Music City Council

Be forewarned, aspiring young pedal-steel virtuoso with your sights set on the the Nashville skyline -- you just might end up becoming a politician.

Well, not quite... but the Nashville Mayor Karl Dean has tapped Emmylou Harris, Kix Brooks and Jack White (the Michigan native with a million bands has lived in Nashville for years) to join Nashville's Music Business Council, designed to help the city maintain both the reputation and tax base it enjoys as a result of being the epicenter of the country music world.

The council, a 46-member body consisting of people from all parts of the music industry (musicians, managers, producers, even an owner of a tour bus company) is working on a host of programs to make Nashville continue to attract and accommodate creative people. A songwriters' hostel, a new amphitheater, and the creation of a new non-country music festival are all on the table. Presumably, tax incentives for creative endeavors, common in places like Los Angeles and Vancouver, BC, will be as well.

Music is the necessary ingredient to Nashville's allure, as anyone who's been there for more than fifteen minutes can attest to. It's great that they have a mayor who recognize that it's equally necessary to its fiscal health, and is making bold moves to preserve both. Props!