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
Dan Webb creates a captivating reflection on change with “Hungry Ghosts”
Clive Deamer, Dennis Hamm, and Bob Lanzetti all feature on Dan Webb’s latest release, “Hungry Ghosts,” which is a track of real-time transformation. A great blend of psychedelic jazz and rock, the track delivers a deep, immersive experience.
The song’s lyrics touch on the emotional difficulty of closing one part of life and opening up a new one. One of the defining features of “Hungry Ghosts” is Webb’s own vision, as composer, arranger, producer, performer, and mixer, which shines with an unmistakably personal energy. The song is about the displacement, reinvention, and psychological transition, and captures the uncertainty and possibility of starting a life in unfamiliar surroundings.
Clive Deamer’s ever-shifting drumming provides a foundation, and Dennis Hamm’s keyboards add depth and texture to the sound. Bob Lanzetti’s guitar work runs through the arrangement with fluid precision, helping to create a dreamlike sound. “Hungry Ghosts” is mastered by Joe Lambert, and the production explores movement and space, mirroring the song’s theme of past and future selves. All in all, this is a great example of psychedelic jazz rock that rewards multiple listenings. This is a meditative, adventurous, and emotionally resonant exploration of transformation and the courage to start again.
Artist Spotlight
French Inhaler explores desire and disconnection through “TV LOVE”
Chicago trio French Inhaler make a bold start with “TV LOVE,” the first single from their upcoming album “Practiced Lines.” It’s a song that finds a band able to make contemporary fears danceable but also think deeply about them with post-punk urgency and synth-pop atmosphere.
The song is about the gap between people’s desires and reality, and about the contradictions of living in an age of hyper-connectivity but emotional disconnection. “TV LOVE” opens with a cold sound built on mechanical drum grooves, melodic basslines, and synth textures. The production is deliberately tight and precise, mirroring themes threaded throughout the song.
Everything combines to create a tension that draws you into a world where connection is increasingly mediated by screens, expectations, and distorted perceptions. In terms of vocals, the performance is perfectly suited to the aesthetic of the track, somewhere between detachment and openness. “TV LOVE” is a primer for “Practiced Lines” and demonstrates that French Inhaler is a band with a defined artistic identity and a strong sense of purpose. It’s an immersive, stylish, and thought-provoking record that lingers, cementing the Chicago trio as a promising new voice in the modern post-punk and synth-pop scene.
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