- Shannon Sanders, a renowned music industry executive from Nashville, is celebrated with a “Living Legend” exhibit at the National Museum of African American Music.
- Sanders embodies the city’s rich musical heritage while acknowledging the complexities of its history.
- Through his work at BMI, Sanders champions authenticity and celebrates the evolving landscape of music creation and consumption in the digital age.
South Nashville’s own distinguished music industry executive Shannon Sanders is now honored with a “Living Legend” exhibit at the National Museum of African American Music. Throughout his career of more than two decades, he has been a pivotal advocate for Black artists, significantly contributing to the city’s reputation as a vibrant music hub.
Like his dedication to honest creative expression, his commitment to waving the banner for Music City continues to define his legacy — from boardrooms to red carpets, and now, a NMAAM exhibit.
“Whether I’m the producer, musician, vocalist or working in whatever capacity on someone else’s project, just like other Nashville creatives, I’m part of a community of individuals willing to, above all else, positively and authentically contribute to each other’s creative processes,” Sanders said.
He has taken home three Grammy Awards, two Emmys and a Dove Award for songwriting and producing.
As a producer, he won a 2022 Grammy Award for the Fisk Jubilee Singers’ Best Roots Gospel Album. He received the Academy of Country Music’s Lifting Voices Award in 2024.
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Sanders graduated from Tennessee State University with a music degree and is a former member of its legendary Aristocrat of Bands Marching Band. His path intersects with artists like Grammy-winning folk-soul singer India Arie, for whom he won a golden gramophone as her musical director for the 2002 album “Voyage to India,” produced in Nashville.
For the past five years, he has served as an executive director for the creative team at music performing rights organization Broadcast Music Inc.’s Nashville offices. This followed years of work as a touring musician, producer and founder and original program director of classic soul and R&B radio station Nashville’s 102.1 The Ville.
He sits on the boards of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp., the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and National Museum of African American Music. In 2016, Shannon was Black Enterprise’s 100 Modern Men of Distinction.
Celebrating, contemplating Music City’s complex history
Sanders is a rare Black musician and industry leader who is both a native of Nashville and based here. Despite receiving acclaim far and wide, he consistently acknowledges and celebrates his deep connection to Music City.
Sanders’ pride in Nashville can be inspiring, but it’s important to keep a critical and balanced view.
For many musicians around the world, Nashville has long been the unseen force driving the music industry — like a ghost in the machine. It’s a city built on hard work that fuels the commercial engine of the music business. However, the studio is not the stage, and the songwriter often isn’t the performer. This distinction means that while Nashville’s contributions to music are fundamentally indispensable, they can also be easily overlooked, buried within the fine print of album credits.
Understand that in Nashvile’s country music scene, selling just 100,000 copies used to be enough to hit the top of the charts. Also, consider that country music, deeply connected to American culture, took 50 years from its first recording and another 20 years after moving to Music Row to produce its first platinum album.
As a Black man promoting music in a region historically marked by anti-Black racism, it’s important to reflect deeply on the culture.
Over the years, artists from Bob Dylan to 50 Cent have come to Nashville, looking to absorb its culture and style for their music, often without contributing much back to the city. Dubbed “Music City” after Queen Victoria praised the all-Black Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1873, country music has nevertheless been largely white. The city’s cultural influence can be both celebrated and exploited by visiting musicians.
When asked why Nashvile’s Black-led music scenes are as talented as its white-defined mainstream Americana and country scene yet have not achieved the same level of widespread, name-brand recognition, Sanders provides an insightful perspective.
“It’s a numbers game,” said Sanders, highlighting that two-thirds of Memphians to the west and half of Atlanta natives to the south are African-American, as compared to one-quarter of Nashville residents.
“Cities with large Black communities can rally behind (Black artists and Black-defined musical genres) differently,” Sanders said.
How Nashville music inspires Sanders
Sanders cites Nashville-bred artists like former 50 Cent co-signed G-Unit rapper Young Buck as illustative of how successful modern-era Black Nashville performers must be savvy style shifters, quick-witted, and street-smart. They’ve got to authentically embrace points of reference to the city’s history and people — from folk and gospel’s legacy and the swagger of Jefferson Street’s nightclub-ready soul to gritty, mixtape-era rap and the persistent presence of country music’s various acoustic legacies.
“The uniqueness of how Black Nashville creators approach music involves being the type of place where, for example, intellectualized hip-hop can also have a gangsta (aesthetic or perspective),” Sanders said. “There’s no need to create a singular consensus on what style the artistry can (most significantly) lean. The musicality (inherent in) Nashville’s creative community reflects how being a high-level talent as a composer or instrumentalist also inspires creatively curious and embellished recordings different from anywhere else.”
For Sanders, integrating his keyboard and trumpet work with Nashville’s distinctive approach to musicality has been pivotal. This approach led him to work with bassist and guitarist collaborator Drew Ramsey on projects spanning Contemporary Christian and R&B music. Notable outcomes include Sanders’ 1999 debut album as an artist, “Outta Nowhere,” and his contributions to India.Arie’s Grammy-winning release three years later.
The duo eventually worked with a diverse range of artists, including David Archuleta, Mark Broussard, Heather Headley, Jonny Lang, John Legend, Mandisa, Jesse McCartney and Robert Randolph.
In 2007, that netted another Grammy win for the blues rocker’s Best Rock Gospel album “Turn Around” with Lang.
“I’m not intimidated by defining music by genres or creative approaches,” he said. “Whether gospel, hip-hop, or R&B, A-flat is A-flat in any genre. Nashville teaches you to respect a creative smorgasbord of sounds and elements as options.”
Gospel, Christian music intersects with Sanders’ musical roots
Embracing that creative smorgasbord of elements led Sanders to work with the Fisk Jubilee Singers and their 21st century-era director, Dr. Paul T. Kwami, who died in 2022. Bittersweetly, that was the same year the Singers won their first Grammy Award for the “Celebrating Fisk” album, recorded live on stage at the Ryman Auditorium.
“Dr. Kwami was a real bridge for the Fisk Jubilee Singers from the past into the future,” Sanders said, shortly after his death. “He was the bearer of the torch and held it high so the Singers might see their way.”
Over his career, Sanders has been a vibrant conduit for gospel traditions to transition into the mega-massive, Nashville-industry-driven contemporary Christian era.
For Sanders, achieving excellence in that field required him to discard the nuanced musical understanding that has guided his work in other mainstream fields.
“Before genres were a thing, the question was if it could or could not be defined as religious music,” he said. “Growing up surrounded by gospel traditions, then using those roots to learn classical composition and so many other types of music, my work (with acts like the Fisk Jubilee Singers) represents how everything intersects with my roots.”
‘You trust in my fierce commitment to celebrating authenticity’
In the 21st century, the advent of social media and streaming has democratized how music is developed and shared. Nashville’s longstanding control over both the means of production and commerce has positioned its artists, creator and executives — including Sanders — as vital to the industry’s sustainability and evolution.
At BMI, Sanders occupies a unique niche within Nashville’s Black musical history, collaborating with Clay Bradley, BMI’s Vice President of Creative.
Bradley carries a prestigious legacy. His grandfather, Owen Bradley, was instrumental in establishing Nashville’s Music Row as a recording hub through his leadership at Decca Records’ country music division seven decades ago. Bradley’s father, Jerry, furthered that legacy by contributing to the marketing and creation of country music’s first platinum album, “Wanted! The Outlaws,” in 1976.
Since 2020, Bradley and Sanders have witnessed Nashville country industry favorites like Zach Bryan, Luke Combs, Kacey Musgraves, Shaboozey, Teddy Swims, Morgan Wallen and fellow South Nashville native Jelly Roll become massive pop superstars.
You can hear the pride in Sanders’ voice as he reflects on how staying true to himself has led to an extraordinary professional journey. This personal evolution, viewed through the complex tapestry of Nashville’s cultural and social changes, significantly broadens the opportunities for Black artists across Music City.
“I was called to my position at BMI because I am, regardless of the genre or situation, respected because I always represent exactly who you know me to be — you trust in my fierce commitment to celebrating authenticity,” he said.
