Phil Vassar, Michelle Branch and Joey + Rory Added To IEBA Conference

 Phil Vassar, Michelle Branch and Joey + Rory have been added to the list of artists showcasing at the 2009 IEBA Conference. More than 500 live entertainment industry professionals will converge in Nashville at the annual conference of the International Entertainment Buyers Association October 11-13 to set the stage for the next touring season with an exclusive look at the hottest talent. IEBA's annual conference has become the must-attend event featuring over 40 showcases from top artists to rising stars.

 
Vassar, Branch and Joey + Rory are the latest stars added to a lineup of special guests appearing at IEBA and IEBA HONORS including:Chubby Checker,Boyz II Men, Don Felder, The Wailers, Jamey Johnson, Randy Houser, Chris Young, Jessie James and Bob Lefsetz with many more announced soon!

About IEBA and IEBA Honors
IEBA was founded in 1970 as a non-profit trade organization for talent buyers, concert promoters, agents, managers, artists and other related entertainment professionals. IEBA provides networking, showcasing and educational opportunities to strengthen relationships, foster growth and increase revenue for the live entertainment industry. IEBA is known for showcasing the best and brightest talent in all genres of music and all fields of entertainment--exposing buyers to the freshest acts for the buying season. IEBA is an intimate organization that makes a huge impact. IEBA pays tribute to the trailblazers of entertainment at the annual IEBA Honors ceremony. We salute those that have shaped where we are and those that continue to reinvent the entertainment industry. Past honorees have included: Loggins and Messina, ZZ Top, Ronnie Milsap, Patti Page, Loretta Lynn, Lou Rawls, Brenda Lee, Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, Wayne Newton, Barbara Mandrell, Styx, Porter Wagoner, LeAnn Rimes and numerous others.
About Phil Vassar
This Virginia-born singer/songwriter has made his mark in Nashville as an acclaimed performer and musician.  Known not only for his knack for hit songwriting, but for his compelling and highly entertaining skills on the piano, Phil has achieved a long list of Top 20 hits on country radio, including 9 #1 songs throughout his career.  Some of Phil's accolades include two time ASCAP Songwriter of the Year, Billboard Magazine Top New Country Artist, Billboard Country Songwriter of the Year, Music Row Magazine Breakthrough Artist of the Year, and The Academy of Country Music Top New Male Vocalist of the Year - just to name a few.   Phil has also appeared on numerous television shows throughout his career.  Most recently, Phil became a national spokesman for Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest) in an effort to help increase public awareness of hunger in our country.www.philvassar.com
About Michelle Branch
Everything Comes And Goes--Grammy-winner Michelle Branch's first solo effort since 2003's Hotel Paper--is much more than just "another day" for this twenty-six-year old recording artist. Branch's compelling new album for Warner Nashville has been long in the making and well worth the wait. This is a deeply personal statement of purpose from a singer-songwriter who's already experienced success in a variety of formats over the course of nearly a decade as a recording artist. Yet for all that she has already accomplished in her life, Everything Comes And Goes is a breakthrough effort--once and for all establishing Branch as a significant, grown up talent in her own right.
Everything Comes And Goes also represents Branch's first project since she enjoyed her first country smash with 2006's acclaimed album Stand Still, Look Pretty by The Wreckers, the duo with which Branch made an inspired vocal and songwriting collaboration that was nominated for both a CMA Award and a Grammy. The popularity of The Wreckers helped establish Branch as a fixture of country radio, thanks to such winning country tracks as the #1 smash "Leave The Pieces" and the Top Ten hit "My, Oh My." www.michellebranch.com 
About Joey + Rory
Authentic artists share a gift for communicating truth; truth mined from their own life experiences and expertly spun into three-minute, melodic vignettes. Vanguard/Sugar Hill Records artist Joey + Rory, the husband-wife team of Joey Martin and Rory Feek, is among that rare breed of talent that lives and breathes what they write and sing. This duo, deeply rooted in a classic country sound, draws listeners into intimate, close-knit community with the debut release The Life of a Song. Twelve songs, seven of them co-written by Rory and Joey, comprise the colorful landscape where this couple is perfectly in its element: scuffed cowboy boots in "Boots", dusty rodeo arenas in "Rodeo", laying down the truth in "Cheater Cheater" and enduring love in "To Say Goodbye." Backed by some of Nashville's finest acoustic musicians, Joey + Rory bow a standout disc that is as personal as it is plausible.
With Joey and Rory pursuing independent music careers, the pair's musical paths converged serendipitously this spring, after a friend suggested the two throw their hats, quite uncharacteristically, into the ring for Country Music Television's (CMT) nationally broadcast reality contest for duos, Can You Duet.  When the curtain went up, Joey + Rory's natural chemistry instantly hooked fans and critics. Executives from Internet retailer Overstock.com saw the pair perform and signed Joey and Rory to be the new faces of their of the company's forthcoming re-brand and national ad campaign.www.joeyandrory.com