Ben Vaughn

President, Warner/Chappell Nashville

Highlight Reel

—Rhett Akins wins ACM Songwriter of the Year. Eight straight years of current hits

on the radio.

New artist successes:

—First hits for Devin Dawson,

LANco and Morgan Evans.

ACM wins for Lauren Alaina (New Female Vocalist) and Midland (New Group).

—Nicolle Galyon: Three

songs in the Top 15.

—busbee brings his talents

to W/C.

—Dan + Shay make the leap with “Tequila.”

Summer smashes:

—Dustin Lynch’s “Good Girl” ( Dustin Lynch/Justin Ebach) and Little Big Town’s “Summer Fever” (Karen Fairchild/Jesse Frasure/

Cary Barlowe).

—Liz Rose: “Cry Pretty” with Carrie Underwood.

On the Runway:

—Riley Green (Big Machine):

All we can say is, watch out for the FORCE OF NATURE that is Riley Green, coming very soon.

—Carlton Anderson (Sony):

Smooth country vocals wrapped inside a winning smile. His “Drop Everything” is a HIT.

—Logan Brill (Red Light): Depth and class from a future award winner. Logan has it all.

To what extent/degree are your writers working on projects outside of the country genre?
Nashville Publishers don’t need to qualify that their writers are writing outside the country genre anymore. Writers living in Nashville are talented writers, period. Their schedules are filled with such diversity that the writing sessions of a Nicolle Galyon, Nathan Chapman, Jesse Frasure, et al, are days where they write songs that can be placed anywhere in the world.