Pollstar + VenuesNow 2022 Women Of Live: Lenore Kinder

Senior Vice President
Wasserman Music

Agent Lenore Kinder has helped Kacey Musgraves grow her live career from playing theaters in 2016 to headlining arenas in 2022.

The country/pop star’s debut arena trek in support of
her fifth studio album, Star-Crossed, kicked off Jan. 19 in Saint Paul, Minn., at Xcel Energy Center and ran through Feb. 20 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. Reports submitted to Pollstar’s Boxoffice include a Feb. 5 show at New York’s Madison Square Garden that sold 14,370 tickets
and grossed $1.7 million.

“Kacey Musgraves’ highly successful debut arena tour, amidst the most challenging times our industry has faced, feels like a pretty major accomplishment. Launching the tour in fall of ‘21 felt like a moment of exhalation, because live music was coming back,” Kinder says of the “Star-Crossed: Unveiled” tour, which went on sale in September.

Kinder recently spoke to Pollstar for a cover story detailing Musgraves’ rise as the singer/songwriter built a fanbase that crosses demographics and genres.

“I made sure we played rock rooms, not the Dusty Armadillos,” Kinder said. “I wanted her where young, hip contemporary artists were playing, so she was part of larger musical conversations; she was playing where the rock bands and (drag queen) Trixie Mattel were playing. Even in 2014 and 2015, we were digitally-driven, Facebook and Twitter. If we were
going to break out a group, it was always community marketing, looking to the LGBTQ community and employing street teams.”

Kinder’s roster also includes Grammy winning singer-songwriter and The Highwomen member Natalie Hemby, rising indie singer-songwriter Weyes Blood, CMT Next Women of Country 2020 honoree Abbey Cone, and Monument Records recording artist Alex Hall.

Kinder and her colleagues at Wasserman have been working with partners including Color of Change, Diversify the Stage and the Black Music Action Coalition to make an impact in the industry.

“We’ll be announcing an amazing educational initiative soon that I’ve been part of conceiving and implementing, and I can’t wait to share it with the world,” Kinder says. “Stay tuned!”