SHS alumnus signs music publishing deal

Sisters High School alumnus Madison Slicker recently signed a music publishing deal in Nashville, Tennessee. Slicker was an active member of Sisters Folk Festival's Americana Project music education outreach program throughout middle school and high school, and then took Americana in her senior year at Summit High School in Bend.

Slicker credits a lot of her success to the Americana Project and the teachers who helped her get so far.

"I never wanted to do anything else. I'm so thankful for every opportunity I got while being in the Americana Project," said Slicker.

Slicker signed a deal with Sea the Desert Entertainment in Nashville. Slicker will start out as a staff writer for the company and will turn in 12 songs a year as part of her contract.

"They will be taking my songs and pitching them to various artists to record," said Slicker.

She has been working with the publishing company since she was 14.

"I met the CEO by chance and just got to talking," she said.

And this year, she was offered a contract.

After her senior year, Madison moved to Nashville to pursue her musical career and take college classes. She is a music business major at Belmont University in Nashville. Slicker played some gigs in Nashville while she was there, including the famous Bluebird Café.

"The publishing deal is totally separate from my college classes," Slicker noted.

"It's been really helpful taking some law classes including a contract law class, because I knew the language in my contract and could really understand what it entailed."

Slicker is back in Central Oregon for the summer and is in the process of writing new material. She plans to go to Belmont West in Los Angeles and get involved in the music scene on the West Coast. She will be continuing to take online classes getting her music business degree.

"The future is unclear as of right now on exactly where I will end up," she said.

Right now, her company is in the process of finishing up some singles in Nashville.

"At the start, you are at the mercy of everyone's schedule," said Slicker.

Slicker said that the best way to keep up with her work is through Instagram and Facebook, she will be posting updates about what she's doing there.

"I'm looking forward to putting out new music for the community to see my new stuff!" she said.