Miller Piano Specialists will be hosting our third annual MPS Award Show on October 24th at 7:00 pm. And to talk more information about this premier event, Miller Piano Specialists General Sales Manager Sherry Carlisle Smith joins John Haggard on the show. Together, they discuss the following topics:
- Sherry’s Music Background
- Famous Musicians Sherry Had Worked With
- What the MPS Award Show is All About
- How the Nomination Process Goes
- How the Folks Can Vote
- How the Program Will Go And Dress Code
- Famous MPS Awardees
- MPS Award Show Live on their FB Page
- How To Reserve Seating For the Event
Transcript
John Haggard 0:13
Welcome to the Miller Piano Podcast on a special event, upcoming Thursday, October 24th at 7:00 pm. It’s named the third annual MPS – Miller Piano Specialists Award Show. I’m your host, John Haggard, and on the podcast today, for a repeat performance. It’s Sherry Smith, the general sales manager at Miller Piano in Cool Springs. Welcome back to the podcast, Sherry!
Sherry Carlisle Smith 0:37
Hey, John! It’s good to hear from you again.
John Haggard 0:39
Well, good to have you back. You know, since we spoke last about a month ago, just a quick question, any exciting, breaking news in the piano world or something big in your life that you’d want to share?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 0:51
There is always breaking news and big things in the piano world. Come by Miller Piano Specialists in will show you
John Haggard 0:58
All right! (laughs) That sounds good to me. Well, hey, how about a quick bio review of you? Maybe somebody here for the first time as a listener or a first time guest to the MillerPS.com website. Just to know about Sherry Smith because, I know, having spoken to you last time, you have quite a musical career background. Can you tell the folks just a little bit about that?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 1:21
As we talked before, if you guys didn’t hear it, I moved to town Sherry Carlisle and moved here to sing. And of course, when you get to town, you got to have a day job. And I was trained by the Yamaha Dealer Claude P Street Music and I got that under my belt. And then went on the road, did some singing, did some writing and come full circle and I am back with Miller Piano Specialists now.
John Haggard 1:48
Now would there be some people when you were on the road, names that we would know?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 1:54
The Jordanaires, Johnny Paycheck… A lot of the country artists, the once that I grew up, they were my idol. Ones that I couldn’t wait to get on the radio and hear what new song they had out. So I got to do what I always wanted to do. And that was work with some of the people that I looked up to so highly growing up as a child. And I did perform actually, there’s some exciting news I performed for the Duluth Fine Arts in Duluth at their theater, the Red Clay theater last weekend.
John Haggard 2:28
Okay, so what did you do?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 2:30
I actually opened and sang backup for Mike Booth, who works on the Gem Shopping Network. And he’s one of their hosts. And he used to do a show with the Jordanaires and I, so we just kind of rekindled and did a show for the fine arts.
John Haggard 2:45
Yeah, you know, the Jordanaires, that is a really big name. And for folks who may have heard of the Jordanaires but don’t really know some of their history, could you tell the folks about that?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 2:56
They actually started out they were a backup group and Gordon’s Joker, Alan Secor is his son, he runs the Country Music Hall of Fame. But Gordon and the other guys did backup for people like Ricky Nelson, Patsy Cline. Their biggest, I guess, one of the ones that they love the most to work with was Elvis Presley.
John Haggard 3:18
Wow. Think about that. How long, any idea how long they were with Elvis?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 3:22
Oh, it was a long time, until the Vegas days. They were doing so many sessions back then when he did go to Vegas and the Stamps went in to join Elvis in Vegas. The Jordanaires were just working so much and with their families, they stayed in Nashville.
John Haggard 3:38
Yeah. Aright, so the upcoming event, Sherry, the third annual MPS Award Show. Thursday, October 24th at 7pm. So first off what is the annual MPs Award Show?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 3:52
The MPS Award Show was something we came up with about three years ago that recognizes artist in the area. And they can be artist that people nominate throughout the year. We have just like you would have on a… let’s say a People’s Choice Awards or the CMA Awards Show that you see on TV. We have different categories that fans nominate throughout the year. We have people actually in these categories from coast to coast to have seen them either on the Internet or they been by and done a show here at the store. We have categories like Instrumentalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, Composer of the Year, Vocalist of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Awards, which have been really good and, we started a new one last year, the Horizon Award.
John Haggard 4:47
So in other words, it could be anyone across the United States?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 4:52
It is. Because of our web presence and our social media presence, we have a lot of artists that are coming coming through Nashville that actually use our show room to do shows or pickup shows or actually to perform in the show room here at live events. So we have quite an array of artists that are local but ones that are also east coast or west coast.
John Haggard 5:17
Okay so you said fans do the nominations Is that right?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 5:21
Throughout the year, the fans will say at the MPS Award Show, I’d like to nominate Jon Jones for Entertainer of the Year. So what we do is we take the nominations and then the ones that get the most nominations, they are put up in the top 10. Then the top 10 we announce about six weeks before the show and the fans actually vote. They go to our Facebook page – Miller Piano Specialist, they go to messenger and, Dakota, who works here, will put the votes in a hat when they come in. They can vote twice a day either in the show room or online. And then those are sent off about 24 hours before, well, the top 10 are voted on. And then about three weeks before we’ll announce the top five. And then the top five vote till 24 hours before and we send the votes out. And they’re tallied. And we know the night of the show.
John Haggard 6:23
All right, so you can you go online now and see what’s going on.
Sherry Carlisle Smith 6:27
You can go online and vote right now. You can go online and vote and you can go on our timeline and see the top five nominees for each category.
John Haggard 6:36
Alright, so the website to get there is www.millerps.com. Is that right?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 6:42
It is.
John Haggard 6:42
Okay. And then once you get there, what do you look for?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 6:45
Well, they’re going to vote on our social media page. Miller Piano Specialists Facebook.
John Haggard 6:52
Got it. Alright, so who’s the sponsor of the annual Miller Piano Specialists Award Show?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 6:59
Well, of course Miller Piano Specialists started sponsoring it in the beginning and Yamaha got involved and we started working with Yamaha. So it is a Yamaha since we are the authorized dealer for the area. They help in sponsoring this event.
John Haggard 7:16
All right. Well, you know, there’s so many award shows out there today. So why do another award show?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 7:22
Why not?
John Haggard 7:23
Well, there you go. (laughs) Why not?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 7:27
Because we feel like doing this. We’re supporting talent. Things have changed, John. What used to be labels and what used to be, you got picked up by a label, and they press records or they press CDs or even eight tracks back in the day. People are found on the Internet now. Deals and people have gotten piano deals, writing deals, book deals, from showcasing at Miller Piano Specialists and actually having their stuff out there on the net. And that’s what caused a stir. And we have been very blessed and fortunate. And the people that have come in here that we just kept saying, keep going, keep going. And it’s amazing when you see the award show what people have accomplished, and a lot of it is through the Internet.
John Haggard 8:23
All right, so just a little bit off topic. And you kind of brought this up as you were speaking there. Is it true? I have heard, and like you said, back in the old days, you had to have a major record label, and all the promotion team and everybody behind you in order to make it, so to speak. But can you today, because of the Internet, and like you said everybody’s found on the internet, could you become a star without having a major label deal?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 8:50
Yes and no. What do you consider a star?
John Haggard 8:54
Well, I don’t know. I was going to ask you because you’re, you know, you’re in the business. But maybe somebody who could sell I’ve heard stories where people have been able to sell over a million songs on the Internet and never have a record deal.
Sherry Carlisle Smith 9:07
There are two or three really big success stories. And one of them was an artist that actually did a lot of functions in the store for us and a lot of benefits for us, that actually using social media. And she was just written up in Music Row magazine. If you saw the figures that she was making from her front porch, and now from the shows and the recognition she’s got, she’s traveling all over the world performing. If you can make a living that is more than what some executives make, and you can do what you love. You’re a star in my book.
John Haggard 9:50
Yeah, I mean, that’s really something because again, the Internet is sort of the, I guess I would call it the leveler. You don’t have to have millions of dollars behind you to get a lot recognition. Would you agree?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 10:02
I agree. It’s knowing your fan base and your social media.
John Haggard 10:07
All right, so back to the third annual MPS Award Show. So are there commercials throughout the program just like an award show?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 10:15
There is, it’s so much fun! We have it’s it’s laid out like a two-hour award show. So we actually have entertainers that will be singing. The Red Ridge Riders will be with us. We also have commercials and we do these kind of like Super Bowl. We take Yamaha products and different items. Some are serious, some are funny. It’s like everybody can’t wait to the Super Bowl to see what commercial is going to be aired. Remember there was the Bud frog or, you know, that kind of thing. So we have got, every year I think we can’t top the year before, but with the help of Deborah Sheridan does videography and photography, and some of the wonderful magic she does and the wonderful products of Yamaha and the crazy crew here at Miller Piano Specialists, I think we’ve topped the last two years. So the commercials are going to be fantastic. You’re going to love them.
John Haggard 11:12
All right. So as we think about that, and you know, you mentioned the Budweiser frogs. I’m just going to go off topic for a sec and then come back to the award show. But I met one of the Budweiser frogs. He worked for a company called Hummingbird. You remember Hummingbird? Have you heard of them? Okay. His name was Ronnie, I can’t remember his last name but you know, he did jingles and all that kind of thing. And he told me he was one of the one of the Budweiser frogs. I mean, what a phenomenal, neat idea that was.
Sherry Carlisle Smith 11:42
It was and it drew and then after the commercials are done, this will be aired live on on our social media, Miller Piano Specialists, so you can tune in. We only take 60 reservations. So there’s very limited seating, I am about half full right now. And I still have some that haven’t turned in that are in the show that will be here. So if you’re going to make a reservation please call 615-771-0020 because we want to make sure it is what we call a black tie event. Now in national black tie could be jeans and boots and a jacket. It could mean sequins. It could mean anything.
John Haggard 12:30
Well that’s true in Nashville, it could mean anything.
Sherry Carlisle Smith 12:35
And we are so blessed. A lady at Black Diamond culinary that does a lot of our catering that will be opening a culinary school, like said with catering. And she has been catering all of our functions. So we are blessed. We’re going to have a really nice little spread with Black Diamond, culinary food for after party mixer.
John Haggard 12:58
Alright, so now who are some of the past winners?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 13:02
Some of the past winners we’ve had… last year was really neat to have the Horizon Award and Rachel Webster was one of our winners. We have seen her grown up and become a piano player on a lot of these streaming radio stations. We’ve had a vocalist Angela Peterson has been one of our past nominees, and award winners Ed Bazell, Eric Bikales. Our Lifetime Achievement Awards that we started last year actually, were the Jordanaires as we talked about and DJ Fontana. And their families all came in recognition and there was a video kind of, of what they have done throughout the years and Franch Forbes came from Yamaha and he actually presented these awards to the families.
John Haggard 13:52
Yeah, so now you said there are only 60 seats there.
Sherry Carlisle Smith 13:56
Yes.
John Haggard 13:56
All right. So and you said you can see it streaming live on social media?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 14:01
Yes, on Miller Piano Specialists.
John Haggard 14:03
Okay, so where do you go? What social media? Where could folks see the show?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 14:07
They would go to our Facebook page, Miller Piano Specialists, and they would watch it, it will go live at about 10 till seven. We may, you might want to start kind of looking about 6:30 pm because we are going to, this year, incorporate a little red carpet and some interviews. So that will be happening somewhere between 630 and seven. The show will start at seven.
John Haggard 14:31
The show will start at seven. The red carpet 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm and then… and that’ll be live as well. Is that right on streaming?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 14:37
Yeah, we’re gonna have live interviews going on, yes.
John Haggard 14:40
All right. So anything else that folks should know about the Miller Piano Specialists Award Show?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 14:46
It’s just a night of recognition and fun, and recognition to artists that are well-deserved, and trying to support the music community. They have been so good to support Miller Piano family here and it’s kind of, the musicians hang out, singers hang out. And we are blessed to have Yamaha and their line to represent to the community of Nashville and all the Middle Tennessee.
John Haggard 15:13
Alright folks, you’ve heard it right there. That Sherry, Sherry Smith everybody, the general sales manager at Miller Piano talking about the third annual MPS Award Show that’s going to be Thursday, October 24. At 7:00 pm. One more time, Sherry, if somebody wanted to make reservations, what’s the number to call and how can they get there?
Sherry Carlisle Smith 15:32
Please call 615-771-0020 and you can make reservations with Dakota or Sherry. And also let me tell you too; parking gets very limited sometimes. You may park in the back and we have a back entrance. But just remember after 6:30 pm, you can’t do that, because we’ll be having equipment brought in through the back. But you can park around back if you’re coming early. Doors will open about 6:00 pm.
John Haggard 16:01
All right. There’s also a transcript of today’s podcast in case you wanted to pick up a particular piece of information. It’s right there for you here on the website. I’m your host, John Haggard, and we’ll see you next time.