Athletes & Artists Play for Kids Charity Weekend

Kalie Shorr is a Los Angeles / Nashville-based singer, songwriter, actress, and radio personality. Her blend of alternative rock, and country music has led to many accolades- including the New York Times naming her debut album Open Book the #7 Best Album of 2019 alongside artists like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Lana Del Rey.

She was featured in Teen Vogue as one of "10 Women Changing the Music Game' alongside Billie Eilish, Maggie Rogers, and Princess Nokia. She's been featured by Cosmopolitan, Variety, Elle, and Glamour magazines, and appeared on Disney Channel, MTV,
and CMT; as well as a role in Taylor Swift's "Mine" music video. She's shared the stage with artists like Stevie Nicks, Keith Urban, as well as a 2021 Canada and US Tour with All Time Low. As a media personality, Kalie hosts a weekly podcast, Too Much To Say, produced by iHeart Radio with over 100,000+ downloads. For two years, she co-hosted the daily Radio Disney show, Let The Girls Play. She's appeared and hosted network television red carpets numerous years in a row for the CMT Awards, CMA Awards, Radio Disney Music Awards, and AC awards for multiple outlets.

She's had viral videos on several platforms, but most notably her 2021 single "Amy" that exploded on Tik Tok- accumulating over 3 million views total that lead to an EP produced by rock and roll legend, Butch Walker (PInk, Taylor Swift, Green Day). Kalie continues to work on her own music, while writing songs for other artists that have appeared in shows like Yellowstone (Paramount) and Nashville (CMT), and also featured by the NFL and for Apple campaigns.

As founder and head of Pound It Out Loud Entertainment, Margaret Valentine has overseen the career explosion of country music prodigy Carter Faith, acted as the powerhouse behind Camden Yards’ landmark “Friday Fireworks and Music” concert series that shined a spotlight on unsigned female artists, and spearheaded charitable initiatives that have raised in excess of over $500,000 for organizations providing funding to underserved youth in the arts. She has consistently been able to leverage her inherent business savvy with her background as a singer/songwriter in order to develop new talent, pushing them to places that had previously seemed unthinkable.

Valentine brought Pound It Out Loud into existence when she discovered Carter Faith in 2016. “I watched 12 seconds of that girl performing an original song and I knew she was going to be a star,” she explains matter-of-factly, “I started my company based on that belief in her and have never wavered.” With Margaret as her key developer, manager, and occasional co-writer, Faith has seen millions of streams of her music, been cited by Spotify as a 2022 Hot Country Artist to Watch, and recently garnered a lucrative publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group.

Queen V is a New York City based singer-songwriter and front woman of her namesake rock band. V is currently performing and releasing videos in support of her most recent record, Bridges Vol. 3, which is the conclusion of her Bridges trilogy.

The trilogy began with the release of the Bridges EP in 2015, which V recorded in Los Angeles at the famed Studio 606 with the help of Producer John “Lou” Lousteau. This first EP was the result of V taking her songwriting in a new direction, refocusing on her roots on piano and acoustic guitar.

The next leg of the Bridges journey saw Queen V spending extended periods of time writing in Nashville, where she linked up with Chad Carlson, who has become a frequent collaborator, cowriter, and Producer. The 2017 EP, Bridges Vol. 2, was recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium, with Chad Carlson at the helm.

For the closing saga of the trilogy, the full length, Bridges Vol. 3, V knew she needed to bring the journey back home to New York City. V’s history in New York goes back over two decades, making a name for herself in her early days with frequent shows at legendary venues in NYC’s club scene, such as CBGB, The Bitter End, and Don Hill’s, among countless others. With the decision made that only New York had the energy, history, and other intangibles needed to close out this anthology, V headed to the historic Sear Sound to record Bridges Vol. 3. Once again Chad Carlson would be behind the board producing the record, along with co-writing a number of songs.

Bridges Vol. 3 was released on June 10th of 2022, and has been supported by the release of a number of music videos, including V’s first ever animated video for the track “Technicolor.” V celebrated Vol. 3 with a concert at The Atlantic in Brooklyn, NY on the eve of the album’s release.

Later that Summer, V would go on to promote the album by performing at Celebrity Care Fest, where she played two sets of her own music and sat in for performances with The Temptations, Lou Gramm of Foreigner, and The Jacksons. This continued a long history of high-profile collaborations for V who has wrote or performed with the likes of Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Corey Taylor (Slipknot/Stone Sour), Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine), Lemmy (Motorhead), and more recently country star, Billy Dean, who cowrote Vol. 3’s, “Honest,” to name just a few.

This year has seen Queen V announce her first Summer Soiree, which will take place June 23rd at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City. This show is an addition to V’s series of regular NYC performances, which also includes her Spring Fling and Fall Ball. Additionally, she has plans to film and release videos for several more songs from Bridges Vol. 3, most notably, the trilogy’s title track, “Bridges.” A limited edition vinyl release of Vol. 3 is expected in Fall/Winter of ’23, which will mark the first time any of the Queen V catalog has been released on vinyl.

Kyle Cook has spent the bulk of his musical life as the lead guitarist of Matchbox Twenty. He co-wrote some of the songs, sang lead on a few and invented many of the instrumental riffs in radio staples such as “Real World,” “Unwell” and “Bent.” But plenty of his creative persona was held in check as he collaborated in a team effort.

With Wolves, his solo debut, Cook invests so much of himself in the project that a discerning listener can get a good idea of who the guitar player really is. He’s a studied musician with an all-American Midwestern background, a guy who has a penchant for classic rock with just enough classical training to make him dangerous, and an adult whose experiences with the cycle of love and loss are extraordinarily familiar.

Wolves explores the complicated progression of heartbreak and healing while shining a light on his musical influences. The Queen-ish guitar tones in “Better This Way,” the Tom Petty-sounding foundation of “Wishing Well” and The Eagles-like harmonies in “I Would’ve Left Me Too” all point to the kinds of popular music – melodic songs with sturdy-but-simple arrangements – that influenced his ascent. The string section in the closing “Silver Lining (Opus)” harkens to the formal orchestral training he received at the start of his musical journey. Meanwhile, the resigned anger in “Would It Kill You” and the haunting loneliness in “Ghost Towns” point to the difficult personal struggle he endured with the breakup of a long-termmarriage.

It’s all delivered with a fuzzy, guy-next-door vocal quality that makes Cook a bit of a rarity: a rock star whose restraint makes him completely relatable.