NOISEMAKERS: NASHVILLE'S FINEST

In our latest roundup, we present Music Row stars of tomorrow whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.

Lucky for them, this feature—and $28.95—will get them an Erewhon Kefir Matcha Cloud Smoothie, whatever that means.

Lauren “LT” Thomas
VP, Promotion & Artist Development, Columbia Nashville

Among Thomas’ claims to fame: going viral for tossing a drink in the air (and onto some folks) to celebrate Old Dominion’s first Group of the Year ACM and having Carrie Underwood put out her hair when it caught fire. She’s worked on all of Luke Combs’ 18 consecutive #1 airplay singles and helped take Megan Moroney’s debut single, “Tennessee Orange,” to #1 at Country radio. She’s lately been advancing Beyoncé’s “TEXAS HOLD ’EM” at the format—with an all-female promo team. LT knows every word to the rap in TLC’s “Waterfalls.” We’re mostly known for pratfalls.

Patrick Worstell
Director of Artist Development, Warner Music Nashville

Worstell remembers well his first soup-to-nuts experience helping create and release an album, something he still relishes. “When the passion of the artist, management, the agency and the WMN team translates into a room of fans cheering, chanting, crying and dancing… ” he marvels. “There’s something about that indescribable transfer of energy that no other industry can replicate.” He’s presently working that magic for music by Cody Johnson, Avery Anna, Chase Matthew and Drew Parker. Worstell’s wife is a third-grade teacher. We’re the kid in the corner.

Charlene Bryant
SVP, Business Development & Strategy, UMG Nashville

After five years at the helm of her 2018-founded Riveter Management, Ohio native Bryant moved to Nashville “in hopes of shifting culture on a larger scale” and joined UMGN in 2023. Now, she’s fulfilling her dream of spearheading a label with UMGN’s launch of Silver Wings Records. She’s focused on first signing Hueston, who debuted 3/4 with “Living Fast.” “Hueston, we have a problem—and I can’t wait for the world to hear it,” Bryant quips. Every Sunday, she binge-watches Tubi Originals. Our favorite is Deadly Cheer Mom.

Chris Loss
VP of Streaming, BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville

For Loss, nothing tops working with Nashville’s own Jelly Roll, who enjoyed global streaming success in country, pop and rock with 2023’s “Need a Favor.” As we speak, the BBR VP is orchestrating the DSP fortunes of worldwide multiformat smash “Save Me,” by Jelly Roll & Lainey Wilson, People’s Choice Award winners for Male and Female Country Artist of the Year. During his college days, this martial arts practitioner and native of Niagara Falls, New York, was a tour guide at the falls. Among our claims to fame: forcible ejection from a Maid of the Mist vessel.

Nikki Boon
Manager, Neon Coast

Boon was proud to witness client Kane Brown’s historic 2023 Fenway Park show, when he became the first Black artist to singlehandedly headline the storied Boston diamond. His collab with Carin León is currently bridging country and Latin music. Boon was also thrilled when a DM from her favorite band, Nightly, led to her managing the alt-pop trio, which recently joined Weverse and will tour in Asia this year. She moved to Nashville after being the first Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway winner to use a basketball-style two-handed chest pass. We got nothin’.

Brett Saliba
Agent, UTA

Saliba loves to mix work and family; having his wife and kids backstage or a client and their family over for dinner has inspired his daughters to explore their own creativity. He’s particularly excited about new artists Stephen Wilson Jr., whose debut, Son of Dad, was named “one of the best albums of 2023” by Rolling Stone, and Dylan Gossett, whose “Coal” went viral last year, amassing over 5m views on TikTok and 1.6m+ streams on Spotify. Saliba’s been in full body paint twice, as Darth Maul and the genie from Aladdin. He declined to elaborate.

Taylor Manns
Artist Manager, The Core Entertainment

Manns is part of the team that helped Nate Smith dominate Country radio with “World on Fire,” which spent 10 weeks atop the chart and tied Morgan Wallen’s “You Proof” for the longest run at #1. Having completed the bulk of his headlining tour, Smith will go out with Wallen in April, release his EP Through the Smoke on 4/5 and play Stagecoach 4/28. The career of Bakersfield native (and Idol alum) Dillon James is also being nurtured by Manns, who grew up on a farm in Ohio and had a pet deer named Bambi. We’ve been farming, too; our one plant is named Thumper.

Raines Edenfield
A&R/Artist Manager, River House Artists

Edenfield has come a long way since his intern days at RHA, from which he’s climbed to A&R manager and artist manager for Zach Seabaugh and John Harvie. Meanwhile, on the publishing roster is up-and-coming pop act Knox, whom he introduced to RHA and helped grow early on; his single “Not The 1975” is now Top 25 at Pop radio. Edenfield is preparing for Seabaugh’s first (sold-out) headlining tour this spring, with the track “Christmas Lights” going to AAA radio in April. Georgia native Edenfield’s first concert was the Jonas Brothers. We’ve been banned from Jo Bros shows.

Jarrod Holley
Managing Partner, Make Wake Artists

Holley revels in the triumphs of his roster, which includes seeing Cooper Alan sell out 55 North American shows in 2023, Drew Parker earn his first Grammy nod and Colby Acuff premiere at the Ryman before a sold-out crowd. Today the Clevelander is busy shepherding the launch of Alan’s album bow, readying Parker and Acuff for Luke Combs’ 2024 stadium tour and masterminding Jackie Lee’s debut full-length after a four-year hiatus. Holley’s first foray into the music biz was booking clubs tours for emo and rock bands via MySpace. We were never in anyone’s Top 8.