opry entertainment group
Opry Entertainment Group (OEG) has acquired a majority interest in the North Carolina-based live events, hospitality and production company Southern Entertainment, whose portfolio of owned or promoted live music events includes the country music festivals Carolina Country Music Fest (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), Barefoot Country Music Fest (Wildwood, N.J.), Lovin Life Music Fest (Charlotte, N.C.), Greenville Country Music Fest (Greenville, S.C.) and the upcoming Field & Stream Outdoor Music Fest, which will launch this year in Winnsboro, S.C.
Founded by Bob Durkin and Rob Pedlow in 2015, Southern Entertainment has produced more than 200 events in the United States.
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“We’ve always looked at the festival business as a significant opportunity for us given the sort of shared focus on live events and venues that we do,” Patrick Moore, CEO of Opry Entertainment Group, tells Billboard. “Rob and Bob are 10 years into this business and they’ve created distinctive experiences for fans and for artists in really exciting destination markets.”
Says Durkin, “[OEG] had similar synergies when it came to growth, when it came to customer service, hospitality, the things that are what we think drive the business.”
For OEG, a subsidiary of Ryman Hospitality Properties, the new investment marks an additional expansion of its footprint in the live music space. OEG’s portfolio includes not only iconic country music mainstay the Grand Ole Opry (the Opry celebrates its milestone 100-year anniversary in 2025) and the Ryman Auditorium, but also WSM Radio and newer additions including the Blake Shelton-inspired Ole Red brand and the Luke Combs-inspired venue, bar and restaurant Category 10. In 2022, Ryman Hospitality Properties completed a deal that includes iconic Austin, Tex., venue ACL Live at Moody Theater. OEG is also a minority, non-controlling investor in the country lifestyle brand Whiskey Riff.
Moore declined to provide the specific percentage of OEG’s majority interest in Southern Entertainment, but notes that the combination “enables both businesses to tap into markets and demographics and communities that we can’t do individually.”
One of the biggest priorities for Southern Entertainment this year is the inaugural Field & Stream Music Fest, which is slated for Oct. 3-5 with headliners including Eric Church and Miranda Lambert; the festival is co-produced by Field & Stream alongside key investors Church, Morgan Wallen and Southern Entertainment.
“Field & Stream is something we are very excited about because it gives a unique feel for a music festival,” says Durkin. “You celebrate music and community with your fellow people and this one’s going to be in the middle of the woods and we have to take advantage of everything outdoors. There’ll be fishing aspects to it, hiking, mountain biking, so it’s really unique. What’s exciting, too, is that it is driven by artists. Eric Church, he’s from [North] Carolina. And the Field & Stream Magazine and the brand is iconic. So I think we can only help each other.”
Crucially, the investment will align the two companies’ shared focus on artist development and spotlighting emerging artists. “We have the same kind of general vision strategy and approach, and that goes for emerging artists and artist development,” says Moore. Following the deal, Southern Entertainment will integrate OEG’s artist development programs into its flagship country music festivals, where many Opry members and Opry NextStage artists have performed in recent years. The Opry’s NextStage Class of 2024 features artists 49 Winchester, Anne Wilson, Charles Wesley Godwin, Chase Matthew, Ella Langley, Wyatt Flores, Flatland Cavalry, Josh Ross and Madeline Edwards. Flores, Flatland Cavalry and Ross are among the current Opry NextStage artists who have played at Southern Entertainment festivals.
Wynonna Judd is set to host ‘Christmas at the Opry,’ airing from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House on NBC on Thursday, Dec. 7, beginning at 8 p.m. ET, and airing on Peacock the following day.
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Joining Judd is a stellar slate of performers, including Brenda Lee, Kelly Clarkson, Mickey Guyton, Lauren Alaina, BRELAND, Trace Adkins, Chris Janson, Chrissy Metz, Meghan Patrick, Mitchell Tenpenny and Adam Doleac.
The two-hour music special will feature several top artists performing an array of holiday classics alongside some of today’s most impactful music. The show will be taped on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at the Grand Ole Opry House, beginning at 7 p.m. CT.
Earlier this week, Judd was honored during the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards with the country champion award.
“Wynonna is one of the most recognized and lauded performers in country music,” said Cassandra Tryon, senior vp, Live Events, NBCUniversal Entertainment, in a statement. “Not only is she incredibly talented, her selflessness and passion for putting the needs of others in the spotlight is unmatched. We can’t think of a better person to honor as our inaugural ‘Country Champion’ and to celebrate the holidays with across these two major country music events.”
Christmas at the Opry is executive produced by Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager and Barb Bialkowski for Den of Thieves along with RAC Clark and Jen Jones.
Both Christmas at the Opry and People’s Choice Country Awards reflect collaborations following NBCUniversal’s equity investment in Opry Entertainment Group alongside Atairos.
Tickets to the Oct. 3 taping are available at opry.com.
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 […]
Opry Entertainment Group (OEG) has made a minority investment in country music lifestyle brand Whiskey Riff in an effort to draw a younger audience to its properties.
OEG, which counts the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, WSM Radio and the Blake Shelton-inspired Ole Red slate of restaurants/music venues among its portfolio, plans to use the alignment with Whiskey Riff to reach a younger demographic, attract new audiences to its brands, develop a stronger digital presence and further support emerging artists.
“They have created a really compelling brand, one that has built an incredibly loyal following,” says Mark Fioravanti, president and CEO of Ryman Hospitality Properties of Whiskey Riff. “They attract a younger demographic, and this gives us another way to connect our brands and the artists we support with younger fans.”
Fioravanti declined to comment on the specific percentage invested in Whiskey Riff or if OEG plans to increase its ownership stake in Whiskey Riff in the future.
Created by Steve Gazibara and Wes Langeler in 2015, Whiskey Riff has become a destination website for consumer country music news and content, as well as for outdoors and lifestyle content that resonates with the country music audience.
Across the Whiskey Riff brand umbrella as a whole, including Whiskey Riff social media accounts as well as @RIFFOutdoors, @WhiskeyRiffShop and @WhiskeyRiffRaff, the company says the sites have collectively drawn over 3.3 million social media followers. Over half of Whiskey Riff viewers are between the ages of 18-44.
Gazibara tells Billboard of launching Whiskey Riff, “I just thought, ‘If you are a college kid sitting in class, you don’t have a place to go to get a playlist, a podcast, a funny story, an outdoors thing, music stories and maybe a funny t-shirt if you want to get it for a concert.’”
“We share a certain segment of fans with Opry Entertainment, but we also have different fans in certain capacities,” Langeler adds. “The Opry does a great job of promoting rising artists that are independent and then they also bring on seasoned veterans, [Country Music] Hall of Fame members. I think we can really just help each other grow and continually bring new fans to each other.”
One element the Whiskey Riff co-founders insist won’t change is the site’s distinctive voice.
“The Opry knows we’re gonna have opinions,” Gazibara says. “They don’t have a say in the content, obviously, but of course you want to amplify their content that fits with our audience—and there is plenty of that from their end.”
Currently, OEG supports emerging artists in multiple ways, including Grand Ole Opry debut performances, as well as the “My Opry Debut” series, which runs on television network Circle, OEG’s joint venture with Gray Television. Additionally, new acts garner support through the Opry NextStage program, and performances at various Ole Red locations (Ole Red is set to add a Las Vegas location later this year).
OEG and Whiskey Riff are considering a range of collaborative options, including podcasts and cross-promotional retail/branding opportunities. “You might see some of their brand of products in our brick and mortar locations,” Fioravanti says. “We are just starting to have those discussions, but it’s an opportunity to collaborate with our retail capabilities.”
Gazibara and Langeler envision further amplifying Whiskey Riff’s lifestyle content, including food, hunting, fishing and other sports. Meanwhile, the Colorado-based Whiskey Riff will soon have a full-time Nashville presence; the site’s operations manager will relocate to Nashville, while the site’s Nashville-based assistant editor will move to a full-time role.
“They will have access to go backstage [at the Opry], talk to people, maybe get some fun, rapid-fire content before artists go onstage, or show the jam band-kind of thing that often happens backstage,” Langeler says. “We want to give fans an inside look at stuff they maybe wouldn’t have seen.
“The Opry is the greatest country music institution in the world,” Langeler adds. “I think we will be a machine going forward, pumping out content, giving fans that access and telling great stories. Country music is such a rich storytelling fabric and we will be able to help the Opry amplify that, and they will be able to help us to be able to tell these stories.”
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