By: Tony Manfetano
With her distinct sound, bubbly personality and decades of proven talent it makes perfect sense that no other than Reba McEntire would be the premier artist signed to nascent Nash Icon Music. Back in spring of this year Big Machine Label Group partnered with Cumulus Media to create Nash Icon Music, a record label. The operation, lead by GM Jim Weatherson, plans on bringing fans a slew of new music and live performances from country music’s leading talent of the past 25 years. And last week on “America’s Morning show”, with host Blair Garner the reigning queen of country announced herself as the inaugural signing.
If you live in Nashville you may have already heard the Nash Icon radio station which has recently taken to the airwaves. As part of this venture Cumulus operates Nash Icon stations in 16 other markets including Birmingham, Atlanta and Kansas City. On the surface it seems like a great way to feature some of the modern legends that tend to fade from our minds eye, or ear in this case, due to the ephemeral nature of today’s music. Here in Nashville we are especially guilty of pandering to the love of country pioneers the likes of Williams, Cash, Acuff or Jennings. In doing so we leave great dichotomy between the distant past and the ever foreboding modern threat of irrelevancy. I see this endeavor as the next step in securing these more recent, yet just as pertinent country idols of the past few decades.
There is another angle to this, and maybe I’m the only one who has put this together. With the constant rising popularity of podcasts, internet stations and streaming sites, terrestrial radio is in dire fear of losing power. Which means losing revenue. This partnership between record label and broadcasting powerhouse is no coincidence. Creating new content from iconic artists and offering it, in some cases exclusively, through stations you own is a shrewd attempt at keeping radio viable. It definitely got my attention.
And why not kick it off with one of the most adored country entities of all time. Boasting 56 million albums sold, 35 number 1 songs and a plethora of CMA, ACM and Grammy awards, Reba has earned and solidified her right to be a Nash Icon.
The fiery music and television star will be collaborating with long time producer Tony Brown as well as a first time team-up with multi ACM award winner James Stroud. She has already been in studio and of course is very excited about giving her fans the first new Reba music in over five years.
Reba embodies all that is country music and is synonymous with it’s culture. She is one of our great ambassadors. If this signing is a taste of what we can expect from the Nash Icon Music label, this fan is very stoked.
Listen for a Nash Icon station in or coming to your town soon and keep up to date with countrymusicpride.com as our favorite country artists of the 80’s and 90’s rise like the mighty phoenix. And speaking of things on fire, check out Reba.com for info and links to all her majesty’s social media and news. May this be the night the lights went out on empty, fleeting music.
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