'Breaking Southwest' Named NASH Next Winners

L-R: Mike McVay (Senior VP/Content & Programming of NASH/Cumulus), Scott Borchetta (President & CEO of Big Machine Label Group), Lauren Hall, Kent Bell and Kyle Gaston (of Breaking Southwest), Elaina Smith and Shawn Parr (Hosts of NASH Nights Live with Shawn Parr). Photo credit: Tyler Andrews/NASH Country Weekly

Cumulus has announced that the NASH Next artist development competition named the Dallas-based band Breaking Southwest as grand prize winner Thursday night at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, after a performance from the top 10 finalists alongside Country star Cassadee Pope.

This unique competition discovers and releases music from the most promising Country talent, with the winner signed to the new NASH Next record label and the top 10 finalists all participating in a national tour next year.

Country fans nominated and voted for their favorite new Country acts – with more than 450 million social media impressions in the last 3 months alone and more than 1.4 million visitors to NASHNextCountry.com. The NASH Next nationwide talent search included an extensive series of competitions that challenged contenders to showcase their musical and creative talents. This included a cover song performance, multiple songwriting competitions and the creation of an original Instagram video, a PicCollage project and a fully produced original music video. The winner was decided based on a combination of feedback from the music industry judges, online fan voting and an original “Spin Index” of social media activity.

The three NASH judges included legendary music producer James Stroud, award-winning Country music artist and radio personality Kix Brooks and Cumulus Senior Vice President of Content and Programming Mike McVay. In October, Scott Borchetta, the President, CEO and Founder of Big Machine Label Group, was named as a surprise mentor, who guided the finalists through the last challenge to produce an original music video.

“This innovative talent competition showed the strength of the Country music fan community. We are delighted that we were able to connect with millions of enthusiastic Country music lovers and will now be able to take 10 artists and bands on the first NASH Next tour in just a few months,” said Mike McVay, Senior Vice President of Content and Programming for Cumulus.

"The entire NASH Next process has been incredible from start to finish and being the first winner is an honor. We want to thank Cumulus and NASH Next for taking this concept and making it a reality," said Breaking Southwest members Lauren Hall, Kent Bell and Kyle Gaston. "We want to thank our families, fans and friends for listening, watching, sharing and voting. Thank you for supporting us and please continue to hold us to the highest standard…We're ready to go to work!"

The Nash Next Tour will begin in February 2016, and exact locations and dates will be released at a later date. Season 2 “The Voice” finalist RaeLynn, who had a top 10 Country hit “God Made Girls” and recently toured with Miranda Lambert, will also join the top 10 finalists. Her debut album is due next year.