Nova News

     NASHVILLE -- Nova Books author Ruth White is among five businesswomen selected for the prestigious 2010 SOURCE Awards in Nashville. The Nashville native says, “I never sought it, but I am proud of the honor.”
     She will be honored here Aug. 26 at the Noah Liff Opera Center, along with fellow veterans Celia Froehlig, Carol Phillips, Sherytha Scaife and Liz Thiels, for their contributions to the industry.
     That evening, former Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) President and CEO Frances W. Preston will also receive the Jo Walker Meador Lifetime Achievement Award. (BMI is one of America’s leading performing rights organizations, monitoring airplay on behalf of music publishers, songwriters and artists.)
     White, widow of noted steel-guitarist Howard White (for such stars as Don Gibson, Cowboy Copas, Hank Snow and Hank Williams, Jr.), authored “The Original Goober” (NovaNashville, 2004) a biography of centenarian James Buchanan. Her other books include “Every Highway Out Of Nashville,” featuring hubby’s road stories; and “You Can Make It If You Try,” about R&B musician-songwriter Ted Jarrett. Prior to that, Ruth - herself a pianist and producer - worked as a pioneer publishing administrator for record companies and individuals such as Porter Wagoner (“Carroll County Accident”) and Henry Strzelecki (“Long, Tall Texan”).
     Celia Froehlig currently works at Black River Music; Carol Phillips is with Horipro Entertainment Group; Sherytha Scaife is employed by Music Inc.; and Liz Thiels is a long-time staffer at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.
     SOURCE, founded in 1991, is a nonprofit organization seeking to unify women executives and professionals that have worked and continue to succeed in all facets of Nashville’s music industry.

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Nova Books Nashville publisher cited . . .

      NASHVILLE -- Award recipients of the 27th annual International Country Music Conference, scheduled May 27-29, at Belmont University are Marty Stuart, Belmont’s Career Achievement honoree; while the Charlie Lamb Excellence in Country Music Journalism awards go to: Walt Trott, Career Achievement; and Derek Halsey, Contemporary Achievement category.
     Former No Depression magazine editor Barry Mazor’s “Meeting Jimmie Rodgers: How America’s Original Roots Music Hero Changed the Pop Sounds of a Century,” was selected as Country Music Book of the Year.
     Presentations will be made during a luncheon Friday, May 28, in Frist Lecture Hall, Gordon Inman Center at Belmont University, conducted by Belmont educator Don Cusic, his co-chair Prof. James Akenson of Tennessee Tech University-Cookeville, and Gary Walker, Great Escape stores proprietor, who co-sponsors the Lamb awards event.
     Stuart, whose career was launched as a teen-ager with Lester Flatt and Nashville Grass, became an adult solo star scoring with such Top 10 successes as “Hillbilly Rock,” “Tempted” and “Burn Me Down.” A member of the Grand Ole Opry, he is also a published photographer and an avid collector of historical country artifacts.
     Trott, currently editor of the AFM union newspaper The Nashville Musician, is also Nashville editor for the UK’s Country Music People magazine, and Country Music News in Canada. He is author of such Nova books as “Honky Tonk Angel” (Kitty Wells biography), “Martha Carson: Sister Sunshine” and award-winning “The Johnnie & Jack Story” (with Eddie Stubbs). Halsey, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based freelance writer, is a regular contributor to Gritz, a southern rock magazine, and Bluegrass Unlimited magazine. In addition to their award plaques, both writers will receive an accompanying $500 check.
     Charlie Lamb is the pioneering journalist who, after stringing for both Cash Box and Billboard trade magazines, founded his own mid-1950s Music Reporter weekly, which introduced the first expanded country chart taking the Top 10 listing to a Hot 100 singles chart, along with creating the innovative “bullet,” which signified fastest-rising songs. Lamb was also a founding father of the Country Music Association in 1958.

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     NASHVILLE (June 9, 2010) -- As the CMA MusicFest continues in high gear, we're reminded that it's a descendant of the original Fan Fair, which started in April 1972, but didn't really hit its stride until it switched to a more family-friendly date of June 12, the next year. It proved a smart move, as its attendance doubled (to 10,000).
     Not so coincidentally, that's the date recommended by Charlie Lamb, who insisted it would assure more families participating; it also happened to be Lamb's birthday, and this year the pint-sized promoter marks his 89th.
     One of the original founding fathers of the Country Music Association in 1958, Lamb and Mac Wiseman are the only two surviving members, notes Country Music Hall of Famer Jo Walker-Meador, whom they engaged as CMA's first full-time staffer that year.
     "Fan Fair was launched after we decided there should be a special time for the fans, many of whom were flocking to the annual Disc Jockey Convention in the fall, mainly to see the stars," recalls Lamb. "We realized they needed their own time with the artists, and this would relieve some of the excess crowds at our yearly DJ conventions."
     In 1947, Lamb started as a sales rep for Mercury Records. He helped organize the first country DJ festival here in 1952. After contributing music columns and promoting ads for Cash Box and Billboard trade weeklies, Charlie launched Nashville's first trade magazine The Music Reporter in 1956. He not only expanded the Top 10 country chart, but also introduced the "bullet," indicating fast-rising singles (both of which the other trade journals soon adopted).
     Lamb became first executive director of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS) and later first president of NARAS' Nashville chapter. As a promotion man, he handled such artists as Kitty Wells, Marty Robbins and Elvis Presley. His annotation of MGM's "Father & Son" album - electronically featuring Hank Williams, Sr. and Jr. - earned him a 1965 Grammy nomination. He became well-known for his "double-talking," doing guest shots on national TV shows with Arthur Godfrey, Perry Como and also Allen Funt's Candid Camera. He later earned $20,000 and the "Funniest" title on America's Funniest People TV series (1992), thanks to his doubletalk.
     After selling his music publication, Lamb went into management, representing such stars as Connie Smith, Ed Bruce, Wilma Burgess and Doug Kershaw. His face became familiar as a supporting player in such films as "W.W. & The Dixie Dancekings" and "Ernest Goes To Jail."
     Belmont University now honors this legendary talent via its Charlie Lamb Journalism awards given annually (this year's nods went to Derek Halsey of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Walt Trott of Nashville). Charlie now plans to tell-all in a forthcoming Nova Books biography. Happy birthday, Charlie.

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