us mingled on foot. And there was plenty of mingling to do, since the Recording Academy represents the crème de la crème of the city’s music professionals.

Brett James, Trent Summar, Gary Burr & Georgia Middleman, Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra, Mark Bright, George Flanigan and event host Shannon Sanders were among the creative types assembled in the crowd.

From Atlanta came soundtrack composer Brandon Bush. From L.A. came Grammy organizer Nick Di Fruscia. That’s how cool our little Nashville event is considered.

Such industry greats as Rod Essig, Steve Lassiter, Becky Harris, Doug Howard, Fletcher Foster, Debbie Linn, Pat McMakin and Daniel Hill mingled. So did media mavens Hunter Kelly, Ed Morris, Beverly Keel, Jon Freeman, Lisa Konicki, Dan Daley, Eric T. Parker, Haley Crow and Suzanne Alexander.

It was wall-to-wall fabulons, folks – Julie Boos, Diane Pearson, Jeff Balding, Neal Spielberg, David Macias, Christy Walker-Watkins, Chris Keaton, Ben Fowler, Shannon Hatch, Karen Clark, Shanna Strassberg, Hank Adam Locklin, Ellen Truly, Dolly Chandler, Edie Emery, Tracy Gershon, Michael McAnally Baum, yaddada, yaddada, yaddada. If you weren’t there, you should have been.

The Grammy Block Party celebrated Cinco De Mayo a few days early with catering by Moe’s Southwestern Grill. The build-your-own soft taco stations were heaped with spiced ground beef and/or chicken, plus all the black beans, brown rice, lettuce, sour cream, peppers, onions, shredded cheeses, salsa tomatoes, queso sauce and jalapena you could want.

The bars rocked, too.

 

Warner Music Nashville (WMN) has promoted Megan Joyce to Senior Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs. Formerly serving as VP, Joyce will continue to oversee artist signings and label partnerships. The position will report to WMN Chairman & CEO John Esposito.

In making the announcement, Esposito said, “Megan has been a critical part of the Warner Music Nashville family since the day she started, and we are thrilled to be able to welcome her into our senior management team. Her expertise and tireless commitment are tremendous assets and will help her continue to thrive in this role.”

Joyce said, “I’m so grateful to Espo for welcoming me into the WMN family three years ago. I am proud to be a part of the most artist-friendly label in town, and I look forward to working with Espo, Matt Signore and the entire team to take us to the next level. I can’t wait to see what my next decade at Warner will bring.”

Prior to her role in Nashville, Joyce acted as VP, Business and Legal Affairs at Atlantic Records in New York. She began her music career in sales and marketing at EMI Music Distribution before joining the Warner team at WEA.

On Tuesday (April 25), the Grand Ole Opry’s backstage area was transformed into a party space filled with twinkling lights, crawfish, wine and whiskey bars, an airstream and plenty of southern charm as Opry Entertainment celebrated its exclusive, artist-curated merchandise line with Grand Ole Opry members Little Big Town.

The collection’s title, Boondocks, is taken from the group’s first hit and is the first of four capsule collections Little Big Town and Opry Entertainment plan to release this year. Other Little Big Town songs will similarly inspire the three additional collections.

“This looks like a dream Saturday night,” said Karen Fairchild as she took in the surroundings. “I wish this was my backyard, with a wine bar and a whiskey bar, and an airstream trailer.”

The Boondocks line incorporates southern, woodsy elements into pieces such as greeting cards, wine tumblers, shirts, coffee mugs, totes, guitar straps, and clothing pieces, all emblazoned with lyrics from Little Big Town’s songs, especially “Boondocks.”

The capsule includes a red lacy jacket from Fairchild’s separate Fair Child clothing line, as well as denim and camo jackets. The capsule collection also offers fun patches emblazoned with Little Big Town song titles such as “Girl Crush” and “Happy People” to accessorize clothing.

The collection expands on the ties between Little Big Town and Opry Entertainment. Earlier this year, Little Big Town launched the Ryman Auditorium’s first residency.

“It’s like a tasting room tonight,” said Fairchild, who revealed they were quite thorough in testing products from the Boondocks line. “The wine glasses in the Boondocks collection, we practiced to see if they really will break or scratch. We bounced them off the floor several times, and the Opry knows how to make a good wine glass.”

A leather journal has the set list of the first night of the Ryman residency in the back of it and the chorus to “Boondocks” in the front.

“Hopefully it will inspire everyone to journal and maybe write some songs,” said Fairchild.

“Their vision and love of putting beautiful things together, their creativity, their passion for reaching their fans through merchandise and every form possible, has made this a beautiful collection,” said Kim O’Dell, VP of Retail for Opry Entertainment Group. “It was each of them giving me feedback for months on end to find things they want to get to fans.”

Fairchild and her fellow Little Big Town members Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook each spoke of their favorite pieces from the Boondocks capsule. Sweet favored the leather journal, while Fairchild preferred a sturdy water bottle. Westbrook favored a coffee mug, while Schlapman also claimed a coffee mug emblazoned with the lyrics Old Camp Creek as her favorite.

“We live and die by coffee. I have a newborn,” said Schlapman, who recently announced she and her family had adopted a new baby girl. “I grew up on Camp Creek Road and that’s why we put that line in ‘Boondocks,’” said Schlapman.

“When we wrote [“Boondocks”], we were in a place in our musical journey, that we wanted to speak about our lives and who we were,” Sweet said. “That really was a defining moment for us. We had just been dropped from a major label, but then that was the first song we had success with. It took us to the party.”

“It was the perfect song to launch a lifestyle collection,” remarked Fairchild. “Our days start, because we have babies, with a cup of coffee— “

“Lots of coffee,” Westbrook interjected.

“And because we [also] have babies, it ends with a glass of wine,” said Fairchild. “All of that in between, from things that are fashionable to the jewelry to the journals because we are songwriters, Boondocks was the perfect correlation to show fans how we live our lives through really beautiful things.”

The evening also featured merchandise from the group’s recent retail ventures.

The backstage area at the Grand Ole Opry offered turkey sliders and Crazy Daisy bars from Schlapman’s cookbook Oh Gussie, as well as red wine and chardonnay from the group’s new line 4 Cellars, a partnership with Browne Family Vineyards in Walla Walla, Washington. Schlapman, in 2015, partnered with Cracker Barrel for a product line as well.

Previously, Karen Fairchild spun her love of fashion into the clothing line Fair Child. In addition to Schlapman’s cookbook Oh Gussie, she has a new kitchen line, dubbed Love & Daisies, in the works with the Home Shopping Network. Fairchild said those previous business experiences allowed them to come into the new project with wisdom about the retail process.

“It influences us by knowing what a cohesive collection feels like, down to the way the leather feels on the leather guitar strap. The colors of the bracelets match The Breaker album. We are kind of crazy control freaks, but if you are going to do something like this, you have to be or it’s not cohesive. When you pick up some of those items, you think, ‘Yeah, this a whiskey glass Phillip would have in his house.’ That’s how I’ve learned. And the Opry/Ryman team has been incredible to work with.”

The Boondocks collection marks the second time Opry Entertainment Group has partnered with an artist to launch a line of merchandise, following their work on the Selma Drye by Kellie Pickler line of home goods that launched with Pickler in 2015.

“We did research to find those attributes that fans most relate to,” says O’Dell. “Once we defined those attributes, we started to build lifestyle products inside our stores that gave fans who come through our doors an opportunity not just to buy a memento of their trip here, but the opportunity to incorporate themselves into a country lifestyle and take a piece of it home with them that they couldn’t find anywhere else.”

O’Dell says fans can expect Opry Entertainment collaborations on new collections from additional country artists in the near future.

“We are looking at making sure we grow this to include up and coming artists, A-list artists like Little Big Town and legacy artists. We are working on that simultaneously and every year will include a mix of that.”

The Little Big Town Boondocks collection is exclusively available on Opry Entertainment websites (ryman.com and opry.com) and in Opry Entertainment retail stores in Nashville.