Kane Brown Launches His Own Label, 1021 Entertainment
Kane Brown has started a record label, 1021 Entertainment, in a joint venture with Sony Music Nashville. The new imprint — not to mention the singer's role as a tastemaker — are just the latest signs of Brown's ascendancy to country music's top echelon.
Along with the announcement comes the news of 1021's first signing, the Nashville-based trio Restless Road, whose debut single with the joint label deal, "Took One Look at Her Momma," arrived this week. Brown has lent a hand to Restless Road in the past, adding them as an opening act to his Worldwide Beautiful Tour dates and appearing on a version of the group's John Denver-indebted "Take Me Home."
Together, 1021 and Sony are ready to help Restless Road reach a bigger audience than ever before. The group comprises vocalists Zach Beeken and Colton Pack, who first met each other at 2013 auditions for The X Factor, where Brown was also present. After Beeken and Pack got eliminated, creator Simon Cowell teamed them up with singer Andrew Scholz to form Restless Road, and the trio ultimately finished fourth on the Season 3 finale. Since then, vocalist Garrett Nichols has replaced Scholz.
Listen to Restless Road's "Took One Look at Her Momma":
"I want to give people chances to succeed," Brown says in a statement. "With 1021 Entertainment, I feel like we have a platform and team that can mentor and build up talent in country music. With my own label, I want to use it as an opportunity to shape and promote artists that may not have gotten a chance otherwise, for Restless Road and others in the future."
Margaret Tomlin, Sony Music Nashville's A&R director, adds that the company is "excited to welcome Restless Road to [our] roster. Colton, Zach and Garrett each bring undeniable talent, dedication and innovation to this trio. It has also been rewarding to collaborate on this project with Kane and watch him mentor and advise as a label partner in ways only a superstar artist can."
"Took One Look at Her Momma" was penned by Restless Road with Lindsay Rimes and Andy Albert. It playfully explores the belief that women can be quite similar to their mothers. The trio got inspired to write about the topic after considering some advice from Nichols' father.
"The song stemmed from a really entertaining conversation my dad and I had where he was basically sharing fatherly wisdom on everything from fishing to finding the right woman," Nichols shares. "We loved the idea of 'Took One Look at Her Momma' as a song title, and once we all got into the writing room, it came together pretty quickly from there."