10-TIME CMA MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR MAC MCANALLY KICKS OFF PIEDMONT TRIAD CHARITABLE FOUNDATION “LIVE MUSIC VIBE” INITIATIVE

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Ten-time CMA Musician of the Year Mac McAnally was in Greensboro last night for a concert at OneThirteen Brewhouse + Rooftop Bar to officially kick off the Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation’s “Live Music Vibe” Initiative.

“This program will be comprised of three pillars: partnering with Mac McAnally on a singer-songwriter series, introducing up-and-coming musical artists to our region and providing more performing opportunities for our local musicians, Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation CEO Mark Brazil said. “Some of the venues will be in bars, some in larger clubs and others at outdoor festivals of various sizes. Just like we’ve done with the Wyndham Championship on the PGA TOUR, we want to make a splash in the music industry.”

McAnally is one of the most-accomplished musicians in the country, but he might be best known as a tenured member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band. Prior to his performance last night, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame nominee joined Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation chairman Bobby Long and CEO Mark Brazil to officially kick off the “Live Music Vibe” initiative. He has a keen ear for up-and-coming talent and knows the importance of performing live music.

“We had this initial conversation (among Buffet, McAnally and Long) prior to the pandemic, and the pandemic has accentuated a couple of things I think can play as an advantage for this region because the way music is monetized has totally changed in the last couple of years,” McAnally said. “In the 1950’s, the record business was really just a promotional tool for the touring business, and then the record business got bigger than the touring business. At the moment, nobody’s buying records so I actually think it’s good for music itself that bands have to go out and learn how to play live music again.”

“For so many up-and-coming musicians, who have so much talent, and these guys have an eye for that talent, life gets in the way; they end up not being able to fulfill that dream,” Long said. “They can’t get close to Nashville or Austin which are the two live music capitals of the world. We’d like to create the third leg of that stool, and we think it can be in our region because of the way Mark, the Wyndham Team, Wyndham’s hospitality and inclusiveness work together. If you show that to these musicians, they’ll come back and keep coming back.”

The Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation also oversees operations of the PGA TOUR’s Wyndham Championship, the final regular-season event in the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup season. A major part of the Wyndham Championship business model is to identify the rising stars of professional golf, build relationships with them, and host them with a high level of Wyndham Rewards hospitality when they play the Wyndham Championship.

“You guys can provide an opportunity that’s welcoming because of the hospitality you deliver,” McAnally said. “I think what you have here, in the way of community, is gonna be such an inviting point for somebody trying to build up their touring fan base and build up their skills, too, because a place to play and for people to appreciate what you’re doing is invaluable.

“As a personal note, myself, having primarily sung to cell phone for the last two years, I’m grateful to play live music,” McAnally said to Long. “As grateful as I am to have made music all these years, I will never take for granted what it means to play music with people, for people. It’s one of the most amazing things in the world. I’ve been to a lot of cities with Jimmy and without him; I’ve played all over the world in more places than I ever imagined I would, but I’ve actually never known of a nexus of people with the intent of this group of people you’ve assembled, Bobby, and the wherewithal to pursue it. It’s remarkable.”

The Foundation will apply that Wyndham hospitality model to rising stars in music. Though its relationship with McAnally and Buffett, the Foundation will identify the talented musicians and provide them with opportunities to play in front of a live audience at high-quality venues throughout central North Carolina. The Foundation will focus on up-and-coming young artists as well as those from North Carolina and the greater southeast and provide them with opportunities to perform and make money. 

“One of the main things I know, as musicians, that we appreciate, is just literally being treated well,” McAnally said. “My first impression of this region is it’s an area with the manners of an excellent small town, and that’s a great combination.”