NASHVILLE – Nashville’s “Music City Midnight” concert celebration will be featured again on two live national broadcasts this year: “NBC’s New Year’s Eve 2020” and CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.” Additionally, Ashley McBryde, the reigning Academy of Country Music New Female Artist of the Year and CMA New Artist of the Year, has been added to the star-studded lineup as a special guest, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp announced today.
“We couldn’t be happier to have both CNN and NBC back this year,” said Butch Spyridon, President and CEO, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “The event continues to grow and impress and is a great way to put an explanation mark on another stellar year. We will always work to shine the spotlight on Nashville.”
Reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year and four-time GRAMMY winner Keith Urban will headline for a fourth year in a row. Urban will lead an all-star and diverse lineup that includes special guest McBryde; Americana powerhouse Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit; English rock band The Struts; Americana award winner Amanda Shires, who is also a member of The 400 Unit and critically-acclaimed new band The Highwomen; rising star Bren Joy; country artist Kalie Shorr, who was named to The New York Times Best Albums of 2019 list; and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The 11th annual event will take place at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park and is free and open to the public.
This is the second year for Nashville to be featured on NBC’s 90-minute live show from Times Square with Urban performing hosting duties and singing live from Nashville to a nationwide audience throughout the broadcast. NBC also announced The Struts will be part of their broadcast lineup. The “NBC New Year’s Eve 2020” special hosted by Carson Daly and Julianne Hough will air 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. CT, breaking for local news and returning from 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. CT. The show will ring in 2019 at midnight ET in New York City, which will be 11 p.m. in Nashville.
CNN’s New Year’s Eve show starts at 7 p.m. CT. At 11:30 p.m. CT, they will hand over to Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon who will count down from Music City Midnight to celebrate the Central Time Zone ringing in the New Year.
Nashville’s Music Note Drop at the stroke of midnight will be streamed live at visitmusiccity.com/newyearseve.
In addition to her ACM and CMA accolades this year, McBryde won CMT’s Breakthrough Video of the Year. She has appeared as a special guest this year on George Strait’s Strait to Vegas shows at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and as support to Miranda Lambert on her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour this fall.
Last year’s Music City Midnight was the most successful New Year’s Eve event for Nashville with an all-time high $23 million in direct visitor spending over 2017’s $22.3 million. Attendance was approximately 175,000 to 200,000, a record attendance over 2015’s 150,000.
Gates at Bicentennial Mall will open at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31 with DJ Case Bloom providing entertainment before the Music Note is raised. The Fisk Jubilee Singers, an ensemble of students from Fisk University, will kick off the live music with a selection of spiritual music. The show’s highlight will be the traditional Music Note Drop and accompanying fireworks display to usher in the New Year. GRAMMY-winner DJ Dave Audé also will be part of the lineup.
Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville is produced by the NCVC for the city of Nashville and presented by Jack Daniel’s. Partners include Advance Financial, Anderson Benson, Nashville International Airport, Nashville Farmers’ Market, Twice Daily, Monster Energy, Tennessee State Parks, Tennessee Highway Safety Office: Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk, The Soundtrack of America. Made in Tennessee, Dr Pepper, Kroger, Metro by T-Mobile, Freebird, Yee Haw Brewing Company, The BIG 98, WSIX-FM, NASH FM 103.3 & 95.5 NASH ICON, Ferguson Bath Kitchen & Lighting Gallery, Korbel, Budweiser and Bud Light.
For more information: visitmusiccity.com/newyearseve
Keith Urban
Keith Urban is a four-time GRAMMY Award winner, the reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year and two-time 2019 CMA Award nominee (Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist). He released “We Were” on May 14 as his first new single of 2019. It comes after the 2018 release of Graffiti U and his acclaimed “GRAFFITI U WORLD TOUR,” which played to more than a million fans in seven countries on three continents. Graffiti U debuted at No. 1 on charts in the United States, Canada and Australia, is Urban’s ninth studio recording and follows one of the most successful releases of his career, 2016’s RIPCORD, which had five No. 1 songs including “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” which won Best Single at the 2017 CMA Awards and Favorite Country Song at the American Music Awards, where he also collected trophies for Favorite Country Album and Favorite Male Country Artist. He’s had an album simultaneously atop the all-genre charts in the U.S., Canada and Australia twice and is the only male country artist to have achieved the mark even once.
In 2001, the Country Music Association honored Urban with its Horizon Award; he is one of only three in history to go on to win the CMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year, a title he’s captured three times, and the coveted Entertainer of the Year, which he’s captured twice. The 2015 CMA Awards brought Urban his third win for Vocal Event of the Year, which marked the first time in history that an artist has received the award in three consecutive years. Urban has also won 13 Country Music Association Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards, four People’s Choice Awards and four American Music Awards. He is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry and Music City Walk of Fame.
Urban’s musical virtuosity and fluidity has led to him collaborating with a diverse group of artists that includes Alicia Keys, Billy Gibbons, Buddy Guy, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Eric Church, John Mayer, Julia Michaels, Justin Timberlake, Miranda Lambert, Nile Rodgers, Post Malone, Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones and Vince Gill. He’s long supported numerous charities. His “All For The Hall” benefit concerts for the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum have raised over $3.4 million. He is the first Ambassador of the CMA Foundation, is an advisory board member at the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and is a longtime supporter of The Mr. Holland’s Opus Fund and The GRAMMY Foundation. keithurban.net
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit
Four-time GRAMMY winner Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit have been touring in support of their album The Nashville Sound (winner of GRAMMYs for Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song for “If We Were Vampires”) and the highly praised live set Live From The Ryman. Isbell has become one of the most respected songwriters of his generation, with a penchant for articulating some of our deepest human emotions and creating poignant narratives inspired by the working class. Together with the mighty 400 Unit – Derry deBorja (keyboards), Chad Gamble (drums), Jimbo Hart (bass), Sadler Vaden (guitar) and Amanda Shires (fiddle) – they have become one of the strongest live acts on the road today. This fall will bring reissues of the group’s two earliest albums – 2009’s self-titled Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit and 2011’s Here We Rest – both remixed and remastered by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Dave Cobb. These records contain some of Isbell’s most beloved fan favorites, including “Alabama Pines,” “Codeine,” “Cigarettes and Wine,” “The Blue” and “Tour Of Duty.” jasonisbell.com
The Struts
The Struts released their sophomore album Young & Dangerous in the fall of 2018. On Young & Dangerous, The Struts let loose with the sing-along-ready and riff-heavy sound they’ve brought to stadiums and arenas all around the world. Young & Dangerous follows the 2016 release of The Struts’ debut album Everybody Wants. In just a few years, The Struts have found themselves massively embraced by some of the greatest icons in rock and roll history. Along with opening for Foo Fighters, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Guns N’ Roses, the U.K.-bred four-piece was also hand-picked by Mötley Crüe to serve as the supporting act for their last-ever performances, while Dave Grohl praised them as “the best band to ever open for Foo Fighters.” In addition to the support slots, The Struts have been on the road nonstop since their formation including worldwide headline shows and prestigious festival plays including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, Bottle Rock, Isle of Wight and many more. Formed in Derby, England in 2012, The Struts are Luke Spiller (lead singer), Adam Slack (guitar), Jed Elliott (bass) and Gethin Davies (drums). thestruts.com
Amanda Shires
Amanda Shires is a member of the new country music supergroup The Highwomen that also includes Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby and Maren Morris. They released their self-titled debut album on Sept. 6, which was described by NPR Music as a “really fantastic record, I would expect to see this one on a lot of year end lists.” Nominated for the Americana Music Association’s 2019 Album of the Year, To The Sunset is Amanda Shires’s second album with GRAMMY award-winning producer Dave Cobb and represents an adventurous move with an edgier sound and attitude. Shires continues to push herself artistically and sonically, but the spotlight always shines brightly on her unmistakable songwriting style and emotive and distinctive vocals. Recorded at RCA Studio A, the new album finds Shires joined by a few special guests including Jason Isbell (guitar), Dave Cobb (bass), Peter Levin (keys) and Jerry Pentecost (drums). To The Sunset is the follow up to Shires’s critically acclaimed My Piece Of Land, which was released in 2016. My Piece Of Land became her most acclaimed album to date garnering high praise from outlets that included NPR, Associated Press, Rolling Stone Country, Entertainment Weekly, Garden & Gun, Texas Monthly and the cover of the Nashville Scene. Capping off a banner year in 2016, Shires was also the recipient of the Americana Music Association’s Emerging Artist Of The Year Award and made her solo national TV debut on Austin City Limits. amandashiresmusic.com
Ashley McBryde
Lauded by The New York Times as “an alluringly flexible singer, fluent in classic country, blues and Southern rock, with a voice that moves easily from tender to tough,” Ashley McBryde’s GRAMMY-nominated Girl Going Nowhere (released March 30, 2018 on Atlantic Records/Warner Nashville) earned the Arkansas native critical acclaim from Rolling Stone, Variety and more with The Washington Post raving, “McBryde's blue-collar storytelling and straightforward singing set her apart.” The seminal title track on the Jay Joyce-produced LP continues to propel McBryde’s career to great heights with recognition this year by the Academy of Country Music as New Female Artist of the Year, CMT’s Breakthrough Video of the Year and CMA New Artist of the Year. McBryde has appeared as a special guest this year on George Strait’s Strait to Vegas shows at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and as support to Miranda Lambert on her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour this fall. ashleymcbryde.com
Bren Joy
Bren Joy was born and raised in Nashville and started writing music at the start of 2018. In the same year, he released his first three singles (“Henny in the Hamptons,” “Scottie Pippen” and “Twenties”) that earned placements on editorial playlists and attracted a growing fanbase to the budding artist’s career. In May of this year, he released his debut project, Twenties, an eight-song track list that embodies the new era of youth coming into the scene. It merges his love of gospel, R&B, hip-hop, jazz and pop all into one. It touches on the different emotions and experiences encountered during the beginning of your 20s, while conveying an underlying theme of hope and self-love. It embraces the musical culture we are in now, while highlighting something completely new. This project is in its own lane and attempts to redefine the mainstream sound and bring something new to your ear.
Kalie Shorr
Rolling Stone said this about Kalie Shorr’s recently released first album: “[Open Book] showcases the alchemy that Shorr concocts which manage[s] to conjure both Shania Twain, Red-era Taylor Swift, Dashboard Confessional, and Alanis Morissette all at once.” Shorr burst onto the Nashville music scene in 2016 with her self-penned hit “Fight Like A Girl” and shortly after, the Portland, Maine singer-songwriter became a SiriusXM “Highway Find” and was spotlighted by Apple Music, Spotify, CMT, Radio Disney Country, Pandora, Taste of Country, The Boot and even Billboard magazine. She was named a “CMT Next Women of Country,” “The New Nashville” by Teen Vogue and a “Top 10 Country Artists To Watch In 2018” by the Huffington Post. She made her Grand Ole Opry debut in 2018 and has gone on to play that heralded stage 15 times so far. Shorr has toured with Sara Evans, RaeLynn, Jimmie Allen and is spending much of December this year supporting LeAnn Rimes’s “You And Me And Christmas” Tour. From her work with the all-female, singer-songwriter collective Song Suffragettes, Shorr has been featured on PBS NewsHour, NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “On Point,” as well as in ELLE Magazine. Her new album Open Book has already been praised by The New York Times, NPR Music and many more with Taste of Country describing Shorr’s raw and honest approach to songwriting as “courage they don’t manufacture on Music Row.” kalieshorr.com
Fisk Jubilee Singers®
Fisk Jubilee Singers® are vocal artists and students at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., who sing and travel worldwide. The original ensemble introduced the Negro spiritual to the world in 1871 as they traveled and raised money to sustain Fisk University. The ensemble was also instrumental in preserving this unique American musical. During their early years of travel and performance, they sang for crowned heads around the world. The Fisk Jubilee Singers continue the tradition of singing the Negro spiritual around the world, and recently performed in renowned venues such as The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Smithsonian Institute, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, The White House and Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. In 2007 the ensemble also traveled and performed in Ghana at the invitation of the Department of State in celebration of Ghana’s 50th Independence anniversary. The two-time GRAMMY-nominated and Dove Award-winning Fisk Jubilee Singers have received numerous awards including the induction into the Music City Walk of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. In 2008, the Fisk Jubilee Singers were awarded the 2008 National Medal of Arts by former President George W. Bush at the White House. The ensemble has collaborated with guest artists like CeCe Winans, Keb’ Mo’, Shania Twain, India.Arie, The Fairfield Four and Rodney Atkins and now has membership in the Academy of Country Music. fiskjubileesingers.org
Dave Audé
GRAMMY-winning songwriter/producer Dave Audé writes and produces original music for some of the world’s most prominent artists (Sting, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Madonna, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Katy Perry). He has also landed more number ones than any other producer on the Billboard Dance Club Songs charts—currently 133, of which 14 are his own singles as an artist. In 2016, Audé won a GRAMMY Award in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category for his remix of “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. He operates his own Audacious Records label and is represented by manager Martin Kierszenbaum and Downtown Music Publishing. daveaude.com
DJ Case Bloom
Case Bloom is the co-founder and co-owner of Tucker and Bloom bags and The Boom Bap hip-hop show. The DJ, entrepreneur and promoter was raised in Music City on trips to local record stores and late night hours taping DJ mix shows off the radio. Case caught the hip-hop bug early on and has been putting in work behind the turntables and in the streets for a number of years. Case’s diverse musical selection, impeccable timing and seamless mixing hit dancers square in the sweet spot, taking crowds on a journey through party classics covering funk and disco, hip-hop, breaks, house, Latin and everything in between. casebloom.net
The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp
The mission of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp is to maximize the economic contribution of the convention and tourism industry to the community by developing and marketing Nashville as a premier destination. Visit the NCVC’s website at www.visitmusiccity.com and follow us on social media:
