Country singer-songwriter Conner Smith has issued his first public statement following his involvement in a fatal car accident in June in Nashville, in which 77-year-old pedestrian Dorothy Dobbins died due to injuries.
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In an Instagram post on Friday (July 11), Smith wrote, “Four weeks ago, I was involved in a tragic vehicle accident that resulted in the loss of a life. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t grieved, prayed, and mourned for Ms. Dobbins and her family. My heart is broken in a way I’ve never experienced, and I still struggle to fully process the weight of it all. I ask that you continue to lift the Dobbins family up in prayer by name, asking for God’s peace to surround them each day.”
He also noted that he had not been playing shows in recent weeks. “Out of respect for everyone involved and to give space for grieving, I made the decision to step away from shows these past few weeks,” he shared. “I have always found that making music and playing shows is a place of healing for me – but for this moment, it was important for me to take time away.”
Smith had beenissued a misdemeanor state citation on Thursday night (July 10) by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, according to Smith’s attorney. Sources also told Billboard that Smith was charged with a misdemeanor traffic offense of failure to yield resulting in a fatality, which underscores a lack of criminal intent.
Smith’s attorney Worrick G Robinson IV said in a statement on Thursday, “A misdemeanor state citation was issued tonight by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department to Conner Smith. Conner is incredibly grateful to the MNPD for their time and efforts to carefully investigate this tragic accident and has continued to cooperate at all times. His thoughts remain with Ms. Dobbins’ family, and he remains committed to honoring her memory with compassion by supporting efforts to improve pedestrian safety and help prevent future tragedies.“
Smith ended his public statement on Friday by referencing a Biblical scripture, Psalm 91. “I’m thankful to serve a God who is near to the brokenhearted, and I have leaned on Him every step of the way,” he wrote. “Through tragedy, I have learned that God is more faithful than I could have ever known before.”
The musician, who is signed to Big Machine Label Group, earned his all-genre Billboard Hot 100 debut with the song “Creek Will Rise,” and has also released songs “I Hate Alabama,” “Learn From It” and “Roulette on the Heart,” a duet with Hailey Whitters.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-07-11 15:36:122025-07-11 15:36:12Conner Smith Speaks Out After Involvement in Fatal Car Accident: ‘Not a Day Has Gone By That I Haven’t Grieved’
Dave “Baby” Cortez, a piano player and songwriter best known for his rollicking 1959 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “The Happy Organ” has died at 83. According to The New York Times, Cortez actually passed more than three years ago, but the news of his death has not been confirmed until recently.
Despite scoring two chart hits, the performer born David Cortez Clowney on Aug. 13, 1938 in Detroit who came up on the 1950s Motor City doo-wop scene was something of a ghost for decades, rarely speaking to the press after quitting the music business in the early 1970s. His daughter, Taryn Sheffield, told the paper that she hadn’t heard from her dad since 2009, describing him as a “recluse for many, many years.”
Though he initially left his music career behind more than 50 years ago, the founder of New York independent label Norton Records, Miriam Linna, said she just recently learned that Cortez had been dead for three years. New York city records reportedly show that Cortez died on May 31, 2022 at his home in the Bronx and that he is buried in a potter’s field off the coast of the borough, where more than one million bodies are buried in unmarked graves.
It was Linna who persuaded Cortez to dip back into music in 2011 when the label released his first album in nearly 40 years, Dave Baby Cortez with Lonnie Youngblood and his Bloodhounds. It is unknown what the publicity shy performer was up to in those intervening decades, with Linna saying he sometimes performed as a church organist in Cincinnati.
Encouraged by his piano-playing father to take up the instrument, Cortez joined the local doo-wop vocal group the Five Pearls — later known as the Pearls — when he was 16, scoring minor hits with the songs “Please Let Me Know,” “Bells of Love” and “Shadows of Love,” the latter of which Cortez co-wrote. After moving to New York and joining another vocal group, the Valentines, Cortez began shopping his songs around town under the name the David Clowney Band.
His first effort was the bouncy, 1956 boogie woogie instrumental “Movin’ and Groovin’,” which he followed up with the slow-rolling “Soft Lights” in 1957 before taking on his stage name in 1958 and beginning work on the song that would define him in the public imagination and make history on the Billboard charts.
According to the Times, in a rare interview, Cortez explained that he first recorded the instrumental track for “The Happy Organ” in 1958, but scrapped a vocal he was unhappy with before noticing a Hammond organ in the studio that he decided to add to the song. “They played the track back a couple of times, and I started playing with this melody,” he told the National Association of Music Merchants in the interview. “I guess God gave me this melody.”
The two-minute track that emerged was a joyous, bouncy instrumental with a circus-like keyboard and rubbery guitar groove that became a surprise hit and the first instrumental to top the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The Times noted that the use of the Hammond on the song helped transform the instrument typically associated with Sunday church service into a reliable part of the rock arsenal on such organ-forward hits as Booker T. and the M.G.’s 1962 No. 3 Hot 100 classic “Green Onions” and the Doors’ 1967 No. 1 smash “Light My Fire.”
And while the song could have been a footnote in history, Cortez managed to score another organ instrumental hit in 1962 with the jaunty No. 10 charting “Rinky Dink.” Cortez would release a string of albums on a series of labels throughout the rest of the 1960s, pivoting to a more soul/funk sound on what would be his final recording for nearly four decades, 1972’s Soul Vibration. He scored one more charting song in 1973 with the gospel-y “Someone Has Taken Your Place,” which topped out at No. 45 on the Billboard R&B tally.
According to the Times, Cortez then vanished, refusing to do interviews due to the bad taste the music industry left him with until 2009, when Linna reached out and he shockingly agreed to get back in the studio to record the album with saxophonist Youngblood and perform at the label’s 25th anniversary party in 2011. He then vanished again.
When Linna mentioned Cortez on her “Crashing the Party” radio show last month, Australian teen doo-wop fanatic Liam Waldon went on a search to find out what had become of Cortez and discovered that he’d died and his body had been unclaimed.
Listen to “The Happy Organ” and “Rinky Dink” below.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-07-11 15:21:032025-07-11 15:21:03Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez, Pop Music Pioneer, Died at 83 in 2022, Label Just Learned
Saddle up, Atlanta — Beyoncé‘s Cowboy Carter Tour has officially kicked off its run of shows in Georgia, featuring a brand new flying horse prop that gallops over the crowd.
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As debuted at the superstar’s first concert in ATL on Thursday (July 10), Bey now rides a golden animatronic stallion while performing “16 Carriages.” She previously sang the Cowboy Carter single on a levitating car each night, but following a technical mishap with the vehicle a few shows back, it looks like the horse is here to stay.
In clips from the performance at Mercedes-Benz Stadium — where she’ll play three more shows July 11 and 13-14 — the 35-time Grammy winner effortlessly croons the lyrics to “16 Carriages” while straddling the robotic horse, whose legs actually move up and down as if it were prancing over the heads of concertgoers. Bey also showed off her new steed by sharing photos of the number on Instagram.
The kickoff show in the Peach State comes a couple of weeks after Bey experienced a rare technical difficulty on her well-oiled Cowboy Carter trek. During “16 Carriages” at her June 28 show in Houston, the vocalist’s red car started to tilt downward at a concerning angle while she was sitting in it, suspended many feet up in the air. Like a pro, Bey kept singing before eventually telling her crew to lower her down, later joking to the crowd, “If ever I fall, I know ya’ll catch me.”
“Tonight in Houston, at NRG Stadium, a technical mishap caused the flying car, a prop Beyonce uses to circle the stadium, and see her fans up close, to tilt,” Bey’s Parkwood Entertainment wrote in a statement afterward. “She was quickly lowered and no one was injured. The show continued without incident.”
Bey’s ongoing trek is absolutely flying by, with Atlanta marking the second-to-last stop on the route. Three months after kicking off the tour in Los Angeles on April 28, the Destiny’s Child alum will close out the run with two shows at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on July 25 and 26.
The tour is also proving to be highly successful for the performer, whose 12 shows in May alone grossed $157.4 million with 567,000 tickets sold, according to Billboard Boxscore. It marks nearly the highest monthly gross ever reported to Boxscore in history, coming second only to Bey’s own 2023 record with the Renaissance Tour, which raked in $179.3 million that August.
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Shaboozey notches his second top 10 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “Good News” rises two spots to No. 10 on the list dated July 19. The song increased by 18% to 19.3 million audience impressions July 4-10, according to Luminate.
Shaboozey co-wrote the song with Sean Cook, Michael Pollack, Sam Roman, Nevin Sastry and Jake Torrey. It’s from Shaboozey’s album Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, which arrived at its No. 2 high on Top Country Albums and No. 5 on the all-genre Billboard 200 in June 2024; it has earned 1.8 million equivalent units in the United States through July 3.
Shaboozey’s rookie entry, the multi-genre smash “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” dominated Country Airplay for seven weeks beginning last August — surpassing Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel” (six weeks at No. 1, 2006) as the longest-leading hit on the chart ever to establish a country career (counting acts’ first Country Airplay entries as a lead artist or their initial songs promoted to country radio).
“A Bar Song” also ran up 45 weeks atop the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart starting in May 2024. It claimed the longest command for a song by a single artist; overall, it trails only Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be,” which led for 50 weeks in 2017-18, for the top No. 1 run since Hot Country Songs became the genre’s singular songs survey in 1958. “A Bar Song” also ruled the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-tying 19 weeks.
Shaboozey has charted two other Country Airplay entries: “Highway” reached No. 49 in January and newest single “Amen,” with Jelly Roll, ranks at No. 55 (1.3 million, up 10%) on the July 19 tally.
‘Case’ Study
Morgan Wallen’s “Just in Case” tops Country Airplay for a second week (32.8 million, up 12%). Of the Sneedville, Tenn., native’s 18 No. 1s, it’s his 10th to lead for multiple weeks.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-07-11 14:56:052025-07-11 14:56:05‘Good News’! Shaboozey Earns His Second Top 10 on Country Airplay Chart
Kaash Paige is officially signing a deal with Rostrum Records, marking a new chapter in her artistic evolution.
Rostrum, a label renowned for launching the careers of artists like Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa, announced the venture on Friday (July 11). The announcement also coincides with Paige’s first release through the label: her new single “2BADBITCHES.”
“I’m truly grateful and excited for this new chapter with Rostrum Records,” Kaash Paige said in a statement to Billboard. “It means a lot to me to partner with a label that not only believes in my vision but is genuinely passionate about what I bring to the table. From the beginning, their energy matched mine – they really see me for who I am as an artist. It’s also special to me that they once signed one of my biggest inspirations, Mac Miller. With this partnership, fans can expect nothing but authenticity, growth, and consistent heat. I’m ready to level up and show the world what’s next.”
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The artist’s latest deal comes after Kaash Paige departed Def Jam in 2023, noting that her exit was due to a desire for more creative freedom and control. She previously stated in an interview back in April that the major label system caused her internal team to always be in flux.
“There was always change,” Paige said. “Things slipped through the cracks.” Still, she says: “It wasn’t a horror story. I just started craving something new.”
Now on Rostrum, the label confirmed Paige will be dropping an EP in August, followed by a full length project later this year.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-07-11 14:40:502025-07-11 14:40:50Kaash Paige Signs New Deal With Rostrum Records
It may be hard to believe, but as Malice rapped on “Trill,” “It’s me ma, you ain’t dreaming.” After months of fashion shows, teasers, rumors, interviews and more, Clipse is really, truly, finally, back. The duo’s new album Let God Sort Em Out is its first project since 2009’s Til the Casket Drops, and it boasts plenty of coke-infused bars, subliminal digs, and a sleek array of beats courtesy of longtime artistic partner Pharrell to tie it all together.
Let’s back up: For the first half of the 2000s, Clipse was one of hip-hop’s biggest disruptors. Drug-honed lyrical content had been a mainstay in rap for years, but Pusha T and Malice shook up that thematic snow globe from the jump. What followed were bars about coke, guns and seedy street tales that carried the refined elegance of Jean-Claude Killy skiing his way to Olympic gold. From 2002’s “Grindin’” to 2006’s “Mr. Me Too” and beyond, the pair used their run — aided by The Neptunes, who relentlessly battered away at them with their MPCs — to leave an indelible mark on hip-hop, before disbanding in 2010.
So after more than a decade apart, how do two brothers reunite and take Clipse into the 2020s? They sprinkle in some rambunctious new talent, with guest verses from Stove God Cooks, Tyler, the Creator and Kendrick Lamar, but otherwise they keep it pushin’ in more ways than one. With 13 new songs, and plenty of slick news bars to unpack, Billboard has dove in and ranked all the songs on Let God Sort ‘Em Out. Check out our full ranking below.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-07-11 14:40:502025-07-11 14:40:50Clipse’s ‘Let God Sort Em Out’: All 13 Tracks Ranked
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
This week, Justin Bieber returns with an unexpected new album and an unexpected new sound, Clipse reunites for a triumphant set of new bangers, Deftones re-emerge as potent as ever and much more. Check out all of this week’s picks below.
Justin Bieber, Swag
It’s about as surprising as surprise drops get — Justin Bieber, one of the 10 greatest pop stars of the 21st century, returning from a four-year absence with a 21-track new set on about 10 hours’ notice. And within a couple tracks of Swag, it’s pretty clear this is Bieber as we’ve never really heard him before — stripped of most of his usual big pop trappings, with a much more organic-sounding, alt-R&B-focused sound aided by recognizable sonic architects like Dijon, Mk.Gee and new primary artistic partner Carter Lang supporting his tender ballads of love and devotion. Fans hoping for an album full of “Sorry”s (or even “Peaches”es) may be disappointed, but Beliebers who never stopped returning to the eerie confessionals of Journals or the hushed intimacy of Changes will undoubtedly be elated.
Clipse, Let God Sort Em Out
The first album for legendary rap duo Clipse in over 15 years, Let God Sort Em Out sees Pusha T and Malice reunited and locked in like the time off was just a long battery recharge. The first two tracks alone show the kind of purpose and focus few rap albums can manage across 10 times that long: opener “The Birds Don’t Sing” finds the brother duo paying heart-rending tribute to a late parent each, while explosive second cut “Chains & Whips” invites the biggest rapper in the world along to take aim at their collective foes — including one obvious common enemy between at least two of them. It helps immensely, of course, that this reunion also includes another crucial member of the extended family: regular producer and occasional hook-singer Pharrell, whose beats invoke the grimy urgency of his ’00s work for the duo without ever sounding like he’s just playing the hits.
BLACKPINK, “Jump”
After the solo bows of all four of its members over the past year — and with heightened global excitement around K-pop girl groups in general, thanks to the runaway success of Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters and its HUNTR/X protagonists — the time couldn’t be much better for a BLACKPINK comeback. And luckily, the quartet has the song to do it with: “JUMP” eschews the slowers, dubsteppier drops that have characterized most of BLACKPINK’s biggest singles for a more frenetic, hardstyle-indebted synth breakdown and quaking beat that feels as exciting as anything the group has ever released. “Are you not entertained?” LISA asks on the second verse, no doubt rhetorically.
Deftones, “My Mind Is a Mountain”
“We’ve been waiting here, patiently/ Locked in this state, clocking our time,” Deftones frontman Chino Moreno howls on the band’s new single. Indeed, “My Mind Is a Mountain” comes five years after the band’s most recent album, 2020’s Ohms, and sees the quintet immediately returning to its strengths: simultaneously lush and punishing guitar grooves over crashing-wave drums, with Moreno’s anguished sensuality tying it all together. The millions of new fans the band has picked up over a half-decade of seemingly perpetual TikTok virality should be thrilled with their first taste of new Deftones.
GIVĒON, Beloved
Following his return to the Billboard Hot 100 this year with both the Teddy Swims collab “Are You Even Real” and his own solo “Twenties,” R&B hitmaker GIVĒON returns this week with the new album Beloved — his first 2022 debut Give or Take. The sound of Beloved is more classic ’70s soul than modern R&B — check out the Al Green horns on “Rather Be” of the Stylistics electric sitar of “Twenties” and “Numb” — but kept fresh by the distinctiveness of GIVĒON’s voice, sonorous, soaring and forever exquisitely pained.
Tyla, “Is It”
The new single from the South African global pop star slithers around a winding beat, with an earworm chorus of Tyla asking “Is it wrong/ That I wanna get right with you?” and a requisite breakdown section that you can already tell is going to make for some highlight moments during live performances. “We outside. We’re catching party vibes,” Tyla told Billboard in June, and “Is It” is strong evidence that those vibes have already been caught.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-07-11 14:25:502025-07-11 14:25:50Friday Music Guide: New Music From Justin Bieber, Clipse, BLACKPINK & More
South Arcade, the UK-based rock band with a sound that slants toward turn-of-the-century alternative, has signed a label deal with Atlantic Records, in partnership with BKM Artists and LAB Records. The quartet also released its debut single with the label, “Fear of Heights,” on Friday (July 11).
“From the very first chorus I heard from South Arcade, I was completely hooked!” says Johnny Minardi, Atlantic Music Group SVP of A&R. “As I dug deeper into their songs and world, it felt like stepping into a modern take on a nostalgic era. I’m incredibly excited for what’s ahead as South Arcade teams up with Atlantic to take on the world.”
South Arcade was created when singer Harmony Cavelle and guitarist Harry Winks, who were university friends, started making demos together before recruiting bassist Ollie Green and drummer Cody Jones. Their Spotify bio simply reads “Y2KCORE,” and indeed, the singles they’ve released beginning in 2022 mash up the pop brashness of Avril Lavigne with the crunchy guitar riffs of Limp Bizkit.
“Fear of Heights” is the cleanest distillation of the band’s sound to date, with a pop-punk energy and huge chorus that have made an early-‘00s Warped Tour crowd explode. The single will herald South Arcade’s in-the-works Atlantic Records debut album.
“When meeting with Johnny, Elliot [Grainge, Atlantic Music Group CEO], Zach [Friedman, Atlantic Music Group COO], Tony [Talamo, Atlantic Music Group GM], and the Atlantic team, it was like, FINALLY someone gets it!” says Cavelle of the label deal. “It was really like clicking with someone on the same wavelength. They actually understood what we were trying to convey and felt like we were all on the same page. Atlantic has such a legacy – we are so excited to be a part of that and see what we can all come up with as a joint force. We honestly couldn’t be more stoked.”
After performing at Reading & Leeds in late August, South Arcade will tour the U.S. beginning on Oct. 7, playing 25 dates with pop-punk group Magnolia Park. They’ll also perform at Austin City Limits on Oct. 11, two days before their first headlining show in New York City.
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-07-11 14:15:392025-07-11 14:15:39South Arcade, Y2K-Core British Rock Band, Signs With Atlantic Records to ‘Take On the World’
I’m at the Lost Highway. I’m at the Capitol Records Nashville. I’m at the combination Lost Highway and CRN radio promotion office. The recently resurrected roots label and its country music sibling announced they are consolidating their two radio promo teams, with Luke Jensen appointed vice president of promotion and Megan McCaffrey named regional director of promotion at Lost Highway/Capitol Records Nashville. Additional personnel will join the LH/CRN promo team in the coming months. Both Jensen and McCaffrey are based in Nashville. Jensen, a country music veteran with over 30 years of experience under his belt, previously served as vp of promotion at Monument Records and worked at Arista Nashville and in radio. McCaffrey, with over eight years in the industry, also worked at Monument alongside Jensen, as well as at Universal Music Group Nashville (now MCA) and Live In The Vineyard. “It was a no-brainer for us to invest in a best-in-class radio promotion team from the outset given radio’s powerful audience reach,” said Candice Watkins, president of Capitol Records Nashville.
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FlyteVu, a Nashville-based creative agency, has been acquired by Driftwood Music Group in a deal valued in the eight figures. The acquisition — undisclosed in terms of actual price tag — aligns with FlyteVu’s 10th anniversary and the debut of a new brand mantra (“Safe Doesn’t Fly”), setting the stage for growth through expanded services, AI integration and strategic hiring. As part of the transition, co-founder and former Warner Music exec Jeremy Holley has exited the company, while co-founder Laura Hutfless remains CEO. “You are the finest leader and the best damn wingman I could have asked for,” Hutfless said of Holley, who announced, “The time has come for my next adventure,” without revealing his next destination. Additionally, Sina Seger has been promoted to COO, and Miriam Singer to chief of staff. Linda Knight, a former chief creative officer at Observatory, joins FlyteVu as its first CCO. A longtime consultant to the agency, Knight will lead its creative strategy and production teams. The agency has also welcomed Adeniz Villar as senior director of talent, focusing on Latinx partnerships. FlyteVu’s rebrand reflects its risk-taking bent and is paired with images of staff leadership holding actual birds of prey. “We’re ready to fly higher,” noted Knight.
AEG Presents appointed Dion Brant as president and CEO of AEG Presents Asia Pacific, effective immediately. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Brant will retain his roles as CEO and board member of Frontier Touring while reporting to Adam Wilkes, president and CEO of AEG Presents Europe and Asia Pacific. In his new role, Brant will drive AEG’s strategic growth across Asia Pacific. Brant, whose career began in radio and ticketing before joining Mushroom Group and later Frontier Touring, has led major live events across Australia and New Zealand and played a pivotal role in the 2019 AEG-Frontier Touring partnership, eventually becoming Frontier’s CEO following Michael Gudinski’s passing in 2021. “Dion is a highly respected executive who has played an integral role in our success,” said Wilkes. “His leadership at Frontier has been transformational, proving he’s a steady hand capable of guiding our business into the future. I couldn’t be happier to name Dion to this position.”
Wasserman Music strengthened its artist services team with three key hires: Emily Kennedy as vp of business development, pop; Michael Delle Donne as vp of digital partnerships; and Lydia Barry as vp of marketing and communications. All based in New York, Kennedy will lead growth across film, TV, gaming, branding and more, bringing experience from LoyalT Management and work with artists like AURORA and Stephen Sanchez. Delle Donne, formerly with Warner Music, will oversee digital strategy, gaming and rights management, having led campaigns with artists like Charli XCX and Coldplay. Barry, previously at WME, will manage global communications. These additions support Wasserman’s mission to expand opportunities for artists across content, IP, digital and international markets, reinforcing its artist-first approach and future-focused strategy.
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Sony Music Publishing Latin elevated Monica Jordan to vice president of creative A&R. Based in Miami, she’ll continue reporting to Jorge Mejia, president and CEO of SMP Latin America and US Latin. In her new role, Monica will lead creative strategy, support songwriter development and expand opportunities for the SMP Latin roster. Since joining SMP in 2010, Jordan has signed and collaborated with top artists like Jesús “JOP” Ortiz Paz, Myke Towers and Anitta, while also working with Street Mob Records, which represents over 25 artists and producers. “Monica has an impeccable ear for talent and for identifying what’s next,” said Majira. “She also has great drive and determination when it comes to her signings.”
Apple said this week that Jeff Williams will hand off his role as chief operating officer to Sabih Khan, Apple’s senior vice president of operations, later this month as part of what they describe as a long-planned succession. Williams will continue overseeing Apple Watch, Health initiatives and the design team — until his retirement later this year, after which the design team will report directly to CEO Tim Cook. Khan, a 30-year Apple veteran, has led Apple’s global supply chain and environmental initiatives, and joined the executive team in 2019. His leadership has been key to Apple’s manufacturing expansion and sustainability efforts. Williams, who played a major role in launching the iPod, iPhone and Apple Watch, “helped to create one of the most respected global supply chains in the world,” said Cook.
Nashville music execs Dave Kelly and Bekah Digby launched a strategic digital and streaming consulting co-venture. They will partner with artists and their teams across genres to optimize artists’ presence on major DSPs. Services include developing and executing tailored streaming strategies for frontline release and catalog, delivering analytics-driven insights to guide performance improvements and fueling audience growth in listenership, engagement and visibility across key streaming platforms. Kelly spent more than a decade at Big Machine Label Group, serving as vp of digital consumption. In 2023, he began consulting for artists spanning various genres. Digby most recently served as head of country & Christian artist & industry relations at SiriusXM Pandora, and as worked at companies including Big Machine Label Group, UMG Nashville (MCA) and Capitol CMG. –Jessica Nicholson
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Priyanka Khimani, a leading entertainment lawyer and advocate, joined Songpact as co-founder and strategic advisor to help drive its global expansion and partnerships. Known for her work advancing equitable frameworks in music, film and TV, Khimani will guide Songpact’s mission to modernize music contracts through intuitive tools. She brings deep industry experience, having been named to Billboard’s 2025 Top Music Lawyers and 2023 Women in Music lists, and serves on the boards of Songtradr and Beatdapp. At Songpact, with launched in January, she aims to close the access and affordability gap in contract management, making pro-grade agreements available to all creators. “The world of music contracts hasn’t kept pace with the rest of the industry – it’s still stuck in a bygone era,” said Nick Weaser, Songpact’s CEO and co-founder. “In 2025, we need tools that are as fast, creative, and global as the artists they serve. [Khimani] doesn’t just understand the challenges creators face – she’s been at the forefront of solving them, one deal at a time, across borders and genres. “
VENU appointed Terri Liebler as president of its newly established growth and strategy division, reinforcing its fan-first vision and accelerating national expansion. Previously VENU’s chief marketing officer and a 22-year Live Nation veteran, Liebler brings extensive experience in strategic growth, partnerships, and profitability. In her new role, she’ll lead venue development, drive new revenue streams and strengthen stakeholder engagement in key markets. Her appointment reflects VENU’s commitment to scaling its unique business model, which democratizes live entertainment ownership through real estate and public market access.
Simon Dunmore joined Arcade Talent as the head of artist development, a new role at the independent U.K. artist agency. This is Dunmore’s first role in the industry after his 2022 exit from Defected Records, the influential house music label that he founded in 1999. By bringing on Dunmore, the agency and its founder Dave Alcock expand on a goal of giving deeper and more holistic support to its artist roster, which includes more than 50 dance and electronic acts like Claude VonStroke, Inner City, Kerri Chandler, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Ella Knight and Louie Vega. In a statement, Dunmore says that “Arcade’s independent mindset, along with an ‘artist first’ policy, is totally aligned with my own philosophies, whilst the company’s incremental growth via a defined cultural strategy mirrors my tenure at Defected Records.” –Katie Bain
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Neon Coast, the artist development company and management home to country music hitmaker Kane Brown founded by music executive Martha Earls, added two members to its management team. Tyler Corrado joined as artist manager to work alongside music group Restless Road and singer-songwriter Dylan Schneider. Corrado and Earls have also teamed to add rising artist-writer Alyssa Flaherty to company’s management roster. Meanwhile, Dawson Simmons is now management coordinator for Restless Road and indie alt-pop band Nightly. Corrado previously worked at Make Wake Artists and at BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville, while Simmons joins from Results Global Agency (formerly 615 Leverage + Strategy), working on projects for Dolly Parton. –J.N.
86Tales, a Berlin-based music and sound studio, appointed Maxence Janvrin as creative director in France, expanding its presence in Paris. Known in the underground music scene as Eole, Janvrin brings a bold, emotionally rich approach to sound, blending rave culture with cinematic composition. He has composed for brands like Gucci and Foot Locker and performed at major events including Tomorrowland 2024. In his new role, he will collaborate with creatives and brands to elevate sound as a core storytelling element. Janvrin also co-founded Fundamentals, a Paris-based collective spotlighting producers in club culture. 86Tales founder Gordian Gleiss praised Janvrin’s instinctive sound design and strategic insight, saying he is “well-versed in what creatives need and how to deliver it with precision and impact.”
The Ward Organization, parent company of Encore Luxury Coach Leasing, Encore Music Group and its affiliate companies, promoted Amanda Stophel to chief operating officer. In her new role, Stophel will broaden her responsibilities to oversee day-to-day operations and execution of all Encore and Ward-affiliated companies. Encore’s leasing operations have offices in Nashville, Tennessee and Phoenix, Arizona, while the company’s fleet of over 175 luxury entertainer coaches serve entertainment clients across the United States and Canada. –J.N.
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When Old Crow Medicine Show came to Nashville in 2000, lead vocalist/fiddle player Ketch Secor recalls to Billboard, “We gravitated to that area and lived in a motel room by the week. Motels were about $26. We would stay in rooms next to people who had gotten out of jail. We stayed alongside drug dealers and sex workers and all kinds of people who were trying to scrape by and figure out their s—t like we were.
“I think Dickerson Road represents an interesting story in the South’s saga of redistricting and urban renewal, because this corridor hung on and became a kind of testing ground for who can make it,” he adds. “It’s kind of a sink-or-swim strip.”
That history is reflected on “Dickerson Road,” the first single from Secor’s solo album, Story the Crow Told Me, out Friday (July 11) via Equal Housing Records/Firebird Music.
“Dickerson Road” is an homage to the gritty area north of downtown Nashville, filled with car sales lots, small businesses, and motels, that has served as a home for many aspiring musicians over the decades. The song is built upon rapid-fire, spoken-word vocals from Secor, along with a relentless rhythm and fiery guitarwork from The Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston (Secor and Johnston previously worked together on the song “Hillbilly” with Elvie Shane).
Throughout the album’s dozen songs, he distills his more than two-decade journey as a musician and Nashville resident.
“I started thinking about this unique perspective I have on the country music experience in Nashville, having come here [from North Carolina] to play this very old form of it in a modern time, and the changing Nashville,” Secor says. “It just seems my experience from when I started this years ago, this time capsule that I’m unlocking with this record, it was kind of cathartic to dive into these experiences.”
The album’s producer, and the co-writer with Secor on 11 of the songs, is Jody Stevens — a name some music fans might find curious, given that he’s better known for his work with mainstream country artists Luke Bryan, Jake Owen and Cole Swindell, but also rap-world artists including Bubba Sparxxx and early Jelly Roll. Secor says the musical collaboration came courtesy of Sony Music Nashville Publishing CEO Rusty Gaston.
“[Rusty] brought me over to Sony [Music Publishing Nashville], and I had never before really had an advocate in the songwriting business,” Secor says. “Enter Rusty, who has also since signed Molly Tuttle at Sony [Publishing] and we’ve written a lot of songs together. I started writing with people on staff, and one day I wrote with Jody. I had a lot of hooks figured out, because I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to be writing for Luke Bryan or somebody in country, because that’s what this guy does.’ But we sat down together and he was like, ‘No, I’ve seen you like 30 times [in concert]. I want to write Old Crow music.’ Jody used to come out to see Old Crow at Station Inn for like $12 in the early 2000s. It was helpful to have someone who had seen me at 23 and watched what I did and knew what was compelling about it, as a person to bounce ideas off of.”
That mix turned out to be a perfect match for Secor’s album, which blends spoken-word performances on songs such as “Junkin’” and “Dickerson Road” with his well-known, premier musicianship, weaving in elements of bluegrass, folk and country. Secor builds on his well-known fiddle work, playing nearly a dozen instruments — including bass, organ, electric guitar and even spoons.
“Jody produced records for rap artists in the early 2000s, before folks were beginning to explore rap’s relationship to country in the mainstream,” Secor says. “And that’s interesting to me, because I never even thought about rap music, certainly not with Old Crow. But I’m coming at the rap piece [spoken word] of it from my love of beat poetry.”
Other highlights on the album include “Holes in the Wall,” a tribute to the tiny clubs that shaped his artistry, and “Catch Me If You Can,” a meditation on the toll life on the road takes on relationships. Elsewhere, the breakneck “Junkin’” celebrates the joy of crate-digging in record stores to find hidden vinyl gems.
Country Music Hall of Fame member Marty Stuart, an early supporter of Old Crow, joins on “Highland Rim” and “Ghost Train” and plays mandolin on “Old Man River.”
“It felt like a hillbilly anointment when he took us under his wing and showed us a pathway,” Secor recalls. “He opened doors at the Grand Ole Opry, because he saw in us something similar to his own experience of coming to town, young and scrappy and very much rooted in music of the past. Having him on the album was a no-brainer because he’s such a big part of the story of Old Crow in its infancy.”
Old Crow’s raw, performance-forward blend of roots music sounds propelled the group to win two Grammys, earn 10 No. 1 albums on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart and release their signature 2004 song “Wagon Wheel” (which Secor wrote after being inspired by a song verse snippet from Bob Dylan). Darius Rucker’s 2013 version of the song would go on to be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Old Crow Medicine Show’s presence is also felt on the new album, as some of the group’s original members — Critter Fuqua on drums and harmonies and Willie Watson on harmonies — appear on several tracks.
“Having my friends from the original lineup was a joy and I loved having some Old Crow brethren present,” Secor says.
In 2016, Old Crow performed Dylan’s 1966 Blonde on Blonde album in full at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s CMA Theater. The show became the 2017 live album 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde, which summited the Top Bluegrass Albums chart.
That deep musical and cultural reverence comes full circle on this album’s final track, “What Nashville Was.” The song captures Secor’s complicated affections for a city that is rapidly changing. “What Nashville Was” includes vocal harmonies from Tuttle (who also offers harmonies throughout the project), as well as samples and interpolations from Dylan and Johnny Cash’s duet “Girl From the North Country,” which was included on Dylan’s 1969 album Nashville Skyline.
“I love Nashville for better, for worse, through thick and thin,” Secor says of the city whose population and economic power have swelled over the past two decades. “I’m just committed to it. I wanted to have a song that could kind of be a commentary on [the] Nashville Skyline album. I was already sort of hip to the idea of Bob being kind of a time signature bearer of Nashville and how it’s grown and shifted. He’s a canary in the coal mine of American music.”
Secor notes that he’s long advocated for Dylan to be honored with induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, “But you flip to the back of the Nashville Skyline record, and you see the Nashville skyline they saw in 1969,” he says. “Looking at the back of that record, it’s hard to even imagine that it would get as big, the way we’re growing by leaps and bounds. The song is sort of a love letter to Nashville, with kind of an asterisk saying, ‘Are you sure you want to go this road?’
“I think we’ve got a real cultural zenith happening here and artistically, it’s never been richer,” he adds. “Yet I feel like the things we need to reckon with are largely outside of the music space. Do we want condos? Do we want parks? How much [like Las] Vegas do we want to be? That might be the cool choice for a generation, but I don’t know that we want to live here after the rhinestone glitter is gone.”
As a longtime Nashville resident, Secor’s love of the city (and the state of Tennessee) runs deep. In September, he’ll take over as host of the beloved travel and entertainment PBS Nashville series Tennessee Crossroads. He launched the Episcopal School of Nashville in 2016, and after tornadoes ripped through Nashville in 2020, Old Crow Medicine Show released the benefit single “Nashville Rising.” Just weeks after the tragic shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School in March 2023, in which three students and three adults were killed, Old Crow Medicine Show advocated for better gun safety laws and measures with the song “Louder Than Guns,” and partnered with bipartisan gun safety advocacy organization 97Percent.
“It goes back to that feeling that [Nashville] is where I was supposed to be,” he relates. “When the Covenant shooting happened, I felt a great safety net underneath my job that allowed me to be like, ‘Well, okay, they’re not going to stand up in mainstream country. That’s okay, they can make the decision that’s right for them. But I feel good about standing up here.’ I tried to make a blueprint for somebody else with a lot more followers than me to say, ‘That’s not going to work. If we’re in a town that is going to have mass shootings, the music industry is going to stand against it, and here’s an example.’ I’m still waiting to pass this torch to somebody with a whole lot more room on the jumbotron than I’ve been given… It’s a hugely important time for us to unite for the health and welfare of our communities.”
Like the city it centers on, Story the Crow Told Me is a mesh of old-time and modern, and in some ways, he says the recording approach felt cyclical with how some early country music records were crafted.
“We were writing songs while we were recording them, so I felt liberated by getting to do my old-timey music, but in a tech-savvy way. All those weird orations, they’re written on the spot and it feels a bit more like jazz [music] in that way,” he notes. “Imagine people coming to the first recording sessions in Nashville in about 1926, before the Bristol sessions [which recorded the music of The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers]. They go up to a furniture store in downtown Nashville and when the red [recording] light is on, they do everything they can and when the light flashes again, that’s it. It’s this one-shot effect.
“One of the interesting things Jody brought with how you make country records is that the demo might be the thing that is on the radio and it’s similar to that,” he adds. “You might have a lot more tools, but you’re throwing all the spaghetti at the wall when the red light turns on.”
https://i0.wp.com/neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/station.nez_png.png?fit=943%2C511&ssl=1511943Yvetohttps://neztelinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/nez_png.pngYveto2025-07-11 13:51:032025-07-11 13:51:03Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor Weaves Past and Present Into His Solo Album: ‘A Love Letter to Nashville’
