NEW YORK, N.Y. – Still reeling from the success of her debut album, Open Book, Kalie Shorr has signed a record deal with tmwrk records. The news was exclusively announced by Variety earlier today, calling her “the most attention-getting DIY artist in country.” Heralded by some of music’s most esteemed critics, Open Book was named No. 7 on New York Times’ all-genre Best Albums of 2019 list and #15 on the Nashville Scene’s Critics Poll. Rolling Stone compares the record to a mix of “Shania Twain, Red-era Taylor Swift, Dashboard Confessional and Alanis Morissette,” while Taste of Country calls it “bold,” “raw,” and “real.” As for Shorr, NPR touts the singer/songwriter as “one of Nashville’s most promising” and in the U.K., The Guardian dubbed Shorr “the new queen of country.”
Based in New York City, tmwrk records was founded by Andrew McInnes, founder and CEO of tmwrk management – recently ranked as one of the top ten artist management companies in the world by music business statistics tracker rostr.cc. The record company is a partnership with Sony-owned music distribution and marketing powerhouse The Orchard and tees up some incredible new opportunities for Shorr including the release of Open Book: Unabridged, a deluxe version of her debut album that will include new music recorded this summer.
“Signing with tmwrk records was so worth the wait,” says Shorr. “I’ve always wanted my career to be non-traditional, and they love challenging the norms as much as I do. It obviously meant so much to me that they believe in me as an artist, but even more so that they believe in Open Book enough to re-release it. I never thought I would get a record deal on Zoom while I was wearing sweatpants.”
“We created tmwrk records to fill a void we saw in the artist development process,” said McInnes, adding, “the label exists to help start careers. We bring a level of expertise that can only be gained by our experience and successful history of helping artists start labels and self release albums. One of the main goals of the label is to work with rebellious artists from different genres who are not managed by tmwrk management. When I first heard Kalie’s album Open Book I wanted to meet her and get involved. Even over a Zoom call she is a force and an inspiring digital hang. Her managers are not so bad either.”
With tmwrk records now on board, Kalie’s extended team also includes a long list of industry stalwarts including CAA (booking agency), entertainment One/Vintern Songs (publishing), Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy (business management), Ritholz Levy Fields (attorney), 117 Entertainment (PR), Cassetty Entertainment (management) and New York-based we few (management).
Last month, Shorr launched a podcast in partnership with iHeartMedia called “Too Much To Say with Kalie Shorr,” executive produced by nationally syndicated radio host Bobby Bones.