Rendy Lovelady – Executive Producer, BamaJam
rendy.jpg IFQ: How did you come on board as Executive Producer of BamaJam?
Rendy Lovelady (RL): I went out with Darryl Worley when he met with Ronnie Gilley for a business meeting. Ronnie said that nobody was working on the festival yet as executive producer so he told me I could go and submit a proposal to be given the rights to produce BamaJam 2012. From there, I went and found some investors in NY to help me fund BamaJam 2012. BamaJam Farms along with Ronnie Gilley allowed us to produce the festival.
IFQ: Before your meeting with Gilley, were you familiar with BamaJam?
RL: Yes, I had artists perform at BamaJam since the first year it started.
IFQ: How did you get started in the music business?
RL: I started working for a company in New Orleans as a young teenager, sweeping floors and pulling cables at the Sanger Theater. I later became involved with Messina Presents and Pace Concerts which later landed me working with bands such as Van Halen, Jars of Clay, Little Big Town, Darryl Worley, Danny Gokey and numerous others in many different positions.
IFQ: Can you tell me about your company RLM and how it plays a vital role in BamaJam?
RL: My company became the center point for all of the troubleshooting, ticket purchasing, marketing, advertising, booking, etc. We ran everything out of our office. We have another office in Enterprise that handled the onsite operations of the festival and our corporate headquarters are in New York City.
IFQ: Does RLM scout and sign new talent at BamaJam?
RL: Absolutely. We looked at several artists that performed at BamaJam 2012 and are in talks with them now. All BamaJam’s to come will be a place where we scout for new talent in all genres.
IFQ: There were around 60 acts. How did you go about recruiting talent and securing top acts for the festival?
RL: After being in the business over 20 years, I have a great relationship with all of the major booking agencies. I called on favors from John Huie, Brett Saliba and Buster Phillips at CAA, as well as Barrett Sellers, Risha Rodgers, Greg Oswald, Jay Williams, and Rob Beckam from WME. All of which played a major role in getting my headliners together. There were other agencies involved, but these were my principle players. There was a great history from success in the past for the festival. It had a reputation of drawing big numbers and exciting crowds.
IFQ: How was organizing BamaJam different from managing acts on the road?
RL: When managing acts on the road, I am worried about my client and his or her needs. When managing the festival, I am worried about 60 different artists and each of their needs. Trying to please 60 artists at a time can be quite cumbersome. That is why you put together a staff that will carry out your requests helping to make the artists happy. Given the perspective of both a manager and a producer helped me maintain artist expectations as well as the needs of a producer.
IFQ: The weather was an issue for the first night of BamaJam. Is there any way to get around that in the future?
RL: It’s all in God’s hands. You need great weather insurance, but weather will always be an obstacle. South Alabama in June is hard to predict. BamaJam wouldn’t be BamaJam without some bad weather.
IFQ: Two-time BamaJam performer Kid Rock stated that he is now a land owner in Alabama. In the future, will he join the ranks of Darryl Worley and be an “official” host and spokesman for BamaJam?
RL: You never know what tomorrow will bring. It has definitely been discussed, but as of now there is nothing on the table.
IFQ: How did BamaJam boost the local economy, and how many attended throughout the 3-day event?
RL: Thousands of people coming to Enterprise boost the economy through restaurants, hotels, fuel, groceries, etc. The official numbers are not important. We’ll let the pictures do the talking. We’ve had people from large agencies such as CAA estimate 20,000-25,000 people. However, the numbers are still being processed.
IFQ: 5 years from now, where do you see BamaJam on the music festival scene?
RL: Our goal is to become one of the leading festivals in the country, if not the world.
IFQ: What can we expect for BamaJam 2013?
RL: Great music. Great fun. Great food. More than anything a great time.