Anderson is a radio producer/phone screener and singer/songwriter who became a Lifetime Member when she won a CMA Broadcast Award for her work on “The Bobby Bones Show”
By Deborah Evans Price
Sometimes it just takes attending one event to set a young person on their career path. For Abby Anderson, that pivotal moment was attending “CMA Country Christmas” with her grandfather in 2009.
“The Country Christmas taping was so much fun, and Nashville was this magical place to me,” says Anderson, phone screener and producer for “The Bobby Bones Show.” “The next year my mom and I went to CMA Fest. I fell in love with Nashville and thought, ‘Why not move here?’”
The Wichita, KS native has had a fascination with Country Music since childhood and recalls singing Shania Twain’s “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under” for her kindergarten class. “I had no idea at the time what that meant,” she laughs. “My kindergarten teacher was like, ‘Maybe we should not do that song,’ but I loved it. I loved singing Shania songs in talent shows growing up.”
Anderson got her degree in Exercise Science at the University of Kansas and was contemplating a career in the medical field as a physical therapist. An internship at a health and wellness center at Vanderbilt brought her to Nashville, but it was music that kept her in the city.
“I thought, ‘I’m in Nashville. I have one shot to actually do something in music so why not try for it?’” Anderson recalls. But she admits that she almost gave up early on. “I let people discourage me because I remember meeting people and they were like, ‘Oh everybody sings,’ or ‘You are just another singer.’ Everybody is so good here and I wasn’t expecting that. It was a little intimidating.”
Yet Anderson persevered. She began networking and volunteering at different events, which led to her radio career. “I volunteered at one event through iHeartRadio and it turns out they were hiring somebody part-time as a promotions tech, so I took that job and I met a ton of people.”
Anderson encourages newcomers in the business to network as much as possible and take advantage of the opportunities available to CMA members. “Network and keep going. Keep letting people see your face,” she advises. “When you join CMA, you are going to be surrounded by people that are like-minded. There are so many workshops you can go to and so many other membership benefits.”
Before taking the job with “The Bobby Bones Show,” Anderson worked with a video production company. “We actually provided screens for CMA Fest and so I was going there every day to check on the LED screens and the crew guys we hired. I feel like everything in my life keeps going back to CMA. My first time in Nashville was because of CMA and then winning a CMA Broadcast Award,” she says of “The Bobby Bones Show’s” win for Daily National Broadcast Personality of the Year. “It came full circle.”
Anderson has worked for “The Bobby Bones Show” for five years and loves interacting with the fans that call into the show as well as the artists who appear as guests. The show has also afforded her the opportunity to pursue her original passion—singing. “Bobby has a band called Bobby Bones and the Raging Idiots and he let me come out and open shows, but I was doing cover songs because I didn’t have any of my own. He said, ‘You should write your own song’ and he challenged me to write my own song in one week. He also challenged me to learn to play guitar.”
Anderson rose to the occasion. She learned to play guitar and also penned “Hey There Hometown” in honor of Wichita. Since then, she’s opened for other artists including George Birge, sang the national anthem before a Nashville Predators hockey game and a race benefitting St. Jude as a St. Jude Hero. Her rendition of the anthem was recorded and has been played regularly on multiple radio stations.
Anderson recently released her second single, “Ex-Boyfriend Material,” and is excited about pursuing her passion. “It really is a dream job that I have,” she says of her radio gig, “but there was also something missing. I don’t want to look back and regret that I moved here to sing and I’m not even doing it. The show got me motivated to start singing, writing and playing the guitar much more. So that’s what I’m doing now.”
These days, Anderson is reveling in her dual career as a singer/songwriter and morning radio screener/producer. The upbeat Midwest native encourages others to go for their dreams and not be hemmed in by boundaries set by others. “There’s no path,” she smiles. “People think, ‘You’ve got to do this, this and this. You’ve got to get your degree in music business.’ But I didn’t do that. I’m proof that if you go after what you want, and really work hard at it, treat people right and say ‘yes,’ then it most likely will happen for you.”
All photos courtesy of Abby Anderson.
