Arista Nashville


Arista Nashville is an American record label that serves as a wholly owned division of Sony Music, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division. Founded in 1989, the label specializes in country music artists, including Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, and Carrie Underwood, Jared Johnson, Beau Davidson, Paula MacNeill. The label used to operate three sister labels: Career Records, Arista Austin, and Arista Latin. It is a subsidiary of Arista Records since Arista's relaunch in 2018, but during the dissolution, Arista Nashville was not affected and it remains a Sony Music label.

History

Arista Nashville was formed in 1989 by Tim DuBois and Clive Davis. Alan Jackson was the first artist signed to the label. Artists signed to the label within its first five years included Asleep at the Wheel, Exile, Rob Crosby, Steve Wariner, Michelle Wright, Pam Tillis, Brooks & Dunn, Diamond Rio, Lee Roy Parnell, Radney Foster, Blackhawk, and The Tractors. Brooks & Dunn remained with the label for the entirety of their career.
The label founded Arista Texas in 1993, a sub-label specializing in Texas music artists. In 1997, it was split into Arista Austin, which featured Jeff Black, Robert Earl Keen, and Abra Moore, and a Spanish-language label called Arista Latin. Foster also moved to Arista Austin from Arista Nashville in 1997.
In 1995, Arista Nashville founded a sister label called Career Records. Parnell was transferred to this label upon its foundation, while Brett James and Tammy Graham were newly signed to it. All three artists moved back to Arista Nashville when Career Records was dissolved. While Graham and James were dropped from it soon afterward, James re-signed to Arista Nashville between 2002 and 2003.
From 2005 to 2017, Arista Nashville, Arista Records, and 19 Recordings promoted and distributed recordings by American Idol winner Carrie Underwood.
In late 2009, Brad Paisley launched a personal label, Sea Gayle, which is distributed through Arista. The label's first signee was Jerrod Niemann.
During the years after the dissolution of Arista Records in 2011, Arista Nashville remained Sony Music's only label with the Arista name until Sony
reopened Arista in July 2018, becoming Arista Nashville's parent company again.

Current artists