Stacy Harris
Stacy Harris
Stacy Harris, the American-born publisher and executive editor of Stacy's Music Row Report, is an internationally-known author, country-music historian, researcher and authority, media personality, music industry and popular culture analyst, columnist, broadcast journalist, feature writer, book and music reviewer, public speaker, book reviewer, pundit, voice talent, actress, arts critic and polymath.
She has been featured in The Yearbook of Experts, Authorities and Spokespersons (16th Edition) and has been interviewed by scores of national and international and local news organizations.
Raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Stacy Harris has covered the Nashville music scene for over 45 years.
She is widely-known as known as the "Doyenne of Nashville's Country-Music Journalists" in recognition of her unequaled tenure as Nashville's only independent source of country-music news and informed opinion.
Harris' leadership has been recognized by the International Bluegrass Music Association.
An alumna of IBMA's inaugural Leadership Bluegrass class, Harris pays it forward, recommending and mentoring future Leadership Music class members in her present role as a member of the Leadership Bluegrass Alumni Association and as a volunteer at IBMA's annual World of Bluegrass Convention.
Stacy Harris' many "firsts" range from her contributing country-music-themed crossword puzzles to Inside Country Music to The Nashville Business Journal's having credited her with pioneering country-music coverage on the Internet.
She has written for several entertainment trade and special interest publications, including Billboard, Cash Box, Record World, Amusement Business, Performance, CMA Close Up, Satellite Business, Goldmine and Music Row.
A former editor of Country Song Roundup, Country Spirit, Spotlight on Country, Trading Posts, Prairie Country News and the Upper Midwest Country & Western News-Scene magazines, Stacy's writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Business Week, US, Look, McCall's, Entertainment Weekly, New Woman, Music City News, Country Music, Country Music People, The Journal of Country Music, Tune-In, Dell Horoscope, Hit Parader, Country News, Overdrive, Country Style, Entertainment Express, Take One, Music Galore, Chicago Country, Country Fever, The Current, That's Country, The Nashville Gazette, The Fan Letter, Country Rhythms, The Nashville Scene, Music City Loafer, Don Fitzpatrick's Shop Talk and in North-Central Connecticut's Journal Inquirer.
She motivated readers as a columnist for the Nashville Banner ("Community Voices") and The Tennessean ("Nashville Eye").
Harris' published books include Classic Country (2005, hardcover); The Best of Country: The Essential CD Guide (1993, paperback); Comedians of Country Music (1978, hardcover); and The Carter Family (1978, hardcover), while her credits as a contributing author include entries in What Brings You Joy (2014, paperback) The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture (1998, hardcover), You Are So Nashville If... (1998, paperback) and chapters in Country Music Stars and the Supernatural (1979, paperback).
Harris' books, which are available worldwide, are featured in the catalogues and collections of The British Library.
Harris' contributions have been acknowledged in books written by Alanna Nash, Robert Oermann, Jean Roseman, John S. Dunne, Diane Diekman, Carl Perkins with David McGee, co-authors Lol Henderson and Lee Stacey, Eileen Sisk, Ivan Tribe, Rebecca Condon, Steve Eng, Tom C. Armstrong, Lol Henderson, Cliff Linedecker, Stephen Miller, Anne Fletcher, Staff Sgt. Barry (Ballad of the Green Beret) Sadler, Warren B. Causey, Lee Stacey, Mary Hance, Rick Marschall, Carol Fradkin, B. Lee Cooper and Michael Freemark and by Adam Compton in The Texas State Historical Association's The Handbook of Texas Online.
Further, authors Karen Breen and Judith Silverman acknowledged Harris' children's books in the Index to Collective Biographies for Young Readers (1988) while author Hao Huang cited Harris' oeuvre in Music in the 20th Century, Volume 2 (1999).
Ryan Carlson Bernard cited Harris' work in the footnotes to The Rise and Fall of the Hillbilly Music Genre: A History, 1922-1939, a thesis presented to the faculty of East Tennessee State University's Department of Liberal Studies, "in partial fulfillment of the requirements" for obtaining a 2006 Master's Degree in Liberal Studies at ETSU.
She established herself as a production consultant for Nashville's WLAC-TV's Digest '79 and Nashville's WNGE-TV's Brian Christie's Starflash, a local and national news monitor for Broadcast News Clips and as an Insider's Viewpoint guest commentator for the Nashville Network (TNN's Country Notes) and for Nashville's WSM-TV.
Profiled in publications ranging from The Yearbook of Experts, Authorities and Spokespersons (16th Edition) to National Property Law Digests, Harris has been interviewed by such national and international news organizations as the Associated Press, BBC World Services, BBC 4 Scotland, CBS Radio News, WKRN-TV News (Nashville), WLAC Radio and WTN Radio (Nashville).
Locally, she has been interviewed by Jerry Dahmen, for WSM Radio's I Love Life!, Phil Williams and Andy Cordan for WKRN-TV News, LaTonya Turner for WSMV-TV News and Miranda Cohen, Skye Arnold and Liane Jackson for Fox 17 News.
She has been featured in national commercials for Old Style Beer and White Rain and in a regional ad for the Southern Olds Family automobile dealerships.
She modeled for the Backstage hair salons chain.
A Nashville Banner book reviewer for 22 years, Harris was the last person to interview Hee Haw /Grand Ole Opry star David "Stringbean* Akeman within hours of Akeman's murder.
That now-famous interview became the front-page lead story for the Banner's November 12, 1973 edition and the tape of the historic event- which famed producer/session player Fred Carter, Jr.. (a/k/a Deana Carter's father) wanted to buy from Harris- is available at no charge to researchers at the Country Music Foundation library in Nashville.
Harris has been interviewed by abcnews.com, Poz Magazine, Glenn Whipp, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Daily News,, Chad Dougatz, of launch.com and the Launch.com Radio Network’s New York bureau, Dave Retseck, a reporter for Crystal Lake, Illinois’Northwest Herald, BBC Business News reporter Kate Noble, WMAQ-TV (Chicago) weekend co-anchor/reporter Anna Davlantes, by Steve Penbrook, arts and entertainment editor for the (Fort Wayne, Indiana) Journal Gazette, Family Chronicles' contributor Barbara Krasner-Khait and BackStory with American History Guys (VFH radio) hosts Ed Ayers, Peter Onuf and Brian Balogh.
Harris has been the subject of articles appearing in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Albany Democrat Herald, the Albany Times Union, the Allentown Morning Call, the Anchorage Daily News, Argus Press, the Austin American-Statesman, the Beaumont Enterprise, the Bellingham Herald, the Buffalo News, the Casper Star-Tribune, the Centre Daily Times, the Charlotte Observer, the Conta Costa Times, the Corvallis Gazette Times, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, the Columbus Telegram, the Connecticut Post, the Daily Herald, the Daily Journal, the Daily News Journal, the Danbury News Times, the Erie Times-News , the Fresno Bee, Forbes, the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the Galveston County Daily News, the Gettysburg Times, the Greenfield Daily Reporter, Greenwich Time, the Hendersonville Times-News, the Houston Chronicle, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the Kansas City Star, the Kennebec Journal, the Kingsport Times News, the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Las Vegas Sun, the Lebanon Daily News, theledger.com, the Lompoc Record, maximumedge.com, the Marin Independent Journal, the Miami Herald, Iowa's Mitchell County Press-News, the Monterey County Herald, the Morning Sentinel, the Muscatine Journal, mycentraloregon.com, the Myrtle Beach Sun News, the Napa Valley Register, Newsday, newser.com, newysstocks.com, northjersey.com, the Oakland Tribune, the Oklahoman, the O rlando Sentinel, the Press Herald, The Republic, the Sacramento Bee, salon.com, the San Antonio Expres s, the San Diego Union Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Luis Obispo Tribune, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the Seattle Times, the Stamford Advocate, the StarNews, the StarTribune, the State, the Sun Herald, the Tuscaloosa News, the Ventura County Star, the Victoria Advocate, the Washington Post, the Watertown Daily Times, the Westport News, the Wilkes Barre Times-Leader, the Winona Daily News, the Worcester Telegram and online destinations including WBIR.com, usfinancepost.com,thestarpress.com, journalism.co.uk, Golden Graham On-Line, Wild Horse Entertainment South Africa and tngovwatch.org.
Kitty Kelley, the best-selling biographer, interviewed Harris for Kelley's biography of Oprah Winfrey titledOprah: A Biography .
Harris has been the subject of news stories on KTRV-TV (Nampa, Idaho), WHEC-TV (Rochester, New York), WBRC-TV (Birmingham, Alabama), WNYT-TV (Albany, New York), KOB-TV (Albuquerque, New Mexico), WIS-TV (Columbia, South Carolina), WECT-TV (Wilmington, Delaware), KIVI-TV (Boise, Idaho), KAAL-TV (Austin, Minnesota), KIII-TV (Corpus Christi, Texas), KOLD-TV (Tucson, Arizona), WBHQ-TV (Memphis, Tennessee), KTTC-TV (Rochester, Minnesota), KTVN-TV (Reno, Nevada), KSRO Radio (Santa Rosa, California), KTRK-TV (Houston, Texas), WRCB-TV (Chattanooga, Tennessee), WREG-TV (Memphis, Tennessee) and WHNT-TV (Huntsville, Alabama).
A sidekick and permanent guest host for WLAC-Radio's The Bill Karlson Show (later The Bill Karlson Show, with Stacy Harris), for two years Harris assisted Karlson in conveying his message of how listeners in 28 states and three countries can Get Top $$ In A Job You Love.
A past-president of the National Entertainment Journalists Association (NEJA), Stacy's other professional memberships include/have included American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT), The Country Music Association (CMA), the Academy of Country Music (ACM), the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), Mensa, the National Press Club, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, (NATAS) and the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE).
Harris is a graduate of the University of Maryland and Vanderbilt University, having also taken college prep courses at the College of Emporia (earning college credit while still in high school) and songwriting classes at Middle Tennessee State University.
(Songwriting credits include Permanent Record , based on a Newsweek essay, copyright 1996)
She is a graduate of Nashville's Citizen's Police Academy and is a member of its alumni association.
Harris moderated Jews in Country Music, a panel discussion featuring performers/songwriters Jen Cohen and Andie Jennings, music video writer/producer/director Steve Goldmann, marketing executive Neal Spielberg, musicians Eric Silver and Jonathan Yudkin and attorney specializing in music business clients Ellen McDonald during the Southern Jewish Historical Society's 23rd Annual Conference (at Nashville's Doubletree Hotel).
This honor was followed, in 1999, by the Southern Jewish Historical Society's publishing her scholarly essay, Kosher Country: Success and Survival on Nashville's Music Row, in Volume II of Southern Jewish History, the historical society's prestigious, academic journal.
(Stacy's heavily-footnoted article updated and expanded upon Charles Hirshberg's Nashville's Jewish Newcomers Assert Themselves [Softly], published in the July 22, 1994 issue of The Forward.)
Kosher Country... has been recognized by the prestigious Berman Jewish Policy Archive.
A member of the prestigious Committee of Concerned Journalists (CCJ), Harris served on the Advisory Committees of the Women of Music Music of Women (WMMW) networking support group and the Christian Country Music Association.
Harris was listed in the British Country Music Association Yearbook (34th edition). Shout (the magazine of "Insurgent Thought + Culture") writer Andy Baker interviewed Harris for his article titled Hey There Cowboy: Is New Country the Ambiguously Gay Genre?, including an introductory paragraph referencing "Stacy Harris, a Nashville-based journalist highly regarded for her exhaustive, behind-the-scenes reporting of the [country-music] industry."
A contributor to the book review page of The Tennessean, Harris is in demand as a guess speaker by organizations ranging from an adult education creative writing class at Nashville's Harpeth Hall to the Woodmont Kiwanis Club.
Harris joined a panel of respected program directors, radio personalities and other industry experts as a judge in Dave Schmidt's "The World's First Future Star" contest.
She was also a featured panelist, joining authors Michael Streissguth, Don Cusic and moderator Ronnie Pugh in a discussion of Johnny Cash's career and legacy.
The public forum was one of a series of programs at the Nashville Public Library titledOrigins: The Evolution of the Nashville Sound.
The Mississippi Library Commission selected Harris' book, Comedians of Country Music, along with Robert Krishef's The New Breed and The Grand Ole Opry (books for which she was commissioned as photo researcher), as its Summer Library Program selections.
For several years, Harris scripted and starred in Nashville's Society of Professional Journalists' (SPJ) Gridiron Show and its successor, Gridiron Cabaret.
A nominee for the Minnesota Historical Society'sMinnesota 150; a showcase of 150 people, places, things and events that have sparked significant change within the state or beyond Minnesota's borders, Harris assisted CBS News producers Tamara Weitzman and Jay Young in the production of the48 Hours Mysterysegment titledCheatin' Heart.
Listed in Bacon's Directory of Media Professional and in the Vault Service (TV Spy) Experts & Sources Directory, Harris assisted Edward Lewine, a frequent contributor toThe New York Times, with story ideas for both theTimesand forDetailsmagazine.
Veteran Nashville area artist manager Tony Gottlieb, trustee of the late music arranger Lou Bush's estate and administrator trustee of Burning Bush Music, commissioned Harris to serve as a publicist and spokesperson for the estate, which was the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago against DDB Chicago and Capital One Financial for infringement of the world-famous work, Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter from Camp), created by Bush and comedian Allan Sherman.
Harris was instrumental in assisting Pepsico, the international corporation boasting revenue of more than $39 billion, with recov [10]ery from an in-house generated public relations disaster re: one of the company's products (Mountain Dew), stemming from a preview of a Diane Sawyer documentary excerpted on ABC News'Good Morning America.
Due to Harris' quick action, consultation and recommendations, Pepsico was able to reposition itself prior to the telecast of the Sawyer special titled A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains.
Following broadcast of the hour-long investigation, Pepsico was able to build on Harris' recommendations during an edition of the network's flagship, daily evening newscast World News (with Sawyer substituting for anchor Charles Gibson), next when Sawyer revisited the documentary, on Good Morning America and once again during a telecast of ABC News'20/20.
A distant relative of Rory Kennedy's husband, Mark Bailey, Harris contributed an oral history to Dallas'Sixth Floor Museum, assisting the museum's Associate Curator Stephen Fagin with the museum's oral history project.
Harris continues to assist Alpha V. Patel, Ph.D.,
principal investigator for the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study 3 and to serve as a consultant for American Graduate: Let's Make It Happen, the multi year, national initiative focusing on improving Middle Tennessee's graduation rate.
Director of the Stacy Harris Philanthropic Foundation (a donor-advised fund that provides grants to qualifying charitable, educational and cultural non-profits and not-for-profits), Ha rris continues to expand her charitable funding through grants to The Tennessee State Museum, The Good People Fund, Akiva, The Nashville Symphony, Nashville Public Television, The Nashville Public Library Foundation, Newman's Own Foundation, Mazon and Sumner County CASA.