Class Of 2019
Friday, January 18, 2019
The Barrymore Theatre
Presented by Legacy Exteriors & Line-X Of Madison
GA tickets are SOLD OUT
Star Country VIP Experience: SOLD OUT
JON LANGSTON
BIO: Growing up, Jon enjoyed playing sports and the outdoors. In eighth grade, he took guitar lessons for a brief time but football became his focus. After his sixth concussion, his football career ended and he picked up the guitar again - writing songs and performing at college open mic nights. In 2013 he released the first song he wrote himself, “Forever Girl,” on YouTube. Not long after, during his first full band show opening for Chase Rice at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University, the crowd sang the words to “Forever Girl” back to him. It was in that moment that Jon knew he wanted to pursue music as a career. In June 2014 Jon moved to Nashville. One month later songwriter, Rhett Akins, direct messaged him via Twitter. The two formed a friendship and Rhett became a writing mentor. Rhett went on to help Jon secure his first publishing deal thru Sony/ATV. Luke Bryan has also become a mentor to Jon and was instrumental in helping Jon land his record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville. Jon is signed to Luke’s Label, 32 Bridge Entertainment, under UMGN and will be worked in conjunction with EMI Records.
Link to website: http://jonlangston.com/
TRAVIS DENNING
BIO: A native of Warner Robins, Georgia, Mercury Nashville’s Travis Denning vividly remembers the moment he realized he wanted to pursue music for a living. He was seven years old sitting in his Dad’s truck and heard AC/DC for the first time. From then on, he was hooked and devoured all types of music from country, pop, rock and heavy metal. Travis started playing local bars at the age of 16 and built a solid following from his distinctive songs and raucous guitar licks. He moved to Nashville in 2014 and within a year signed a publishing deal with Jeremy Stover’s RED Creative Group. After securing outside cuts by Jason Aldean, Justin Moore, Michael Ray and Chase Rice he caught the attention of Universal Music Group where he eventually signed a record deal in 2017. Travis just released his debut single “David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs,” an upbeat coming-of-age song that paints a picture of a young man reminiscing on his carefree college memories. Travis was recently selected as a CMA Kixstart Artist Scholarship recipient and will receive unique opportunities to participate in CMA-related events as well as connect with industry professionals. The singer/songwriter has previously opened shows for Cole Swindell, Alan Jackson, Chase Rice as well as Justin Moore and is currently on the road with LANCO as part of the “Hallelujah Nights” tour. When Travis is not touring, he is in the studio working on his debut album.
Link to website: http://www.travisdenning.com/
MITCHELL TENPENNY
BIO: “I wanted to tell a bunch of different stories on this album, but they all had to be authentic and believable to me,” says Mitchell Tenpenny. “What I was feeling at the time, where I was in my head, what’s going on in the world, it all contributed to the end product. The songs that made it were the ones I was sure that I was passionate about getting on there—what I was proud of, what I really wanted to say.”
On the heels of his RIAA-certified Gold single, “Drunk Me,” comes Tenpenny’s major label debut album, Telling All My Secrets. Revealing a wide range of influences and a level of assurance and confidence that comes from already having years of songwriting and touring behind him, the record marks the arrival of an artist recently singled out by Billboard as a pick to “break out” by the end of 2018.
Tenpenny first picked up a guitar at the age of 13, and after graduating with a music business degree from Middle Tennessee State University, he began his professional career. The 2015 Black Crow album featured cameos from the SteelDrivers, Ace Frehley and Brian “Head” Welch from Korn. In 2017, his Linden Ave. EP made it to Number Six on the Billboard “Heatseekers” chart.
Concurrently, he was seeing success as a songwriter, most notably co-writing Granger Smith’s Top Ten hit “If the Boot Fits.” Along the way, he has toured with the likes of Maren Morris, Jake Owen, Brett Young, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Dustin Lynch.
Though most of the album was written since the completion of the Mitchell Tenpenny EP, a few of the song go further back. “I wrote ‘Goner’ a long time ago,” he says. “That’s one of my favorites ever. I gave it my best John Mayer/ Michael Jackson impression—not that I ever thought, ‘I want to sound like that,’ but I can hear my own experiences in there, a combination of the music I’ve grown up with.”
Tenpenny embraces the idea that he’s part of a new generation of country artists who grew up listening to a diverse range of styles. “I never gave much thought about which genre I am,” he says. “You can hear rock, pop, gospel, but the lyrics always stay to what I am, to Nashville. It would be inauthentic for me to try to be Hank or Waylon or Willie—I want to transform and keep creating, I want to hear new, exciting things. We have to be able to change sounds or we’re going nowhere.”
The album’s final song, “Walk Like Him,” is the most personal track for Tenpenny. “It’s the first song I wrote about my dad after his passing, and it took a few years,” he says. “My family all say that I really do walk like him. I remember I was driving back from a show in the van, the band was all asleep in the back, and it just hit me and I broke down—I wrote that hook that night. I’ve been wanting to get it off my chest for years, and I wanted the album to end on that emotion. I think anyone who has lost someone can understand the feeling.”
The coming months will remain busy for Tenpenny. He just released "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” for the holidays, and he’s already been tapped in 2019 as the opener for Old Dominion’s Make It Sweet Tour.
The official line has been that Mitchell Tenpenny wrote 56 songs for the album that became Telling All My Secrets, his Riser House/Columbia Nashville debut, but he admits that it was really several hundred, and that he can feel the growth in his work as he gains more experience. “My writing is getting more mature, more honest,” he says. “When you’re younger, you’re afraid to sing a lot of things, but as you get older, that wall starts to fall down. I’m talking about things that people my age are dealing with on a daily basis, and the best thing is have that vulnerability.
Link to website: https://www.mitchell10penny.com/home/
TYLER RICH
BIO: Raised in Yuba City, a small farming community in Northern California, Tyler Rich found his love of music gathered around a Christmas tree alongside family singing holiday classics and family favorites of all genres including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Michael Jackson, The Beatles and Tom Petty. At age 8 his cousin introduced him to the Country sounds of George Strait, Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson before his grandparents surprised a then 14-year-old with a guitar so he could join in the annual jams. Fast forward to graduating college with a degree in Economics, Tyler moved to LA to pursue a different game of numbers – music – exploring various genres with songwriting and bands before taking the leap as a solo artist.His fanbase has grown from Sacramento supporting his independent release to signing a record deal with The Valory Music Company and publishing agreement with Big Machine Music.While introducing his amplified sound and infectious energy coast to coast,the 2018 CMT Listen Up Artist has moved to Nashville and become a road warrior performing alongside some of the genre’s top acts including Dustin Lynch, Sam Hunt, Brett Eldredge, Justin Moore, Cole Swindell, Dan + Shay. His single “The Difference” is available now.
Link to website: https://www.tylerrich.com/
RILEY GREEN
BIO: Born in Jacksonville, Alabama, Riley Green was raised on the sounds of old traditional Country, Bluegrass, and Southern Gospel music. He learned the spirit of songwriting and performing at a young age while spending time with his grandfather, Bufford Green, who ran Golden Saw Music Hall. Riley shared the stage with him and other men of his generation, laying a foundation for the songs he’d craft in the years to come, reflecting on the experiences of a young Southern man trying to find his place in the world. With a mixture of outlaw-rebellion and respect for tradition, Riley’s original music has already tallied over 27million streams to date while his latest music video for “Bury Me In Dixie” has been viewed over a million times since last fall. Constantly touring throughout the southeast over the past five years to thousands of fans, Riley has also built fierce support on social media. With current TOP 20 single “There Was This Girl” climbing up the Country Radio charts, Riley Green is set to have a breakthrough year. Now signed to BMLG Records, he is in the studio recording new music with award-winning music producer, Dann Huff.
Link to website: http://www.rileygreenmusic.com/