nashville
Page: 7
On July 16, Gabe Lee will step into the Grand Ole Opry circle for the first time, just days after releasing his latest album, Drink the River, out July 14.
For the Nashville-raised Lee, the Grand Ole Opry—which in its nearly century-long tenure has served as a bedrock for country music but also hosted blues, rock and Americana artists, and at its former Ryman home, served as a foil for the birth of bluegrass—offers a parallel for Lee’s own distinctive blend of country, rock, bluegrass and Americana.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“The Opry represents the dream, the community,” Gabe says. “The Opry and its stage and history are not only a tradition, but a beacon for all future musicians. It’s just a great honor to perform there.”
The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Lee grew up immersed in classical and church music, as his mother played piano and his father played guitar. “They sacrificed so much, just working hard and saving and believing in me and my music,” he recalls. Absorbing their work ethic and learning in proximity to the ever-heightening stakes of the music industry also gave Lee a clear-eyed perspective on the truths of a music career.
[embedded content]
“A lot of my friends who grew up with musician parents got the hell outta dodge,” he recalls with a chuckle. “They were like, ‘The last thing we wanna be is in music.’ And it’s a joke among players and music people in music, like, ‘If my kids want to play music, I’d let them but I wouldn’t wish it on ‘em,’ because it is a gamble…folks get their dreams made and their dreams broken every day.”
His previous album, 2022’s The Hometown Kid, embodied Lee’s own relentless tugs of both adventure and familiar comforts. He spent a year attending Nashville’s Belmont University, bartending on the side and performing at writers rounds at Bobby’s Idle Hour Tavern, the Listening Room and Whiskey Jam. He then decamped to Indiana University to study literature and journalism, before returning to Music City to continue pursuing his craft.
But where scores of singer-songwriters spend days cranking out radio-friendly songs and seeking major label country deals, and nights networking at any number of guitar pulls and industry events, Lee draws more from cult favorite touchstones such as John Prine and Jason Isbell. Lee is the sole writer on many of his songs, and like his musical heroes, he excels in excavating from everyday moments the raw materials from which he crafts his vivid musical narratives. Drink the River showcases Lee as a troubadour filling his songs with keen observations gleaned from other people’s stories.
The album’s folk-country, acoustic flavor takes cues from Old Crow Medicine Show’s first record, while songs like “Property Line” tip the hat to Prine’s clear-eyed, light-hearted style. “It’s a bit of how John [Prine] was always a master at infusing humor in his songs. A little bit of humor goes a long way,” Lee says.
“Even Jesus Got the Blues,” which Lee began writing nearly four years ago, revels in an early SteelDrivers, blues-meets-bluegrass feel, and was inspired by a friend who succumbed to addiction. The two-year-old “Lidocaine” stems from an Uber ride, as a driver confided in Lee his story of being diagnosed with dementia at 40 years old. He also revisits “Eveline,” from his 2019 debut project farmland.
[embedded content]
Meanwhile, the lyrics and instrumentation of album closer “Property Line” evoke the feel of the popular series Yellowstone; the song is an ode to Lee’s girlfriend’s father Jason, who owns a large plot of land in Alabama.
“I started hanging out down there and what I quickly realized is I may be from the South, but those guys are country,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve learned a lot from them and I really admire their sensibilities and the way they look at the world.”
Lee and his manager, Alex Torrez, founded the indie label Torrez Music Group, under which Lee has issued three albums (with Drink the River to be his fourth) in approximately as many years, including his breakthrough, 2020 roots-rock project Honky Tonk Hell, and last year’s The Hometown Kid. He’s kept a marathon runner’s pace — steady and relentless — as he balances studio time and writing with ever-more prominent performance slots, having shared stages with artists including Isbell, American Aquarium and Molly Tuttle. To date, Lee’s songs have registered 10.5 million official U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate.
He is also slated to perform during the Americana Music Association’s annual AMERICANAFEST in September, and was recently added to Tidal’s “Tidal Rising” new artist program, which also includes Sunny War, Kara Jackson and Kassa Overall.
“We’ve been in a double-down mentality for the past few years,” he says. “You get a little momentum, and you don’t want to lose it for a second. As a small label, we work within our means and try to roll most of our revenue from merch and streaming right back into the label in the next project.”
While many of his Nashville counterparts dream of selling out stadiums and dozens of No. 1 hits, Lee’s immediate goals are more economical. “That’s the basic dream for so many artists and writers, just getting to the point where it’s sustainable. Some of my favorite songwriters are those that play the Texas circuit. They make it work, they aren’t living in mansions, but they’ve got a roof over their heads, they keep their businesses alive and their families fed by playing music. We’re just trying to make records, tour, and not go bankrupt. We’re just out here doing the work and hopefully, the work will speak for itself.”
[embedded content]
Patrick Moore has been named as CEO of Opry Entertainment Group (OEG), a division of Ryman Hospitality Properties. His new role includes oversight of OEG’s growth plan, day-to-day operations and business development activities at the company, which has a portfolio that includes the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium. Moore replaces former OEG CEO […]
The Nashville music industry gathered Tuesday (June 6) to celebrate its most influential members and several of its brightest stars.
Hosted by Billboard to celebrate the recently published 2023 Country Power Players list, the event took place at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, with execs, artists, agents and others mingling in the chic, industrial space.
Billboard’s executive editor, West Coast and Nashville Melinda Newman opened the evening’s awards presentation, first acknowledging Seth England of Big Loud, the recipient of the first ever Billboard Country Power Players Choice Award. Newman then introduced Ernest, who recounted the story of his first time meeting Jelly Roll when a mutual friend of his was selling the singer a truck. “Not long later,” said Ernest said, “he was charting on Billboard.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Jelly Roll then took the stage, noting in a funny, impassioned speech that “there’s a story my daddy used to tell that you could work harder than everybody, you can put in more hours than everybody, you can be more talented than everybody, you could be nicer than everybody, you could care more than everybody, but if a little luck don’t show up with you, you are screwed in this world, and I can tell you that God blessed me to be lucky to have friends like Ernest and Hardy and Ashley and these people that have came through and helped me put out my first debut country album that was commemorated by my cover on Billboard.”
Next up was Hardy, who presented the Rookie Of The Year award to Bailey Zimmerman. “I tried singing two and a half years ago and my life completely switched,” Zimmerman said in his speech. “I went from digging ditches and building pipelines to being an artist…Enjoying the moment is something I’ve really been focusing on, and I’ve never had a moment like this.”
Terri Clark then took the stage to present the Groundbreaker award to her friend, Ashley McBryde. “I’ve had the privilege of watching her build a career that will stand the test of time. She came up to me [once] and said, ‘You know when I was a teenager I was looking to women in country music who I felt like i could relate to, people who were a little bit different, and when I looked to you, I saw that. And now Ashley’s doing that very thing to many little girls and girls with a dream all over the place who want to be country singers.”
McBryde then gave an emotional speech about how when she first moved to Nashville, she was told her hair was too curly, that she had too many tattoos, that she needed to lose weight and that she should be writing different kinds of songs. “It means a lot to receive this,” she said with tears streaming down her face, “because it means betting on yourself is the right thing to do.”
Finally, Newman presented the Executive of the Year award to Rusty Gaston of Sony Music Publishing Nashville, which has earned the top spot on Billboard’s Country Radio Airplay Publishers list for the last three quarters.
“I love this community,” Gaston said in his speech, “and what I love most about country music is that we are a community — we are a group of friends who get to work together to help each other succeed, but we aren’t work friends, we’re life friends.”
When Lainey Wilson played Nashville’s weekly Song Suffragettes show for the first time in December 2014, the experience was enlightening.
She had moved to Nashville over three years prior, just in time to watch country music shift into the bro-country age, when guys singing about beer parties and bonfires in rural fields made it even more difficult for women to find a place on country radio. Song Suffragettes, a songwriter round specifically for female writer-artists, helped Wilson find a sense of community in a heartbreak town.
“For me, it made me feel like I wasn’t alone in Nashville, and it made me feel like there’s an army of women who all want the same thing,” she recalls. “It’s important for us to hold hands and run to the finish line together. That’s what it’s about. It’s about lifting each other up and encouraging each other and telling each other the truth.”
The truth is times are still tough for women in music now that bro country is no longer the genre’s hot trend. Song Suffragettes, however, is in expansion mode as it celebrates its 10th year as a focused Music City talent showcase. The show launched a monthly London edition in November and will also open a monthly New York version on June 13 at City Winery.
“There has been very little movement in the artistic progress of women in this genre,” says Suffragettes president/founder Todd Cassetty. “But you just keep getting up and fighting the fight. I’m always looking for other avenues to expand or to provide opportunities. It’s like, can we just grow this so that there are more opportunities [for women], even if the industry is not going to provide them itself?”
It’s not like the opportunities are undeserved. Nashville is a magnet for musical talent, and the latest installment — May 22 at The Listening Room, which recently added a second Suffragettes show every Monday night — demonstrated the depth of quality. Six women conveyed their artistic individuality when they performed, with most playing three songs apiece. Grace Tyler led with a knife-like tone on “Jesus in a Bar,” Ash Ruder consistently served up original songs with craftsman-like vulnerability — particularly her smart treatment of hand-me-down traits, “Blue Genes” — and first-timer Audra McLaughlin impressed even her fellow performers with her Trisha Yearwood-like power.
To date, the show has featured over 400 women from among 3,000 applicants. Cassetty says 34 Suffragettes alumna have received recording contracts — including Carly Pearce, Megan Moroney, Kelsea Ballerini and pop artist GAYLE — while over 60 have secured publishing deals. Those numbers demonstrate the Suffragettes’ value as a launching pad for women.
“It was one of the first things that I did when I came to town,” Tenille Arts notes. “It kind of opened up some doors for me to be able to play. It was really awesome.”
Cassetty’s motivations for starting the Suffragettes are personal. Growing up with ’90s country, he was drawn to the viewpoints expressed by country’s female acts, including Patty Loveless, The Chicks and Martina McBride, and through his production company, HiFi Fusion, he has worked with the likes of Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire. Additionally, he has two daughters and wishes country had a larger swath of feminine role models.
“I don’t feel like they get the same country music female perspective that they would have had and that I enjoyed from the ’90s,” he says. “That’s always been a point of frustration — to see it evolve from songs with real substance to too many beers and trucks.”
Nashville’s music business has taken the issue seriously. CMT celebrates female acts through its Next Women of Country program, and songwriter Nicolle Galyon (“Thought You Should Know,” “Beers on Me”) established the female-focused Songs & Daughters label in partnership with Big Loud. Galyon actually signed the first writer to her publishing company, Tiera Kennedy, after checking out her performance at Song Suffragettes.
But some old tropes — including the suggestion that female fans don’t want to hear female artists — continue to dog the discussion, even though women were at least as prevalent as men in the Suffragettes audience.
“That’s what the Song Suffragettes are still are trying to prove, is that women want to hear women,” says Arts. “I know that they do. I see it at concerts. I see it in my fans. I see it everywhere. We love it. I mean, men can’t talk about the things that women want to hear about.”
But radio stations still give women short shrift. A new study of 29 country stations by Jan Diehm, of The Pudding, and Dr. Jada Watson, found that women were played back-to-back a mere 0.5% of the time.
“I naively thought that if we could curate the best and brightest female singer-songwriters in Nashville that that would bring enough awareness to the level of talent that we have in this town that is female and call the labels, radio and streamers to all embrace more women and do better at the disparity that exists,” Cassetty says.
That leaves an underappreciated talent pool available for other avenues. It’s why Cassetty has established the satellite Suffragettes shows in London and New York, and why he has been in talks to possibly bring the show to cable. There’s a steady current of accomplished songwriters with strong voices ready for a marketplace that simply doesn’t know they exist. And it can be argued that Suffragettes has enabled some of those women to become even stronger at their craft by simply experiencing their competition.
“Song Suffragettes has been a really good metric for girls to get up and go, ‘OK, where do I fit in all of this? How do I see my artistry or my writing sensibilities fitting within all my peers?’ ” Galyon says. “Getting up onstage and playing a round is a really good way to learn.”
Subscribe to Billboard Country Update, the industry’s must-have source for news, charts, analysis and features. Sign up for free delivery every weekend.
Veteran artist managers Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch are joining forces with Aaron Frank for a new venture — Q Prime AF.
Announced today (May 3), the fresh division will sit under the umbrella of Burnstein and Mensch’s Q Prime, the artist management company through which they guide the careers of Metallica, Muse, Foals, Disturbed, Cage The Elephant, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Three Days Grace and more.
Through the alliance, Frank will bring his Nashville-based team, plus an artist roster that includes Greta Van Fleet, Marcus King, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Houndmouth and All Them Witches.
“Cliff and Peter are the reason I became a manager,” comments Frank. “They have always been the gold standard of managers in my eyes, and their independent spirit and savviness is unmatched. I’m so excited to join their amazing team to elevate our work, and excited for what we can build together at Q Prime AF.”
Picasa
The partnership is at least eight months in the making. Over lunch, “Cliff and I decided that we needed to move Q Prime past the normal standard of management company rating: Gold, platinum standard just wasn’t enough,” explains Mensch in a statement. “We wanted to establish a new standard. Tantalum, a rare earth precious metal found in eight countries and an absolute necessity in the digital world, totally fit the bill.”
Frank, with his group of “amazing artists, had a similar vision and, under the theory that the modern age needed a new standard of excellence, agreed to create the Tantalum standard of management companies.”
Frank cut his teeth in 2009 working for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s management company, Night Castle Management, in New York. In 2014, he relocated to Nashville where he co-founded ABI Management, and subsequently forming AMFM — nabbing GVF as his first client.
Q Prime also houses Q Prime South, founded 2001 in Nashville by John Peets; and Q Prime U.K., established 2007 in London and run by Steve Matthews and Tara Richardson.
Tyler Hubbard, Trisha Yearwood, Lauren Daigle and CeCe Winans will take part in an upcoming free event set for May 1 in Nashville, aimed at providing home and comfort to Nashville-area teachers and staffers in public and private K-12 schools, as well as universities.
“Hope and Healing for Heroes” will be hosted by the Onsite Foundation and will take place at Belmont University’s The Fisher Center. Tickets will be free and open to educators and staff across Metro Nashville public schools, private schools and universities on a first-come, first-serve basis.
In addition to the performers, the evening’s programming will also include a panel of experts and speakers who will discuss mental health and working through trauma, grief, and fear, in light of the recent school shooting at Nashville-area private school The Covenant School on March 27. Three children and three staffers were killed during the incident, as was the shooter.
Onsite chairman Miles Adcox will emcee the May 1 event, while teachers from the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. will offer their stories and encouragement, as well as Brittney Thomas, a survivor of the 1997 Heath High School mass shooting in Paducah, Ky., and Crystal Woodman Miller, a survivor of the 1999 mass shooting in Columbine High School in Columbine, Colo.
“The dramatic increase in the number of school shootings–and now having one in our hometown—has taken its toll on each of us. As a father and mental health professional who has been part of initiatives directly supporting hundreds of mass shooting survivors around the country, now is the time to come together in support of our community as we start the healing process,” Adcox said via a statement. “We must acknowledge the unique stress and pressure our teachers and educators are carrying. We created this event in hopes of coming alongside them with support and resources while celebrating their vital role in leading the next generation.”
Other guest speakers include:
Sissy Goff, M.Ed, LPC-MHSP, CCATP – Director of Child and Adolescent Counseling, author of twelve books including a book on anxiety, and co-host of the popular podcast “Raising Boys and Girls”
David Thomas, L.M.S.W. – Director of Family Counseling at Daystar, author of ten books including the best-selling Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys and Raising Emotionally Strong Boys: Tools Your Son can Build on for Life and co-host of the “Raising Boys & Girls” podcast
Madison Lawn, MSCMHC, CET-II – Group leader at Onsite, crisis counselor with experience facilitating groups for grieving children and providing weekly therapy to students in a university counseling center
Carlos Martinez, M.Div., MSMHC, LPC, ACS, CET-II – Lead Clinician at Onsite and Onsite Foundation’s Triumph Over Tragedy workshop, the nation’s first trauma-informed program for survivors of mass shootings
Carlos Whittaker – Author, speaker, host of the Human Hope podcast as well as People’s Choice Award winner & social media storyteller
The event has been organized and produced by Nashville-area entertainment marketing agency FlyteVu, with a donation from Tyler and Hayley Hubbard.
“As someone who has lost a loved one due to trauma from a mass shooting, I know firsthand the long-lasting effects of these school tragedies,” said Laura Hutfless, CEO of FlyteVu and former Board President of The Onsite Foundation, via a statement. “As a new mom, I want to equip the teachers in our community who are leading our children through an unprecedented time with tools, hope, and confidence to step back into the classrooms and thrive.”
Nashville-area educators and staff members can claim a free general admission ticket beginning Friday, April 21 at 10 a.m. CT at hopeforheroes.com. Event doors will open at 5 p.m. CT on May 1, with programming beginning at 6 p.m. CT.
Just over two weeks after the Nashville community was shaken by a school shooting at The Covenant School that took the lives of three children and three school staff members, several from Nashville’s music community gathered for an evening of healing through music at “A Night of Joy: Celebrating The Covenant School”
Hosted by author Annie F. Downs, the event was held on Wednesday (April 12) at Belmont University’s The Fisher Center, with all proceeds benefitting The Covenant School’s staff, students and families.
Carrie Underwood was one of many artists who gathered that night to support and love The Covenant School community, and contributed a pitch-perfect rendition of her Grammy-winning hit “Something in the Water.”
“I’m Carrie and I had no idea what I was going to sing tonight, but it is a night of joy and I wanted [one of the] most joyful songs I had,” Underwood told the crowd. “If you know it, sing along, and if you don’t, sing something and make a joyful noise.”
Belmont University alumnus Tyler Hubbard performed “Real Life Heroes,” a song he had written three weeks ago, just days prior to the school shooting. The song is a tribute to all kinds of everyday heroes, from military members to farmers to teachers. As soon as Hubbard finished the first chorus with the line, “There are some real-life heroes in this town,” the crowd became fervent in its agreement.
Hubbard dedicated the song to “staff, teachers, first responders, parents, friends, family — anyone who has played a part in healing. There are a lot of heroes in this room tonight.”
Husband and wife duo The War and Treaty earned the first standing ovation of the evening. With only the accompaniment of a piano, Michael and Tanya Trotter wowed the crowd with their superb vocals on “Up Yonder,” while Tanya’s powerful, elegant rendering of “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” ushered the crowd to their feet.
Another thunderous standing ovation quickly followed when Downs told the crowd that there were first responders in attendance.
During their performance, Caleb and Will Chapman of Nashville-based rock band Colony House revealed that they were both former students of the late Katherine Koonce, Covenant’s head of school who was one of the six victims killed in the shooting.
“She encouraged us to tell our story,” said lead singer Caleb, before introducing the song “Moving Forward.” “This was written during a heavy time for our family,” he said. He soon welcomed the brothers’ father, CCM luminary Steven Curtis Chapman, to the stage. As Chapman acknowledged the evening as “a night we wish was not happening,” he also spoke of Koonce’s kindness, courage and love, before performing his 1997 release, “Not Home Yet.”
Also among the performers were country trio Lady A (performing “I Run to You”), Matt Maher (“The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)” and “Lord I Need You”), Thomas Rhett (“Be a Light”), Sixpence None the Richer (“Kiss Me”), Mat Kearney (“Nothing Left to Lose”), Ben Rector (“Thank You”), Dave Barnes (“God Gave Me You”), The Warren Brothers (a rendition of “Anyway,” a hit for Martina McBride) and Chris Tomlin (“Good, Good Father”). Also on the bill were songwriters Sandra McCracken, Luke Laird and Brett Taylor, as well as a performance from Dwan Hill, Jasmine Mullen and Sarah Kroger.
The audience also featured few surprise guests; rock singer Alice Cooper and his wife Sheryl took to the stage, offering their support to the Covenant School community, and introduced a performance from Thomas Rhett.
Before Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor performed the group’s 2004 hit “Wagon Wheel,” he told the crowd how Country Music Hall of Fame member Roy Acuff’s name was scratched into his violin. He told the crowd that after March 27, he took a pin and scratched in additional names—the names of the Covenant School shooting victims, including Evelyn Dieckhaus, Mike Hill, William Kinney, Koonce, Cynthia Peak and Hallie Scruggs. He then dedicated the song’s third verse to each of the victims and for a few moments, the crowd joined in with a lighthearted, wall-to-wall singalong inside The Fisher Center.
Drew Holcomb and Ellie Holcomb also performed “Family,” as Ellie offered “a reminder that the light is always stronger than the darkness.” Drew added, “We have all been so inspired by how much you love each other and let others into your grief and your story. I’ve never ben so proud to be from Nashville than the past two weeks.”
Singer-songwriter and The Highwomen member Natalie Hemby was joined by fellow singer-songwriter Trent Dabbs. Downs noted that Hemby was among those who organized the “A Night of Joy” event. “She was one of the first ones asking, ‘How can we help?’ Downs said.
Hemby, with Dabbs’ guitar accompaniment, performed a rendition of “Rainbow,” a song recorded by Kacey Musgraves, which Hemby co-wrote with Shane McAnally and Musgraves.
Meanwhile, Hemby spoke of her relationship with Peak, whom Hemby recalled had given her swimming lessons as a child and was also a math tutor. “Cynthia was such an amazing human being…I remember swimming with her and I did the backstroke more than the frontstroke, because I could look up at the sky. I remember her having her hand underneath me, guiding me along and I feel like she was that kind of person, always.”
Hemby added, “When we found out she was gone, I immediately felt sad. But I also felt this incredible peace, because I know where that woman is.”
Reigning CMA entertainer of the year winner Luke Combs and Ryman Hospitality Properties’ Opry Entertainment Group have joined forces to reimagine Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon, located at 120 2nd Ave. N., as a Combs-inspired multi-level entertainment venue; it’s set to open in 2024.
The yet-to-be-named complex will total 69,000 square feet, including an outdoor-indoor capacity of nearly 3,200 people, and will reflect Combs’ passions for music, songwriting, whiskey and sports. Specifically, the venue will take inspiration from Combs’ debut hit “Hurricane,” which went 8x multi-Platinum and spent two weeks at the pinnacle of Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart in 2017.
Speaking with Billboard at the Wildhorse Saloon in downtown Nashville, Combs said that watching Opry Entertainment’s work on Blake Shelton’s Ole Red venues was inspiring.
“I’ve had other offers for venues, but I always thought if I had the chance one day to do a venue, I would want to work with them. Working in hospitality the way they do, they bring something unique to the table.”
Combs added, “I talked with Blake about it this January, when we were talking about working with the Opry folks. He had so many great things to say about them and was like, ‘You should absolutely do this,’ and he was excited for me. It was great to get that affirmation.”
The entertainment complex will include a 1,500-person capacity concert venue for ticketed events. Meanwhile, a proposed rooftop bar (720-person capacity) with views of the Cumberland River and Nissan Stadium will add 9,000 square feet of entertainment space to the existing 60,000-square-foot venue.
The three interior levels will convey Combs’ songs, lifestyle and connection to his Bootlegger fans.
Colin Reed, Ryman Hospitality Properties’ executive chairman, told Billboard that he estimates the project will cost in the “tens of millions,” though he declined to offer specific financials.
Reed described the venue as containing a “250-seater honky-tonk at the front that can open up into the concert hall behind it.” He adds that the concert hall will include a “Beautiful Crazy” area designed for groups and bachelorette parties, as well as a bourbon bar and an area dedicated and inspired by Combs’ Bootleggers fanclub.
“We’ve definitely tried to prove over the years that we always think about the fans first,” Combs told Billboard. “I wanted to continue to do that with this spot, too. I didn’t just want to slap y name on something and wash my hands of it. I’ve been very hands-on with this. I wanted it to be something where my fans felt like they could come to. Obviously, if they are in the fanclub, there will be special things and special places for them to come to and unique opportunities.”
“With the honky-tonk, when I say 250 people, it will be two stories,” Reed tells Billboard. “It will be a small, intimate 250-capacity, where people will be on the second floor, looking down onto a stage and on the ground floor it will have a great bar behind it.”
Reed adds that the third floor is include a “new-generation sorts bar, to provide people who come to Nashville, who want not only to drink good bourbon, good beer, but also listen to music and watch their favorite sports team play.”
In the meantime, the venue will continue to operate as the Wildhorse Saloon until the new venue opens in 2024.
The Wildhorse Saloon opened in downtown Nashville in 1994 and has since been home to more than 4,000 television show episodes and tapings, as well as a destination for corporate events. The venue previously hosted The Wildhorse Saloon Dance Show on The Nashville Network in the 1990s and served as a base for the CMT show Can You Duet.
Combs says fans can absolutely expect to see some surprise appearances and performances from him at the venue.
“Any opportunity or any time I do something in town, I can do it here, because this is a spot that is large and versatile. It will be a really unique spot,” Combs says.
Combs is currently on his world tour, will will visit Nashville this weekend, for two shows at Nissan Stadium.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Justin Jones, one of the two Black Democrat representatives expelled by Republicans last week from the Tennessee House, was sworn back in.
On Monday (April 10th), members of the Nashville city council held a special session to return Jones to the legislature. After a prayer by council member Zulfat Suara for the six lives lost in the Covenant school shooting as well as those lost in a mass shooting in Kentucky that day, the vote was unanimously in favor of Jones, 36-0. An hour later, he returned to the state capitol surrounded by hundreds of supporters and took his oath on the steps.
Related Stories
“I want to welcome democracy back to the people’s house,” he said after returning to his old desk. “No expulsion, no attempt to silence us will stop us, but it will only galvanize and strengthen our movement,” he said, concluding with: “Power to the people!” The move by the Nashville city council members was done so swiftly that Jones hadn’t missed a floor session of the Tennessee House.
House majority leader William Lamberth & House Republican caucus chairman Jeremy Faison issued a statement before the vote saying that “should any expelled member be reappointed, we will welcome them.” A vote to reinstate Rep. Pearson was scheduled to be held by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners in Memphis on Wednesday (April 12th). Both lawmakers have expressed that they will run in special elections to be held later this year to permanently obtain their seats.
Jones, along with Pearson and Rep. Gloria Johnson, were targeted by the Republican majority of the legislative body for expulsion last Thursday (April 6th). The vote took place a week after the three lawmakers had taken to the House floor and interrupted a session by demanding action be taken on gun violence, using megaphones to lead protesters. Jones and Pearson would be expelled through a vote, while Johnson (who is white) was spared, prompting her to cite racism as the reason her fellow Democrats were kicked out.
The move by the Republican majority of the House, something that had only been done twice since the Civil War, sparked local and nationwide outrage all the way to the White House, as President Joe Biden expressed his anger and Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise trip to Nashville to speak at Fisk University in support of the lawmakers. Lawyers for Jones and Pearson, including former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, sent a letter warning against retaliation to House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
Two former Universal Music Group Nashville senior executives, Rachel Fontenot and Katie Dean, are launching the Nashville-based independent label Leo33, Billboard can reveal.
Dean spent the last 18 years at UMG Nashville, most recently serving as senior vp of promotion for MCA Records Nashville. Fontenot most recently served as vp of marketing and artist development at UMG Nashville, a role she held since 2020.
Leo33’s team also includes Daniel Lee, former president of artist development company Altadena (which Lee co-founded with the late songwriter/producer busbee), as well as former Downtown Music Nashville senior creative director Natalie Osborne.
“I worked at a major for half of my adult life and I loved every minute of it,” Dean tells Billboard. “But in the digital age you have the ability for artists to go directly to the consumer. With the majors having to do the volume [of music] that they have to do, you lose a bit of the development process and at some point, it becomes more air traffic control than actual individual focus. This is an artist development-focused label.”
Leo33 will reveal artist signings in the coming months. The label’s signings will include commercial country artists, Dean says, but will also allow for a broader palette of sounds.
“Some of the artists we sign will be very radio-driven; others will not,” Dean says. “I love radio. You can’t beat the recognition that radio delivers, but that’s not necessarily every artist’s goal. I love that challenge of, in addition to radio responsibilities, finding new ways to reach artists’ goals. Our strategies will be agile.”
“The genre lines are blurred, especially when you are playing in these other musical spaces outside of commercial country radio,” Fontenot says. “It’s wonderful because it expands the format…I feel like we are in a sort of renaissance time in terms of making music that moves you without having to assign a specific genre. It’s exciting and challenging.”
Pictured: Daniel Lee, Natalie Osborne, Katie Dean and Rachel Fontenot
Robby Klein
Leo33 will house A&R, marketing, streaming and promotion services.
“We have many of the same resources of a major label, but the focus on agility of an independent label,” Dean adds. “We are all marketing and artist development people at our core.”
Backing for the new label comes from Firebird Music and Red Light Ventures.
“We are happy to be associated with both companies,” Fontenot says. “They have successful track records and provide the resources we need, while allowing us to be autonomous and independent.”
Leo33 takes its name from the constellation Leo.
“When you talk about being courageous, agile, and the lions forming a pride to protect, that’s what we want to do for our artists,” Fontenot tells Billboard, adding that “33” is a nod to the long-playing vinyl format, as well as company’s vision of looking at an entire body of work in terms of how the label treats artists.
“We are treating this very much as a holistic experience for the artist,” Dean says. “There’s also this nod to the nostalgic, but also to the future.”
Leo33’s offices will open later this year in Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. The label plans to slowly add staff as they scale up their roster.
“We both have an entrepreneurial spirit, and I feel like that will be the face of the future, just based on how the business has evolved,” Fontenot says. “We are all going to wear a lot of hats and all work to promote our artists in various ways, with the idea that the collective work is going to be unstoppable.”
Courtesy of Leo33