NASHVILLE, Tenn., January 25, 2017 – The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will honor Traci Thomas in the tenth annual Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum on Wednesday, February 15, 2017, at 6:30 p.m. in the museum’s Ford Theater. Like Louise Scruggs, artist manager and Americana Music Association co-founder Traci Thomas has forged a career by elevating tradition-rich roots music-makers to popular acclaim. During the program, Thomas will speak about the ways that ingenuity and belief can help honest music triumph over marketplace norms. 

As a manager with Thirty Tigers entertainment company, Thomas helped Jason Isbell in his rise from overlooked singer-songwriter to his position as one of the new century’s most significant artists, and she has guided the more recent commercial ascent of Birmingham, Alabama-based soul band St. Paul and the Broken Bones. For two decades, Thomas has brought awareness to the work of Drive-By Truckers, Steve Earle, Kris Kristofferson, Old Crow Medicine Show and many others.

Her clients include Isbell, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, John Moreland, and Allison Moorer & Shelby Lynne.

Made possible by the Gibson Foundation, the Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum was established in 2007 to explore issues related to the business side of the music industry and to recognize annually an individual who represents the legacy of pioneering agent-manager Louise Scruggs, the adoring wife and savvy business partner of Country Music Hall of Fame member Earl Scruggs. Previous honorees include Kay Clary, Bonnie Garner, Mary Martin, Jo Walker-Meador, Nancy Shapiro, Denise Stiff, Liz Thiels, and Sarah Trahern.

The program is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested. Reservations can be made by emailing eventsrsvp@countrymusichalloffame.org or by calling 615-416-2081. For more information about the event, please visit http://bit.ly/2jWf8xA.

About Louise Scruggs

Louise Scruggs set new professional standards in artist management and played a key role in bringing the music of Flatt & Scruggs and the Earl Scruggs Revue to audiences well beyond the traditional country norm—a role she relished until her death in 2006. A doting wife and mother, accomplished in the domestic arts, and a culturally literate accountant who was nobody's fool, Scruggs was known for her knowledge of music and music trends, and better known for the formidable business acumen that helped her open or close doors in the best interests of her husband and sons. Protective, stern and confident as a businesswoman, she loved music as a life force central to her being and her humanity. On September 30, 2010, Louise Scruggs was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.

Founded in 2002 as the philanthropic division of Gibson Brands, 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. 

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The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum collects, preserves, and interprets country music and its history for the education and entertainment of diverse audiences. In exhibits, publications, and educational programs, the museum explores the cultural importance and enduring beauty of the art form. The museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, and in 2015 welcomed over one million patrons, placing it among the ten most-visited history museums in the U.S. The Country Music Foundation operates Historic RCA Studio B, Hatch Show Print® poster shop, CMF Records, the Frist Library and Archive, and CMF Press. Museum programs are supported by the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and the Tennessee Arts Commission.

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

The Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums