Shackelford Clients Receive Grammy Awards and Nominations in 2020

A number of Shackelford’s Nashville clientele brought home Grammy Awards this year, and even more of our clients received nominations. The grand totals are eleven nominations and six Grammys.

Jim Zumwalt began representing Tanya Tucker in 2007 after her father passed away. Ms. Tucker has not yet been elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame and for almost twenty years has been perceived by the Nashville industry as a heritage artist. When Zumwalt brought Concord/Fantasy Records the opportunity to represent her new album, it was conceived as an “americana” record and Concord/Fantasy does not promote country radio. So, ironically, when Tanya Tucker got an enthusiastic endorsement from the Grammys and her new album “While I’m Livin” received the Best Country Album nomination, and won the award, it was a fitting tribute to an iconic country artist who had been nominated ten previous times without winning a Grammy. A song Tanya began writing thirty years ago, the popular single from the album, “Bring My Flowers Now,” was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance, Song of the Year, and Best Country Song – and won Best Country Song.

Cage the Elephant, a 2008 signing by Shackelford entertainment attorney Jim Zumwalt, won the honor of the Best Rock Album Grammy for “Social Cues.” The Nashville band has toured prolifically behind the collection of songs, including this past summer’s arena dates with Beck and Spoon, the Night Running Tour.

Another of Jim Zumwalt’s signings in 2009, For King and Country, received nominations in both Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for their single “God Only Knows,” and Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for “Burn The Ships.” The band took home both awards.

Zumwalt discovered Shay Mooney in 2013 who then teamed with Dan Smyers in January, 2014.  The duo were signed by Zumwalt to Warner Brothers Nashville in July 2014 and their rise to stardom began with their very first single release. Dan+Shay received two Grammy nominations for Best Country Duo/Group Performance (which earned the duo their second Grammy Award) and for Best Country Song which lost out to Tanya Tucker’s song in the same category. Dan+Shay will spend 2020 headlining across America in their first arena tour and their current single, “Ten Thousand Hours”, with guest artist Justin Bieber, has spent nineteen weeks at number one on the Billboard Country Singles Chart and continues to sustain in the top ten on Billboard’s pop charts. 

Song Factory Publishing artist Ashley McBryde, a veteran Nashville musician with over a decade in town, received two nominations: Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song, both for her single “Girl Goin’ Nowhere.” McBryde is already onto her next record, “Never Will,” due for release in April of 2020. The video for its early single “One Night Standards” has already racked up over a million views on YouTube.

Shackelford is proud of the work of our clientele, and that certainly goes for such a bounty of Grammy nominations. As Jim Zumwalt said, “Let’s do it again this year.”