Music News (01/31/24)

Dean Dillon Signs Publishing Deal With River House Artists & Sony Music Publishing

River House’s Zebb Luster, Dean Dillon and River House’s Lynn Oliver-Cline

Iconic country songwriter Dean Dillon has signed a worldwide publishing deal with River House Artists, in partnership with Sony Music Publishing.

Dillon is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Having penned many iconic hits for chart-topping artists including George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Lee Ann Womack, Toby Keith and many more, Dillon was named the BMI Country Icon in 2013 and has amassed a combined total of 31 BMI Country and Pop Awards.

His association with Strait over the years has brought him to an icon status in country music with over 76 hits together, including the Grammy-nominated “Breath You Take” as well as “The Chair,” “I’ve Come to Expect it From You,” “Easy Come, Easy Go,” “She Let Herself Go,” “The Best Day” and endless more.

“We are thrilled to have Dean Dillon join our River House roster. His songwriting is unparalleled, and this is such an exciting time for us,” says Zebb Luster, VP/GM of River House Artists. “I have been a true fan of his songwriting for years and how it has forged a path in country music history. We are honored that he trusts us to continue to further his incredible songwriting legacy.”

Dillon adds, “I’m so excited to be part of the River House family. The team has an excellent track record and are such thoughtful stewards of great songs. I’m looking forward to working with them to further my lasting legacy as a songwriter.”

Peermusic Nashville Signs David Lee Murphy

David Lee Murphy & Michael Knox. Photo: Michael Gomez

Peermusic Nashville has signed artist-songwriter David Lee Murphy to a multi-faceted, exclusive global publishing agreement.

Through this agreement, Peermusic will administer Murphy’s song catalog as well as co-publish future works. This marks Murphy’s first-ever exclusive co-publishing deal. Prior to this, he was self-published with his long-time personal manager, Doug Casmus.

The recent Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (NaSHOF) inductee is known for his hits “Dust on the Bottle” and “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” which earned him his first CMA Award for Musical Event of the Year, as well as “Party Crowd,” “Out with a Bang,” “Every Time I Get Around You,” “The Road You Leave Behind” and “Loco.”

Murphy has also earned over two dozen songwriting awards for cuts with Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Justin Moore, Walker Hayes, Eric Church, Florida Georgia Line, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Thomas Rhett, Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Cash and more. His work includes Chesney’s “Living in Fast Forward,” Aldean’s “Big Green Tractor,” which was produced by Peermusic’s Michael Knox, and Thompson Square‘s Grammy-nominated “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not,” among others.

Anthem Entertainment Purchases Selection Of Creative Nation & Luke Laird Copyrights

Luke & Beth Laird. Photo: Spencer Combs

Creative Nation co-founders Beth and Luke Laird have sold certain copyrights in the Creative Nation and Luke Laird song catalogs to Anthem Entertainment.

With Beth at the helm, Creative Nation has become a leader in the Nashville music publishing scene over the last 11 years, with 20 No. 1 songs and over 60 radio singles. The Creative Nation catalog includes back-to-back country and pop No. 1s with Sam Hunt’s “Hard To Forget” and Harry Styles’ smash “Watermelon Sugar.” It also includes cuts across multiple genres such as No. 1 hit “Adore You” by Styles and other releases by Lady Gaga, Sam Smith, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Parmalee, The Highwomen, Tim McGraw, Sara Bareilles, Jon Pardi, Luke Combs, Jordan Davis, Morgan Wallen, Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett and more.

The company is made up of publishing, management, artist development and records sectors, and counts songwriters Kassi Ashton, Barry Dean, Lori McKenna, Steve Moakler, Travis Wood and Ben West on its publishing roster.

“Luke and I have worked hard to sign quality people and songwriters and continue to commit to that. We are excited to announce that Anthem Music Publishing purchased Creative Nation’s exploited songs from the past 11 years,” Beth shares. “I’m grateful to Jason Klein, Sal Fazzari, Andrew Jamal, Adrian Battiston and Gilles Godard, and everyone at Anthem who worked with our team (Derek Crownover, Megan Pekar, John Rolfe, Chris King and Kella Farris) for making this such a smooth and transparent process. It’s great to know our past copyrights are being taken care of by a great publisher and we are excited to continue building Creative Nation.”

Luke is a three-time Grammy-nominated songwriter, was named BMI’s Country Songwriter of the Year in 2023 and ACM’s Songwriter of the Year in 2015. He has amassed 24 No. 1 songs and won six CMA Triple Play Awards.

Concord Music Publishing Extends Partnership With Cary Barlowe, Purchases Catalog

Pictured (L-R, back row): Melissa Spillman (Concord), Megan Pekar (Loeb & Loeb), Matt Turner (Concord), Shawn Thompson (Concord); (L-R, front row): Derek Crownover (Loeb & Loeb), Cary Barlowe, Brad Kennard (Concord). Photo: Audrey Spillman

Concord Music Publishing has expanded its partnership with Grammy-nominated, hit songwriter Cary Barlowe through the acquisition of a selection of his catalog of hits, including Chris Young and Kane Brown‘s “Famous Friends,” Young’s “Raised on Country” and additional songs recorded by Kelsea Ballerini, Brett Kissel, Chris Tomlin, Rascal Flatts, Lauren Alaina, Little Big Town, Mickey Guyton and more.

Concord has also extended Barlowe’s publishing deal through its creative joint venture, Hang Your Hat Music, which includes Barlowe’s full catalog and all future works.

“It feels good to entrust a company like Concord with this body of songs,” shares Barlowe. “Knowing them personally and creatively, I am so thankful to be working with such great people! It’s a blessing!”

Throughout his career, Barlowe has had success in multitude of musical genres, including rock, country and contemporary/gospel. Christian music star Toby Mac has notched nine No. 1 songs with Barlowe, three of which earned Grammy nominations. Barlowe’s penned “City On Our Knees” won a Dove Award for Gospel Song of the Year.

Barlowe’s introduction to country music began when Taylor Swift included Barlowe’s co-penned song “Untouchable” on her multi-platinum album Fearless (2008). The songwriter has since garnered five country No. 1 hits, including “American Honey” by Lady A, “Where It’s At” by Dustin Lynch, “Sun Daze” by Florida Georgia Line, “It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To” by Billy Currington and “Famous Friends” by Young and Brown.

Barlowe was named SESAC’s Songwriter of the Year in 2015, and took home the SESAC Song of the Year Award with “It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To” in 2017.