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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; In accepting his latest accolade &mdash; Billboard Magazine&rsquo;s Executive of the Week &mdash; Plymouth native Jimmy Harnen said credit belongs to a team of great people.
				&ldquo;I share this with all the writers, musicians, engineers, producers, promotion, marketing and publicity teams, country radio, DSP&rsquo;s, the fans and, of course, Lady A and their incredible management,&rdquo; Harnen said. &ldquo;Any time you flip from one single and go to another it&rsquo;s a challenge, add in a worldwide pandemic for another layer of difficulty, but with everyone&rsquo;s hard work and the band&rsquo;s dedication to radio, we pulled it off in a big way.&rdquo;
				Harnen said the single is a testament and a celebration to everyone involved &ldquo;as we raise a glass to Lady A&rsquo;s first multi-week #1 single in 8 years! As they say, &ldquo;it takes a village.&rdquo;
				Harnen, 57, is President/CEO at BMLG Records in Nashville. He will forever be remembered in this area for his band Synch and their 1986 hit record <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xEPNnYPgig" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&ldquo;Where Are You Now.&rdquo;</a>
				Joe Nardone Jr. of Gallery of Sound/Rockology Academy/Magnus Productions, congratulated Harnen on his success.
				&ldquo;I just want to send over a big congratulations to Jimmy Harnen,&rdquo; Nardone said. &ldquo;I remember his first hit record back in the day when he used to call NEPA home. He is a major player in Nashville and the music business. All the best to him.&rdquo;
				Harnen took time from his buy schedule to talk about the accolade and to reminisce a bot about growing up in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
				His family &mdash; who he affectionately calls &ldquo;Team Harnen&rdquo; &mdash; is doing great and all are healthy.
				&ldquo;I flew over 250,000 miles in 2019, so it&rsquo;s been nice to have this time to spend with family,&rdquo; Harnen said. &ldquo;We have also been fortunate to spend a lot of time in Florida at our beach house which has been a blessing throughout COVID-19. Our son Luke turns 21 this year and wraps up his junior year at Ole Miss. Our daughter Katie is a senior in high school and off to college in September. My wife Lynn and her brother R.J. have opened up a new business in Brentwood, TN, called, Spark: An Art Studio, that we are all very excited about. So yes, we absolutely love living in Nashville.&rdquo;
				Harnen said growing up in Plymouth was a special place for a kid in the 70&rsquo;s and early 80&rsquo;s.
				&ldquo;Wyoming Valley West High School and Wilkes University provided me with a fantastic education and a small-town environment that I will always treasure,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In the first few years when Lynn and I were married, we hit all of the fun places &mdash; The Woodland&rsquo;s, Murray&rsquo;s, Market Street Square and in the summer, we always headed out to Grotto Pizza at Harvey&rsquo;s Lake. Such great time&rdquo;
				Harnen also talked about the death of his friend Jerry Hludzik.
				&ldquo;Jerry taught me so much about making records and the music business overall,&rdquo; Harnen said. &ldquo;We butted heads a few times as will happen in the creative process, but he was very important to my musical growth in the 80&rsquo;s. I miss him.&rdquo;
				Before the pandemic Harnen said he spent a few days with his sister Beverly and a few of his lifelong buddies when Florida Georgia Line played at Montage.
				&ldquo;Gotta give them a shout out,&rdquo; Harnen said. &ldquo;My nephew Adrian Harnen, Jeff Walker, Mitch Kornfeld, Jim Haggerty, Mike Betts, and Paul Oschal. Cheers fellas!&rdquo;
				Harnen said he is blessed to work with one of the finest rosters in all of country music with Florida Georgia Line, Lady A, Brett Young and Riley Green.
				&ldquo;I am very excited about our latest signing, Laci Kaye Booth,&rdquo; Harnen said. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s an exceptional singer/songwriter and is currently in the studio with Dann Huff producing. Look for new music later this spring &ldquo;
				From Billboard Magazine
				&ldquo;Over the past decade-plus, Lady A &mdash; the trio of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood that went by Lady Antebellum until June 2020 &mdash; has grown into one of the most formidable country music acts in the country, with three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and each of their releases charting at No. 1 or No. 2 on Billboard&rsquo;s Top Country Albums chart.
				&ldquo;And their latest release, Ocean, has continued a longstanding run of Country Airplay hits, with the group&rsquo;s latest single, &ldquo;Champagne Night,&rdquo; becoming their 11th Country Airplay No. 1, and their second since leaving Capitol Nashville and signing with Big Machine Label Group&rsquo;s BMLG Records in the fall of 2018.
				&ldquo;So, mid-campaign, and lifted by an appearance on NBC&rsquo;s show Songland, BMLG Records president/CEO Jimmy Harnen shifted focus to &ldquo;Champagne Night,&rdquo; and was rewarded with a No. 1 single &mdash; and the distinction of being named Billboard&rsquo;s Executive of the Week.
				&ldquo;You could feel that something special was about to happen once their fans heard the music,&rdquo; Harnen said. &ldquo;It was, and continues to be, a very exciting time.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;Champagne Night&rdquo; just hit No. 1 on Country Airplay, giving Lady A its 11th No. 1 on the chart and second since signing with BMLG.
				Pandemic adjustments
				Harnen told Billboard the pandemic most definitely made a big impact.
				&ldquo;I told our promo staff on our first quarantine conference call in March that we were in unprecedented times,&rdquo; Harnen said. &ldquo;We needed to do our jobs, but first, we needed to be respectful, caring and understanding to our friends at country radio and what they were potentially going through with their families and friends. The first few weeks, we were operating in completely unfamiliar territory. As time went on, we learned how to work together to keep our business moving forward as efficiently as possible given the circumstances.&rdquo;

Plymouth native Harnen receives accolade from Billboard Magazine