Newsletter Necessity: Sign Up Now and Never Miss an Update

By: Jo MacKenzie

In this digital day and age, it’s difficult to keep up with everything—from work emails to funny TikToks to 10% Uber Eats coupons. Inevitably, some things fall through the cracks. As such, there are nights when I wake up in a cold sweat after having a nightmare where my favorite artist plays in my city without my knowledge. However, I am immediately comforted when I remember that I’m on my favorite artist’s email list and therefore will never miss a show in my city due to the advanced targeting systems. Without this reassurance, I don’t know if I’d ever get a full night’s sleep! 

We here at Olivia Management, a Nashville-based folk and Americana artist management company, are all in favor of a good night’s rest and a great night of live music with one of our artists. To ensure this, you can sign up for our artists Aaron Lee Tasjan, Alex Blue, Derek Webb, Josh Radnor, and Mary Gauthier’s email lists to receive newsletters that update you on all the important happenings! 

Not only will these newsletters keep you informed of tour dates, they also give you a front-row seat to hear about new music, special exclusives, and sneak peeks into our artists lives. So what are you waiting for? Sign up for the newsletter of your favorite artist(s) at the link below to stay up to date on everything!

To give you a little taste of what we’re talking about, here are some snippets from our artists latest newsletters!


From Alex’s May Newsletter - What I’m Loving Lately…

  • No joke, streaming on Twitch. Current obsession.

  • Painting my nails different colors on each finger.

  • Dandelions.

  • Singing my song “Neil Young Song” on the guitar, just me in my room. It’s been making me very emotional in a good way.

  • Writing pop music…. (I share one unreleased pop song I write for Meta a month for my Lavender Patrons)

From Aaron Lee Tasjan’s May Newsletter - Record of the Month

Released May 22nd, the latest single from the forthcoming James McMurtry album is titled, "Sailing Away." The song is that perfect McMurtry emotional punch in the face that stings as it grabs you by the shirt and reveals eternal truths, one after the next. To say I am eagerly anticipating his next album would be an understatement. James is one of America's finest songwriters and based on the quality of "Sailing Away," I'd say we're all in for yet another special record from James. Adding to the excitement around this one for me, is James's collaboration here with one of my favorite producers, the great Don Dixon. Check out this gem of a tune and get ready for the full shebang coming our way on June 20th via our dear friends at New West Records.

From Derek’s Newsletter - Announcing Survival Songs

“i’ve always considered it my job description to ‘look at the world and describe it’, which has taken my songs and albums to some very unexpected places over the years. as an artist, citizen, and dad of teens, let me tell you what i see when i look at the world today: queer people, especially queer kids, are in imminent danger and desperately need a soundtrack to comfort, encourage, and empower them.

over the past month, i’ve actually written and recorded an entire album that seeks to do just that.”

From Josh’s Latest Museletter - On “How We Made Your Mother”

“Three years ago I met my wife, Jordana. She had never seen HIMYM, which was a great relief. It’s hard to make a true first impression when people have already spent hours with you, even in a fictional context. She and I have talked a lot over the years about some of the strange challenges of being associated so deeply with a character, both professionally and personally. And given that she’s a psychologist and an all-around wise being, her insights into this have been immense and immeasurably helpful.

At some point she told me she’d like to watch the show, to fill in the blanks on this major chapter in her husband’s life that she missed. It felt like enough time had passed and that I might be able to watch it along with her, older and wiser and (hopefully) more forgiving of my younger self and how hard I was on the guy who played Ted. I no longer wished to put police tape around this huge swath of my life.”

From Mary’s June Newsletter - On Writing a New Book

“My week has gone like this: I wake up early, and spend six to eight hours writing, get about 2000 words, doing my best to shape them into something that makes sense. At the end of the day, I send my work to my friend Beth who is my editor in first reader. We talk the next morning, and she inevitably proceeds to tell me to remove 1500 of the 2000 words because they’re not working.

So, I do.

Then, I get back to work.

Wash, rinse, repeat, and just like that, a week of writing is behind me.

There’s still time to walk the town in late afternoons, go to the gym, share great meals with friends. But the weeks down here go quickly.

I wake up grateful to watch the sun rise on the water. I never want to leave. But leave I must!”

AMERICANAFEST Wrap Up - From An Intern!

By Alexa Sangalis

Now that all AMERICANAFEST events are completed and everyone’s life is back to normal, it’s time to reminisce on what a fabulous week that was! We had the pleasure of being a part of so many events at AMERICANAFEST this year, and so did I (Olivia Management’s 19-year-old intern, Alexa!). I felt so lucky and awe-struck by each of the events I attended, especially the ones OM produced. Call me biased. I went to two of our events this year: A Tribute to Mary Gauthier and In The Round. If you didn’t get the chance to catch the events in person, don’t worry, click here to see our Olivia Management highlight of the week on Instagram.

Mary Gauthier and friends backstage at City Winery

Photo Credits: Lindsey Torres

Last Tuesday, we kicked off the week with the Tribute to Mary Gauthier at City Winery. The lineup of this show was truly one of a kind. Mary is such a beautiful songwriter who has influenced so many musicians and touched the hearts of Americana music lovers everywhere. Mary’s songs were covered all through the night by many of her close friends, including EmmyLou Harris, Gretchen Peters, Lori McKenna, Jamiee Harris, and so many more. I had a unique perspective of the event because I had the job of working the merch table with some fellow friends from Olivia Management. Almost everybody who came up to purchase something (speaking of which, you can also buy Mary’s amazing merch here) shared a bit of their love for Mary with us. We met a woman who flew from Australia to celebrate her love of folk music, many, many people who praised Mary’s book, “Saved by a Song,” a man who got his book signed by Mary herself, and even a City Winery employee who asked who was performing because she loved the music so much. I knew that Mary Gauthier is critically acclaimed and appreciated by many, but I only knew this after experiencing the tribute and meeting all of those lovely Americana lovers. Click HERE to see some performance highlights!

Evan Boyer performing at In The Round Presented by Olivia Management

Then, on Saturday, it was a showcase of Olivia Management clients at Jackalope Brewing Company. In case you didn’t know, not only are we a Nashville-based folk and Americana artist management company, but we also consult for emerging artists. Our lovely CEO and Founder, Erin Anderson, advises artists in career decisions and helps them organize their lives as an artist. So Saturday was 7 amazing hours of showcasing our consulting and management clients alike. Click HERE to view the full lineup, and HERE to watch some highlights of the day! Once again, I had the pleasure of working the merch table for most of the morning. This time, I got to talk with emerging artists, make the merch table all pretty as each artist rotated, and meet audience members who were actively discovering the new music they would be streaming in the future. This showcase was really special for me. Seeing so many people who have a dream and a love of music is inspiring to anybody, and especially to a 19-year-old intern.

Mary Gauthier and Jamiee Harris Performing at City Winery

Here’s a recap: our management clients are awesome, our consulting clients are awesome, and Olivia Management is awesome. From my perspective, AMERICANAFEST is a celebration of good music (of course), good songwriting, and good times. Even as an intern, I was able to experience all of these celebrations firsthand. If you didn’t go to any Olivia Management events, you may have missed out, but now you know to join us in the future. Until then, check out our artists on tour and stay tuned for Olivia Management updates on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and our website.

We’ll see you next year, AMERICANAFEST!

Peter Groenwald Plays The Bluebird Cafe!

By: Abby Coleman

The Bluebird Cafe is one of Nashville’s most well-known and well-loved venues for live music. It is known for hosting some of the biggest names in music and giving songwriters a spotlight. Garth Brooks, Dirks Bentley, and Keith Urban are just a few of the stars that have taken stage at the Bluebird. Taylor Swift is one of the biggest names to play at the Bluebird Cafe, which resulted in her record deal. 

The Bluebird is always packed, and landing a gig there is nearly impossible, but we are so proud to say that our very own Peter Groenwald played a round there last Friday. The lineup was amazing and the show sold out in 10 minutes. He played alongside Mary Bragg, Kyshona, and Femke. Peter played some new songs as well as “Wake Up” by Hush Kids. We are always proud of Peter, but especially after this weekend. He did a phenomenal job and got the chance to showcase his talent at one of the biggest venues in Nashville. 

To listen to Peter’s music click here…. We promise you won’t regret it!

My Favorite Songs by Smooth Hound Smith

By James Muller

When I first began interning at Olivia Management one of the things I was most excited about; and continue to be excited by, is digging into all of our artist’s catalogs and enjoying the beautiful art that they create. I was familiar with our artists before starting, but I hadn’t yet fully committed my ears to their songs. From Jill Andrews to Derek Webb, Ruthie Collins, Hush Kids , and Smooth Hound Smith there’s a lot of great stuff to take in. Boy, am I glad I took the deep dive. It’s always difficult to pick favorites, but I am going to highlight some of the songs from Smooth Hound Smith that really spoke to me in the past month of diving into these tunes. 

I love all kinds of music, but the music that really grabs my attention and sticks with me is the kind of music that you can put on, and it immediately has an effect on your mood. Music that puts you in the space where the artist is coming from. For me, that’s what music is all about: connecting with something and letting it take you to another place. 

It wasn’t terribly difficult to find some favorites as I started listening to Smooth Hound Smith. They bring a vibe and a feeling to their music that makes you want to dance, and intently listen to the lyrics at the same time. Which is pretty awesome. Their song “Get Low”, is one of those tunes that gets your feet stomping with it’s pulsating rhythm, laid back guitar grooves, and ethereal vocal harmonies. It’s a song that could just as easily be played at a party as it could on a long drive. As a lover of blues music, “Get Low” is one of those songs that instantly scratches my itch for current blues music that is fresh and fun, while still holding on that rootsy, vintage inspiration. If I was on Spotify going through the blues and roots playlist, this would be the song I would hope to hear. 

While listening to records is something  I can’t get enough of, there is a level of energy that live music brings that takes a song to another level. 

Check out Smooth Hound Smith playing “Get Low” live on #JamInTheVan here.

My next favorite song by Smooth Hound Smith is “Three Shades of Lonely”. This is one of those songs that comes on, and you immediately perk your ears up a little bit. The song perfectly showcases what I love about the band— they undeniably catchy hooks that are melded together through beautiful harmonies by this duo. The chorus from this song gets stuck in my head in the best kind of way, the kind that you are happy to have stuck in your head. One of the other reasons that “Three Shades of Lonely” is a favorite of mine is because of the gritty and soulful guitar that sits back with the drums and then comes out to speak later in the song. As a guitar player myself, this tasteful and expressive guitar work is what I love to hear. Luther Dickinson from the North Mississippi Allstars and  The Black Crowes plays slide guitar on this song, and If you're familiar with him then you know that he brings the soul to whatever group he plays with. Next time I’m in need of some music that brings the feels, this will undoubtedly be in the rotation.   

Like I said before; It’s tough for me to pick favorites, especially when you're choosing from a lot of great music. I’m glad that I sat down and spun all three of Smooth Hound Smith’s records because I found some seriously groovy, soulful, and fun songs in there that I will be keeping in the mainstay of my listening routine. “Get Low” and “Three Shades of Lonely” take me to those places that I am looking to go when I listen to music, and I hope they can do the same for you! 


Check out the duo live next Tuesday, June 30th on their Facebook page for a free livestream of all cover songs. Be sure to mark your calendars for the show! You won’t want to miss it.