Arista Nashville is an American

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

that serves as a wholly owned division of

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division. Founded in 1989, the label specializes in

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

artists, including

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as " neotraditional country"), as well as penning man ...

, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, and

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single " Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bil ...

,. The label used to operate three sister labels: Career Records, Arista Austin, and Arista Latin. It is a subsidiary of

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...

since Arista's relaunch in 2018, but during the dissolution, Arista Nashville was not affected and it remains a Sony Music label.

History

Prior to the formation of its Nashville branch, parent company

released recordings by Tanya Tucker and

Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter. She has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two Grammy Awards, in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet " Up Where We Belong" and in 1987 fo ...

in the country music market during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Plans for a Nashville branch of Arista were considered by label founder Clive Davis as early as 1980, but an industry slump at the time caused its delay. In 1989, Davis teamed with songwriter

Tim DuBois James Timothy DuBois (born May 4, 1948 is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Nashville-based songwriter and recording industry executive who has headed both Arista Records (Nashville Division) and Universal South Records. As a songwrit ...

to form Arista Nashville. The label's initial roster included

Asleep at the Wheel Asleep at the Wheel is an American Western swing group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception, released over twenty albums, and has charted mor ...

, Lee Roy Parnell,

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis and ex-wife of songwriter Bob DiPiero. Tillis recorded unsuccessful ...

, and Michelle Wright. Other artists who recorded on the label within its first five years included Blackhawk, Brooks & Dunn, Rob Crosby, Linda Davis, Diamond Rio, Exile, Radney Foster, Dude Mowrey, The Tractors, and Steve Wariner. The label founded Arista Texas in 1993, a sub-label specializing in Texas music artists. In 1997, it was split into Arista Austin, which featured Jeff Black, Radney Foster, Robert Earl Keen, and Abra Moore, and a Spanish-language label called Arista Latin. Another sub-label, Career Records, was launched in 1995 with Lee Roy Parnell transferred to this label, while Brett James and

Tammy Graham Tammy Wynette Graham (born February 7, 1968) is an American country music artist. Active as a singer and self-taught pianist since childhood, she first gained attention in her hometown before moving to Las Vegas and subsequently to Nashville, ...

were newly signed to it. All three artists moved back to Arista Nashville when Career Records was dissolved. While Graham and James were dropped from it soon afterward, James re-signed to Arista Nashville between 2002 and 2003. From 2005 to 2017, Arista Nashville, Arista Records, and 19 Recordings promoted and distributed recordings by ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to A ...

'' winner

. In late 2009, Brad Paisley launched a personal label, Sea Gayle, which is distributed through Arista. The label's first signee was Jerrod Niemann. During the years after the dissolution of

in 2011, Arista Nashville became

's only label using the Arista name until Sony re-launched Arista Records in July 2018.

Current artists

Adam Doleac Adam Doleac is an American country music singer/songwriter signed to Arista Nashville. He has written songs with Darius Rucker and Kane Brown. Background Doleac grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. His father and grandfather ran an electr ...

* Ryan Hurd * Old Dominion * Brad Paisley * Seaforth * Nate Smith * Morgan Wade

Formerly on Arista Nashville

* Brent Anderson * Carlton Anderson * Keith Anderson *

* Sherrié Austin *

Adam Brand Adam Brand may refer to: *Adam Brand (explorer) Adam Brand (born before 1692 in Lübeck- died 1746 in Königsberg ) was a German merchant and explorer. He was born in Lübeck and undertook several trading journeys to Moscow. In 1692 the czar Pet ...

* Blackhawk * BR549 * Kix Brooks * Shannon Brown * Cam * Deana Carter * Jason Michael Carroll * Jim Collins * Kristy Lee Cook * Rob Crosby *Robert Counts * Clint Daniels * Linda Davis * Diamond Rio * The Doobie Brothers * Ronnie Dunn * Seth Ennis * Exile * Radney Foster * The Henningsens * Rebecca Lynn Howard *

* Brett James * Carolyn Dawn Johnson * Jypsi * Kristen Kelly *

Lanco Lanco may refer to: * Lanco, Chile, a city and commune * Lanco (band), an American country music band * Lanco, the stage name of Alberto Gallego, a Spanish musician and football manager * Lanco Infratech, an Indian business conglomerate * LATAM ...

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albu ...

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill ...

* Logan Mize * Dude Mowrey *Joel Nava * Jerrod Niemann * Lee Roy Parnell *Ben Rue * The Sisterhood * Matt Stell * The Swon Brothers *

* The Tractors * Ryan Tyler *

* Phil Vassar * Steve Wariner * Calvin Wiggett * Michelle Wright

Formerly on Career Records

* Brett James * Lee Roy Parnell

Formerly on Arista Austin

* Jeff Black * Radney Foster * Robert Earl Keen * Abra Moore * Sister 7 *

Townes Van Zandt John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Arista Records RCA Records Music Group Sony Music American country music record labels Record labels established in 1989 Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee