Launched more than 50 years ago, Buddy Lee Attractions — once the biggest booking agency in country music — is keeping the independent spirit alive in Nashville.
The firm’s namesake, a former professional wrestler, founded the agency with Hank Williams‘ widow, Audrey Williams, to book her son, Hank Jr. When Lee died in 1998, his widow Rita Cortez Lee, also a pro wrestler who called herself The Mexican Spitfire, took ownership until her death in 2012. Today, daughter Donna Lee runs the firm, which represents The Lacs, Jason Michael Carroll and Moonshine Bandits.
For decades, BLA has developed A-list acts — The Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert — only to see them bolt to a major after making it big. “It’s a tough part of the game,” says Lee, but the silver lining, she adds, is its reputation that “we can build an act.”