Sony Music, Tree Publishing, and Carnival Music

This was the site of a booking agency before Tree Publishing bought it, moved in and then expanded. Tree Publishing started in downtown Nashville in 1951 when Jack Stapp teamed up with Lou Cowan with CBS. Two years later they hired Buddy Killen. The list of songwriters who wrote for Tree Publishing is too long, but here are some of the most famous, recognizable names: Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Hank Cochran, Bill Anderson, Bobby Braddock, and Brooks and Dunn. This is even the company that publishes the Beatles songs as well as that first big hit of Elvis, “Heartbreak Hotel.”

You may notice some banners congratulating songwriters who’ve had a number one hit. For songwriters, the next best thing to writing a number one hit is seeing your face and name on a banner celebrating that fact. Those banners are in front of the publishing company that published that hit. Nobody ever gets tired of praise.

In 1989, Sony bought Tree Publishing, but this giant global company didn’t stop there. Sony Music also owns Acuff-Rose Music, where all the songs of Hank Williams are published. They also own the catalogs of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Let’s keep walking because as we scoot along, we’ll come to an old Fire Hall that Sony bought and is now used by songwriters to write Hot Hits. Get it—“fire hall,” “hot hits?” Mmmmmm. Might need to work on that.

Fire Hall No. 7 was built 100 years ago when Music Row was just a neighborhood—full of beautiful houses. In 1994, Sony and Tree Publishing renovated the Fire Hall and reopened it as a songwriter’s studio. Take a look at the main window—it was the original exit as the first responders raced out to fight a fire or to help get a cat out of a tree. Personally, I’d leave the cat in the tree, but I ain’t no fireman.

Let’s keep walking on the sunny side of the street—if it’s afternoon—and we’ll get to a building on the corner that says “Carnival Music.” This is the last part of this stop. Carnival Music is an independent music publisher and production company. This production company gave us hits by Miranda Lambert and Lee Ann Womack. On the side of Carnival’s building that faces RCA Studio B, check out the mural completed by San Francisco artist Mike Shine in 2016. The painting depicts two singing cowboys with one riding a crawfish and the other riding a turtle. Those figures depict Hank Williams and Chuck Berry, pioneers of country and rock ’n’ roll.

We are standing at the corner of Music Square East and Roy Acuff Place. Look directly across Roy Acuff Place and you’ll see RCA Studio B. Check your shoelaces—they can trip you up if they ain’t tied—and let’s cross over to RCA Studio B.