This Feels Big: Texas/Red Dirt Booking Agency Red 11 Acquired by WME

Though you may not nerd out enough about country music to wonder how your favorite Texas/Red Dirt artists end up playing at your local watering hole or wind up on a festival lineup, it’s a very big part to how an artist or band either makes it breaks it in the music business, especially these days when so much of the money must be made on the road.
For going on a dozen years now, when it came to country artists from Texas and Oklahoma, Red 11 was the agency that made it happen for many of your favorite performers, from the Turnpike Troubadours, to Mike and the Moonpies, Jason Boland and the Stragglers, Cody Canada and the Departed, Jack Ingram, Jason Eady, and so on and so forth.
The Red 11 roster also went outside of Texas/Red Dirt as well, but with artists that would ultimately become part of the greater Texoma scene through the booking agency. This includes North Carolina’s American Aquarium, Kentucky’s Chris Knight, and Alabama’s Muscadine Bloodline. Red 11 is very much the reason many of these artists and bands were able to “make it” by touring the country to play venues and events big and small.
Now after months of murmurs, it was made official on Friday, April 14th that Red 11 has been acquired by live booking juggernaut WME, a.k.a. William Morris Endeavor. Far and away, WME is the biggest representative of musical talent—or really any live talent—in the world.
So what does this mean for the artists on the Red 11 roster, and ultimately, you and your little music world? Well, it certain puts even more eggs in one basket, which when it comes to the corporate world, can render one a little worried. But it also opens up Red 11’s roster to way more booking opportunities than they had before.
For example, whenever a massive performer is looking to book opening acts, there is an incentive to book those acts in-house from the talent pool on their own booking agency. This might mean that performers like Mike and the Moonpies or up-and-comers like Joshua Ray Walker and Pony Bradshaw get bigger opening gigs going forward.
It also might open these acts up to bigger festivals and events they previous had a harder time getting involved with. Often festivals like to work with certain agencies when booking their lineups, and a company like WME can request up-and-comers on their roster come with booking the bigger acts.
As Red 11 Music Founder & CEO Jon Folk says, “We’re thrilled to be joining WME and the incredible resources and expertise they bring to the table. Our clients can expect even greater levels of service and opportunity in this exciting new chapter.”
There may be a worry that these artists could lose a little bit of the boutique nature of their booking business by migrating to the bigger company, but not necessarily. Red 11’s staff is migrating to WME too, and each individual artist has a dedicated rep or team of reps working toward their best interests.
The fact that WME wanted to acquire Red 11 also speaks to the increasing value in an independent country roster like Red 11’s, and the growth in independent music overall. With the Turnpike Troubadours playing arenas and headlining festivals now, there’s nothing “boutique” about what Red 11 was doing. They were running with the big dogs already.
“We have long-admired Jon and the business he has built with Red 11,” says WME’s Nashville office Co-Heads Becky Gardenhire, Joey Lee and Jay Williams. “Jon and his team have a proven track record of success, and we look forward to working with them to grow the Americana genre even further. We are excited to welcome Red 11’s clients to WME and connect them to our portfolio of industry best assets and capabilities.”
Red 11’s Current Roster:
American Aquarium
BJ Barham
Caitlin Rose
Carson Jeffrey
Charlie Robison
Chris Knight
Cody Canada and The Departed
Cody Purvis
Cory Morrow
David Beck’s Tejano Weekend
David Ramirez
Giovannie & The Hired Guns
Grady Spencer & The Work
Hayden McBride
Jack Ingram
Jackopierce
Jason Boland & The Stragglers
Jason Eady
Jon Stork
Jon Wolfe
Joshua Ray Walker
Katie Toupin
Kody West
Kyle Nix & The 38’s
Lance Roark
Matthew Ryan
Micky and The Motorcars
Mike and the Moonpies
Muscadine Bloodline
No Justice
Old 97’s
Pony Bradshaw
Quaker City Night Hawks
Rhett Miller
Shinyribs
Shooter Jennings
Steve Wariner
Them Dirty Roses
Turnpike Troubadours
Vandoliers
April 15, 2023 @ 12:33 pm
This is fucking massive and its going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run
April 15, 2023 @ 2:28 pm
Is it coincidental that two days ago the Georgia Country Music Fest in Marietta was announced and tickets sales started yesterday with Jinks, Turnpike, Jamey and Koe headlining? Says over 30 red dirt artists will be added. I wonder if WME is curating the lineup? In any event I took a chance and bought tix based on headliners alone.
April 15, 2023 @ 6:11 pm
Neither Jinks, Koe, or Jamey are with WME… and Turnpike wasn’t until yesterday.
April 15, 2023 @ 4:34 pm
What’s the deal with Western Chill by REK? I have it saved on Spotify, but the tracks still aren’t available for listening.
April 15, 2023 @ 5:24 pm
It’s not going to be available digitally. At least not initially.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/robert-earl-keen-to-release-multi-format-project-western-chill/
April 15, 2023 @ 6:06 pm
Rob said in an IG post that it would be available online today…
April 15, 2023 @ 9:42 pm
I’m not really sure. Maybe he means for sale online. This thing has been really weird. If you read that story about it, they accidentally released it a while back. It was originally a pandemic streaming thing. If I hear something about a streaming release, I’ll try to let folks know.
April 15, 2023 @ 7:11 pm
Interesting note about WME, it’s a division of Endeavor, which just purchased WWE.
So Mike and the Moonpies is now being booked by (in a roundabout way) the same company that owns the WWE and the UFC, which is wild.
Seems like they’re doing a lot of expansion right now, actually.
April 15, 2023 @ 7:20 pm
Thank you Mike and the Moonpies for our official Wrestlemania theme “Paycheck to Paycheck” and here is Cody Rhodes. “Hard times is when the working man can’t afford to put a quarter in the jukebox because he’s got mouths to feed and the boss man says there won’t be a raise this year.”
April 17, 2023 @ 7:32 am
I don’t think they’ll put the belts on Mike, he’s too small. Maybe Catlin and Zach
April 15, 2023 @ 10:14 pm
Such a long list of middle-aged white dudes and two youngish women. Not making much effort on the diversity and representation front at Red 11, it seems…
April 16, 2023 @ 10:07 am
That’s strange, it looks like a lot of great Country acts to me.
Of course that’s kinda what they’re in business for, you know booking great Country acts.
April 17, 2023 @ 11:48 am
I see legitimate country music acts.
That is the only thing that matters.
April 16, 2023 @ 7:00 pm
The lineup at WME is pretty remarkable just in the Country and Americana realms. From huge artists like Alan Jackson and Miranda Lambert, to up-and-comers like Molly Tuttle and War & Treaty, it’s comprehensive to say the least. This acquisition just adds to the goodness.
It’s mildly concerning to have so many acts in one house, but wow. This could be huge for the Red Dirt scene.
It’s big for the resurgence of Real Country as well. WME is a heavy in the industry; this gets these acts more promotion. That brings more streaming, radio airplay, potential collaborations, etc…
Exciting times for fans of the good stuff!
April 17, 2023 @ 7:37 am
I’m really surprised to see Red11 was handling Steve Wariner. I know he doesn’t tour much anymore aside from Opry appearances and a handful of shows but I figured he had bigger representation.
I live in a small town across from Louisville that has an ampatheater and live music on Friday nights in the summer. They mostly do cover bands and then do one country night where they get someone from Nashville, I think Chris Janson was their biggest name, usually it’s someone on the downside of their career like Joe Nichols or Easton Corbin. I’ve been begging them to do a Red Dirt night and trying to hook them up with Red 11 to no avail. Guess they don’t want people coming in from out of town, spending the night and spending money when you can have Yacht Rock Revue or some shit.
April 17, 2023 @ 10:28 am
No justice? Haven’t known them to play together in over ten years.