CMT News

Following the lead of several other prominent country artists, Tracy Lawrence has launched Rocky Comfort Records, a partnership with his manager, Laney Lawrence, who is also the singer's brother. The Nashville-based label will operate as a joint venture with CO5 Nashville and will have retail distribution by A2M Distribution. Lawrence's first single, "Find Out Who Your Friends Are," will be released in August with an album to follow in early 2007. Noting a trend toward independent labels, Lawrence said, "With the launch of labels like Toby Keith's Show Dog, Neil McCoy's 903, Clint Black's Equity Records, Tracy Byrd's Blind Mule and now my own Rocky Comfort Records, I hope we look back in five years and see that this new movement was the change that brought us closer to the perfect musical world." Recording for Atlantic Records during the '90s, Lawrence scored seven No. 1 singles, including "Alibis," "Time Marches On" and "Sticks and Stones."