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By the time Nashville-based digital marketer Jennie Smythe launched her company Girlilla Marketing in 2008, she had already gained significant experience working in marketing and promotion for companies including Hollywood Records, Yahoo Music, and Elektra. She also forged her path in digital marketing as the music industry was undergoing the profound transition to a primarily digital medium.
“A portion of it was just being in the right place at the right time,” she recalls to Billboard. “I found myself in a unique position to be able to be the bridge between the two. And it just so happened that nobody was speaking the digital language. I became the person—this was [when] Napster [was happening], when the industry was suing kids in college and doing everything in their power to squash the new business. I was one of the people who was like, ‘Wait a second, if we’re hearing that this is what they want and they’re seeking it out…’ It was very ‘flip the script,’ because up until then, it was the industry telling the people what they were going to get, the industry making those decisions. That’s completely changed.”
Today, the all-woman team at Girlilla Marketing leads social media initiatives and content creation for its clients, helping to develop online audiences, virtual events, digital monetization, analytics tracking and more. During her career, Smythe has worked with artists including Willie Nelson, Darius Rucker, Vince Gill, Blondie, and Dead & Company. She chairs the CMA board and serves on the boards of the CMA Foundation and Music Health Alliance.
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Now, Smythe is sharing the lessons she’s learned along the way in her memoir, Becoming Girlilla: My Journey to Unleashing Good — In Real Life, Online, and in Others, which releases via Resolve Editions/Simon & Shuster today (April 15). Her book also delves into Smythe’s personal journey including her 2018 breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Smythe was named a 2025 Advocacy Ambassador with the Susan G. Komen Center for Public Policy.
Jennie Smythe
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“[The book] really was a way for me to express my gratitude to the music business and the digital marketing community. It was a way to share my survivorship so that I could help other people. And my intention was to be able to be a support document for entrepreneurs and especially young women,” she says.
Billboard spoke with Smythe about writing her book, launching Girlilla Marketing, the importance of mental health advocacy and leading the next generation of women music industry execs.
Why was it important to you to share your life and career experiences in this book?
I thought I was going to write a business book about business lessons, anecdotal humor in the workplace, generational bridges, that kind of thing. But I got sick and our music community also lost several people to cancer, like [music industry executives] Jay [Frank], Lisa Lee, and Phran Galante. I had 12 rounds of chemo, six surgeries. [Part of me] was like, ‘Can I just go back to work?’ But I realized, ‘No, you can’t. This is part of your story now.’ Every single one of those three people–Jay, Phran and Lisa–called me every day when I shared my story [about her battle with breast cancer]. They all were in harder circumstances than I was. So I was like, ‘I want to do this for them.’ And the Nashville community, it is like a family. That’s one of the most special things, and no matter how big Nashville gets, we don’t lose that.
A conversation with your father led you to launch Girlilla Marketing. What do you recall about that?
I was 30, I had had a pretty successful career, and then my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I was in the hospital room with him and he said, ‘What would you do if your life was half over?’ When he asked me that question, in that moment, it drilled down to two different things: I want to start a digital agency and I want to travel more. I realized, “There’s never going to be a perfect time, a perfect amount of money—if I don’t do it now, I will not do it.”
Girlilla Marketing is an all-woman company. What inspired you to launch a female-first company?
I feel like through my whole career of working for other people, I only had the opportunity to work for one woman, and she was amazing. But I wished I would’ve had more opportunity to do that. So, I created what I wanted, the place I wanted to work, because it didn’t exist.
One of the key early moments in the book was when, during your career at Yahoo Music, you received a performance review from your former boss, Jay Frank. You received some feedback you didn’t expect.
That’s what made him my trusted mentor because he was like, “You’re so smart and you’re doing all the right things, but you’ve got to be human, or people won’t want to work for you.” I thought if you are the champion and you are the best, then you will be rewarded for that behavior. Not at all. Everything that has come to me in a good way has come because of a team mentality. It was a lesson in leadership.
What are some things were you able to implement because of that conversation?
How do you come into the office in the morning, no matter how stressed you are—do you say good morning to everyone, or do you just ignore everyone? When you are in a meeting and somebody is not prepared, instead of drilling somebody down to where they feel like they can’t get out of that hole, what do you do? Isn’t the job of a manager to lift them up?
What are some of the biggest myths that persist around digital marketing in music?
One of the myths is that [artists] have to create all the time. That’s not true. You do have to figure out what your cadence is, but if you are creative and you’re constant, you’ll be okay. Some people are too precious with it, they feel like they can’t, and we have to get them out of that.
With things like TikTok and A.I., so many things are swiftly changing in the industry. What do you think are some of the biggest issues?
Mental health. Giving people the space to create without the pressure of the analytics, which are glaringly upfront in every conversation that we have. Once a week, somebody comes in here ready to quit because they’ve been told that if they don’t hit a certain threshold, that they don’t have a career. I’ve been around artists my whole life and that’s not conducive to a creative career. My thing is telling artists constantly that they are the CEOs of their lives, and their digital ecosystem is part of it, but it’s a wide net.
Also, the mental health thing starts from the top. I am so lucky to be in this community with people like Tatum [Allsep] from Music Health Alliance, and grateful for people like at the CMA who put together the mental health fund. People talk about artists, but it’s also the people in the business that need support, like our touring families.
For those who are just starting out in digital marketing, what essential tools do they need to know?
I think just being an avid user, and you need to know how to shoot and edit content. It’s all video. This is the biggest merge of the decade. We used to have the creative people and the analytical people. To inform the creative, sometimes you need to understand what the market is requesting—very much the same conversation we had with Napster, when it was like, “So this is the most illegally downloaded file in Green Bay, Wisconsin—maybe we should go play there.” It’s also having somebody that can purposely come up with a creative strategy that also speaks to the analytical success to something, that’s the job for the next 10 years. That’s exciting because I think when I was in college, my [current] job didn’t exist. But along the way, everything I picked up mattered.
Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater is getting a new operator.
Metro Nashville has notified Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP) that it intends to have RHP’s Opry Entertainment Group (OEG) operate Ascend Amphitheater for the next decade. The deal is subject to successful negotiation between the two parties. Axios first reported the news.
Colin Reed, executive chairman of RHP’s board of directors, tells Billboard he expects the negotiations to conclude within the next three months and that the 10-year contract will take effect Jan. 1, 2026. It’s a realization of a dream for RHP that began even before the 6,800-capacity outdoor venue opened in 2015. “We applied for this a decade ago when the city was deciding they were going to build [Ascend],” he says. “We and Live Nation bid 10 years ago. We loved the space then and we really love the space now.”
RHP has aready committed capital to “beautify the project,” Reed says. “Upgrade it and make it more of an experience for the consumer.”
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RHP was selected over Live Nation and AEG. “We really put our front foot forward here, so we always thought we had a shot, but beating two companies that, quite candidly, we have a high degree of regard for — AEG, that handles all of our ticketing in all of our venues, as well as Live Nation, who we have a healthy relationship with — we were very pleased,” Reed adds.
Ascend has averaged 20 to 30 concerts a year, primarily during the summer season, but Reed says he expects to substantially expand activity at the venue.
A cap on 35 shows per year was put in place when the amphitheater opened because it is in a residential area, Reed says, but “the issue for us is this is one of the great pieces of real estate in the city of Nashville and how do we activate it for the other 330 days a year because it should not be kept fallow for that period of time. We can do daytime programming. We can do Opry Under the Stars. We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking with the symphony. There are multiple ways in which we can activate this space.” He is also eager to bring holiday offerings to the Ascend from Thanksgiving to the end of December.
Ascend will be an open room, meaning other promoters, including AEG and Live Nation, can promote shows there. “We want to maintain a good relationship with those businesses,” he says. “We’ll talk to anyone that wants to play this great city.”
Ryman Hospitality’s OEG also runs Nashville venues the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry House, in addition to having partnerships with Luke Combs‘ Category 10 venue and Blake Shelton‘s Ole Red.
Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Cowgirls” hitmaker and four-time ACM Award nominee Ernest is adding another notch to his musical resume, launching his own label, DeVille Records, in a joint venture with Big Loud Records (where Ernest himself signed as an artist in 2019).
Ernest’s DeVille Records features Chandler Walters, Rhys Rutherford and Cody Lohden as its first artists. Ernest, Walters, Rutherford and Lohden are all managed by new recently-announced management company Greenhouse Management, launched by Kiley Donohoe.
The initial project from the new label is Cadillac Sessions, a mixtape-style compilation set for release on May 9, that will feature two new original songs, and one cover from Ernest, Walters, Rutherford and Lohden, plus guest artists. The project will blend honky-tonk, ’90s country, Western swing and more.
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“We’re going to build this thing wide and on concrete,” Ernest said in a statement of DeVille Records. “Artist development. Write the songs and do it the old-school way. Make the videos, see the vision, help the vision come to life.”
“We have been in business with ERNEST for almost a decade. What started with ERN as a young prolific songwriter-artist in Big Loud’s publishing hallways, has evolved into so much more over the years,” Big Loud CEO / partner Seth England added. “Our partnerships in ERN’s Cadillac Music have gone so well, and his desire to create DeVille Records alongside of it made sense. ERNEST himself grew in an independent and cultural environment much like the one he desires to create. He and I have talked about this day for years, and all of the unique ways we could help break the next wave of prolific artists. Kudos to Rhys, Cody and Chandler for buying into this vision and supporting this unique rollout style with our upcoming DeVille project.”
With the new label, Ernest continues doubling down on giving back to his hometown of Nashville. Last year, he released a musical love letter to his hometown with the album Nashville, Tennessee, has earned multiple ACM, CMA and Grammy nominations, including his current ACM nominations for artist-songwriter of the year, as well as being a co-writer on the ACM song of the year-nominated song “I Had Some Help,” recorded by Morgan Wallen and Post Malone.
Writer, artist and steel guitar player Walters is touring with Post Malone and Ernest, and co-wrote the Post Malone/Morgan Wallen hit “I Had some Help.” Kentucky native Lohden, a former firefighter/paramedic, draws on the sounds of ’80s country singers such as Keith Whitley and Don Williams, and has toured with Ernest, Bailey Zimmerman and Walker Hayes. Rutherford has contributed to songs by (“Is This Really Over?”), Ernest feat. Morgan Wallen (“Hangin’ On”), Kashus Culpepper (“Talk With Me”) and George Pippen (“Rest of Our Life”).
Kiley Donohoe has launched Greenhouse Management, with an artist roster that includes “Cowgirls” hitmaker Ernest, as well as artists and hit songwriters Chandler Walters, Rhys Rutherford and Cody Lohden.
Donohoe previously worked at Big Loud since 2018, starting in digital marketing and working with artists over the years including Morgan Wallen, Florida Georgia Line, Ernest and Chris Lane. Four years ago, she transitioned into management, taking on the role of Ernest’s manager.
Donohoe says she plans to keep Greenhouse’s roster small, in order to focus on each artist, telling Billboard, “I want to be able to have the bandwidth for all my clients and super-serve them and work with people I believe in and trust, and who believe and trust in me. It’s not about how large [the company] can get, but working with great people.”
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Greenhouse Management’s title was inspired by the time Iowa native Donohoe spent as a child working in her grandparents’ backyard greenhouse.
“I was thinking about my roots and values of being transparent, like a greenhouse, and what shaped me,” Donohoe says. “I was talking to [hit songwriter, artist and Songs & Daughters leader] Nicolle Galyon about the company name and this new chapter and she suggested the name. It is so important to me to be transparent and to stay true to who you are. I try to stay true to that as a manager.”
“Kiley has always had the artist best interest in mind and will continue to develop into a great manager,” Ernest said in a statement. “I look forward to seeing what the future brings, and I know that her artists are in good hands.”
Chandler Walters, Rhys Rutherford, Greenhouse Management CEO / Manager Kiley Donohoe, Cody Lohden, Matt Schneider
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Walters added, “The first one to take care of you and the last one to let you down. I’ve known Kiley since I moved to town; she’s held the keys to my sanity, and it only makes sense for us to tackle my artist career!”
Ernest, who last year released a musical love letter to his hometown with the album Nashville, Tennessee, has earned multiple ACM, CMA and Grammy nominations, including his current ACM nominations for artist-songwriter of the year, as well as being a co-writer on the ACM song of the year-nominated song “I Had Some Help,” recorded by Morgan Wallen and Post Malone. Lohden has toured with artists including ERNEST, Bailey Zimmerman and Walker Hayes, while Rutherford has contributed writing to songs recorded by Zimmerman (“Is This Really Over?”), Ernest feat. Morgan Wallen (“Hangin’ On”), Kashus Culpepper (“Talk With Me”) and George Pippen (“Rest of Our Life”). Walters is also a co-writer on “I Had Some Help,” and has six cuts on Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion album, seven cuts on Ernest’s Nashville, Tennessee album (including the Jelly Roll collaboration “I Went to College, He Went to Jail,” and is part of Post Malone’s touring band, playing pedal steel. Lohden and Rutherford both have their own new music coming.
Concert promotion titan AEG Presents bolstered its presence in Music City with the late February opening of its flagship Nashville venue, The Pinnacle, located in the 19-acre, mixed-use Nashville Yards complex. Kacey Musgraves performed at the 4,500-person capacity, 88,500-square-feet concert venue’s inaugural concert on Feb. 27.
“We spent a lot of time going back and forth over who the first artist was going to be,” Mike DuCharme, regional vice president for AEG Presents, tells Billboard. “We loved the idea of having a female artist from Nashville that isn’t straight down the country lane but crosses demographics and music and has fans of all genres. She really hit the mark and did great. And the fact that her voice is so great, you really got a good feel for how the room can sound. There were times you could hear a pin drop, and it was incredible.”
AEG Presents’ new concert hall has been a decade in the works, and is owned by the Yards development, through a partnership between Southwest Value Partners and AEG Real Estate, with AEG Presents operating the venue. The Pinnacle joins a slate of other mid-sized AEG venues that have launched across the country, including Atlanta’s 2,300-capacity The Eastern, Boston’s 3,500-capacity Roadrunner, Brooklyn’s 1,800-capacity Brooklyn Steel, Denver’s 4,000-capacity Mission Ballroom and Los Angeles’ 4,000-capacity Shrine Expo Hall. AEG Presents just announced another addition to its set of venues, with an upcoming 4,000-capacity, as-yet-unnamed venue in Austin, Texas.
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“As we build these venues, they get more refined,” adds Brent Fedrizzi, president of AEG Presents’ North American regional offices. “We take 10 things from the last one we did and ask what we can do better. Every market has its own nuances and I think with Pinnacle, it’s the best thing we’ve done.”
The Pinnacle, helmed by general manager Katie Millar, also aids AEG Presents in bolstering its profile further in a town that has been largely dominated by Live Nation venues. Crucially, the venue’s 4,500-person capacity fills a void Nashville’s touring landscape for an indoor venue larger than the smaller clubs or venues such as Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl (1,200-capacity) and Marathon Music Works (1,800 standing room capacity), or the 2,362-seat historic Ryman Auditorium, though not as massive as the up-to 20,000-capacity Bridgestone Arena. Though the 4,400-seat Grand Ole Opry House’s capacity is close to that of The Pinnacle, the new venue’s various configurations feature both seated and standing options.
“The sweet spot for a lot of touring acts and artists these days is that 3,500 to around 5,500 capacity,” Fedrizzi says. “As we roll these [venues] out, we’re looking at markets that are under-served.”
With The Pinnacle, AEG Presents was equally focused on creating a venue that can serve as a home spotlighting a breadth of musical styles in the city most famously known for country music. Jason Isbell is currently doing a multi-show run of solo concerts, while other artists with upcoming shows include 311, Alice in Chains, Wilco, Warren Zeiders, Zac Brown Band, Adam Ray, Megan Moroney, Jack White, Denzel Curry, JOHNNYSWIM and Santana.
“It’s a venue for everyone, for the community. We’re going to do it all — country, EDM, rock — we’ve already checked a lot of those boxes,” Fedrizzi says. “I think the market was under-served in that capacity, in that configuration. And then obviously even the EDM shows so far, whether it’s been Illenium or deadmau5, that crowd hasn’t really had a place in Nashville to go.”
The venue already has many shows booked through November. In addition to The Pinnacle, the Nashville Yards complex also houses AEG Presents’ regional office, along with the global touring team and Messina Touring Group’s Nashville office will move into Nashville Yards in July. L-Acoustics also announced it will have office space in the complex.
The Pinnacle’s easily accessible location has led to spontaneous concert bookings. “This being an industry town, the artists can actually just come down and see it,” Fedrizzi says.
“They love the production, the sight lines,” DuCharme says. “We’ve taken artists through to tour [when they] are there for other shows and then confirmed shows at shows. The agent will be down there watching another show and be like, ‘Yes, we’re playing here.’”
The venue also boasts top-shelf production and sound, with a K2 L-Acoustics sound system from Clair Global and Solotech lighting/video systems. The multi-level venue also features an upper level balcony and risers with seating.
The venue’s decor reflects the uniqueness of its Music City locale, with Emily Cox of Formation commissioning murals, wallpaper and installations from more than two dozen local Nashville artists to display throughout the venue’s hallways, restrooms, artist rooms and concourses.
The backstage areas received just as much attention as front of house, with multiple dressing rooms, each with its own decor. Artists have protected parking for buses, and just off the main stage is an area with seating for artists’ family and friends. An open-air rooftop patio offers opportunities for industry gatherings and intimate performances.
“It’s an industry town, and we know our peers and the people we work with day-to-day will be in the space,” Fedrizzi says. “How can we make their experience great? Because they may be going to three different shows in a night — how do we make that a great experience? We don’t have that at every single venue we do, because not every venue is in an industry town. We always have a VIP space, but Nashville in particular, we know that our peers and the people that we work with day to day are going to be in the space, so we thought about how we can make their experience appealing?”
“The other thing is, we had Carly Pearce sit in on Russell Dickerson’s show [on March 14],” DuCharme says. “There are so many special guests who sit in with someone else because of friendships, or they ask to do a song. Having a place where those artists can host their guests and have them easily come out to do a song, that has been really well-received.”
Beyond solely concerts, the venue is meant as a multipurpose venue, and is wired for television and broadcast, making it a potential space for various televised and livestreamed events.
“We want to have those ACM and CMA-type events and all those things Nashville is known for,” Fedrizzi says. “When designing the space, we very much contemplated how do we activate the space to complement what is happening in spaces like CMA Fest or the Opry.”
In August 2022, Contemporary Christian Music mainstay TobyMac issued a project, Life After Death, that found the singer-songwriter wrestling with the emotional turmoil that followed the death of his 21-year-old son, Truett, in 2019.
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Nearly three years removed from Life After Death, the 14-time Billboard Christian Airplay solo chart-topper returns with his ninth solo studio album, Heaven on My Mind, on Friday (March 7) via Forefront/Capitol Christian Music Group. The new album finds him discovering a new equilibrium, while continuing to honor the sense of loss.
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“My last record was just facing things no one should have to face… the deepest, heart-crushing you could ever have in losing my first-born son, but I felt like this record was me gaining my footing a bit. Realizing, ‘Okay, I can breathe, and I can get my fist up in the air about things I believe in,’” the seven-time Grammy winner tells Billboard.
As with Life After Death, TobyMac turned to songwriting as an outlet to process this new life season, saying, “I’m a songwriter first and foremost. I’m a songwriter disguised as a pop artist.”
The album’s central theme is perhaps embodied in his uplifting, most recent Christian Airplay chart-topper “Nothin’ Sweeter.”
“I wanted to summarize a little bit that life is full of twists and turns and that I have seen a lot of it, and I’ve seen the sweetest parts of it, the best parts of it, and I’ve seen some really tough parts, and I landed on my feet was the goodness of God.”
TobyMac has weathered a few heartbreaking moments in recent years — not only the passing of his son, but the death of close friend and longtime associate Gabriel Patillo, who died in April 2024 following a battle with cancer. Patillo was a member of TobyMac’s Diverse City Band and an entertainer who had worked alongside TobyMac for 25 years, after first joining as a dancer when TobyMac was part of DC Talk.
He pays homage to Patillo on a pair of songs on the album: the folk-oriented “Campfire (That Very Love)” was written as a plea of healing, followed by the tender tribute “Goodbye (For Gabe).”
“Gabe was the heartbeat of Diverse City. We did everything together,” TobyMac recalls. “The backstage culture that we were always striving to create on our tours, Gabe and I came up with that together — how do we make backstage not competitive? How do we make it a community? How do we make it to where we’re praying for each other, hoping for each other, and cheering for each other when we’re on stage versus feeling competitive? My philosophy is that a healthy [environment] backstage leads to a healthy [environment] on stage. It made the shows stronger, more powerful. We produced every show together, wrote songs together, and he helped me think through everything. He was just my right-hand man for everything that I do.”
Determination and a refusal to lose hope pulsate through the album on songs such as the resolute anthem “Can’t Stop Me” (which feels reminiscent of TobyMac’s days as part of the 1990s CCM rock/rap group DC Talk) and the triumphant “God Did It.” Elsewhere, on “A Lil Church (Nobody’s Too Lost),” which is rising on the Hot Christian Songs chart, he seeks to redefine boxed-in assumptions of what a church can be—focusing more on community over stained-glass windows and towering buildings.
He initially had a current country music hitmaker in mind for “A Lil’ Church.” “I had Jelly Roll in my head, just because we’ve texted a bit here and there. I always wanted to hear him on it, maybe one day I will. That would be awesome,” TobyMac says.
“Rearview,” featuring Gospel artist-writer-producer Juan Winans, touches on coping with regrets.
“Juan wrote his verse, and I wrote mine,” he recalls. “We wanted to write it authentically so we each took a verse. I think regret is something that I struggle with. I look back like, ‘Should I have done this differently? Should I have done that differently?’ it can really imprison you. I tried to look into the things that trouble me, [and] into the things that empower me or make me feel like I can overcome.”
Outside of his work as an arena-headlining artist, TobyMac was part of the team that launched Gotee Records in 1994, developing it into a prominent label home, with a current roster that includes not only Terrian, but also Jon Reddick, Cochren & Co. and more. The label was recently acquired by global company Bell Partners.
“Partnering with a bigger company, we can put twice the power behind our artists,” TobyMac says. “I’m still doing A&R, still developing artists for Gotee. I made sure I could still do that. As a guy that’s had a label for 25 years, if I didn’t think this would serve our artistry in a greater way, there’s no way I would have done it. It’s nice to know that we have a partner where anything we dream of, we can go after it.”
While Contemporary Christian Music is growing domestically, the deal with Bell brings with it the benefit that it “is powerful in other parts of the world where it’s tough for us to get there and to be represented well,” he says. “I’m excited about the growth of our industry internationally. I feel like it’s absolutely moving in the right direction, and I look forward to what we can do with Bell.”
Gotee recording artist and former Diverse City bandmember Terrian, who released her own debut album in 2024, joins on “Resist (Keep the Devil Away).” Terrian is also opening shows on TobyMac’s current Hits Deep Tour.
“When we signed Terrian to a record deal, we started making songs on her right away and she started touring with Diverse City,” TobyMac says. “The plan was always for her to fly and do her own thing. This is the first tour I’ve done right now without Terrian in the band and she’s out there opening shows because I’m super proud of her and want to give her all the help I can to increase the foundation of what she’s doing as an artist. I love developing young artists, walking alongside them, and helping them gain their own vision for their artistry.”
His album finds its center in creating music of a scope both deeply personal and universal.
“I call it the good, the bad, the ugly of my life. Those just end up on the pages of my lyric notebook,” he says. “We’re all facing some relationships going great, and some relationships that are struggling and there are deep valleys. If I write from my life and I’m experiencing all those things, I find that people relate to it. It resonates with people because we’re not that different from each other.”
Sony Music Nashville has restructured its radio promotion team, appointing Dennis Reese as senior vp, radio marketing & promotion. Reese will oversee the development and execution of the strategic radio promotional plans for both the RCA Nashville and Columbia Nashville imprints.
Reese will report to Sony Music Nashville chair/CEO Taylor Lindsey and president/COO Ken Robold, and will start in his new role on Feb. 14.
Reese spent the past year at Neon Coast, supporting the artist roster including Kane Brown, Restless Road, Nightly, Dylan Schneider and Kat Luna. His new role marks a returning of Reese to SMN; Reese previously spent seven years leading the RCA Nashville imprint. He joined RCA Nashville after working in pop music at Epic Records, Capitol Music Group, Elektra Records and Columbia Records.
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“We are thrilled to welcome back Dennis to the company,” Lindsey said in a statement. “His experience at both the country and pop formats, excellent leadership skills and dedication to the artists he’s worked is unmatched and we are fortunate enough to have him this time at the helm of our promotion team. SMN remains committed to promoting our artists at radio and we know Dennis will continue to bring the No. 1s and advocate for our artists every day.”
Reese’s appointment follows a recent organizational restructuring at Sony Music Nashville, with several radio promotion team staffers having exited as part of the restructuring. Among those that exited were SMN senior vp, promotion Lauren “LT” Thomas, Columbia Nashville senior director, promotion Lauren Bartlett, Columbia Nashville directors of promotion Paige Elliott and Lisa Owen, as well as Sony Music Nashville manager of promotion and artist development Paul Grosser.
Regarding the exits, Sony Music Nashville said in a statement obtained by Billboard, “Our focus is always on being the best partners for our artists and the creative community, especially in this rapidly evolving marketplace. Today we made changes to our team structure to streamline our resources and be more successfully connected to our valuable radio partners across RCA Nashville and Columbia Nashville.”
In November, Lindsey was named as chair/CEO, with Robold promoted to president/COO, as Randy Goodman announced his retirement after running the label since 2015.
Sony Music Nashville’s artist roster includes Brown, Luke Combs, Megan Moroney, Old Dominion, Nate Smith and more.
Dwight Yoakam and Turnpike Troubadours and a string of other artists are set to help raise funds to aid those impacted by the greater Los Angeles-area wildfires, with a concert at Nashville‘s Bridgestone Arena.
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On Feb. 19, Yoakam and Turnpike Troubadours will lead LA Revival, a special benefit concert presented by Thirty Tigers and Triple Tigers. The show will also feature performances from “Burning House” hitmaker Cam, Corey Kent, Carter Faith, Shane Profitt and Brit Taylor.
All of the proceeds from the event will go to the MusiCares LA Fire Relief Effort, to help those affected by the wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area last month. MusiCares was founded by The Recording Academy in 1989; the organization offers preventative, emergency and recovery programs, offering a safety net to aid the health and welfare of those in the music community.
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LA Revival is just one of many recent concerts that have raised funds to help those who have been impacted by the wildfires. The recent FireAid concert, which featured artists including Green Day, Billie Eilish, Jelly Roll, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, has raised more than $100 million to date. Meanwhile, The Recording Academy raised nearly $9 million on Sunday (Feb. 2), when the Grammy Awards aired; throughout Grammy weekend, the Recording Academy and MusiCares raised over $24 million for charitable activities.
In November, Yoakam released his first album in nearly a decade, Brighter Days. The long-tail influence of California’s country music scene has been embedded in Yoakam’s music since the beginning; In the 1980s, he pursued a career in Nashville, but soon decamped to California, soaking in the influence of Buck Owens and the Bakersfield sound, and his unique sound resulted in his debut project Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.
This year, Turnpike Troubadours will also join Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival Tour on select dates. They also recently announced two dates at the iconic outdoor venue Red Rocks, on May 8-9.
Tickets for LA Revival will go on sale Feb. 5 starting at 5 p.m. CT.
Ben Vaughn, president/CEO of Warner Chappell Nashville, died on Thursday (Jan. 30). A cause of death was not disclosed. He was 49.
The much-beloved Vaughn, who was Billboard‘s Country Power Players executive of the year in 2020, joined Warner Chappell Nashville (WCN) in 2012 and was promoted to president in 2017, adding the role of CEO in 2019. The Belmont University alumnus was honored with Belmont’s Music City Milestone Award in 2015.
Warner Chappell Music co-chairs Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall released the following memo to Warner Chappell Music staffers that read in part, “It is with broken hearts that we share the unthinkable news that Ben Vaughn, President & CEO of Warner Chappell Nashville, passed away this morning. Our deepest condolences are with his family and many friends.”
Under Vaughn, WCN had consistently dominated the country music publishing market. In 2024, they were crowned ASCAP Country Music and BMI Publisher of the Year (for the fifth time) and marked their third consecutive quarter at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay publisher rankings. Apart from Q3 of 2022 to Q3 of 2023, Warner Chappell Nashville had held the quarterly top spot, dating back to the first quarter of 2017. In November 2019, ASCAP, BMI and SESAC all named WCN their country publisher of the year — only the third time a publishing company has been honored as such, and a first for WCN.
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Among the singer/songwriters Vaughn worked with were Thomas Rhett, Zach Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Riley Green, Warren Zeiders, Hunter Phelps, Bailey Zimmerman, Jessi Alexander, Liz Rose, Josh Phillips, Thomas Rhett, Nicolle Galyon and Randy Montana.
The father of three was extraordinarily passionate about songwriters, especially developing ones, and relished helping young singer/songwriters find their voice and their first record deal. “There’s so many people that want that record deal, so helping someone get to that spot is one of the hardest things in the music business,” Vaughn told Billboard in 2020. “So the job is to take away the nos and help that person get to a place where you get a yes.”
Tributes poured in quickly. Jon Platt, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Publishing, who worked with Vaughn at EMI and then brought him over to Warner Chappell in 2012, said in a statement, “I am deeply saddened by the passing of my friend Ben Vaughn, and united in grief with the entire songwriting community. Ben dedicated his life to songwriters. As an exceptional leader and mentor, he leaves an indelible mark on the music business. I extend my deepest condolences to his loved ones and all who were touched by his spirit. I feel privileged to have known Ben and shared a close relationship with him. He was the best of the best and I will miss him greatly.”
“Ben was warm, welcoming, and always someone that supported and elevated the American songwriter,” says Lucas Keller, president/founder of Milk & Honey. “The world will not be the same without him – this is a loss most cannot process today. We met 15 years ago on my first trip to Nashville when he was at EMI, and I’ll never forget him.”
“Our hearts are heavy today in learning about the passing of longtime ACM Board Member and former ACM Board Chair, and good friend to all of us, Ben Vaughn,” added Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “Ben was a champion of the country music genre and strong advocate for songwriters and good songs. He served as board chair of the Academy in 2018 and was the first music publisher to serve as chairman in the Academy’s history, in addition to serving on the ACM Lifting Lives board. On behalf of the ACM Board, ACM Lifting Lives Board, and the ACM staff, we send our condolences to Ben’s family, friends, coworkers, and all of those who crossed his path and were lifted up by his passion. His memory will live on forever through the great music he made happen.”
Vaughn grew up in the tiny community of Sullivan, Ky., and comes from “a proud tradition of coal miners, teachers and mechanics,” he told Billboard. As a high school student, he got a job as a weekend DJ at country radio station WMSK-FM, which set him on a path to Nashville. “I would devour the vinyl and read all the publishing and writer credits,” he told Billboard. “I thought, ‘I want to go where these people are.’ ”
That led him to Nashville’s Belmont University and an internship at WCN in 1994 under then-executive vp Tim Wipperman, who taught Vaughn the intricacies of publishing. While there, he got to know producer Scott Hendricks, whose Big Tractor publishing company had a partnership with WCN. Hendricks was so impressed with Vaughn that he eventually asked him to run Big Tractor — while Vaughn was still a college student. “He said, ‘I’m going to give you six months to see how it goes, but if you quit school, I’ll fire you,’ ” recalls Vaughn.
Through the decades, Vaughn remained in wonderment of songwriters and the new worlds they created. “It is awe-inspiring how much talent it takes to create something out of nothing that literally can make the whole world sing,” he said. “The most sacred responsibility is to help connect writers’ dreams to their goals. The fact that as publishers we are trusted to hold that space for them is everything.”
Moot and Marshall’s full memo to WMG:
To everyone at WMG,
It is with broken hearts that we share the unthinkable news that Ben Vaughn, President & CEO of Warner Chappell Nashville, passed away this morning. Our deepest condolences are with his family and many friends.
Ben has led our Nashville team since 2012, and we know that many of you around the world got to know him over the years. Anyone who had the pleasure of working with him will be as shocked and saddened as we are.
First and foremost, Ben was an extraordinary human being. He met everyone with enthusiasm, warmth, and generosity. His smile was huge, and his sense of humor was infectious.
He was always a passionate advocate of songwriters and a topflight music publisher. The Nashville community has lost one of its greatest champions, and he will be profoundly missed by so many across our company and the entire industry.
We are planning to visit the Nashville team very soon and thank you all for helping support them through this awful tragedy.
With love,
Guy & Carianne
This is a developing story.
Several roots-based music luminaries will perform to help aid various communities, as part of the third annual Hello From the Hills concert, slated Sunday, Jan. 26 at Nashville’s City Winery.
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Ruby Amanfu, Cory Branan, Hayes Carll, Brad Goodall, Silas House, Amanda Shires, Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke, and Jesse Welles are all set to take the stage at the intimate Music City venue, with author and storyteller House — most recently known for his work on Tyler Childers’ music video “In Your Love” — hosting the event.
The annual Hello From the Hills concert was founded by Hope in the Hills and The Hello in There Foundation, with the past two concerts drawing performers including Jason Isbell, Tyler Childers, Shires, Sierra Ferrell, Wynonna Judd, Gabe Lee, and Amythyst Kiah. Event proceeds have made it possible for the event’s organizers to make over $100,000 in community grants over the past two years, benefiting organizations including Raphah House, Healing Institute, MusiCares and Musicians Recovery Network.
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Jody Whelan, Oh Boy Records managing partner and Hello in There Foundation board member and treasurer, tells Billboard, “I feel like at this event, it’s so much more than just a performance. You really see the heart of these performers. They are more than just artists, more than just songwriters. You get to see the love they have and the passion they have for different organizations and they see how it affects communities.”
Hope in the Hills’ Ian Thornton tells Billboard, “Music is the thing that brings people together — that’s the business Jody and I are both in. We just know so many great artists and folks have been gracious about donating their time. Nobody gets paid for this. I think the mission in and of itself pushes them to want to be part of it.”
This year, proceeds from the concert will benefit the veterans assistance programs Operation Stand Down Tennessee and Building Lives, as well as My Fathers House Nashville, which provides shelter, life skills and education to fathers who have faced homelessness, incarceration and other adversities. As well, merchandise sales will aid those impacted by the ongoing wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area.
Hello From the Hills
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Whelan says, “It’s great to be able to reach into some of these smaller community-based organizations and support them. I love the big organizations that we support, but $10,000 can go really far to a small, local organization — and that equals, ‘We can help this many people.’ We try to invite people from the organizations that are benefiting to be there, so they can see it and talk about their work.”
The Hello in There Foundation was established in 2021 by the family of the late singer-songwriter John Prine and is guided by message of Prine’s 1971 song “Hello in There.” In 2017, Hope in the Hills was launched by members of Tyler Childers’ team, as well as community members in Kentucky, with the aim of combatting the opioid crisis and supporting recovery throughout Appalachia.
“I’ve long admired the work that Ian and the folks at Hope in the Hills and Healing Appalachia have done,” Whelan says. “The Prine Family started our foundation a few years ago and we’ve been close to them for a long time. So we thought, ‘Can we do something to work together?’ The way we formatted it was we each picked one charity that we felt served our mission and then came together and support another organization.”
Whelan adds, “A lot of times, we let John’s songs kind of guide us. This year, it is focusing on veterans and those struggling with addiction, and John’s song ‘Sam Stone’ is a huge touch point. We think about the organizations and how it might tie in with the work that Hope in the Hills is doing. Once you start talking with these organizations, fighting addiction is such a big part of so many different organizations, even if it’s not their primary thing, like homelessness and addiction impacting veterans. Addiction is such a big topic and it affects lives in so many different ways.”
Looking ahead, Thornton is positive about the continued acceleration of the event’s impact: “I’d like to keep this as an annual event coming to Nashville. We’ve talked about bringing it to other cities, too, because I love the idea of being able to help local community organizations in other cities, especially in this region. I don’t know when we’ll have time to do that, but it will happen soon. I don’t see us going into the virtual space anytime soon. We want to keep getting people in rooms, together in community, and sharing their stories.”
Tickets are still available for this year’s Hello From the Hills at citywinery.com.