Tom Roland

1 week ago | billboard.com | Jessica Nicholson |Kristin Robinson |Tom Roland |Melinda Newman

By the time Nashville-based digital marketer Jennie Smythe launched her company Girlilla Marketing in 2008, she had already gained significant experience working in marketing and promotion for companies including Hollywood Records, Yahoo Music, and Elektra. She also forged her path in digital marketing as the music industry was undergoing the profound transition to a primarily digital medium. “A portion of it was just being in the right place at the right time,” she recalls to Billboard.

1 week ago | billboard.com | Kristin Robinson |Tom Roland |Melinda Newman |Mackenzie Cummings-Grady

EMPIRE Publishing has hired !llmind as a senior vp of A&R. As part of his duties, the tech entrepreneur and Grammy-winning producer, who has worked with Drake, The Carters, Eminem, Ye, Nicki Minaj, Nathy Peluso, Romeo Santo and more, will screen songs and provide feedback, based on his production expertise. !llmind will also act as a bridge between EMPIRE’s publishing and label arms.

1 week ago | billboard.com | Tom Roland |Melinda Newman |Mackenzie Cummings-Grady |Chris Eggertsen

Fiddler Deanie Richardson was about to go onstage for a sound check at the Grand Ole Opry in 2023 when she got word that her father had died. He had abused Richardson verbally, physically and — during her teens — sexually. She had longed for his passing for years, but now that the moment had come, she experienced a complicated mix of emotions. She was sad to have never had the kind of supportive dad that she deserved. But she simultaneously sensed something new and hopeful.

2 weeks ago | billboard.com | Tom Roland

A year ago, Dasha seemingly came out of nowhere riding an almost Western melody atop a stomp-clap groove with “Austin (Boots Stop Workin’),” earning a top five country single, platinum certification and several awards nominations as a new artist.

2 weeks ago | billboard.com | Tom Roland

When the Country Music Association (CMA) announced the Country Music Hall of Fame inductees for 2025 on March 25, event host Vince Gill recalled a moment in the 1990s when producer Tony Brown (George Strait, Reba McEntire) spotted one of his signature songs. “He’s the one, single-handedly, that talked me into recording ‘Go Rest High on That Mountain,’ ” Gill recalled. “I was not going to record it. It was too personal. It was a little too hard for me to sing.