CMA Songwriters Series Announces Phoenix Performance

The Country Music Association's acclaimed CMA Songwriters Series Presented by
U.S. Bank has announced a performance in Phoenix at Mesa Arts Center's Piper Repertory Theater Wednesday, Aug. 21 featuring Lauren Alaina, Ingrid Andress, Marti Lynn Dodson and Mickey Guyton. The series hosts an intimate round of performances with some of Country Music's top songwriters taking turns sharing the stories behind their hit songs and performing them as originally written. Tickets for the performance start at $23 plus service fees and go on sale Friday, July 19 at 12:00 PM/CT through Mesa Arts Center. $1 of each ticket sold will benefit the CMA Foundation, CMA's philanthropic arm, which is committed to improving and sustaining high quality music education programs across the United States.

While in Phoenix, the CMA Foundation and U.S. Bank will visit with students and teachers from the Phoenix Conservatory of Music, a grantee of the CMA Foundation that aspires to be the leading music education provider for school-age children across the Metro Phoenix area and provide programming that enriches the lives, minds and hearts of the entire community. The visit is part of U.S. Bank's Community Possible giving and engagement platform and its Places to Play partnership with the CMA Foundation.

The Aug. 21 CMA Songwriters Series Presented by U.S. Bank show will also include a special performance by a College Prep Program student from Phoenix Conservatory of Music.

The CMA Foundation and U.S. Bank will visit four additional cities this year - including Albuquerque, Charlotte, Minneapolis and Portland - to provide deserving programs with much needed music education enrichment.

Lauren Alaina
Platinum-selling Country star Lauren Alaina's critically-acclaimed sophomore album,?Road Less Traveled,?landed on multiple "Best Of" lists including Billboard, Rolling Stone and Amazon, and it became the top-streamed female Country album release of 2017. Praised as "full of life lessons and uplift" (PEOPLE), the collection of 12 songs all written by the young star includes her first No. 1 smash, "Road Less Traveled," the Top 25 hit "Doin' Fine," and the deeply personal and inspiring, "Three." The Georgia native's latest, "Ladies in the '90s," is a fun, upbeat song that pays homage to an era and the artists who helped define her youth and cultivate her love for music and song. The "sassy Southerner with killer pipes" (PARADE) has shared the stage with superstars including Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride and Carrie Underwood. She recently wrapped the?2019 Friends and Heroes Tour?with Blake Shelton and will embark on her first headlining?That Girl Was Me?Tour?this fall.?Following the release of?Road Less Traveled, she has received multiple nominations for the CMA Awards, ACM Awards, CMT Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards, Radio Disney Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards including taking home last year's ACM New Female Vocalist of the Year award and CMT Collaborative Video of the Year award for "What Ifs," the 4x Platinum-selling No. 1 hit with childhood friend, Kane Brown. She is one of CMT's Next Women of Country and she received her very first CMT Music Award for Breakthrough Video of the Year with her No. 1 hit "Road Less Traveled." Read more at LaurenAlainaOfficial.com.

Ingrid Andress
"A Country pop rookie who can write a chorus like Sia," (PAPER), Ingrid Andress continues to chip away at expectations of herself and her sound. Her "elegantly written" (The New York Times) debut single "More Hearts Than Mine" recently became the most-added new song at Country radio ahead of its TV debut on "TODAY" and has been praised by HITS magazine for its "honesty and vulnerability virtually absent on Country radio." Earlier this year, Andress also shared the empowering "Both" and anthemic "Lady Like," which she performed on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" less than two months following its release. With several co-writer credits to her name, including Charli XCX's "Boys" and FLETCHER's "About You," Andress first honed her skills writing with heavy hitters in the music community such as Sam Hunt and Alicia Keys. Declared as "arguably one of the most creative tunesmiths to call Nashville home in recent memory" by CMT, she will continue to release new music in 2019 that proves her to be one of the most unique and moving vocalists in the Country space and beyond; one that is thrillingly honest, raw and refreshing in a way rarely seen emanating from Music City. Read more at IngridAndress.com.

Marti Lynn Dodson
Marti Lynn Dodson is a BMI Award-winning singer/songwriter from Franklin Furnace, Ohio. She founded pop/rock band Saving Jane as a student at Ohio State University, and the band went on to become one of the highest charting independent bands of the 2000's, earning Gold and Platinum status with their songs "Girl Next Door" and "Supergirl." Dodson's music has been featured in shows and commercials on NBC, ABC, MTV, the WE network and TLC, and she has co-written theme songs used in the Olympics, Nascar and on NBC's "The Voice." Dodson moved to Nashville in 2013 and began a career as a staff songwriter, penning songs for Luke Bryan, Terri Clark, Kira Isabella, The Shires, Thompson Square and Carter Winter, including Spin magazine's Best Country Song of The Year and the Top 25 Country Song Of The Year lists for Rolling Stone and NPR.

Mickey Guyton
Mickey Guyton was born in Arlington, Texas and moved around the Lone Star state as a child due to her father's job, but found music to be a constant in her nomadic life. She began singing in church and was drawn to a variety of artists with big voices including Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton, LeAnn Rimes and Cece Winans. After signing to Capitol Records Nashville, Guyton's first appearance was an all-star concert at the White House captured by PBS. In 2015 she released her self-titled EP featuring her debut single "Better Than You Left Me." The single made Country Aircheck history as the single highest one-week add total for a debut first single. In 2016 she was nominated for her for first ACM Award for New Female Vocalist, and at this year's ACM Awards, she performed "I'm Standing With You. from the "Breakthrough" movie soundtrack alongside Lauren Alaina, Maddie & Tae, Chrissy Metz and Carrie Underwood. Guyton has been focused on her songwriting the last few years and recently released a new song, "Sister," which she co-wrote with Victoria Banks and Nathan Spicer. She has been featured on "CBS This Morning," ABC's "Good Morning America" and NBC's "TODAY" show. Guyton has also been spotlighted in PEOPLE, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Rolling Stone & Billboard. Read more at MickeyGuyton.com.

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