Inside Scoop with CAA’s Blake McDaniel

Written By: Lauren heilman

Lauren Heilman has been tour managing the Nashville based trio LEVON for the past 6 years.  Signed to Creative Artists Agency, Lauren sat down with their booking agent, Blake McDaniel to learn a bit more on his role and his relationship with the band.  See below for the scoop.

Interview w/ CAA’s booking agent Blake McDaniel:

How did you get your start in booking and how long have you been with CAA?

“I fell into it accidently. I originally wanted to work for a label when I came to Nashville in 2000. The only place that would hire me was CAA to file paperwork, monitor ticket counts for concerts, and fill in for the receptionist. I ended up falling in love with the agency business, as well as the company I was working for, and they’ve let me stick around for a little over 20 years.”

How did you come across the band Levon?

“Jamie Houston, their producer, had been a friend of mine from my early days in Nashville. We were looking for projects to do together. He invited me over to his house one day to listen to this group he was starting to work on called Levon. It was three guys, they had written about 5 songs and had not recorded anything yet. They sang those songs to me right there in his home studio and blew me away.”

 What made you want to take them on as a client?

“They were great guys, but also amazingly talented. The few songs they had could actually be hits, and they could sing them amazingly well. Their harmonies were crazy. I couldn’t believe they had only been together for a short time. This was a group worth betting on.”

 What sets them apart from other acts?

“To me, I think of them like I would the Eagles. They have great songs that can be hits in multiple genres, they can perform them amazingly well, and even though their music can appeal to the masses, they still would also be appreciated by the critics. That is a hard combination to find.”

When fulfilling opening slots, what do headliners look for?

“So many things…It depends on the headliner. Some headliners want to bring out a friend(s) to be a companion on the lonely road with them. Some headliners have a specific vibe of music they are going for. Some headliners hear the opener’s music and flip over it. A lot of headliners want to see what that opening act is going to bring to the tour in regards to ticket sales, marketing, promotion, streaming and radio success. The process of getting an opening slot on a tour is complicated, and sometimes despite your best efforts, you can’t get those slots to connect for your artist…and sometimes they drop down on you from the sky.”

The Importance of Networking

Written By: Chelsea Cressman

As we all know, networking is a key component of being successful in the music industry.  But how do you get started? What do you do once you make a connection? How do you continue networking through uncertain circumstances like a global pandemic?  Let’s dive into these questions and explore some of the ways to make networking less intimidating and maybe even fun!

1. Getting Started

The easiest way to get started with networking is to inquire from people you already know what events/shows/places they go to network and ask if you could come along, too.  This not only gives you a buddy to network with, but also brings you that warm connection into a community that’s already been vetted by someone you know.  If you are looking to network with specific types of people in the industry, then let your friend know that before going to the event so they know how to introduce you to their relationships.

2. The Follow Up

Whether you tag along with a friend or venture out on your own, always follow up with the people you meet in some way to continue to build those relationships.  If you’re looking to set up a meeting with someone whether over coffee, lunch, or video chat, follow up the next day with an email or text about appreciating getting to meet them at such and such event and that you’d love to learn more about what they do at such and such a company.  If the connection you made doesn’t really warrant a meeting necessarily but still a great person to know, the follow up can be a bit more casual like following them on social media and shooting them a direct message that it was great to connect.  You never know who knows who and where your next opportunity could come from.

3. Finding Community

One-off events are great and always important in networking, but finding a community you can regularly go back to for connections is key.  Not only does it create familiar faces in your networking, but it also brings about friendships that you might not otherwise have fostered.  A great example of this is a group called Balanced Breakfast.  They started in San Francisco but have since branched out into 30+ cities nationwide.  The whole purpose of the group is to bring artists and industry professionals together for weekly discussions about the music business.  Balanced Breakfast has a saying that you don’t go to Balanced Breakfast to do business, but instead you go to find the people you want to do business with.  The groups meet weekly (pre-pandemic in person, but for now via Zoom) and are open to the public.  The community created through groups like Balance Breakfast have fostered countless working relationships and friendships which makes networking all the more enjoyable.

Whether you’re a lone wolf when it comes to networking or like to use the buddy system, getting out and meeting new people in your industry is a determining factor in furthering your career.  Everyone was your age at some point (or will get there some day), everyone needs a mentor and has the opportunity to pass on what they have learned to a mentee, so get out there and give it a shot.  You never know who you might meet and what opportunity is waiting for you through the next new person you connect with.

Women in The Music Industry: Vol 1 - Rhonda Forlaw Adkins

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.