Aaron Watson Celebrates With Spotify At Ryman Auditorium Show
Pictured (L-R): Brittany Schaffer, Head of Artist & Label Marketing, Spotify Nashville; Watson; Robert Turner, Sr. Director, Label Management and Sales, ADA; Dan Anderson, VP Sales & Marketing, BIG Label Records
Aaron Watson caught up with Spotify Thursday night in Nashville for his Night of Texas at The Ryman. Opening acts included songwriters Liz Rose, Rodney Clawson and Tom Douglas.
Station Inn’s J.T. Gray To Be Honored With SERFA Award
J.T. Gray
The Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) will present its highest honor, the SERFA Award, to two couples and two individuals on May 17 during its 12th Annual Conference at the Chattanoogan Hotel. J.T. Gray, four-decade owner of the Station Inn in Nashville, will be an honoree as well as dancer/choreographer Eileen Carson Schatz, musician Mark Schatz, musician/philanthropist Fletcher Bright, and Norman and Nancy Blake.
Norman and Nancy Blake have earned four Grammy nominations, separately and together creating some forty albums. Chattanooga native Norman and his wife Nancy began recording together in 1974 and spent many years thereafter performing, recording, and playing music for the joy of it. Before that, Norman had already played on recordings by Bob Dylan, John Hartford, and Johnny Cash. Fletcher Bright, who passed away in 2017 at 86, belonged to the Dismembered Tennesseans band for seventy years. He flourished as a realtor, led the Three Sisters Festival, and gave back to the geographical and musical community. J.T. Gray has owned Nashville’s foremost bluegrass club, the Station Inn, since 1981. He converted the Inn’s original coffeehouse/jam session format into a performance venue that has survived for the long haul. A pioneer in bringing percussive dance to performing arts stages and the general public, Eileen Carson Schatz, who became a Green Grass Clogger in 1974, co-founded the Fiddle Puppets five years later. She developed the Fiddle Puppets into Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble in 1994. Mark Schatz has played bass in a host of leading bands and with foremost artists including John Hartford, Tony Rice, Spectrum, Tasty Licks, Tim O’Brien, Claire Lynch, and Nickle Creek.
Dan + Shay Wraps Sold-Out UK Headlining Tour
Pictured (L-R): Simon Jones (AEG); Shay Mooney; Dan Smyers; Nigel Hassler (CAA); Jason Owen (Sandbox Entertainment); Lisa Ray (Sandbox Entertainment)
Dan + Shay wrapped a sold-out UK headlining run last night (Jan. 24) at the famed O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. The tour included stops in Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Cambridge. AEG presented the multi-Platinum-selling, chart-topping pair with a plaque commemorating the accomplishment. This latest milestone follows a four-week reign at No. 1 on the country airplay charts with their mega-hit single “Speechless.”
Along with their global smash “Tequila,” which was the most-streamed country song released in 2018 and is currently climbing the Adult Contemporary and Pop charts, they held the top two positions on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs for six consecutive weeks – making them the only duo in history to do so. Dan + Shay will perform “Tequila” on the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards on February 10, where they are nominated for both Best Country Duo / Group Performance and Best Country Song.
About the Author
Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at jnicholson@musicrow.com.View Author Profile
