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NYCS Woman of the Month: Olivia Hanceri

Our first Woman of the Month for 2019 is Olivia Hanceri, Director of Public Relations for SMACK, a unique company based out of Nashville.  More on SMACK later but first, in our recent interview, Hanceri told us about her non-conventional journey to Music City and the musical influences in her life.

Growing up in Mobile, Alabama, she was not raised on country music or whatever music was popular at the time, rather she grew up listening to classical music.  “I could tell you any classical composer but as far as things that were on the radio, I don’t remember that being influential in my life,” she explains. Her father played the cello, her mother owned a dance studio and she played piano competitively, that being her entry point into music.  She immersed herself in the classical world until she reached college. She double majored at the University of Alabama in political science and public relations and originally thought she would go into lobbying in DC.

“In a series of random events I got connected with Ebie McFarland and interned for her and fell in love with her company,” Hanceri explains.  “I landed a job right out of college with her and worked with her for four years.” She worked as a day to day publicist in Nashville, eventually learning to love the country music scene, specifically the songwriters who were behind the curtain. During her four years with Essential Broadcast Media (EBMediaPR) she assisted on some of the larger accounts but recalls two major moments that were very special to her. One working with Old Dominion from the very early days, eventually seeing them get signed to Sony and release two albums and then more recently, watching Caitlyn Smith’s career blossom in a format that isn’t country.

She also worked closely with Walker Hayes, Shane McAnally, and other songwriters, “I kept being drawn to songwriters as clients, the common thread was SMACKSongs and that’s what is interesting, they were all a part of SMACK so at Ebie’s I learned first hand about publishing and songwriting, it was a world within a world and that to me is where the real magic happens. I was fortunate enough to transition from EBMediaPR to SMACK,” she tells us.

Now she works with a roster of fourteen songwriters and within that roster, four of them are artists as well as songwriters, Kylie Morgan, Walker Hayes, one of our Swag Spotlight’s Renee Blair and one of our 2019 Artists to Watch, Teddy Robb. Along with handling media relations for the individual songwriters, she is also responsible for PR for the company itself, strategizing for awards and recognition.  “We are unique because we have a publishing arm, a management arm, an artist development arm and a production arm,” she explains. The work with their roster in different capacities, allowing Hanceri’s day to day to evolve and change. “It’s been fun to lean into marketing or lean into merchandise, if it has to do with your brand, I am fortunate enough to touch it,” she tells us. “We all get to shift and figure out what is needed so my days never look the same.”

SMACK not only has some of the biggest writers in the industry, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne but they also have a band of new writers, each raising the bar to write and create incredible songs. She explains two things she is most excited about working on currently are Shane McAnally’s new show Songland which was just greenlit for season one on NBC as well as helping to launch artist Kylie Morgan‘s career.

As a passion project, Hanceri also manages ‘Girls of Nashville’, a seasonal showcase that highlights female songwriters who are looking to make a positive change in the community. “There is something really fulfilling about nights like that, where you get to walk away with such a full heart,” she says of the event.

As we close out our conversation, Hanceri gives advice to any young women just starting out, looking to find their dream job. “Lean in to working as hard as you can, as soon as you get out of college or in your early twenties, that first season of life as a young adult should really be about being ambitious and excited and hungry,” she offers. She also says that getting to Nashville and having boots on the ground to show what you can do in person is half the battle of landing a job in the music industry. Looking ahead, Hanceri is excited to see the evolution of SMACK who received SESAC Writer of the Year,  SESAC Song of the Year, Publisher of the Year, ASCAP Song of the Year, and several BMI Radio Airplay Awards in 2018. Keep up with Olivia on Instagram.

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NYCS Swag Spotlight Featuring Teddy Robb

Teddy Robb

Photo Credit: Matthew Berinato

One of the most talked about new singer-songwriters in Nashville is our Swag Spotlight this week, Teddy Robb.  Robb grew up in Akron, Ohio and didn’t really start listening to country music until high school.  Before that, he listened to classic rock like Bob Seger, The Eagles, ACDC and Pink Floyd.  He laughs as he explains that he only started listening to country music for a girl. “I thought, ‘No that is just for sad people and for people who’s dog died and their truck broke down’ but then I remember listening to “Summertime” by Kenny Chesney and I was like…oh actually this is really fun I can get into this,” he tells us.  From then on he loved Brooks and Dunn, Tim McGraw and of course, Kenny Chesney.  He didn’t play music growing up, instead, he played sports and even played football in college for a few years but after he stopped playing football he took that passion and newly founded free time and started learning how to play guitar.  After a teacher challenged him to play one night at an open mic night, he fell in love with performing and being up on stage.

“I started playing local clubs in Akron, Ohio and before long I decided I wanted to move to Nashville so one morning I just woke up and said this is the day, I am moving,” he explains his spontaneous decision. He played honky-tonks and cover songs for about a year before once again making a big move, this time to Colorado. He was captivated by the lifestyle, as an outdoorsman, being able to hike and fish in the summer and ski and snowboard in the winter, he loved living there.  All the while, he was playing country music at night, honing in on his craft and perfecting his sound.  He explains that although he was playing country music, every once in a while a request would come in for something a little different, whether it was John Prine, Bob Dylan or Pure Prairie League. This allowed him to open up his musical horizons and eventually create the sound that he now brings back to Nashville. His voice, his delivery, and his lyrics are the perfect blend of laid back folk and modern country.

His travels from Ohio to Nashville to Colorado and back to Nashville again have taught him lessons about himself as a musician and allowed him to learn about the type of music he wanted to create. “On a whim, a little bit of luck and a little bit of hard work, that is how I got here,” Robb tells us. He signed with Sony Monument Records and started getting into writing rooms around town.  “I connected with the SMACK writers, I knew it felt very natural and I knew I wanted to end up being there and then they offered me a publishing deal,” he recalls.  “Since then I have been there writing every day.”

He tells us when he was 20 years old he heard George Strait’s “Troubadour” for the first time, a memory that he will always remember as the moment he knew he wanted to pursue a career in music.  He had the pleasure of being in a writing room one day with one of the writers of that song, Leslie Satcher.  He took the opportunity to explain to her how that song had changed the course of his life. “I’m in a room with somebody writing a song with them and they wrote a song in the past that is a huge reason why I am here today playing music. It was an incredible experience for me,” he tells us. “Nashville is a really special town because of those types of moments.”

Robb released his debut single earlier this year, “Lead Me On” was written with SMACK writers, Matt McGinn, Ryan Beaver, and Aaron Eshuis and produced by Shane McAnally. It is an upbeat honest track, a fun song that has a unique twist, where the singer doesn’t mind the cat and mouse game.  His raspy voice and sultry delivery will have any listener throwing out the relationships rulebook. He explains that he truly loves the song and decided it should be the first single because of its versatility. “It’s the first one I wrote with SMACK writers and I think it leaves us room to go left or right, once we pick another song, that one doesn’t put us in a box of this is what we are, it has a nice availability to go a little more pop country or traditional.”  He performed “Lead Me On” along with other songs recently at an exclusive event in Nashville hosted by SMACKSongs.  Read our recap of the special night here.  He also hosted his own writer’s round featuring Blake Chaffin and JT Harding where he impressed even more fans in Nashville.

Looking ahead, he is playing another writers round tonight (Mon, 11/5), be sure to head to our Instagram for video clips from the show.  He is looking forward to getting out on the road and expanding his reach, playing his new music and eventually putting out an EP of that new music. Grab “Lead Me On” here and follow Teddy Robb on Instagram for the latest updates.

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here 
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

+ Follow our country music adventures on InstagramTwitter & Facebook: