Managing the Main Attraction
When you visit your favorite venue or festival and watch the bands perform, you may often find yourself in awe of the talent of the musicians on stage and you can appreciate the years of hard work that it took for them to get to that place. What you might not think about though is that in order for that band to be in that place, someone had to book that show for them and handle all of the behind-the-scenes details. Without someone like Laura Mainer of Main Attraction Management helping those bands book the shows and managing the business aspects of what makes a professional band work, you may not be able to see bands like Donna Ulisse, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, Alan Bibey & Grasstowne, Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass or The ETSU Pride Band. Laura manages and books all of these bands and makes sure that they will be there at those venues and festivals you love to frequent.
Management and booking are often thankless jobs, but Laura is a very positive and energetic person who loves what she does for the artists and bands that she represents. She keeps her roster small so that she can give proper attention to each act. She said, “I absolutely love the artists that I work with, and I’m not just saying that. They are mature artists that are established and developed. They know who they are and what they sound like, where they want to go and what they want to be. That maturity speaks volumes. It helps aid in their career…experience is golden. It is nice working people that are utmost professionals. They show up on time and do what they are supposed to and always sound great…which is awesome. It is almost like a little family. They all get along really well and complement each other. When you are managing bands, and have a boutique-size agency, it helps to have a common thread between bands sometimes.”
Laura’s interest in music was something that she developed early because, as she said, “I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t music in my life. My Dad plays banjo and guitar and sings and my grandfather plays about anything. My maiden name is Ford and on that side of the family at reunions everybody would get together and pick. They also took us to all kinds of festivals and events. I saw a lot of the legends before I was eight years old. It has always been a part of me.”
Laura started singing in church when she was five and learned how to play the guitar when she was eleven. Laura’s father, Terry Ford, was a choir director in a small mountain church in Johnson City, Tennessee. She and her family (Laura, her father, grandfather and sometimes a bass player) also traveled to other churches to perform and they played at church revivals. Laura remembers, “I started elementary school thinking everybody knew what bluegrass was. I remember distinctly telling another girl in school that I was going to see Doyle Lawson that weekend and asking her if she was going. She was like, ‘Who?’ So, I was always the weird kid that was consumed by bluegrass. I thought they were weird though.”
Early Influences
Regarding bands who influenced her when she was young, Laura said, “I feel like I could look back through my life and there is a soundtrack for each stage growing up. But, around here…this is Doyle Lawson country. So, that was my greatest influence. His bands and his type of music and style was a big influence. Also, Ralph Stanley. Ralph Stanley was a household name regionally as well, so I listened to a lot of Ralph and Carter. My dad’s record collection was readily available. He had Flatt & Scruggs, Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, Seldom Scene…all of that. Then, when I was in high school, I was obsessed with Cherryholmes because here were these young people that were the same age as me just setting the world on fire. Also, I think every young lady in this genre would say that Alison Krauss has also been an influence. Joe Mullins…when I heard his stuff it was like a life-changing thing for me. I know that sounds crazy because now I work for him. But, when I was young I was going through some hard times and my dad told me to check out this new artist. When I heard his band, I fell in love. It was like a shot in the arm. Then, also, the Lonesome River Band…IIIrd Tyme Out and so many more…you know…all of the greats!”
Laura continued, “When I was fourteen, I had the opportunity to sing with Rhonda Vincent. She called me up on stage and that opened a lot of doors because Jerry and Susie Keys, who played with Paul Williams [in the Victory Trio] were there. After that, Paul Williams would invite me up to sing with him when he was playing locally, and he sung here in East Tennessee all the time. My mom would load us up and we’d go see him and he’d always let me do a couple of songs with him, which was a wonderful opportunity. It was good to be around him. Paul is someone that I have known most of my life and he has been a big influence. Other than that, my ultimate influences would be my dad and my grandfather. That is who I grew up listening to the most.”
When asked what she took away from the experience of singing with Paul Williams, Laura said, “He is just such a master of phrasing and dynamics. He is such a powerful singer, but he understands that you don’t always have to be super loud or in people’s face. There are dynamics to things and there is a way to do things and he is just a pro at all things related to singing and he is a remarkable mandolin player too…very clean. I started playing mandolin in college and it was such a wonderful thing to be around him and hear how distinct his notes were. He is such a charismatic light…always positive, always laughing…an incredible person to be around in general, let alone a living legend.”
In addition to Paul Williams being an influence on Laura’s singing and mandolin playing, she said that he also gave her some sound advice when she first started booking. She said, “I had been booking for four or five years. I ran into Paul and I hadn’t seen him in a while. He told me he was proud of me and he said, ‘You know, I want to tell you something. I want you to keep this in the back of your mind. God gives us everything we need to be successful. He gives us talents. Some people call them skills. If you are funny, be funny. If you are insightful, be insightful. If you sing, sing. If you are good at talking, talk. What every it is, God gives you everything you need to be successful. Use those talents and it will glorify Him.’ I’ve always tried to do that. Before he told me that, I was a little bit shy. I was afraid to be myself. But, when I started being myself and utilized what made me be me, doors opened that didn’t before. That is probably some of the most powerful advice that I’ve ever took to heart.”
East Tennessee State University
Before she entered high school, Laura mostly spent time playing music with her family, but during her high school and college years she also started branching out and attending local jam sessions. After high school she entered East Tennessee State University. She said, “It had always been one of my dreams to go to school there and that opened up a whole new world because there were people my age that played.”
Jack Tottle, who started the bluegrass program at ETSU, had spoken to Laura about the program when she was only fourteen. She wanted to start taking some classes at that time, but found out that she was too young to be enrolled in the university. As soon as she graduated high school in 2008, she entered the program at ETSU. Before attending the university Laura was a guitar player. She said, “When I got to ETSU, they said ‘We need mandolin players,’ so I got drafted and the whole world of fiddle tunes engulfed our house.” While she was a student at ETSU, Laura’s primary focus was mandolin and she studied with Adam Steffey. She also took bass lessons with Barry Bales, guitar with Ed Snodderly, fiddle with Keith Williams, and worked on vocals with Dan Boner. She graduated from ETSU in 2012 and was one of the first to earn her bachelor’s degree in Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies since that bachelor’s degree was not offered at the university until 2010.
Managing and Booking
My question to Laura regarding her ETSU graduation was, “What did you want to do with your degree when you graduated?” Laura said, “Well…I have a little story about that. My parents have always been incredibly supportive and they have always told me that I could do anything that I set my head to do, and all I ever wanted to do was music. I just wanted to be involved in the industry. It didn’t occur to me until my junior year to think about what I was going to do when I graduated. It hit me right before my mandolin lesson one day and I was just balling and I said, ‘Adam, what am I going to do?’ He said, ‘Laura, you are going to be fine. Something will work out.’ I kid you not, less than six months later I got an opportunity to work at my first agency. So, I got an opportunity to work as an agent while I was still in college.”
During her senior year in college, Laura worked for Steve Johnson’s Mountain Music Entertainment. Laura said, “I learned a tremendous amount of valuable things from Steve. At the time he was representing Rodney Dillard, Ralph Stanley II, Junior Sisk, and some others. The most important thing I learned from Steve was about building relationships. He said, ‘It is not about booking dates or making money, it is about building relationships and meeting people…being part of this community.”
After working with Johnson at Mountain Music, Laura then moved on to work with Moonstruck Management for the next four and a half years. At the time Moonstruck was managing Lonesome River Band, Ralph Stanley, Doyle Lawson, Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out, and Bobby Osborne. Laura said, “That was a great opportunity because I got to work with so many people that I had looked up to my entire life. The primary band I worked with was the Lonesome River Band.”
Laura’s next move found her working with Joe Mullins. She said, “I had booked one of my artists at Joe’s festival and we became really good friends. So, in 2015 he gave me the opportunity to work for him and manage his schedule. What a wonderful thing that was because Joe is an incredible business person and I am constantly learning from him and our publicist Kimberly Williams. It was a big turning point for me.”
Laura’s company, Main Attraction Management, is shared with Joe Mullins. In 2018, they picked up Donna Ulisse. Laura said, “When you have a roster, you want acts that harmonize together, metaphorically speaking. They look like they go together on the line up and you could book them in the same type of venue, and Donna just fit. She played some things for us in 2019, and then the pandemic hit. I then inherited some bands during the pandemic. Jim Roe [Roe Entertainment] retired and he had been a mentor to me, as an agent. He called me up and asked if I would be interested in working with Danny Paisley. What a gift when someone gives you an amazing band like that! Then, I picked up Alan Bibey last summer…what a monster mandolin player he is! Then last fall the ETSU band contacted me. It has all dropped into place.”
In addition to managing and booking her bands, Laura has also begun to buy talent for several festivals. She said, “During the pandemic, Joe Mullins taught me a lot about talent buying, so I started buying the talent for Joe’s festivals. It has been a good skill to pick up because I get to work with other agents and build skills in different areas. I enjoy doing that and I’ve since picked up a couple of other events that I buy for, like the Aquatseli Bluegrass Festival in Millington, Tennessee.”
When asked about her future, Laura said, “When I worked for different agencies in the past, I worked for a lot of bands at the same time and it was really stressful. I just want to do the very best for the bands I have and for the clients that I’m sending them to. For me, it is not a quantity type thing, but a quality type thing. I want to do the best I can for what I have…I want to keep things small and manageable. I have a little kid, so I want to be able to enjoy his childhood with him and not just be consumed.”
Laura summarized her management and booking philosophy like this, “The way I pursue it and the way I look at it is that it is not about putting everyone I have in a line up. It is about doing what is best for each event. Each event has its own life. Not everyone I have fits at every single thing, although I will say my bands are all flexible and dynamic. It is always about finding the right fit. Music is about experiences. If I have somebody that fits that theme, feel, or vibe for an event then I will pursue it. I do my best to treat each client the way I’d like to be treated; with integrity and respect.”
Emerson Wade Mainer
Laura Mainer’s husband, Isaac, was also a student at ETSU when she attended the university and she met him through performing together in one of the school bands. Today the couple is helping to keep banjo master Bill Emerson’s name alive. They have a three-year-old son named Emerson Wade Mainer. The Emerson part honors Bill Emerson, the Wade part honors Isaac’s great-grand uncle Wade Mainer. Isaac, a banjo player, is the great-grand son of J.E. Mainer. J.E. (fiddle) and Wade (banjo) famously performed with the band J.E. Mainer and his Crazy Mountaineers starting in 1933 and running through the start of World War II.
When asked why they named their son Emerson, Laura explained that both her and her husband were students at ETSU when they met. She was playing the mandolin and he the banjo. She had yet to meet Isaac when a friend called her to see if she could fill in on mandolin with his band. He picked her up to go to the gig and the CD player in his truck was spinning a Country Gentlemen recording from the Bill Emerson, Doyle Lawson era. She said that she loved that band and after she found out that Isaac loved them too, an attraction grew. The couple met on the 17th of October in 2009 and were married exactly five years later on the 17th of October in 2014.
Laura further explained that when she was pregnant with Emerson, she could not stop watching the YouTube video of the Country Gentlemen, with Bill Emerson, Doyle Lawson, Charlie Waller, and Bill Yates perform “Matterhorn.” She said, ‘Most women crave food when they are pregnant. I craved that video. If there are one million views on that video on YouTube, half of them are mine.”
She said, “I had never met Bill Emerson, but I went to see Doyle at a show in NC and asked him about Bill. Doyle said that Bill was the nicest guy that you’d ever want to know.” That sealed it for Laura and Isaac. Their son’s name would be Emerson.
Emerson Wade Mainer was born on October the 19th in 2018. About a year later when Laura heard that Bill Emerson was going to be inducted into the IBMA Hall of Fame, she and her husband made plans to travel to Raleigh so she could meet Bill Emerson and introduce him to his namesake. In the meantime, she had become friends with Billy Emerson on Facebook. Billy said, “I didn’t know her but somehow we became Facebook friends. She sent me a message and told me that they named their son after Dad, they would be in Raleigh and wanted to meet Dad and get a picture. I told Dad about it and he was thrilled. He was very touched by it.”
Although Laura Mainer, and the others in the bluegrass world who book and manage bands, may never have reach the same public acclaim as the artist who they work with, their job is very important and very worthy of recognition. Talk with any artist and they will tell you that a good manager and/or booking agent are worth their weight in gold. Laura Mainer is all that, and then some.
