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As Eric Church gears up for the opening of Chief’s, his downtown Nashville restaurant, bar and music venue located at 200 Broadway, the CMA entertainer of the year-winning artist gave premium members of his Church Choir fan club a surprise. Tens of thousands of Church fans were sent deeds of ownership to individual bricks that make up the physical framework of the six-story Nashville venue.
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Additionally, fans received access to a virtual fan community and the first in a series of digital collectibles, including a digital version of their brick, which offers access to exclusive content such as previously unheard demos, unreleased video footage, and priority entrance to Chief’s. Other digital collectibles some fans can receive include Vinyl For Life, which gives fans first-edition vinyl of Church’s catalog and a copy of every new piece of vinyl released going forward, including all color variants. Other prizes include a signed guitar (which also grants access to content including a video guitar lesson from Church’s guitarist Driver Williams, and videos of performances from Church playing the guitar). Other prizes include year-long subscriptions to SiriusXM and an opportunity to record a guest DJ set at Chief’s studio as part of Outsiders Radio “Insiders Hour.”
According to Rolling Stone, the virtual component also serves as a database for concerts on Church’s tours, giving fans the ability to “check in” to shows they have attended, view setlists and view tour posters for each concert.
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“You’ve helped me build my career brick by brick, and I want the whole world to know that the building is yours,” Church said in a message to fans. “This is not just another club downtown. This is our house. I’ve been involved in every step of restoring this historic building into a place we can call our own and, because you’ve been with me every step of my career, I’m proud to dedicate a physical brick of the Chief’s building to each and every one of you.”
In 2022, Church announced the upcoming venue, for which he has partnered with real estate developer and hospitality entrepreneur Ben Weprin of AJ Capital. Chief’s will include not only a ticketed music venue, but also additional live entertainment throughout the building, as well as a studio to be used for broadcasting (including for Eric Church Outsiders Radio on SiriusXM), with the capability to host broadcasts from various media partners. Street-level windows will also offer fans a behind-the-scenes look into seeing the broadcast in action. Chief’s will also honor Church’s Carolina roots via a partnership with Rodney Scott. Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ will overlook Nashville’s downtown from its “Hell of a Q” rooftop position. An opening date has yet to be set for the venue.
Giving his fans a stake in ownership — not simply fan-fueled allegiance — has been a cornerstone of Church’s career, most notably back in 2015, when Church surprise-released his album Mr. Misunderstood, by sending copies of the album directly to his Church Choir fanclub members before anyone else heard the project.
“My songs are mine, until I release them, and then they’re never mine again. And this building’s a lot that way,” Church further added in a statement. “It’s been mine in the building of it, in the cultivating with the stories, the challenges, and the successes. But once Chief’s opens, it’s not mine anymore. It belongs to the Choir. It belongs to the fans. It belongs to the patrons. It belongs to the stories they create there. It belongs to the music they listen to there and share from there. So, my story ends where theirs begins and that’s the essence of what you do musically and what we’re trying to do at Chief’s.”
Range Media Partners has opened a Nashville office and signed Tanya Tucker as a management client.
Tucker joins a robust roster of country clients that includes Russell Dickerson, Dylan Gossett, Stephen Wilson Jr., Shaboozey, Drayton Farley, Yola, Luke Grimes, Ryan Bingham, songwriter Geoff Warburton (with Big Machine Music), Midland (with Sandbox Entertainment), and Hailey Whitters and Brent Cobb (both with Make Wake Artists).
The opening of the office, located in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood, follows last summer’s hiring of Nashville-based executives William Lowery and Shawn McSpadden. Lowery, senior vp of partnerships and business development, came from Brigade Media Capital and managing partner McSpadden came from Red Light Management. Range co-founding managing partner Jack Minihan also relocated to Nashville at the end of last year. Additionally, Range Media Partners managing partner/music division founder Matt Graham and Range artist manager/head of touring Kyle Wilensky will split their time between Nashville and Los Angeles.
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In addition to the music team that numbers around 10, the office will include Range Sports’ head of football Kyle Strongin, who represents roughly 40 NFL players, including San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
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Even though Range has managed country artists for the last few years, establishing a physical Nashville office “is the thing that really lets people know that you’re in town,” Graham tells Billboard. “It’s one thing to get on a plane and be there, it’s another to open an office and have full-time employees that are making it a living, breathing organism on a daily basis and a place where other companies and artists can come and sit and have a conversation. It sends a different message of commitment.”
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Graham says Range picked the Wedgewood-Houston area, also home to Apple Music, because “that area is such a beehive of activity and energy in the music business right now. We’re certainly not making everyone be there every day, but we want people to come in and be social and be thoughtful and be creative.”
The newest addition to the Nashville artist roster is icon and Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Tucker. “The Midland guys have a really great relationship with her. They’ve done some shows together, she did their podcast. I’m a huge fan of her career and I think she’s having a real resurgence,” Graham says of Tucker, who took home the Grammy for best country album in 2020. “I think all the pieces are in place for her to have a massive next wave of her career. There’s a real 360 approach to the things that she can do going forward that is not just going to be about recording music and touring. And I think that’s what she found really appealing about Range.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Range is experiencing tremendous success with newcomers Dylan Gossett, whose song “Coal” has surpassed 100 million streams and has sold out a pop-up show in London with a 2,500-person waiting list; Stephen Wilson Jr., who made his late night debut on Late Night with Seth Meyers in February; and Nigerian-American artist Shaboozey, of whom Kacey Musgraves has already declared herself a fan.
Graham says Range is actively looking to add more artists to its curated roster. “I think in Nashville, it’s very important that we stick to what we’re good at and know,” he says. “We like artists that push boundaries and are visually interesting and are breaking new ground in different ways. There’s just so many different new pockets and sub-genres of country that have emerged in the past few years. We want to keep looking into new territory. I think just looking to pick up tried-and-true country radio artists that are leaving disgruntled management situations is just not as exciting for us as building new talents.”
Range will share its Nashville space with Get Engaged, a branding entertainment company that has worked with such companies as Raising Cane’s, Morphe Cosmetics and Ryl Tea with Morgan Wallen, as well as country artists like Cole Swindell, Kane Brown and Chris Young.
Since launching in 2020, Range Media Partners’ music division has formed its own label in partnership with Capitol Music Group and Virgin Music & Artist Label Services and represents artists including Jack Harlow, Saweetie, Pentatonix, Paul Russell, Alec Benjamin and Lauv.
Billy Strings wants a second chance.
Last year, the 31-year-old Strings played two headlining shows at Nashville’s 18,500-capacity Bridgestone Arena, and followed with a show at country music’s “Mother Church,” the Ryman Auditorium. Tonight (Feb. 23), he returns to Music City for a repeat trio — two headlining stints at Bridgestone (Feb. 23-24), followed by a sold-out headlining set at the Ryman (Feb. 25).
“Bridgestone last year was sort of like a fickle mistress or something,” Strings tells Billboard. “I don’t think we blew Bridgestone up. The show was good, but as soon as I played the gig, I was instantly like, ‘We need to come back and try again.’ I just want to blow the roof off of Bridgestone. I’ve done a year of playing arenas now and Bridgestone is really important, because I live here [in Nashville]. That’s where I see all the bands that I like, that’s where I go see $UICIDEBOY$, it’s my hometown arena. So I put a lot of pressure on myself about Bridgestone.”
Strings, who won a Grammy for best bluegrass album for his 2021 album Home and reigns as both the current entertainer of the year at the International Bluegrass Music Awards (IBMA) and artist of the year at the Americana Music Awards, advanced to playing arenas over the past year. His current trek includes multiple nights at arenas in Atlanta (State Farm Arena), New Orleans (UNO Lakefront Arena) and Pittsburgh (Petersen Events Center).
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According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Strings — who since 2017 has been one of the key leaders in the ongoing progression of bluegrass, with his expansive guitar playing and quick-fire improvisational style — grossed $10.8 million and sold 174,000 tickets across 28 reported concerts in 2023, with many of those being arena shows. Those figures average out to $386,000 and 6,200 tickets per show.
The notion of a bluegrass picker ascending to performing multiple nights at arenas places this guitar master on a level of some bold name country and rock acts who regularly pull such double-headers. But a glimpse into Strings’s genre-eschewing shows offers a reasoning behind his appeal as an artist, one who has grown beyond a strictly bluegrass audience. A freewheeling, genre-melting show where Strings is just as likely to deliver a bluegrass standard as throw out a transcendent, high-octane, metal-infused guitar riff — and often in the same song. That’s by design, says the Michigan-raised Strings.
“Growing up, I listened to heavy metal, I listened to bluegrass, jazz, rock and rap,” he explains. “I’m not trying to be bluegrass. I’m not trying to be this or that, I’m just playing. I grew up playing bluegrass, so that’s kind of the medium I paint with — but I just play music, and whatever comes out is what happens. I don’t know what the hell kind of music it is.”
He’s also collaborated with everyone from mainstream country artists Dierks Bentley and Luke Combs to R&B artist RMR and rock band Fences. Combine that with the freewheeling, jamband feel his shows put forth, and it’s understandable that a Strings show draws a wide spectrum of concertgoers, from bluegrass aficionados to Deadheads, teens and older hippies.
“It might be young folks that are just getting into bluegrass and people who are into psychedelia, it’s all over the board,” Strings says. “You look out and see a guy headbanging wearing a Slayer shirt at a bluegrass concert. That’s freakin’ cool.”
The buildup to playing arenas has been steady, and conscientiously through out.
“We’ve always tried to be careful,” Strings says. “We toured in a van for as long as we could before moving to a bus, just stuff like that. I think we could probably play two or three nights at some of these places — but we choose to do only two, just to make sure they are full.”
Though Strings playing the 2,362-capacity Ryman is an underplay at this point, he says performing at the 132-year-old historic venue is always special. “Last time, we did all bluegrass songs, wore suits and played a bluegrass concert, which was so fun,” Strings recalls. “This year, I don’t know what we’ll do. Maybe an MTV Unplugged vibe, something stripped down. That’s what’s so cool about Nashville — like last year, we went from Bridgestone to the Ryman and then to Roberts [Western World on Lower Broadway]. So it goes from the biggest stuff ever to the funnest stuff ever.”
He also notes that, as with nearly any solid Nashville show, fans can expect some surprises. “We’ve got some friends coming down,” Strings teases.
Longtime Strings fans and music aficionados might also notice some fresh nuances to his guitar playing–the results of this naturally-talented, playing by ear guitarist taking his first-ever guitar lessons.
“Last April, I started getting sick of myself and felt like I was on a plateau,” Strings says. “I’ve never taken lessons, I don’t know anything about music theory, and I’m in these sessions with Bela Fleck and people who are very well-versed in harmony and theory — and I’m just sitting here, some old country bumpkin, playing by ear, which is great. But now I have a guitar teacher and he’s got me learning jazz and classical and Charlie Parker tunes, stuff I never really play as a bluegrass musician, and it’s opening up my brain to different harmonic avenues. I can feel my fingers starting to reach for notes that weren’t there before. I never had a deliberate practice routine, ever, but I was building a career. Now that I have a career, it’s like, ‘There’s so many people that have practiced more than me and I’ve just been out here ripping gigs.’ So I’m having fun kind of starting over from the beginning.”
It is likely that somewhere in his three-night span of shows, Strings’ setlist will include his Grammy-nominated Willie Nelson collaboration, “California Sober,” which Strings released in honor of Nelson’s 90th birthday last year, and which marked Strings’ first release since partnering with Reprise Records, following a long association with Rounder. Strings says the collaboration was set in motion after Strings performed as part of Nelson’s Outlaw tour nearly two years ago.
“I got to hang out with him on that tour, and I was so inspired just by being around him,” he says. Later, Strings wrote the song and realized, “This is such a Willie song that I can’t record it without him.” He sent the song to Nelson, who agreed to record it. Strings went down to Luck while Nelson recorded his vocal.
“Just sitting there in the studio and making the song was amazing,” says Strings, noting that they followed the session with a game of poker at Nelson’s house. “He took a thousand bucks from me, real quick … I had no idea what I was doing, and he had no problem with that. His wife was like, ‘Man, this is gross. This poor kid doesn’t even know how to play poker.’ And Willie’s like, ‘Well, he shouldn’t have sat down.’ I would’ve spent another thousand just to sit there at that table.”
While Strings’ current tour runs through May, followed by some summer festivals, Strings has also been in the studio recording and says a new album is likely on the way this year.
“We got a record coming out probably in the fall,” he says. And it sounds like those sessions –- just like his live shows — are centered on chasing the muse and challenging himself musically.
“I’ve been working on it a little bit between touring. I’m recording at home for the first time ever. Me and the band, sometimes we’ll work for 12 hours, sometimes we’ll work for three. Not having a time limit, no restraints, has been awesome, just for the vibe.”
Sony Music Publishing‘s administration division in Nashville will relocate to Nashville’s Music Row area, having signed a lease to move into the 17th + Grand building (located at 1001 17th Ave.) from its current location in downtown Nashville at 424 Church Street, a source has confirmed to Billboard. The move is slated to take place […]
The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) has selected its leadership for the coming year.
Lee Thomas Miller has been selected to serve as president, while Jenn Schott will serve as vp of the organization. Outgoing president Steve Bogard, who previously served as NSAI president from 2006-2012 and was elected to the role again in 2017, is the longest-running president in NSAI’s history. Bogard chose not to seek another leadership term, though he will continue serving on NSAI’s board of directors.
The results of the general election also include new board member Trannie Anderson joining for a first term, while 10 current board members were re-elected to two-year terms: Steve Bogard, Chris DeStefano, J.T. Harding, Byron Hill, Josh Kear, Jamie Moore, Jon Nite, Liz Rose, Jenn Schott and Emily Shackelton. Meanwhile, Roger Brown was re-appointed to a one-year term as legislative chair, while Rhett Akins and Caitlyn Smith were re-appointed to the organization’s “artist writer” board positions for one-year terms and Brett James was re-appointed to a one-year term in the industry liaison role.
The new additions join existing board members Miller, Kelly Archer, Sarah Buxton, David Hodges, Jessie Jo Dillon, Tim Nichols, Josh Osborne, Rivers Rutherford, Anthony L. Smith, Troy Verges and Parker Welling, whose terms expire in 2025.
“Steve Bogard led NSAI through complicated trials where we sought higher streaming rates, the Music Modernization Act, and many challenges as we sought to improve compensation for American Songwriters,” said NSAI executive director Bart Herbison in a statement. “Every songwriter in the United States owes him a handshake and thank you for his work and the thousands of hours he sacrificed. We are also glad to welcome Lee Thomas Miller who has served as President previously and is a proven, effective advocate. And Jenn Schott who will serve as NSAI Vice-President after years of experience on our board and Executive Committee.”
NSAI Board elections happen in two phases: voting by the NSAI professional songwriter membership and appointments by the NSAI board of directors. The board terms begin each year at the April meeting.
In 1957, less than a decade after writer Stuart K. Hine wrote the 1949 hymn “How Great Thou Art,” vocalist George Beverly Shea introduced the song to U.S. audiences during one of preacher Billy Graham’s crusades at New York’s Madison Square Garden. According to author Don Cusic’s book The Sound of Light, Shea performed the song nearly 100 times during the 16-week crusade, which averaged 19,000 in attendance each night.
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Since then, “How Great Thou Art” has become one of the most well-known hymns, sung weekly in congregations around the world and performed by notable artists such as Elvis Presley, who made the song the title track to his second gospel project in 1967 and won two Grammys for his recordings of the song, including best inspirational performance and best sacred performance. In 2011, Carrie Underwood earned a hit with her version of the song, and later included it on her 2021 gospel album, My Savior. The song was included on a list of “365 Songs of the Century” released in 2001 by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
To honor the 75-year anniversary of “How Great Thou Art,” sixteen CCM and country artists came together to update the song with a new verse and creating “How Great Thou Art (Until That Day),” which releases today. Chris Tomlin (“Holy Forever,” “How Great Is Our God”), Matt Redman (“10,000 Reasons”), Lady A member Hillary Scott (“Thy Will”), Cody Carnes, Kari Jobe, solo artist and Maverick City Music member Naomi Raine, TAYA, Ryan Ellis, Jon Reddick, Blessing Offor, Brian Johnson, Jenn Johnson, Matt Maher, Pat Barrett, Benjamin William Hastings, and Mitch Wong joined together to record the new version.
The Stuart Hine Trust, which owns and administers Hine’s catalog, commissioned Redman, as well as writer-artist Wong (a writer on CeCe Winans’ Grammy-winning hit “Believe For It”) to craft a new verse to the song, one that would lend hope and resonance with current events. Maher and Steve Marcia produced the new version, with string arrangement by Tommee Profitt.
“Normally, you can’t adapt this hymn,” Redman tells Billboard. “There is a pattern with old hymns, if they are in the public domain, of adapting them, adding a chorus, reworking them. But with ‘How Great Thou Art,’ the Stuart Hine Trust is still the publisher and normally they would deny anyone who tried to mess with it. So I was quite surprised when they approached and said, ‘Would you like to write a new section?’”
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Hine wrote the song in 1949, though its origins stretch back to an 1800s Swedish hymn. Hine was a missionary in the 1930s, living and traveling in the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe, which now includes Ukraine. Proceeds from the new version of the song will support humanitarian efforts to aid those impacted in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
“We tried to tie into the old verse structure, but with a melodic lift and words saying, ‘Hey, we can’t avoid or ignore that we live in a broken, warring world, and we have to face that, but we’re also going to sing with hope,” Redman says, adding, “I feels like a bit of a weird word, ‘War,’ to put in a hymn, but that’s our reality, whether it’s on a personal level or on a national, actual war level, that’s the world we live in. I don’t want to sing a song that feels escapist or doesn’t engage with reality.”
The artists came together to record vocals at both Gold Pacific Studios in Los Angeles, as well as Nashville’s RCA Studio B — the same Music City studio where Presley recorded his version of “How Great Thou Art” in 1966. “Matt Maher got to play the piano from the Elvis version, so it was quite a special full-circle moment,” Redman notess.
“I felt like we landed on a fresh approach that felt very true to the old hymn,” Redman says. Tomlin begins the song with a solo vocal, followed by Scott. From there, vocalist after vocalist lends their vocal, sometimes solo and other times wrapping in harmonies, building into full-on vocal choruses. “The most wonderful thing for me was all of these people are fantastic vocalists. We’d have Naomi Raine sing, and Kari Jobe and Blessing Offor, then Hillary Scott comes in — I don’t know quite how she carries that completely pure voice, but with that tiny edge to it. The vocals all work so well together.”
Looking ahead in celebrating the song’s 75th anniversary, Redman says that there could be additional versions of “How Great Thou Art” (including the new verse) on the way: “The Stuart Hine Trust has commissioned, I believe, an orchestral version, a choir version, welcoming different versions of the new arrangement as a way of resourcing out to the wider church.”
As Nashville‘s economy continues to boom, the acceleration brings not only an influx of new businesses to Music City, but also concerns for musicians, as many in greater Nashville’s music community face ongoing struggles with issues including cost of living and housing and issues impacting live music venues across the city.
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The Nashville Musicians Union AFM Local 257, the Music Venue Alliance Nashville, Belmont University, the Broadway Entertainment Association and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT) have teamed with the organization Sound Music Cities, which has administered similar surveys in 20+ cities, including Austin, Texas and Chattanooga, Tenn., to launch the Greater Nashville Music Census in 2024.
According to the website for the Greater Nashville Music Census, the initiative aims to “gain a better understanding of the current needs of the Nashville-area music community. The census will capture key information about our Nashville music economy to help the city and community make better informed, data-driven decisions to support our music ecosystem moving forward.”
The census is set to go live in mid-February and will survey the greater Nashville region, which includes the 13 counties in and around Nashville.
Fueling the need for the census are concerns that as Nashville’s economy booms, rising housing expenses are forcing many in Nashville’s music industry further from Nashville.
CFMT vp of communications Kelly Walberg said in a statement, “In recent years, many within our music industry have migrated to surrounding counties where the cost of living may remain more affordable. So we feel it is paramount that we survey the full geographic region to truly understand the current landscape of our Nashville music ecosystem.”
“The economic growth being fueled by our amazing music scene in Nashville is also causing so many within the industry to be left behind,” Belmont University assistant professor, music business and LoveNoise founder Eric Holt said in a statement. “Our hope is to give each and every one of them a voice in this census, and come out of it with a clear path towards what solutions are needed most, and soonest.”
Results of the census are expected to be released to the public as early as summer 2024, and will include three sections: a summary report, data deck and a DEI report.
This week, we highlight a batch of country new tunes that range from poppy and sleek to bluegrass and Western-inflected. “Tennessee Orange” hitmaker Megan Moroney is surging on the streaming charts with her new release “No Caller ID,” while Kelsey Hart has earned a viral hit with his tender love song “Life With You.”
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Meanwhile, Madeline Merlo gets confessional on her new single, while Sierra Ferrell and Colby T. Helms bring their unique brands of hard-edged country to the forefront on new releases.
Megan Moroney, “No Caller ID”
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Moroney’s latest release is this superbly-crafted, fan-favorite track, which she wrote with other powerhouse writers, Jessie Jo Dillon, Connie Harrington and Jessi Alexander. The opening lyrics lay the scene as a woman whose ex always seems to re-enter her life just as she’s settled in to a better romantic situation, thanks to therapy and a newfound healthy relationship. The early verses and choruses seem to find her waffling between exhuming the past and moving on. In the bridge, she reaches the realization that answering her ex’s call equates to emotional self-harm, and refuses to replicate past mistakes, as she sings, “I’m tired of hurtin’ me/ So I let it ring.” Moroney’s debut album Lucky showcased her immense promise as both vocalist and songwriter; here, she proves her talents keep growing in depth and nuance.
Kelsey Hart, “Life With You”
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Hart has earned a viral hit with this tender love song — a tuneful, tasteful track that makes for a powerful performance. Tender piano, guitar and percussion highlight Hart’s at once strong and soft-hearted voice.
Madeline Merlo, “Makeup”
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Searing, courageous truths spill everywhere on Merlo’s latest, as she ponders how much of her innate mannerisms she can actually change. Gorgeously detailed lyrics of both doubt and self-acceptance abound, with Merlo asking, “Could I make love last forever if my parents never could/ Will I ever know the difference between good enough and good?” A scorcher of a performance.
Sierra Ferrell, “Dollar Bill Bar”
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Ferrell sings of the longheld saloon tradition of writing names on dollar bills and stapling them to the walls of the bar. Her enchanting, lilting voice sounds effortless as she describes that she’s legendary on these bar scenes, and warns a potential suitor to not think he’s special — that her name is emblazoned on more than one dollar bill in that bar. Another sterling release from one of Americana, bluegrass and country’s most talented artists.
Colby T. Helms, “Mountain Brandy”
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On his Jan. 19 album release Tales of Misfortune, Helms melds bluegrass with blues and country. Here, fiddle and mandolin wrap around an ode to homemade, mountain-spun brandy for both its medicinal properties and its connection to old-time mountain community, even as newcomers make their way into the area.
Sports and music company The Familie has expanded to Nashville, and is set to make Music City the company’s national headquarters.
“Nashville is a city that is inspired by culture, diversity, arts and entertainment, and – from a business perspective – encourages entrepreneurship and growth with no state-income tax and a low barrier to entry for real estate, including commercial real estate,” The Familie founder/CEO Steve Astephen tells Billboard via email.
The Familie’s roster includes Machine Gun Kelly, Avril Lavigne, Jaden Hossler, Games We Play and sombr.
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Former Universal Music Group Nashville executive vp of promotion Royce Risser will lead the company’s new country music division and oversee the Nashville office’s operations. Chase Berlin has been hired as the company’s first artist manager in Nashville.
Risser has more than three decades of music industry experience, starting at MCA Records as an intern in 1991 before being hired as a promotion assistant. Risser rose through the ranks at UMGN, leading promotion efforts and rising to executive vp of promotion. Along the way, Risser worked with artists including George Strait, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Chris Stapleton, Sam Hunt, Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi and Brothers Osborne.
Berlin will work under Risser to sign and develop country artists and build out the genre’s division for The Familie. A University of Florida graduate, Berlin previously worked at management company The AMG and at WME.
“It’s been immediately clear to me that The Familie does things differently,” said Risser in a statement. “I appreciate the team’s non-transactional approach to management, thoughtfully building artist brands and legacies through collaboration and a vast network of cross-industry alliances. Steve Astephen could easily be the smartest, most connected person I’ve ever met and can’t wait to work alongside him in this role. I know this team will be a refreshing addition to the Nashville scene while also integrating with and honoring the history and pedigree of Music Row. I’m absolutely fired up and honored to be at the helm of The Familie’s arrival in Nashville.”
Astephen tells Billboard, “Diversity of thought and experience is what helped us transform sports representation in the 2000s and it’s what will help us do the same in music — which is essentially to not just think outside the box, but to create the box…I entered sports representation from a brand and retail perspective, then music management from a sports agency perspective. Royce has been in radio, which, of course, drives country music. He’s been in marketing and promotions. These are the types of things that add additional opportunities for an artist who signs with us. If you sign with The Familie as a musical artist, we’re looking at: How do we bring you into the sports world? How do we bring you into radio marketing? We’re not just managing an artist’s career, we’re expanding it.”
The first artist signed to the company’s country division is singer-songwriter Evanthia Theodorou.
“She’s the perfect example of the type of artist we look for, which is someone with a 360 degree brand, who is highly marketable, personable, has good values, and appeals to a wide audience through various channels of promotion,” Astephen says, estimating that the country music division could represent up to seven artists.
Astephen launched The Familie in 1998; the company also works with sports figures including football player Daniel Carlson, surfer Eli Hanneman, rally driver Oliver Solberg and tennis player Cooper Williams.
Looking ahead, Astephen says The Familie is making its move into Nashville at the perfect time. “I see the industry shifting to show how marketable the country music genre is globally,” he says. “Obviously, we have to respect what Nashville is to country music, but country artists are global superstars and only growing. So with us coming in–along with other companies–I think you’ll see more brand partnerships, more national television commercials. I’m really excited for us to be part of this and to help challenge the industry to do more than just traditional music management.”
Country music was hotter in 2023 than it has been in decades, and that current popularity came alongside a revival of the genre’s past.
Nothing illustrated country’s heat more this last year than its unprecedented chart performance during the summer. Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town,” Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Luke Combs’ “Fast Car” gave country the top three titles on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 dated Aug. 5 for the first time in history. Oliver Anthony Music’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” joined Wallen and Combs to repeat the feat on the Aug. 26 chart.
Two of those four recordings are deeply rooted in the past. Combs’ single is a cover of Tracy Chapman’s 35-year-old folk-pop hit, while Anthony’s bare-bones performance embraced a sound and a lyrical identity grounded in the rural simplicity and outlook of country’s birth years.
That churning of the past was a resolute part of country’s stance in 2023. Cole Swindell’s “She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” an interpolation of a 1996 Jo Dee Messina hit, won single and song of the year from the Academy of Country Music while knitting a piece of country history to the current age. That occurred in other realms, too. Post Malone’s interpretation of Joe Diffie’s “Pickup Man” was unveiled during the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards as a core track in a forthcoming Diffie tribute album. Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” became the name of a bar that officially opened in November in Nashville’s Honky Tonk district, and Brooks even paired up on disc with fellow ’90s icon Ronnie Dunn for “Rodeo Man.” A Judds tribute album likewise saw Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Cody Johnson and K. Michelle bringing new interpretations to classic hits.
But the genre’s archaeology was not confined to its own history. Chris Young rekindled David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” through his own current interpolation, “Young Love & Saturday Nights”; Kane Brown reimagined a 42-year-old Phil Collins song as “I Can Feel It”; and Dustin Lynch closed the year with a Jelly Roll collaboration, “Chevrolet,” built on the melody of Dobie Gray’ 50-year-old “Drift Away.”
BBR/BMG assembled Stoned Cold Country: A 60th Anniversary Tribute to The Rolling Stones featuring familiar titles from rock’s past reinterpreted by modern country acts, including Ashley McBryde, Eric Church, Little Big Town and Zac Brown Band.
Country’s connection with rock history was further enhanced by newly minted Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. Parton, inducted a year ago, rolled out an ambitious Rockstar project that teamed her with Steven Tyler, Stevie Nicks, Peter Frampton and two living Beatles, among others. The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, marking her highest ascent on that list. Nelson rolled out several non-music products while celebrating his 90th birthday in a two-day, all-star concert event in Los Angeles. A two-CD package — Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 Live at the Hollywood Bowl, released Dec. 15 — incorporates Beck, Keith Richards, Jack Johnson and Booker T. Jones along with country guests Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton and George Strait. It also led to a Dec. 17 CBS special, Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration.
To cinch the whole thing, Brenda Lee, a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, finally saw her perennial blockbuster, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” top the Billboard Hot 100.
All of those developments occur as the country audience becomes more firmly grounded in modern technology. The genre’s customers, who skew a little older and more conservative on average than pop music fans, were slower to embrace digital developments since 2000, though they have played catch-up with a vengeance. Country was the fastest-growing U.S. format for on-demand audio streaming in 2023, according to Luminate, piling up 23.8% more streams than in 2022 during the first 49 weeks of this year.
The genre has a healthy cluster of new stars, too, tugging the sound in multiple directions. Lainey Wilson collected five trophies during the CMA Awards, including entertainer of the year, behind a sonic identity that borrows from rock and western music. Zach Bryan, Bailey Zimmerman and Warren Zeiders applied an extra dose of rasp and edginess to the format. HARDY cemented his place as a leading figure in the application of metal to the country brand. And Jelly Roll became a motivational force, with confessional songs and a transparent persona, addressing his weight issues, therapy and past criminal record with a frankness that provides encouragement for fans who are similarly trying to overcome their own imperfect histories.
Music Row likewise heightened its efforts to better connect with non-white ethnicities, as several organizations have created programs to fast-track artists and executives of color. The War and Treaty, BRELAND and Mickey Guyton amassed significant media attention, piled atop the radio embrace of Brown and Darius Rucker, while two hits — the HARDY/Wilson duet “wait in the truck” and the Jelly Roll/Wilson collab “Save Me” — used Black choirs to make their deeply emotional statements.
Country was exceedingly hot during 2023. Wallen, Combs, Strait and Kenny Chesney were all out filling stadiums, as was Time magazine’s person of the year, Taylor Swift, whose journey to cultural influence started in country music. If the genre could fully turn the corner in its outreach to listeners of ethnic backgrounds, on top of its existing base, there’s no telling how much further it could soar. But it’ll be tough to outdo its 2023 performance.
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