Founded by The Unity of Faiths Foundation (TUFF), The Road to Nashville connects creatives worldwide with counseling services as mental health continues to dominate global headlines as the new pandemic. To combat mental health struggles within the music community, TUFF is providing access to complimentary mental health services for over 20,000 songwriters participating in the contest. To date, over 3,600 participants have opted in for services with mental health professionals.
Judging Panel for The Road to Nashville – Liverpool International Song Contest:
Gary Morris: Grammy, ACM and CMA award winning singer/songwriter and Broadway star, Gary Morris, will serve as a judge. His recording career garnered five #1 and 16 Top 10 singles, including Why Lady Why, The Love She Found in Me, and Baby Bye Bye. Morris’ original rendition of the classic Wind Beneath My Wings won both the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music “Song of the Year” awards. Morris was also named Billboard’s “Male Artist of the Year” early in his career.
At the height of his Nashville recording career, the Texas-bred tenor was tapped to play the lead role of Jean Valjean in Broadway’s epic hit “Les Misérables,” to critical acclaim. This role led to a Drama Desk Award nomination. His famous rendition of Bring Him Home on the platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning international cast album resulted in a Command Performance by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Additional Broadway roles include Rodolfo in the production of Puccini’s opera “La Bohéme,” opposite the incomparable Linda Ronstadt. He has also played for six U.S. Presidents.
Jeff Cohen: Jeff Cohen is a six-time BMI Award-winning and Grammy-nominated songwriter, producer and publisher based in Nashville, whose songs have appeared on over 20 million albums sold, over 100 placements in TV/Film and over 10 million video games. Jeff’s songs have been recorded by critically acclaimed artists including The Band Perry (Postcard from Paris), Evan and Jaron (Crazy For This Girl), Big and Rich (Holy Water). His work has also been featured in movies and TV shows such as Paw Patrol, The Simpson’s, Saturday Night Live, Princess Diaries and many more.
Pamela Lewis: After years of dedicated service in the music industry, Pamela Lewis opened her own PR firm in 1985, PLA Media, a Nashville-based, award-winning and full-service entertainment public relations and marketing company. Lewis’ long list of previous management clients includes Garth Brooks, who she worked with until 1994, and Trisha Yearwood, landing her a record deal at MCA Records, guiding her to win CMA’s Top Female Vocalist of the Year. Yearwood is the first female country musician to sell one million records among other accolades. Lewis has been honored with Performance Magazine’s “Country Music Managers of the Year” two consecutive years ’92 and ’93, Pollstar Award “Personal Manager of the Year ’92, Country Music Association’s “Artist Manager of the Year”, SRO Award ’01 (The first female executive to win this award), Nashville Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 listing in ’95 & ’96, Who’s Who in Executives, International Society of Poets Distinguished Member, Franklin Police Department Order of Excellence ’15 & Tennessee Association of Museums Award in recognition of superlative achievement for publications PR kit.
She has been recognized for her business success/entrepreneurship, community outreach, philanthropy and preservation efforts by the Metro Nashville Historic Commission, Heritage Foundation, African American Heritage Foundation, Tennessee State Museum and Tennessee Preservation Trust. In 2022, Lewis was named a fellow by the UK Royal Society of the Arts during Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.
Tim Wipperman: Tim Wipperman started his career as a classically trained trumpet player before being hired by Chet Atkins to run Vector Music Publishing in Nashville, TN. He then spent time at Cedarwood Publishing as a song plugger and at Combine Music, pitching songs for celebrated writers such as Kris Kristofferson. Wipperman eventually became head of the Nashville office of Warner Bros. Music, which became Warner Chappell.
After nearly 30 years as senior executive at Warner, the award-winning publisher moved to the record label side of the business at Equity Music Group for five years. He then formed his own music company, Wipperman Music Group, and later served as CEO of Rezonant Music before becoming president of Anthem Music Publishing in 2019. Most recently, he was named Managing Director of global independent music giant ONErpm in Nashville.
Wipperman is also the youngest publisher to receive the ASCAP Country Music Publisher of the Year and has won BMI, ASCAP and SESAC “Publisher of the Year” awards more than 10 times. His notable artist signees include Willie Nelson, Alan Jackson, Little Big Town, Jason Aldean with Michael Knox, Trace Atkins, Restless Heart, and David Alan Coe.
Regie Hamm: Born the son of a traveling minister, Regie was a musician in a family band supporting his father’s ministry. He struck out in the late 1980’s to be a songwriter, achieving early success in the Christian music industry with several songs that reached the top of the CCM charts. Soon he was writing and producing for other genres and meeting similar success while winning several awards. Known as one of the “good guys” in Nashville music circles, he continues to write and produce today.
His career highlights include: Five-time SESAC “Writer of the Year”, American Idol songwriter contest winner (2008), Billboard Top 20 AC Hit as Artist/Songwriter/Producer with “Babies” from American Dreams (Universal South), wrote 2008 American Idol finale song / first single “The Time of Our Lives” for David Cook, setting records for sales with 136,000 in first week 4 days; #3 on Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard Top Digital Songs and multiple Dove and Grammy nominations for both writing and producing.
Listed below are the finalists who will be making their way to the EXIT/IN from around the globe. To stream the finale songs, visit https://roadtonashville.
Sean Kennedy // Glasgow, Scotland
Edi Callier // Los Angeles, USA
Skinny Living // Ireland
Ammon & Liahona Olayan // Hawaii, USA
Charles Cleyn // Canada
Alex Boye’ // London, UK
Neeve Zahra // Manchester, UK
Grace & Hannah // Newcastle, UK
Jennifer Sanon // Miami, USA
Liz Beatty & Nate Strasser // Brentwood, USA
Abi Muir // Australia