117 Entertainment Group President & CEO, Zach Farnum, announced today the creation of 117 Management with the signing of Country Music Hall of Famer Bobby Bare. With the announcement comes the restructuring of the public relations branch of the company under the name 117 Publicity. A management staff will be announced in the coming weeks.
“Bobby Bare is the quintessential country music legend. He paved paths for the Outlaw movement, is a Grammy-winner and Hall of Famer and has had over 50 country Top 40 hits,” said Farnum, adding, “Bare is one of the kindest and most respected people in the business. I’ve had an incredible and successful run working with him as his publicist and am humbled to move into this new role.”
“I’m so glad to have Zach Farnum representing me, I think he’s just using me as bait to get bigger, younger acts,” joked Bare.
Bobby Bare has released 39 albums charting over 50 country Top 40 singles including iconic songs like “Marie Laveau,” “500 Miles Away From Home” and “Daddy, What If,” just to name a few. His ode to the working man, “Detroit City,” won a Grammy in 1963 and he was inducted as a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Credited by many as the “architect of Outlaw Country,” Bare became a trailblazer by taking control of his own production on his albums from his record label. He is also widely known as one of the most avid fishermen in country music.
117 Publicity, headed by VP Bev Moser, represents a wide array of artists including Chuck Negron, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lewis Brice, Logan Mize, Paul Bogart, Max T. Barnes, Scooter Brown Band, Darren Bessette Band, Nashville Association of Talent Directors as well as Bare.