Warner Music Nashville has welcomed The Band Loula to its roster. Hailing from North Georgia, The Band Loula is comprised of best friends Malachi Mills and Logan Simmons, who are currently in the studio with Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne. They're managed by Mary Hilliard Harrington, Chip Dorsch and Christina Dunkley and represented by Grace Stern and Jay Williams at WME.
“The Band Loula's music is equal parts raw talent, Southern storytelling, heart and soul,” WMN VP of A&R Stephanie Davenport said. “Their incredible songwriting is matched only by their insane vocals."
The duo has spent the last year touring with artists like Brothers Osborne, Ashley McBryde, Paul Cauthen and Brent Cobb and will join Elle King as support through November. Their major label debut, “Don’t Call Me,” is scheduled for a 8/23 release. We hear the title may or may not be in reference to us.
Pictured (l-r) holding their breath hoping nobody from HITS photo bombs them are manager Christina Dunkley, WMN Co-Chair/Co-President Ben Kline, WMN Co-Chair/Co-President Cris Lacy, WMN SVP Legal & Business Affairs Patrick Sabatini, manager Chip Dorsch, Davenport, Mills, Simmons and manager Mary Hilliard Harrington.
Orville Peck, the masked troubadour, conquers his third album (and first for Warner) with the help of a few friends. Stampede debuted at #1 on last week’s Current Country and Americana Folk album charts, as well as opened in the Top 5 on the overall vinyl chart.
Peck was recently nominated for two People’s Choice Country Awards: Cover Song and Crossover Song of 2024. Stampede features collaborations with some of the biggest names in music, including Elton John, Willie Nelson, Beck and Teddy Swims.
HITS talked to Peck about its genesis and how the project embodies his own progression as an artist. Check out the conversation here.
Christian Hayes, who gained attention with his viral single "LILY," has expanded his team.
Discovered by Wildrose Projects' Helena Capps, who serves as his management, Hayes has secured representation with WME for booking, UMPG for publishing and Flood Bumstead McCready & McCarthy for business management. Additional representation includes Safford Motley PLC’s Scott Safford as attorney and Essential Broadcast Media for publicity. Hayes is also signed to ASCAP.
Having first caught the attention of Capps with an Instagram post of his song “Leaving” in September 2023, Hayes has since gained traction with his viral track, “LILY,” which amassed 2m+ streams, and dropped his latest single, “Cheyenne.”
Influenced by his grandfather’s encouragement to write, the singer-songwriter has honed his craft over the years and boasts an extensive songwriting portfolio with over 900 songs.
“Music has always been a part of my life and now, it always will be,” says Hayes. “Not many people get to live out their passion and purpose and I’m beyond blessed to do so thanks to this amazing team we’ve built. I’m excited to start this journey alongside all of them!”
"Once we heard him perform live, we knew we had something incredibly special on our hands. Christian’s approach to songwriting is unique yet fits right in at a time when genres are blending," adds Cyndi Forman, SVP, A&R, UMPG Nashville.
Jon Folk, partner at WME, shares, “We couldn’t be more excited to be working with Christian Hayes. He is such an incredible singer, songwriter and performer. We can’t wait to see the rest of the world discover such an amazing talent!”
Pictured above are (l-r) back row: UMPG’s Troy Tomlinson, Safford Motley PLC’s Safford, UMPG’s Don Glista; second row: UMPG’s Forman and Roxy King, Wildrose Project’s Capps; front row: Hayes
Photo credit: UMPG
(l-r) back row: WME’s John Showfety, Brian Jones, Jon Folk and Doug Neff; front row: WME’s Lane Wilson; Hayes; Capps; and WME’s Geoff Turner.
Photo credit: WME
Post Malone made his Grand Ole Opry debut in front of a sold-out crowd on Wednesday night (8/14). The concert, billed as "Post Malone & Friends," included special guests Vince Gill, John Michael Montgomery, Brad Paisley, Lainey Wilson and The War And Treaty.
The recording will air as a Opry Live special on 8/24 via the Opry Facebook and YouTube channels. It will also stream free on the Circle Now app. Fans can catch it on the Circle Country digital streaming partners at 9/8 p.m. CT as well.
It's been a busy week for the historic Nashville venue. On Tuesday (8/13), the Grand Ole Opry celebrated Luke Combs’ 5th Opry anniversary. Combs was inducted into the Opry family in June 2019 by Opry members Joe Diffie and Vince Gill. Check out the "Post Malone and Friends" performance below while we're reminded we don't have any.
Good things come in threes for Luke Combs, who earlier this week became the first artist to have that number of country singles certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Sony Music Nashville surprised Combs at Nashville Grand Ole Opry with diamond plaques for “When It Rains It Pours” and “Hurricane," which join his song "Beautiful Crazy" as having achieved 10 million certified units in the U.S.
Combs also received a platinum plaque for his 2022 album Gettin' Old, plus quintuple-platinum plaques for the 2019 single "What You See Is What You Get" and his Grammy-nominated cover of Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car."
The artist is winding down his summer roadwork with shows on 8/18 at Country Thunder in Calgary, Alberta, 8/22 in Bangor, Maine, and 8/24 in Dieppe, Nebraska. He can currently be heard on the Post Malone song "Guy for That," which will appear tomorrow on the latter's Mercury Records/REPUBLIC country album F-1 Trillion.
Warner Music Nashville's Avery Anna was presented with her first platinum plaque at the Grand Ole Opry Tuesday night (8/13).
Following a three-song set from the burgeoning singer-songwriter, RIAA SVP of Artist & Industry Relations Jackie Jones invited members of Anna’s label and management teams to the stage to celebrate her viral hit, “Narcissist,” which has earned nearly 200m streams worldwide. The track comes from her recently released debut album, Breakup Over Breakfast.
Pictured wondering where they can get some eggs over easy and a few Belgian waffles are (l-r) WMN Music of Radio Accounts James Marsh, WMN Co-Chair/Co-President Cris Lacy, Jones, 33 Creative Management's Tina Crawford, Anna, 33 Creative's David Fanning, WMN VP Publicity Mary Catherine Rebrovick, WMN VP A&R Rohan Kohli and WMN Director Artist Development Patrick Worstell.
Hitmaker Music Group and Distribution have struck a JV pact with Origins Records to develop and amplify African American country and Americana music.
The deal complements Hitmaker's recent partnerships with Shawn Cotton’s 99OVR, Hitkidd’s Campsouth Records and Blac Noize!. The company has landed YG Marley's gold track "Praise Jah in the Moonlight” in digital stores and streaming services in more than 100 territories and aided marketing efforts for hits by BRELAND ("My Truck") and others.
Singles by Tae Lewis ("Angels of First") and David Junior ("Pour 2"), due next month, are the first fruit of the deal.
"Thank you to Hitmaker and [Hitmaker founder/CEO] Tony Bucher for collaborating on this joint-venture partnership that will support and serve artists of multiple genres while allowing us to focus primarily on Black country and Americana music,” said Origins Records CEO Gina Miller, formerly SVP/GM, MNRK Music Group (formerly Entertainment One).
Bucher volunteered that the recent successes of BRELAND and Shaboozey "really sparked this organic partnership and our desire to enter Nashville from a unique perspective," continuing, "We look forward to working with our new partners at Origins Records.”
Hey! Don't forget HITS—so make that a... "Pour 3?"
ACM nominee Conner Smith has found new management in the form of Jake Kinney’s newly launched Pioneer Artists, an endeavor in partnership with Chris Kappy of Make Wake Artists.
Nashville native Smith, whose Victory Music project Smoky Mountains Sessions has been certified gold, is represented globally by Aaron Tannebaum and Alex Collignon at WME and Home Team Publishing/Warner Chappell.
The artist can currently be heard on the hit soundtrack of Twisters: The Movie with “Steal My Thunder" featuring Tucker Wetmore.
Smith’s touring schedule for the rest of the year is jam-packed, with dates starting 8/21 in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. He’ll spend most of the fall on the Storytellers tour, which features co-bills with Jonathan Hutcherson and Zach John King. Smith will also join Luke Bryan’s Farm Tour for six dates between 9/19 and 9/28.
"My favorite part of this industry is the people I get to share the pursuit of this dream with," said Smith, pictured center between Kappy and Kinney. "The shared alignment and excitement between Jake, Kappy and me is an inspiring and rare thing to find!”
