CMA Welcomes New Board President Steve Moore
Robert L. Doerschuk
January 12, 2009
For more than 20 years, Steve Moore has stood at the forefront of the live concert business in Nashville, whether holding high office with established companies or launching his own independent ventures.
For these past four years, Moore has served as Senior VP of AEG Live!, a subsidiary of Anschutz Entertainment and the world's second largest concert promotion, special event and touring company. Many of the biggest tours are booked and promoted by AEG, whose clients include Prince, Rod Stewart, Justin Timberlake and a variety of Country megastars, such as Kenny Chesney, the Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. And he came to AEG Live! as an established leader in this field, having created and promoted blues festivals with B. B. King in eight major markets, booked and promoted festivals throughout the United States and Canada and won honors that include three SRO Awards as Promoter of the Year.
Moore fought long odds to reach this point, beginning with his birth in Pasadena and upbringing in Buna, two blue-collar towns outside of Houston, Texas. His father worked with the Hughes Tool Company and later on construction projects for oil refineries - a line of work that Moore pursued too, while paying his way through classes at Lamar University in Beaumont.
He played trumpet at the time - and still does, in a 50-piece ensemble at Brentwood Baptist Church just outside of Nashville - and figured he'd end up a school band instructor someday. But his plans changed one night, instantly and unexpectedly.
"Blood, Sweat & Tears was coming to play at the college," Moore remembered. "A ticket cost $6.75, which I didn't have. So I went to the back of the stage to see if I could get a job that would get me in, which I did. When the show began, I was sitting on this speaker onstage, staring down at Lew Soloff, the trumpet player. And it was an epiphany for me.
Playing was great, and I continued to play in jazz bands and at local clubs with blues bands. But to set up and put on a show . well, that was a complete life-changing moment."
Moore switched his major from music to mass communications, joined the student concert committee and soon supervised his first show - a Wet Willie appearance at the Jefferson Theater in downtown Beaumont. "I think I lost $6,000, which I didn't have - now, that's concert promotion," he observed.
After that, he started his own business, which involved picking up tickets delivered by bus from Houston's Quick Tick International ticket printer company and driving them in his VW Beetle to different outlets for various local promoters. Thanks to his hard extracurricular work, he graduated from Lamar with honors and enough connections to win a staff position at Lone Wolf Productions, from which he rose to eventually launch his first company, IBM (Independent Booking and Management).
By the time he accepted an offer to serve as first Executive Director at Nashville's new Starwood Amphitheater, Moore had picked up experience in just about every corner of the live music industry, from hiring acts for AstroWorld in Houston and Six Flags in Dallas to booking and promoting Stevie Ray Vaughan. Still, he had not tackled anything quite like what was put on his plate once he showed up for his new job in 1986 - beginning with the fact that live Country shows were practically nonexistent in Music City.
"The Country artists who lived here didn't want to play in their hometown and not do well," Moore explained. "I was booking mainly rock 'n' roll in the late '80s, but I had my eye on the Country market. The rock 'n' roll business was totally out of control, a very tough environment. Country folks were more my kind of people."
Moore gradually trickled Country concerts into the Starwood schedule, beginning with a show that featured Merle Haggard and George Jones. His first sell-out event in the genre was headlined by Hank Williams Jr. By the time he was ready to leave Starwood and launch his own company, Moore Entertainment, he was immersed in the Country Music world - and had already served his first term on the CMA Board.
"CMA is a very special organization," he explained. "Some of its constituents are closely related. Some are not. Some are fierce competitors. But all of its members are connected. I venture to say that its strength goes back to the men and women who sit on the Board. The public would be very surprised at the amount of work the Board members give and how hard the CMA staff works to make this a meaningful organization."
CMA's commitment is crucial as uncertain prospects ensue, both in the music industry and the nation at large. Moore's segment of the industry has not borne the brunt of these changes as much as others, yet he is neither sanguine nor pessimistic about the future either for his business or for Country Music in general.
"For the concert business, the good news is that you can't download a seat," he noted. "On the other hand, there always has been a correlation between the sale of albums and the sale of tickets. So I don't think the live business is immune; it's just that our turn in the wheelhouse is next.
It's very challenging, but I still don't see doom-and-gloom as much as others, because Country Music is in the fabric of our country. People are going to sacrifice and make plans to attend CMA Music Festival. And the Festival will stay strong because its support comes from a broad spectrum of the country. That's a plus for us.
"The CMA Music Festival is a legacy event," he continued. "Younger artists need to be aware of where it came from, why it was started and how important it is for the fans. The same is true of the CMA Awards, which sets the mark for excellence as a television broadcast. They're both very special."
Moore expects to apply what he's learned fully and directly to widening the imprints made by the Festival and the Awards. "You can't come from the background I have and look at things like that through a different lens," he said. "For example, I want to help grow the Festival more locally, in Middle Tennessee and the Southeastern states. It's incumbent upon me to make a positive impact on this equation, and I plan on doing that in a couple of key areas."
Then, after pausing momentarily, the new President offered a more general reflection. "I try not to dwell on this a lot, but I'm thinking that I've been on the Board for a long time," he said. "I've seen a lot of people come and go. I never gave much thought to the importance of being in a leadership role in CMA and representing the membership. It's humbling for me, with where I come from. I'm just very grateful and thankful to be here."
An honored humanitarian, Moore is the Founder and President of the Shalom Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing educational, nutritional and medical assistance to underprivileged children and their families in Guatemala. He and his wife, Charmione, have three sons, Remick, Sterline and Hunter.
"I'm excited about Steve moving into his new role as President of the Board, although he's been a key player in implementing the Board's initiatives all year," said CMA Board Chairman Randy Goodman. "The president elect role may have been created as an under-the-radar way to bring new officers along slowly, but I know from experience that with the complexity of all our businesses right now having a third officer involved has become a must. Steve has already stepped up and has been making an immediate impact all year. As much as I will miss my day-to-day work with [former Chairman] Clarence [Spalding], I'm as excited about working with Steve. He brings an excitement, a sense of urgency and vision, which serves our Board and the broader Association well."
"Steve has already proven to us that he will be an invaluable leader of the 2009 team," said CMA CEO Tammy Genovese. "He has already rolled his sleeves up and has hit the ground running. It is great to see firsthand his passion for the music, the artists and our community. Steve also brings a different filter and fresh perspective to our core events, the CMA Music Festival and CMA Awards, and we are fortunate to have him step into this important leadership position as CMA and the industry face new challenges. I look forward to working with him in this role."
2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
For these past four years, Moore has served as Senior VP of AEG Live!, a subsidiary of Anschutz Entertainment and the world's second largest concert promotion, special event and touring company. Many of the biggest tours are booked and promoted by AEG, whose clients include Prince, Rod Stewart, Justin Timberlake and a variety of Country megastars, such as Kenny Chesney, the Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. And he came to AEG Live! as an established leader in this field, having created and promoted blues festivals with B. B. King in eight major markets, booked and promoted festivals throughout the United States and Canada and won honors that include three SRO Awards as Promoter of the Year.
Moore fought long odds to reach this point, beginning with his birth in Pasadena and upbringing in Buna, two blue-collar towns outside of Houston, Texas. His father worked with the Hughes Tool Company and later on construction projects for oil refineries - a line of work that Moore pursued too, while paying his way through classes at Lamar University in Beaumont.
He played trumpet at the time - and still does, in a 50-piece ensemble at Brentwood Baptist Church just outside of Nashville - and figured he'd end up a school band instructor someday. But his plans changed one night, instantly and unexpectedly.
"Blood, Sweat & Tears was coming to play at the college," Moore remembered. "A ticket cost $6.75, which I didn't have. So I went to the back of the stage to see if I could get a job that would get me in, which I did. When the show began, I was sitting on this speaker onstage, staring down at Lew Soloff, the trumpet player. And it was an epiphany for me.
Playing was great, and I continued to play in jazz bands and at local clubs with blues bands. But to set up and put on a show . well, that was a complete life-changing moment."
Moore switched his major from music to mass communications, joined the student concert committee and soon supervised his first show - a Wet Willie appearance at the Jefferson Theater in downtown Beaumont. "I think I lost $6,000, which I didn't have - now, that's concert promotion," he observed.
After that, he started his own business, which involved picking up tickets delivered by bus from Houston's Quick Tick International ticket printer company and driving them in his VW Beetle to different outlets for various local promoters. Thanks to his hard extracurricular work, he graduated from Lamar with honors and enough connections to win a staff position at Lone Wolf Productions, from which he rose to eventually launch his first company, IBM (Independent Booking and Management).
By the time he accepted an offer to serve as first Executive Director at Nashville's new Starwood Amphitheater, Moore had picked up experience in just about every corner of the live music industry, from hiring acts for AstroWorld in Houston and Six Flags in Dallas to booking and promoting Stevie Ray Vaughan. Still, he had not tackled anything quite like what was put on his plate once he showed up for his new job in 1986 - beginning with the fact that live Country shows were practically nonexistent in Music City.
"The Country artists who lived here didn't want to play in their hometown and not do well," Moore explained. "I was booking mainly rock 'n' roll in the late '80s, but I had my eye on the Country market. The rock 'n' roll business was totally out of control, a very tough environment. Country folks were more my kind of people."
Moore gradually trickled Country concerts into the Starwood schedule, beginning with a show that featured Merle Haggard and George Jones. His first sell-out event in the genre was headlined by Hank Williams Jr. By the time he was ready to leave Starwood and launch his own company, Moore Entertainment, he was immersed in the Country Music world - and had already served his first term on the CMA Board.
"CMA is a very special organization," he explained. "Some of its constituents are closely related. Some are not. Some are fierce competitors. But all of its members are connected. I venture to say that its strength goes back to the men and women who sit on the Board. The public would be very surprised at the amount of work the Board members give and how hard the CMA staff works to make this a meaningful organization."
CMA's commitment is crucial as uncertain prospects ensue, both in the music industry and the nation at large. Moore's segment of the industry has not borne the brunt of these changes as much as others, yet he is neither sanguine nor pessimistic about the future either for his business or for Country Music in general.
"For the concert business, the good news is that you can't download a seat," he noted. "On the other hand, there always has been a correlation between the sale of albums and the sale of tickets. So I don't think the live business is immune; it's just that our turn in the wheelhouse is next.
It's very challenging, but I still don't see doom-and-gloom as much as others, because Country Music is in the fabric of our country. People are going to sacrifice and make plans to attend CMA Music Festival. And the Festival will stay strong because its support comes from a broad spectrum of the country. That's a plus for us.
"The CMA Music Festival is a legacy event," he continued. "Younger artists need to be aware of where it came from, why it was started and how important it is for the fans. The same is true of the CMA Awards, which sets the mark for excellence as a television broadcast. They're both very special."
Moore expects to apply what he's learned fully and directly to widening the imprints made by the Festival and the Awards. "You can't come from the background I have and look at things like that through a different lens," he said. "For example, I want to help grow the Festival more locally, in Middle Tennessee and the Southeastern states. It's incumbent upon me to make a positive impact on this equation, and I plan on doing that in a couple of key areas."
Then, after pausing momentarily, the new President offered a more general reflection. "I try not to dwell on this a lot, but I'm thinking that I've been on the Board for a long time," he said. "I've seen a lot of people come and go. I never gave much thought to the importance of being in a leadership role in CMA and representing the membership. It's humbling for me, with where I come from. I'm just very grateful and thankful to be here."
An honored humanitarian, Moore is the Founder and President of the Shalom Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing educational, nutritional and medical assistance to underprivileged children and their families in Guatemala. He and his wife, Charmione, have three sons, Remick, Sterline and Hunter.
"I'm excited about Steve moving into his new role as President of the Board, although he's been a key player in implementing the Board's initiatives all year," said CMA Board Chairman Randy Goodman. "The president elect role may have been created as an under-the-radar way to bring new officers along slowly, but I know from experience that with the complexity of all our businesses right now having a third officer involved has become a must. Steve has already stepped up and has been making an immediate impact all year. As much as I will miss my day-to-day work with [former Chairman] Clarence [Spalding], I'm as excited about working with Steve. He brings an excitement, a sense of urgency and vision, which serves our Board and the broader Association well."
"Steve has already proven to us that he will be an invaluable leader of the 2009 team," said CMA CEO Tammy Genovese. "He has already rolled his sleeves up and has hit the ground running. It is great to see firsthand his passion for the music, the artists and our community. Steve also brings a different filter and fresh perspective to our core events, the CMA Music Festival and CMA Awards, and we are fortunate to have him step into this important leadership position as CMA and the industry face new challenges. I look forward to working with him in this role."
2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
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