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home, and all three were out of town. I never
felt so lonely. I cried myself to sleep
thinking, `It's got to get better than
this.'"
A week later, one of her contacts gave her a
backstage pass to Fan Fair, the annual
meeting of country artists and their fans,
where she met someone who led her to
work with a local film company. The company
soon went broke, but not before she
had made enough contacts to start up her own
freelance international promotion
office. Her first client was Buddy Lee
Attractions, for whom she also handled televi-
sion and radio bookings of the agency's artist
roster. Business continued to build,
with Walker Cunningham booking talent for
Nashville Now and other programming
when The Nashville Network (TNN) went on the
air in the early 1980s. In 1985,
George Strait asked her to handle his in-house
publicity, which she did for two years,
adding press and public relations to her
skills.
In 1987, Walker Cunningham was approached by
some of her foreign contacts to
handle the promotion of country music festivals
in England, Ireland, and
Switzerland. She was the first to introduce
Reba to Europe in 1989, and over the years
has done the same for Emmylou Harris, the
Mavericks, Kenny Rogers, Trisha
Yearwood, and many more. A short-lived position
as head of the international
department at the Jim Halsey Company in 1988
convinced her that she was better off
working for herself. From then on she has
worked for others only on a consulting
basis, as with her 1993–1997 association
with MCA International. In 1995, Walker
Cunningham was honored with the CMA's first
International Achievement Award. In
2005, Walker Cunningham took on management
duties for Koch Records artist Eric
Heatherly.
CREW
ROAD MANAGER · TOUR MANAGER
JOB OVERVIEW
Road managers are responsible for making sure
the touring artist is properly rep-
resented and that the performance runs smoothly
from start to finish. Depending on
the size of the tour, the road manager may also
oversee travel arrangements and
advancement of each performance date. Road
managers also act as liaisons between
the publicist and the media to ensure that
artist interviews and other events run
smoothly. They manage the road crew and
musicians, reconcile and collect perfor-
mance fees owed to the artist, and distribute
per diems.
PREREQUISITES
"You've got to be able to communicate
effectively with people, from the guys
unloading your bus, to the promoter and the
general public," says Jeff Jackson.
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