Louise Scruggs

Nashville, Tenn. - In honor of the late music industry pioneer Louise Scruggs, the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum will host a special interview with Denise Stiff, artist manager for Alison Krauss, on Tuesday, November 13, at 6:00 p.m. The Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum, made possible by the Gibson Foundation, will explore issues related to the business side of the music industry and will be presented annually to honor a music industry leader who represents the legacy of pioneer Louise Scruggs. The event, which takes place in the Museum’s Ford Theater, will include an in-depth interview with Stiff, supplemented with photos, film footage and audio recordings culled from the Museum’s collection. A reception will follow the program. Admission is free.

Louise Scruggs’ understanding of music and musical trends, coupled with her formidable business acumen, allowed her to steer her husband Earl Scruggs’ career in the direction of ever-widening audiences. In 1955, she began booking and managing the Flatt & Scruggs show and continued to guide her husband’s career until her passing in February 2006. She was the first woman in country music to assume these roles, and she set new standards for the industry.

“It is altogether fitting that we undertake this annual salute to Louise Scruggs with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum,” says Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. “Louise’s attention to detail and strong commitment to her family’s music is very much in keeping with the Museum’s mission and the Gibson Foundation’s goal of advancing education for music and the arts.”

Like Louise Scruggs, Denise Stiff has forged an unconventional path through the music industry with an open-ended, broad-minded interpretation of country music. By presenting traditional music in fresh, innovative ways, Stiff has helped the music-and her artist clients-find legions of new fans. Stiff is owner of DS Management and manager of twenty-time Grammy winner Alison Krauss. Stiff spotted the young fiddler and singer at an International Bluegrass Music Association showcase in Owensboro, Kentucky. Today, Stiff’s clients include Alison Krauss and Union Station, Jedd Hughes and Dan Tyminski. She was executive producer of music for the feature film O Brother, Where Art Thou? and producer of the subsequent Down from the Mountain Tour. She also was associate producer of the Down from the Mountain album and of the Great High Mountain Tour (2004) featuring music from the movies O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Cold Mountain.

“Denise has done wonderful things for Alison and for traditional music,” said Country Music Hall of Fame member Earl Scruggs. “Louise would be pleased to know that Denise was selected for this first forum in her honor.”

Founded in 2002 as the philanthropic division of Gibson Guitar, the Gibson Foundation is committed to making the world a better place for children worldwide through its own initiatives and by its support of other non-profit organizations that advance music and the arts, health and welfare, education and environmental causes. For more information please visit www.gibsonfoundation.org or www.gibson.com.

More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum is available at www.countrymusichalloffame.com or by calling (615) 416-2001.

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The funeral of Grand Ole Opry star Porter Wagoner will be held Thursday, November 1, at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN at 11 a.m.

Wagoner, 80, died of lung cancer Sunday night, October 28.

Visitation will be held from 2-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 31 at Woodlawn Funeral Home, 660 Thompson Lane, Nashville, TN. Internment will be at Woodlawn Cemetery following the funeral.

Contributions can be made to the Alive Hospice or the Opry Trust Fund.

The visitation and funeral are open to the public.

“Losing Porter is going to take a whole lot of getting used to as he’s been a part of my life for so long. I grew up watching his television show in Mississippi, and it was as if he were a member of our family. After I got to know him, he was.”Marty Stuart

XM radio to pay tribute to Porter Wagoner

Porter Wagoner will be remembered with programming by XM Satellite Radio this week.

The Porter Wagoner episode of “Bill Anderson Visits with the Legends” will air all day Tuesday on XMX (XM 2).

A memorial show will air Tuesday on XM’s classic country channel “America” (XM 10) at 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. eastern, featuring a retrospective of his songs, as well as interviews and highlights from Wagoner’s career.

An encore of Bob Edwards’s conversation with Porter Wagoner, originally broadcast in June, will air on Friday, Nov. 2 at 7 a.m. eastern on “America” (XM 10). Wagoner discussed his life in country music as well as his final project, the critically acclaimed “Wagonmaster,” which was produced by country artist and XM host Marty Stuart.

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