Warner Music Nashville Strives To Give Artists More Creative Input – And It’s Paying Off

It’s been an exceptional year for Warner Music Nashville with many of its artists marking one career milestone after another.

Cody Johnson and Ashley McBryde kicked off 2023 with GRAMMY wins for songs that charted last year, even as both were already hard at work on ambitious new albums set for release later this year. Both have new singles as part of those projects.

Cole Swindell has a new song climbing the charts after wrapping up his most career defining year yet last year, thanks to his 90s inspired hit “She Had Me at Heads Carolina.”

And Bailey Zimmerman, who exploded onto the country scene with a dreams-DO-come-true story even he still can’t quite believe, is celebrating his third hit single with “Religiously.”

Label executives Ben Kline and Cris Lacy believe the success of these and other Warner artists, is allowing each one to have direct input into shaping his or her career.

“Each of those success stories is just leaning into who the artist is,” Lacy says. “This is what happens when you let artists be who they are, and really try to make it about them, because without them, we are nothing.”

Kline and Lacy, both of whom have been at WMN for years, took over as Co-Chairs and Co-Presidents in January. They’re running the label together, excited to build on the accomplishments of artists they’ve worked with in the past and guide them to the next level of their careers, sign new artists, and work to change what many have come to expect from record labels in the past.

“One of the pieces of culture at Warner Music Nashville is our team listens as much as they talk when dealing with artist. They know nobody understands a brand and vision better than an artist themselves. In the past there’s probably been a perception of, when you come to a label, how are they going to change me? Do I have to cut my hair, do I have to look a certain way in a picture, what are they going to make me do?”

Ashley McBryde recalls getting pressured into losing weight and changing her look soon after arriving in Nashville. She described some of what she experienced in an interview with Forbes in 2019.

“I knew I had to play the Nashville game if I wanted to be any part of this at all. Fine, we can all stand to lose weight, I’ll do that. I like my hair, but whatever, if you’d like it to be less curly let’s try it. But I really sucked at trying to be skinny and I really sucked at trying not to have curly hair.”

Today, McBryde shines in her own light at Warner.

Lacy points to McBryde’s upcoming album The Devil I Know noting it was planned for release a year ago. But it was pushed back when McBryde came to them with another body of work.

“Ashley was completing a full album, a beautiful album, which is one of the best things she’s ever done. And then she played us this project called Lindeville and we just stopped. It felt so urgent and important we paused what we were doing on the other album to push that one out quickly.”

McBryde’s Lindeville would end up being nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Country Album. The Devil I Know is now set for release next month.

Singer/songwriter and former semi-pro rodeo circuit rider Cody Johnson also had some negative history with record labels. He shared his thoughts with Forbes in 2018.

“I had people tell me we’ll give you the right deal, but we want you to take your cowboy hat off or we want you to change your producer, or we’d like to dissect your band members and figure out who we need to replace them.”

The Texas-native held out for years, refusing multiple offers to sign with a label until his unprecedented 50/50 partnership deal with WMN five years ago.

“Cody is such a proud moment,” Lacy says, “because it was probably 10 years ago, we saw him perform in a bar and he didn’t want a major label deal. He didn’t trust major labels. He was afraid they would try to change him, and it would affect his music. Our job is to change that perception and we’re doing it one artist at a time. Cody made and created his brand on his own and we in no way would ever take credit for any piece of that.”

Kline absolutely agrees.

“He was a star and a brand before he ever came to Warner Music Nashville,” he says. “But now he’s put his trust in Warner, and in our expertise in areas where we can grow that business. It’s scalability, it’s how you become a global medium. I think you’re going to be hearing his name more than almost anyone in the next six months.”

One of WMN’s most unique success stories is Bailey Zimmerman. The Illinois-native had little music experience at all when he first started getting attention on TikTok. But the label saw something special and signed him.

Zimmerman delivered with back-to-back No. 1 hits: “Fall in Love” and “Rock and a Hard Place.”

“It’s all about a feeling,” Lacy explains. “Bailey’s story is crazy, but we had the feeling this guy was going to do something phenomenal. His story doesn’t make sense on paper. He’s been singing for four months, he’s written one song, and he’s never toured. But we had this feeling he was an explosive talent and that’s what we based it on.”

At a double No. 1 party to celebrate Bailey’s two first big hits in June, Lacy shared that initially, with one of those songs, they’d asked Zimmerman and his team make some changes.

After considering it, Zimmerman came back and said he wanted to move forward with the song exactly as they’d already structured it. Lacy says WMN relented realizing Zimmerman and his producer were right, and she has no problem admitting it.

“I want all of our artists to believe Warner Music Nashville, Ben and I and our whole team, have their best interest at heart. We’re not going to be right all of the time, but we care, and at least if they know that’s our motivation, then maybe they’ll forgive us our mistakes when we invariably make them.”

Kline and Lacy are determined to create a culture where a willingness to take chances is encouraged.

“Avery Anna is another one,” Kline says. “If you’re not familiar with her story, she gained a fan base from singing cover songs in her mother’s bathtub because of the incredible acoustics At 18, she’s an old soul and we wanted to work with her. We assumed it would take years of developing and honing the songwriting.”

And yet, he says, she arrived with two deeply meaningful songs. One called “Self-Love,” the other titled “Narcissist.”

“We literally had SiriusXM saying give us the song right now,” says Kline. “It was a No. 1 single for them. We didn’t say, no, no, no, we have a five-year plan for her. We’re going to let the music and the creativity lead.”

Lacy describes Avery’s songs as raw and vulnerable, like “Self-Love” where Avery says ‘I’m the only person I don’t let myself love.’”

“That’s what we want from our artists, brutal, vulnerable honestly. Because that’s what people aren’t able to voice, and they look to others to help tell their story when they don’t have the platform. She’s a great example of that.”

As they look to the future, with plans to welcome new and diverse voices to the label, they’ll continued to be guided by songs that reflect “storytelling” and the kind of “lyric writing” that has always made country music special. And as they do it, they’ll make sure to highlight the individual artist or artists every step of the way.

“We hear the artists in their vision and adapt plans accordingly,” Kline says. “It’s why not two plans at this label will ever be the same, because no two artists are the same.”