How did Music City pubberies fare during lockdown? What new approaches to collaboration were opened up by our Year of Zooming? What lies ahead? We invited some key players in the space to join us in a virtual bourbon and give us the lowdown.

Big Machine Music

“Working virtually influenced co-writing at the two extremes,” reflects Big Machine Music GM Mike Molinar of the pandemic’s impact on co-writes. “Some writers were more willing to collaborate out of genre and across time zones with L.A., London or Australia, while others stayed very close to their core co-writers. It was very difficult to introduce a writer to a new camp or tribe of writers, which stunted the growth of new or mid-level songwriters.”

The complexities of COVID times notwithstanding, Molinar is naturally thrilled about being named Publisher of the Year at the AIMP Nashville Awards. He also points to a banner, breakout year for writer Ryan Hurd; CMA, ACM and BMI Pop Song of the Year honors for mega-smash “The Bones;” and three #1 songs to kick off 2021 (Luke Combs’ “Better Together” and Forever After All” and Brett Young’s “Lady”). Other big cuts inlcude Luke Bryan’s “Waves,” co-written by Hurd; Lainey Wilson’s “Things a Man Oughta Know,” co-penned by Jonathan Singleton; “It’s Cause I Am,” co-written by Callista Clark and Laura Veltz, and performed by Clark; Michael Ray’s “Whiskey & the Rain,” co-written by Josh Thompson; and Young’s “Not Yet.” Hurd and Veltz also co-penned “What a Song Can Do,” the title track on Lady A’s album.

New signing Sara Davis—a young pop writer—is among the other highlights of Molinar’s year, which also saw a TikTok breakout for aritst/writer Lauren Weintraub and song “She’s Mine.”

Of “The Bones,” Molinar notes that its sustained growth at radio had “an unusual pattern,” moving from Hot AC to Country to Pop and back to Hot and AC, and that it “took on new and different menaings as the lockdown progressed,” with its trenchant metaphor likening relationships to domiciles. This was particularly resonant for Molinar, who welcomed a second child, Ellis, in September. “The experience,” he says, “helped us keep things in perspective.”