Written By: Charlee Doty
In the current day and age, there are many powerful women working in the music industry, however, this wasn’t always the case. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to sit down with one of the country music industry’s finest, Rhonda Forlaw Adkins. Rhonda currently runs her own artist management company, Rhonda & Company, where she handles the day-to-day operations of three up-and-coming artists - Jodie Silvers, Isaac Harris, and Lia Knapp - and her daughter who is a model with AMAX, Brianna Adkins. Her goal with this management company is to get her artists off the ground and help them establish who they are and want to be. Before she took on this endeavor, she had over 20 years of experience in the industry. Rhonda worked at Arista Records, where she had a hand in the success of many iconic country music stars. You’ve probably heard of Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, and Trace Adkins. These three are some of the biggest names in country music, especially during the 90’s - a time when country music was at its peak. Rhonda played a huge role in the careers of these three artists along with many others during her time at Arista.
Rhonda didn’t always know she wanted to work in the music industry. Rhonda graduated from Iowa State University with a double major in Marketing and Journalism and a minor in Public Relations. She knew she wanted to work in advertising, but wasn’t sure what industry she’d end up in. She started out working for a material handling equipment distributors association, which deals with lift trucks and conveyor belts and material handling equipment. It wasn’t until she found herself backstage of a Randy Travis show through her job at the time that she caught “the music industry bug.” The night of this concert was the night Randy Travis was launching his third studio album, Old 8X10, so there were many important industry professionals there, including Evelyn Shriver, arguably one of the best publicists of the time. She says she got caught up in the excitement and was instantly drawn to the environment and people working behind the scenes. She quit her job and moved to Nashville, where she started volunteering at music philanthropy events of all kinds. She also volunteered for bands such as The Highwaymen in her spare time.
Rhonda with Alan Jackson
Through her volunteer work she met many industry professionals, and she eventually landed at Arista, and the rest is history. Like most, she started working as an intern for free where she assisted in rolling out Alan Jackson’s first release. When she started at Arista, only 13 people worked there and the only artists they had signed were Alan Jackson, Diamond Rio, Pam Tillis, and Asleep at the Wheel. As time went on, Arista ended up working with some of the most iconic artists of the 90’s country era including Brooks and Dunn. While working at Arista, Rhonda got to think out of the box and be super inventive when it came to promoting her artists. At that point there was no right way of doing things, so whatever worked, worked.
When asked about her greatest accomplishments, a promotional tactic she came up with for Brooks and Dunn came to mind. Being one of the youngest people at Arista, Rhonda had a different view of artist promotion because she knew what would get young people interested. She came up with the idea for “Promotion in a Box” for a Brooks and Dunn song. She remembers going to a bar called The Wrangler on Friday and Saturday nights and noticing that whenever the DJ needed a break he would just put on a long dance song to fill the space. She came up with the idea to create a dance mix for “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and release it only to bars in a box including the mix, dance steps, merch, and other promotional items. Everyone at Arista thought she was crazy and didn’t think it was a good idea, but Rhonda got to work calling radio stations to find out what bars they did their Friday night remotes from so she could send them the box. This tactic ended up being extremely successful, and Arista continued doing it for other artists. Rhonda recalled this being one of the most successful moments of her career in the industry. Other highlights include booking Diamond Rio to be the first ever country act to sing the national anthem at a NASCAR race, which eventually led to other country artists performing shows after the races.
Another major highlight of her career was the role she played in the career of Trace Adkins. Rhonda saw him perform at a bar one night and instantly knew he would be a star, so she decided to help him out. Through her connections, she landed him a deal with Capitol Records and assisted him in all areas of his career. She later ended up marrying Trace, and this changed her perspective of being an artist completely. There is no one else in the industry - that she knows of - that worked at a record label and was married to an artist. She already knew the business side of the industry, but marrying Trace allowed her to understand exactly what a country star actually goes through on a day-to-day basis and that it is not as glamorous as it seems. She says she called every artist she’d ever worked with to apologize for not understanding how hard it was to be a musician. Her marriage also has helped her in her current endeavors, because she looks at the artists differently than she did before.
Rhonda with Brooks and Dunn
The last major success she mentioned was the creation of the Electronic Press Kit. As Rhonda said, great things come from problems, and the problem was that Brooks and Dunn were supposed to go on a press tour but were too drained to do it. Trying to think of ways to get around this, Rhonda came up with the EPK. She sat Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks in front of a white screen and asked questions that they were typically asked in interviews and filmed it as if it was an interview. She then sent the footage to TV stations all over the country along with a list of questions and instructions on how to piece the footage together to make it look like the news reporter was actually interviewing Brooks and Dunn. It was a win-win situation, because B&D got tons of press without having to travel and small news stations looked like they got to interview one of the biggest acts in country music. Rhonda ended up winning a Telly award for this, and the EPK is still prominently used by artists today.
Rhonda’s career did not come without challenges, however. She talked about the hardships that came with being a young woman in an industry run predominantly by men. Sure, there were powerful women including Francis Preston and Evelyn Shriver, but especially in the 90’s it was mainly men in positions of power. The main challenge for Rhonda was having her voice heard, but she tried to never let it bother her. She said “you either like my idea or you don’t, and if you don’t - why?” She always tried to spin her position as a young woman into a positive, and that helped her get to where she is today. Rhonda admits that things have progressed since then, there are way more women in high positions and jobs are more based on the work done rather than who’s doing it - at least that’s how she sees it.
We then spoke about advice she would give to young people trying to enter the industry as professionals. She emphasized the importance of volunteering at any music related philanthropy event and attending songwriter nights and industry events whenever possible. This helps you figure out what area of the industry you want to work in, network, and do something good all at the same time.
My last question for her had to do with what she looks for in an artist. Her answer was “Stardust” - something you can’t quite put your finger on, but when the person has it you just know it. They command everyone’s attention whether that be on stage or just interacting in normal life. Sometimes it’s their look, their voice, their personality, but it’s always what makes them stand out. She is known around Nashville as “The Starchitect” because of her ability to harness an artist’s talent and create a star. She discovered all three of her artists in unique ways but they all had “stardust.” Isaac Harris stood out to Rhonda because he’s a front man of a country band that is also the drummer. Joedi Silvers stood out because he seems like he came straight out of the 60’s. And Lia Knapp caught Rhonda’s attention while bartending at Tootsie’s. Lia told Rhonda she could sing, and Rhonda told her to get on stage and show her.
Rhonda has achieved more than most people can dream of over the course of her 30 plus years in the industry. She is an inspiration to women who want to be successful working in the music business. From her start at Arista to running her own management company, she has benefited the music industry as a whole in more ways than one. If you really think about it - we might not have hit songs such as “Boot Scootin Boogie” by Brooks and Dunn or “You’re Gonna Miss This” by Trace Adkins or “Chattahoochee” by Alan Jackson without the help of Rhonda Adkins.