MEDIA NEWS:
To help fight off boredom, Jenny Tolman, who the Tennessean named one of Nashville’s Artists to Watch in 2020, has launched a series of videos titled Jenny’s Quarantine Kitchen. The video is shot and edited by her GRAMMY® nominated producer Dave Brainard. Tolman has an uncanny ability to connect with the camera with her cute and quirky comments and expressions. Tolman has been gluten-free for 10 years and, learning about anti-inflammatory eating, she chose to also go dairy free and egg free (about 90% of the time). “Since we are under an order right now to stay at home, I figured sharing some of my favorite recipes would be a fun thing to do. I think we are all going to be doing a lot more cooking in the coming days!” Jenny Tolman’s debut album There Goes The Neighborhood is on the Country Caffeine playlist on Apple (plus 5 other playlists including What Would Dolly Do) and her video is currently featured on CMT’s 12 Pack. Find Jenny’s Quarantine Kitchen and music at https://www.jennytolman.com/
MUSIC NEWS:
Country music has always had an internal battle between Jesus and vices like alcohol and smoking. Noah Smith’s latest single “Cigarettes and Jesus” takes on the topic head-on with its recent release. “This song is about that battle of two things pulling you in different directions,” Smith said. “I can’t tell you how many times I have woken up in the back of a van in a parking lot and then led worship on Sunday morning.” Smith notes that playing country music isn’t anything to be ashamed about, but living life on the road can be demanding and tempting. “It’s hard to make it to the church pew from a bar stool,” he said. “But you can’t know the darkness of one side without knowing the light of the other. “Every time I play it and someone tells me what the song means to them, I start to realize how that also applies to me. It’s a special song.” Music & tour dates at https://www.noahsmithmusic.com/home
MUSICIAN NEWS:
Reigning CMA Musician of the Year winner and ACM Specialty Instrument Player of the Year nominee (the first woman to receive either nomination), Jenee Fleenor, has released her new single “Good Ol’ Girls” which follows Fleenor’s latest single, “Fiddle & Steel,” which has already racked up more than 200,000 Spotify streams. Stream or download “Good Ol’ Girls,” at https://lnk.to/GoodOlGirls. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s new American Currents: State of the Music exhibit celebrates Fleenor’s groundbreaking achievements with a display of her CMA Award, fiddle and wardrobe memorabilia. The longtime fiddle player for Blake Shelton will return to NBC’s “The Voice” this spring where she plays in the hit reality show’s house band. Fleenor also recently received her second nomination for Specialty Instrument Player of the Year for the 2020 ACM Awards airing Wednesday, Sept. 16 (live 8:00-11:00 PM ET) on CBS. More about Jenee at https://www.jeneemusic.com/
PR NEWS:
Country music royalty and fifty-two-year member of the Grand Ole Opry, Jeannie Seely, presented broadcast professional Devon O’Day with the Jeannie Seely Standing Ovation Award for her contributions to the entertainment industry by the Donelson-Hermitage Chamber of Commerce Women in Business at the second annual Influencing Women Awards Gala, PHANTOM. Devon O’Day is a career broadcaster with a resume’ that includes her most recent position as radio host on Nashville Today at 650AM WSM and previously The House Foundation with Gerry House, Mix92.9 Nashville, and nationally syndicated shows like Country Hitmakers, The Saturday Night House Party, and America’s #1s. Devon is also an accomplished author and has also narrated over 50 audio books for major publishers all over the world.
RADIO NEWS:
CJ Solar scored his first Top 10 hit, when his “Coming My Way” single peaked on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart in March. The upbeat single also hit #31 on the Billboard Indicator Chart, tying his last single “American Girls.” “I’m so excited to have my first Top 10 at country radio with ‘Coming My Way,’” said CJ, the 2019 MusicRow Independent Artist of the Year. “Thank you to all the stations who supported it! Can’t wait to keep building on this!” Over the past year, CJ saw his dream of performing on the Grand Ole Opry come true and spent many days opening for the likes of Chris Janson, Aaron Watson, Gary Allen, 38 Special and others. As a songwriter, CJ won a “Songs I Wish I’d Written” trophy from the Nashville Songwriter Awards for co-writing Morgan Wallen’s #1 hit “Up Down,” and Jason Aldean released the CJ co-written “I Don’t Drink Anymore.” Music and updates at https://www.cjsolar.com/
RIAA NEWS:
RECORDS/Arista Nashville breakthrough entertainer Matt Stell thought he was being “fooled” on April 1 when he joined a Zoom video call with Ash Bowers (Wide Open Music), Barry Weiss (RECORDS), Randy Goodman (Sony Music Nashville), Mitch Glazier (RIAA), and Jackie Jones (RIAA). The group surprised Stell with a virtual Platinum song plaque, the first of its kind, celebrating his “career-changing” (MusicRow) multi-week No. 1 smash and the only Billboard chart-topper by a debut artist in 2019, “Prayed For You,” hitting the one million unit milestone. As one of only 30 RIAA Platinum-certified country songs in the last two years, “Prayed For You,” written by Stell with Ash Bowers and Allison Veltz Cruz, joins an elite group. Stell’s epic new single, “Everywhere But On,” was co-written by Stell, along with Paul Sikes and Lance Miller and is currently Top 40 on the country radio charts and climbing. The track is featured on Stell’s Everywhere But On EP, which also includes a collaboration with Jimmie Allen, “Home In A Hometown,” and Stell’s cover of the Ariana Grande hit “God Is a woman.”
ROW NEWS:
Nashville’s all-female, singer-songwriter collective, Song Suffragettes, celebrated their milestone sixth anniversary in March with two rounds featuring 9 women singer-songwriters and a special presentation to respected hit songwriter Laura Veltz who has penned 6 #1 hits in recent years including Maren Morris’ “The Bones” and Dan + Shay’s “Speechless.” Veltz accepted the “Yellow Rose of Inspiration Award” for her contributions to the songwriting community including writing many of the songs that have inspired the over 250 women who have performed on the Song Suffragettes stage through the years. Veltz is only the second woman to receive that honor after esteemed songwriter and publisher Liz Rose who received it last year. Song Suffragettes remains at the forefront of the disparity and discrimination debate surrounding females in the country music genre and is working on multiple plans to help celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution’s 19th Amendment later this year. Details at https://www.songsuffragettes.com/
Note* You can watch the Song Suffragettes live stream weekly show on Youtube while we are under the Stay at Home Order. https://www.youtube.com/user/songsuffragettes/videos
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