Cameo Carlson, Old Dominion, Lee Ann Womack Honored During Save the Music’s Sixth Annual ‘Hometown to Hometown’ Event

On Tuesday evening (Nov. 11), Save the Music’s sixth annual “Hometown to Hometown” event put a spotlight on the power of music education to inspire creativity and launch careers, while also raising money to aid the current and future generations of students to have access to quality music technology. The event was held at Nashville’s City Winery, raising over $250,000 to support music education in under-resourced public high schools.

Singer-songwriter Dasha opened the evening with a performance of “Austin (Boots Stop Workin’),” and also co-hosted the evening alongside FEMco founder Leslie Fram. They led the way in celebrating the night’s 2025 champions of the year, artists Lee Ann Womack and Old Dominion, as well as music industry leader Cameo Carlson.

Carlson is the CEO of mtheory, and manages Grammy-nominated artist Mickey Guyton. Carlson is also an instrumental part of organizations and programs including Nashville Music Equality and the Equal Access program. Carlson began her career in terrestrial radio before transitioning into the digital music arena as head of label and artist relations at Apple, helping to spearhead the early iTunes juggernaut. Carlson’s career has also included executive roles at Universal Motown Republic. Prior to her work at mtheory, she led digital strategy at Borman Entertainment.

Guyton honored Carlson with a performance of “Better Than You Left Me,” while music industry exec Rachel Whitney presented Carlson as a champion of the year honoree. Carlson also joined Fram onstage as the two shared a conversation about Carlson’s career.

“The real thing for me is staying open-minded,” Carlson said of her early career roles. “Being that first-gen [college] student who didn’t have a network of any kind to walk into, I didn’t know what possibilities there were and weren’t, so I kept an open mind. I was taking opportunities that presented itself in front of me that sounded cool and sounded different, and I wound up in this space of kind of being an interpreter between what the tech needed and what the music industry did and I liked that niche…there’s no way you could have charted out the path that I wound up on.”

In her role at mTheory, she and her team provide services to aid artist managers in their complex myriad of roles.

“The managers, in the ecosystem of an artist, they are the one person who has to know everything, they have to do every single line of business. It is an impossible job. There’s never been a manager that goes to bed at night and says, ‘I did everything I could for my artist today,’ literally doesn’t exist. So the job starts at impossible, and our mission statement is that we support the impossible. We put services in place to help managers.”

Womack performed “A Little Past Little Rock” and “I Hope You Dance,” the latter being a five-week Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper in 2000. Songwriter Bernie Taupin presented Womack with her accolade, telling Womack, “Honoring this woman is such a pleasure for me, I cannot even begin to tell you. I’m preaching to the choir here and you all know, it’s been happening for years, art and music is getting siphoned out of the educational system.” He added, “Music is a life force and the life blood of my industry… It was my education, and we should not let it be drained out of the educational system.”

“Thank you to Save the Music so much for keeping music in schools… we all know, helps them with their test scores in math and science and tech-related things, and not only that, but emotionally, giving them an emotional outlet to express themselves,” Womack told the crowd. “I want every child to have the opportunity to hold a musical instrument in their hands. It’s so important. I can tell you from personal experience, music is so important in these schools. It can be the reason a kid gets up in the morning. It can be the reason they want to go to school, it can be the reason they want to have a better score on that math test or that science test. I thank Save the Music so much for keeping music in schools.”

Old Dominion performed “One Man Band” and a song the band has referred to as a “love letter to Nashville,” this year’s “Good Night Music City.” The band was presented with its accolade by Sony Music Nashville Chairman/CEO Taylor Lindsey. Earlier in 2025, Old Dominion spearheaded raising almost $300,000 for music programs through several initiatives, among them by donating a portion of proceeds from their seven-night run of shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

“My hometown was about the size of this room,” recalled Old Dominion lead singer Matthew Ramsey. “I know what it’s like to grow up in an area where resources are not readily available. I was definitely that kid that felt like music was sometimes the only reason to get up. I know what everyone is talking about here… and I appreciate Save the Music and what they’re doing. We are so honored to be part of it in a small way.”

Later in the evening, Nashville-based Johnson Alternative Learning Center’s principal Franklin and music teacher Mr. Hanna spoke of how music technology and music education have impacted their students. Additionally, one of the school’s senior students Janie, who is learning podcasting through a Save the Music J Dilla Music Technology grant, offered a powerful testimony of how music technology has been beneficial.

Dasha, Fram and singer-songwriter Pynk Beard delivered encouragement for the crowd to raise money for the cause. The event raised $250,000 to support new music technology programs in Nashville as well as the honorees’ hometowns of Washington, D.C. (Old Dominion) and Dallas, Texas (Womack).

Since its launch in 2019, Hometown to Hometown has raised $1.2 million, aiding 18 high schools with resources and state-of-the-art music technology equipment. The sixth annual Save The Music’s “Hometown to Hometown” event was sponsored by Gibson Gives, Love Tito’s, Messina Touring Group, Morris Higham Management, mtheory and SiriusXM.