Music News (11/20/19)

Tanya Tucker, Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Lizzo Among Top Grammy Nominees

The nominees for the 2020 Grammy Awards were announced Wednesday morning (Nov. 20).

This year’s nominees were selected from more than 20,000 submissions across 84 categories, and reflect the wide range of artistic innovation that defined the year in music (Oct. 1, 2018–Aug. 31, 2019). The final round of Grammy voting is Dec. 9, 2019–Jan. 3, 2020. The Recording Academy will present the GRAMMY Awards on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, live from Los Angeles’ STAPLES Center and broadcast on the CBS Television Network from 8:00–11:30 p.m. ET/5:00–8:30 p.m. PT.

Click here to see the top nominees on musicrow.com.
 

Anthem Entertainment Names Noah Dewey As Sr. Director, Creative

Noah Dewey

Anthem Entertainment has named Noah Dewey as Senior Director of Creative. Noah will report directly to Tim Wipperman, President of Anthem Music Publishing Nashville, and work with Anthem’s key songwriters and catalogs in growing their creative activities in Nashville. Prior to Anthem, Noah was the Sr. Creative Director at BMG.

Industry veteran Noah Dewey grew up on Music Row in Nashville – after elementary school every day, he would head directly to the Tree Publishing Company (SONY/ATV) studio, where his mother worked. Noah got his first official start in the industry as an assistant engineer/ Studio Manager at Warner Brothers Records recording studio “The Loft”. He then worked for Barbara Orbison at Still Working Music before moving to Los Angeles to work with Disney Music Publishing. While at Disney, Noah was instrumental in promoting his writers by casting their songs for High School Musical and The Cheetah Girls. Longing to get back to Nashville and the songwriting community he loved, Noah returned and signed songwriter Matt Ramsey (Old Dominion) to a publishing deal at his new company, Sonic Ark. After three years of work, the relationship paid off with five #1 singles, including cuts from artists such as Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Steve Holy, Craig Morgan, Scotty McCreery and Old Dominion. Noah then joined Magic Mustang Publishing, a division of Broken Bow Records, as Senior Creative Director. While there he helped develop hit writers and cast songs for major artists on the label. When BMG bought Broken Bow Records/Magic Mustang Publishing, Noah was the only one retained from Magic Mustang. In his tenure at Magic Mustang/BMG he garnered over 40 cuts and two #1 singles for the company, while developing and directing the careers of his writers.
 

SMACKSongs Signs Publishing Deal With Songland Finalist Jack Newsome

Pictured (L-R): SMACKSongs’ Shane McAnally, Jack Newsome, Robin Palmer and Robert Carlton. Photo: Kaiser Cunningham

Jack Newsome, a finalist on NBC’s Songland, has signed an exclusive publishing agreement with Shane McAnally‘s SMACKSongs. McAnally is a producer and judge on the NBC series.

During his time on Songland, Los Angeles-based pop singer, songwriter and producer Newsome pitched an original song to Kelsea Ballerini, and co-wrote the winning song, “Hurt Me,” on another episode. “Hurt Me” was recorded by Meghan Trainor. Newsome has also penned songs for artists including PLATINUM, Matt Sato, Sean Kingston, and more.
 

Blackbird Music Publishing Group, Dann Huff Ink A&R, Creative Development Deal

Dann Huff, Darrell Franklin. Photo: Darcy Ferris

Blackbird Music Publishing Group has entered a partnership with producer Dann Huff. The partnership will re-establish a creative A&R and publishing relationship between Blackbird’s SVP Darrell Franklin and Huff, which goes back 20 years and included the publishing powerhouse Crosstown Songs, one of the first U.S. acquisitions by BMG in 2009. While at Crosstown Songs, Franklin and Huff worked with songwriters and producers including busbee, Neil Thrasher, Jonathan Singleton, John Paul White of The Civil Wars and Melissa Pierce.

Huff began his career by moving to Los Angeles and becoming an elite session guitarist playing on albums for Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, as well as having his band, GIANT, signed to a recording and publishing deal by Blackbird Music Publishing’s President, Lance Freed while at Almo/Irving Music. Huff later returned home to Nashville, where he transitioned into production. Two decades later, Huff has long been recognized as one of Nashville’s top record producers, with multiple CMA & ACM awards, including Producer of the Year, Single of the Year, Album of the Year, & Musician of the Year. He has produced some of the biggest artists in music, working with Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift, Brooks & Dunn, Brett Young, Midland, Faith Hill, Steven Tyler, Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown, and Reba McEntire, among others.

Blackbird Music Publishing Group, founded by The Raine Group, Keith Wortman and Blackbird Presents formed in July 2019 and previously announced the exclusive representation of the famed music catalog of Burt Bacharach, music’s “Greatest Living Composer,” as well as the hiring of Darrell Franklin, SVP of the Nashville office. With a presence in New York City, Los Angeles and Nashville, Blackbird Music Publishing looks forward to announcing additional significant signings in the coming weeks.

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