Music
Prepare to Be Blown Away: These 23 MTS Management Group Artists Rocked the International Singer Songwriter Association Awards!
The International Singer Songwriters Association has recently announced the finalists for its upcoming awards ceremony. We are delighted to share that 23 MTS Management Group artists have been included in this esteemed list. Notable among the finalists are Gary Pratt from Pittsburgh with six nominations, Pamela Hopkins from Little Rock with five, John Blangero from Texas with two, Ludlow Creek from Dayton Ohio with two, Jen Ash from Los Angeles with one, and two Ontario-based artists, Tia McGraff and Cory M. Coons, with two nominations each. The awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in Atlanta, GA on August 5th.
For a comprehensive list of all the finalists, we invite you to visit https://issasongwriters.com/2023-finalists/.
The International Singer Songwriters Association was established by Tamanie Dove, a Nashville-born and raised singer-songwriter who now resides in Atlanta. The organization is dedicated to promoting and supporting independent artists, as well as recognizing and fostering aspiring and professional singers and songwriters across all music genres worldwide.
“We are thrilled to have so many of our talented artists named as finalists in the ISSA Awards,” said Michael Stover, President of MTS Management Group. “These awards recognize excellence in music on an international level, and we are honored to be a part of it. We wish all of our artists the best of luck at the awards ceremony.”
MTS Management Group is a full-service artist management company based in Pittsburgh, PA, representing artists in the genres of country, Americana, rock, and pop. The company has worked with a variety of artists, including Grammy Winners, Juno Winners and Billboard charting hitmakers.
For more information about MTS Management Group and their roster of artists, please visit their website at www.mtsmanagementgroup.com.
Artist Spotlight
Lana Crow turns challenges into a celebration with “Laugh With You”
“Laugh With You,” the latest single from Lana Crow, is a sincere rallying cry to embrace life in all its messy, beautiful mess. In the song, indie pop and alt-pop combine to deliver an emotional blow that feels both personal and universal.
“Laugh With You” feels like an instant connection, and Crow is telling you stories of hard times with a cozy, knowing smile. This song is as much about struggle as it is about how strong you are. It serves as a reminder that these struggles are simply what give us the strength to keep going, even when life is tough.
Crow encourages people to welcome them, create happiness in the cracks, and laugh even as the world gets heavy. The result is a song that delicately nudges you to love and embrace yourself. It is an anthem for anyone experiencing tough times who refuses to give up hope. Lana Crow continues to demonstrate her songwriting skills, both musically pleasing and emotionally rich, with “Laugh With You.”
It’s a reminder that it’s how we respond to tough times, rather than how they affect us, that’s key. With this song, not only does Crow provide us with music, but she also lets us know that sometimes a laugh is what we need to remember that there is always something to smile about and that, even when it feels like life has waged war against you, laughter can still be found.
Artist Spotlight
Lisa Boostani creates a mesmerizing tidal realm in “Ocean”
Lisa Boostani’s “Ocean” takes you deep into a sensory world where body, spirit, and myth come together, beyond the surface of genre. Boostani makes a soundscape that is both ethereal and deeply human by combining the broad essence of psychedelic pop with the strong appeal of alternative rock.
Her voice rises as if it is coming from deep within her, shaped by emotion rather than action. She intentionally channels the intangible, turning weakness into strength rather than a source of pain, and “Ocean” tells people to get involved in this inner world, not just watch it. This release is an integral part of her first EP, “One,” which will come out in March 2026 and is based on love, sensuality, and unity.
If “Ocean” is any indication, the EP will show sensuality not as something pretty, but as a kind of spiritual intelligence, a way to know yourself by connecting with others. The song’s textures and structure have an aquatic quality, moving between clarity and delirium, rhythm and freedom. Its emotional focus is on immersion instead of resolution.
The striking quality of “Ocean” is the blend of the mystical worlds. Boostani understands that strength often shows up as gentleness and that deep feelings are better expressed through frequencies than words. She wants people to see consciousness as immediacy, sensation as truth, and openness as an undeniable strength.
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