Lauren Alaina

The Nashville Business Journal has named Lauren Alaina Breakout Artist of the Year for its fifth-annual Women in Music City Awards. The award-winning country star will be honored at the red-carpet awards dinner on October 23 at Omni Nashville Hotel. This event will bring together both the business and music industries, combining two major driving forces behind the success of Music City.

Lauren Alaina’s critically acclaimed sophomore album, “Road Less Traveled,” landed on multiple “best of” lists — including “Billboard,” “Rolling Stone” and Amazon — and it became the top-streamed female country album release of 2017. Praised as “full of life lessons and uplift” (“People”), the collection of 12 songs, all written by the young star, includes Lauren’s first No. 1 smash, “Road Less Traveled,” the Top 25 hit “Doin’ Fine,” and the deeply personal and inspiring, “Three.” The “sassy Southerner with killer pipes” (“Parade”) has shared the stage with superstars including Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryanand Martina McBride, and the Georgia native is currently on tour with Jason Aldean. In addition to earning nominations for ACM Vocal Event of the Year and Billboard Music’s Top Country Song awards, Lauren took home this year’s ACM New Female Vocalist of the Year Award and CMT Collaborative Video of the Year Award for “What Ifs,” the triple-platinum selling No. 1 hit with childhood friend Kane Brown. Lauren is one of CMT’s Next Women of Country, and she received her first CMT Music Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year with her No. 1 hit “Road Less Traveled.” Following the release of “Road Less Traveled,” Lauren has received nominations for the ACM Awards, CMA Awards, CMT Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards, Radio Disney Awards and Billboard Music Awards.

“Women in the music industry are a major force, as you will see by our list of winners this year. Five years into the awards, we have now grown to 55 winners, our largest class to date. We know that highlighting women in music from a variety of roles — including our Breakout Artist of the Year,Lauren Alaina — makes a statement about the influence women currently have in the industry. Seeing and recognizing this growth is especially important for years and generations to come.” — Nashville Business Journal Market President and Publisher Kate Herman.

To determine our list of Women in Music City winners, nominations were taken from the public, and the final of selection of honorees was chosen by an internal review committee. This year, the Nashville Business Journal is proud to recognize 55 women — in line with the program’s fifth anniversary — who are propelling Nashville music industry forward.

This year’s winners are (listed alphabetically): Abby Wells Baas (WME); Julie Boos (Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy Inc.); Charlene Bryant (RCA Inspiration at Sony Music); Debbie Carroll(MusiCares); Sarah Cates (Belmont University); Leslie Cohea (Sandbox); Erin Crawford (Nielsen Entertainment; Nielsen Music); Virginia Davis (G Major Management); Beville Dunkerley (Pandora); Martha Earls (EFG Management); Kerri Edwards (KP Entertainment); Katy Epley (Musicians On Call); Kerri Fox-Metoyer (APA Agency); Leslie Fram (CMT); Becky Gardenhire (WME); Tracy Gershon (Red Light Management; Change the Conversation); Amanda Good (UMG Nashville); Lisa Harless (Regions Bank Music & Entertainment Division); Ali Harnell (AEG Presents); Mary Hilliard Harrington (Red Light Management); Shannan Hatch (SESAC); Linda Edell Howard (Adams and Reese LLP); Martha Ivester(formerly with Google Fiber Nashville); Amy Jackson (UMG Nashville); Allison Jones (Big Machine Label Group); Meredith Jones (Creative Artists Agency); Beverly Keel (Middle Tennessee State University); Tiffany Kerns (Country Music Association); Cris Lacy (Warner Bros); Chandra LaPlume (Taillight TV); Heather McBee (Nashville Entrepreneur Center); Catherine Moore (Farris, Self & Moore LLC); Jackie Nalpant (Paradigm Talent Agency); Annie Ortmeier (UMG Nashville); Tyne Parrish (The GreenRoom PR); Lisa Purcell (Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum); Kelly Rich (Amazon Music, Nashville); Liz Rose(Liz Rose Music); Brittany Schaffer (Spotify Nashville); Sara Schoch (United Talent Agency); Sally Seitz(Apple Music, iTunes); Alison Smith (BMI); Jennie Smythe (Girlilla Marketing); Denise Stevens (Loeb & Loeb LLP); Ashlee Stokely (Bridgestone Arena/Nashville Predators); Lou Taylor (Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group); LoLita Toney (National Museum of African American Music); Sarah Trahern(Country Music Association); Marcie Allen Van Mol (MAC Presents); Christy Walker-Watkins (AristoPR; The AristoMedia Group); Sheri Warnke (Think Media & Marketing); Candice Watkins (UMG Nashville); Janet Weir (42 Entertainment | Red Light Management); Sally Williams (Opry Entertainment Group); Stephanie Wright (UMG Nashville).

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Ryman Hospitality Properties and Van Mol Restoration are Gold Sponsors of this year’s Event. Nashville Predators/Bridgestone Arena is Silver Sponsor, and KGV Studio is the Video Sponsor. All winners will be highlighted in both a printed Nashville Business Journal special publication and online at NashvilleBusinessJournal.com.

About the Nashville Business Journal (NBJ)

The Nashville Business Journal, one of 43 publications with American City Business Journals, is a division of Advanced Media Publications. NBJ is a media outlet that provides local business news and connections through print, online, mobile and events. The Nashville Business Journal is published every Friday and can be viewed online daily at NashvilleBusinessJournal.com.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ —  Nashville Business Journal