KNOXVILLE — Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn — who perform as the award-winning country music act Brooks & Dunn — will talk about entertainment law at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s College of Law at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3. This is a lecture only; Brooks & Dunn will not perform.
Brooks & DunnThey will be joined by entertainment lawyers Joel Katz (an alumnus of UT’s College of Law) and Bobby Rosenbloum of Greenberg Traurig LLP.
The event — part of the Joel A. Katz-Suntrust Lecture Series — will be held in the Baker Donelson Classroom 132, UT College of Law, 1505 W. Cumberland Ave.
Media will be allowed to film for the first five minutes of the lecture. Brooks & Dunn will be available for 15 minutes after the event (approximately 1:15 p.m.).
The event is open to UT faculty, staff and students, but not the general public.
A limited number of free standby tickets are available for UT faculty, staff and students to hear the lecture. Tickets can be picked up in Room 157 of the college. For more information, call (865) 974-6691.
Standby ticket holders will be admitted to the room to fill open seats and standing room, as available. Those who don’t get into the room can view the lecture in an overflow room. All participants will be able to submit questions to Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, as well as Joel A. Katz and Bobby Rosenbloum.
The event will be webcast live. A link to that webcast can be found at http://www.law.utk.edu/news/08brooksdunn.shtml.
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Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn formed in 1990, when Ronnie Dunn moved to Nashville and was introduced to Kix Brooks by Arista Records label head Tim Dubois.
Brooks & Dunn have sold more than 30 million records and have had 23 chart-topping country hits, including “Brand New Man,” “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone,” “My Maria,” “Only In America” and “Red Dirt Road.” The group has won more than 80 industry awards — more awards than any other country artist — including “Entertainers of the Year” four times, 20 Country Music Association Awards and 26 Academy of Country Music Awards.
Dunn’s honors include being a two-time BMI country songwriter of the year, 1996 Billboard Magazine country songwriter of the year and 2006 Gospel Music Association gospel songwriter of the year for the song “Believe.”
Brooks, a native of Shreveport, La., began performing and writing songs at age 12. After moving to Nashville, he joined Tree Publishing Co. where he wrote songs performed by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Conlee and Highway 101.
Brooks has served as president and chairman of the Country Music Association (CMA), and he remains an active board member and part of the Blue Ribbon Committee. The Blue Ribbon Committee is a group of music and civic professionals who are working to bring the city of Nashville and the music industry closer together. Brooks serves on the boards of Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Joel Katz
Katz, who earned his law degree from UT in 1969, runs the world’s largest entertainment law practice for the firm of Greenberg Traurig LLP in Atlanta. His superstar clients, along with Brooks & Dunn, include Christina Aguilera, Collective Soul, Sheryl Crow, Sony Corp. of America, Clear Channel Entertainment, Universal-Vivendi, Time Warner Telecom, The Coca Cola Co., The Recording Academy, Anschutz Entertainment, Sammy Hagar, B.B. King, Jimmy Buffett, George Jones, Gibson Guitar, Alan Jackson, The Convex Group LLC, Kenny Chesney, Nokia Corp., IMG, Convex, Wurlitzer, Country Music Assoc. and Baldwin Piano Co.
Katz established the Katz Family Scholarship in 1997 to help students struggling to balance law school with family and financial obligations. In 2000, he created the Joel A. Katz Law Professorship. Throughout the college is a collection of music memorabilia from Katz’s career, including gold and platinum records from many of his clients. In 1999, in recognition of his achievements and his generosity over the years, the Joel A. Katz Law Library was named in his honor.
Bobby Rosenbloum
Rosenbloum is co-chairman of Greenberg Traurig’s entertainment law practice.
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Amy Blakely, media relations, (865) 974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu