Lipscomb talent shines at 2015 CMA Awards
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
Thomas Rhett performs at the CMA Awards Nov. 4 with the group Fall Out Boy.
It was a star-studded evening for country music, and Lipscomb University was well represented at the 2015 Country Music Association awards in Nashville Wednesday evening, Nov. 4.
Lipscomb alums and rising country music stars Kelsea Ballerini and Thomas Rhett were both nominated for New Artist of the Year. Ballerini was also nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year. Nominated with her were winner Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves and Lee Ann Womack. Both Ballerini and Rhett performed during the show. (Click here to read a recent Tennessean feature story about Ballerini's success.)
Ballerini, a singer/songwriter who has a contract with Black River Entertainment, attended Lipscomb from 2011-2013. She was a leader of Lipscomb’s freshman orientation program Quest, a hostess in Singarama and often performed in the Tau Phi Cowboy Show and other musical events on campus.
A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Ballerini’s recent hit songs include “Love Me Like You Mean It,” which reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart on July 4, making her the first solo female country artist to score a number one hit with her debut single since Carrie Underwood with “Jesus, Take the Wheel” in 2006, and only the 11th in history to achieve that feat. Her latest single, “Dibs,” hit number 18 on the Billboard Country charts. She was was named one of the 2014 CMT’s Next Women of Country 
and was nominated by CMT for Breakthrough Video of the Year.
Ballerini brought with her a special guest to walk the red carpet at the singer’s first CMA Awards. She invited Allie Allen, a 17-year-old who is battling brain cancer, as her one guest to the awards. (She is pictured with Ballerini in the red carpet photo included with this story.)
She told a reporter before the show, “She just finished radiation, and she starts chemo in a couple of weeks. Beautiful, most stunning, amazing girl. She’s missed out on a couple of things in high school, and that’s not fair, so she’s coming with me.” Ballerini’s stylist selected a two-piece gown by Camille LaVie for Allen to wear.
Rhett, son of recording artist Rhett Akins, was an organizational communication and public relations major at Lipscomb from 2007-2011. He is a singer/songwriter with Big Machine Records who has released two albums, “It Goes Like This” (2013) and “Tangled Up” (2015). Among his hit singles are “It Goes Like This,” which topped the 
Billboard Country Airplay chart, and his recent release “Crash and Burn,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Hot Country Songs chart. A member of Tau Phi social club, Rhett often performed on the Lipscomb stage in the Tau Phi Cow Boy Show.
Lipscomb alum Kerri Pauley Edwards (’93) also had a big night as country music superstar Luke Bryan, whose career she helped shape and who she manages, took home 2015 CMA Entertainer of the Year honors for the second consecutive year. Edwards is president of Nashville’s KP Entertainment and is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience helping artists trail blaze their way to success in the industry.
A communications major at Lipscomb and a member of Pi Delta social club, Edwards joined Murrah Music after graduation as creative director where she was introduced to an ambitious young singer/songwriter named Luke Bryan. Unsigned to a record deal at the time, Edwards began to help Bryan find artists to record his songs, but it wasn’t until Edwards saw Bryan perform live at a concert in Georgia that she committed to helping him in his career as a solo artist.
Edwards launched KP Entertainment in 2005 to manage Bryan and helped him land a record deal with Capitol Records. Bryan’s first single, “All My Friends Say,” was broadcast on radio in 2007. Since then he has released 13 No. 1 singles and has sold nearly eight million albums as well as winning several awards including the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year twice and the 2014 Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year, all with Edwards by his side.
Dustin Lynch, a 2007 Lipscomb graduate and biology major, was also on hand at the CMA Awards on Wednesday. A singer/songwriter with Broken Bow Records, Lynch was a member of the 
men’s golf team and often performed in the Tau Phi Cowboy Show as well as other events on Lipscomb’s campus. His hit songs include “Cowboys and Angels” and “Where It’s At.” Lynch was nominated for the 2012 ACM Single of the Year, Music Video of the Year and New Artist of the Year for his single “Cowboys and Angels.” He was also nominated for 2013 Country Music Television Breakthrough Video of the Year and the 2014 ACM Top New Artist of the Year Award.
Lipscomb University's College of Entertainment & the Arts recently launched a contemporary music program led by music producer and songwriter Charlie Peacock, artist-in-residence at the college. The Bachelor of Music degree in Contemporary Music will train students in all aspects of contemporary and creative music making. Students will be trained as singer/songwriters, producers and composers as well as prepared for other careers in the music industry. The program focuses on training independent, entrepreneurial artists. Students also train in a dual-degree setting where they will choose an additional field that will better prepare them for their careers. Singer/songwriter and music production programs are offered. To learn more click here.
-- Photos courtesy of the Country Music Association