Engelhardt’s journey to Hall of Fame leadership

Photo by Jamie Plain

Without a doubt, Engelhardt, 39, is a music business bonafide. At 19, the Florida native, (who was born in Lexington) headed to Nashville, where he secured an internship at Sony Music Publishing on a little street known as Music Row. He advanced from intern in the recording studio to staff, and then worked on in-house production and as an engineer, eventually becoming studio manager and producer. 

“We were just making music,” he said. “It’s a lot of long hours and behind-the-scenes work, doing everything from songwriter demos all the way up to major records.” 

The long hours at Sony put Englehardt in the same room as some of the biggest names in country music and beyond — Big & Rich, Lady Antebellum, Luke Bryan, Gretchen Wilson, Kenny Rogers, Willy, and Dolly, to name a few. 

At the same time he was producing for Sony, Englehardt — who does not call himself a musician, but admits to “dabbling” on a couple instruments — developed his own label: Englehardt Music Group. EMG has released more than 650 titles since 2004, according to a recent article on bluegrasstoday.com. 

The label, for which he will continue as owner/operator while staff oversees day-to-day business, has “about a 95% bluegrass focus,” which helped propel Englehardt to the Board of Directors of the International Bluegrass Music Association. He currently serves as chairman and will remain an at-large member due to his position at the Hall of Fame once his term is complete. 

Though Englehardt had been to Owensboro previously, moving here wasn’t on his radar. It was on a drive to Holiday World last summer with his wife and three children that the subject came up. 

“My wife asked if I was going to apply. I ended up doing so and it was a streamlined, good process,” he said, noting that so far, his favorite aspects of the Hall of Fame are that the mission is very forward facing and “there’s such a focus on kids, with lessons and tours.” 

A happy surprise has been seeing who turns up at Hall of Fame on a daily basis. 

“We actually get lots of artists that stop by unannounced,” he said. “Just the other day, we had Ricky Skagges and his wife, Sharon White, and then David Crowe, the son of Bluegrass legend J.D. Crowe.” 

Increasing the number of concerts and multi-day events (e.g. Jerry Garcia: A Bluegrass Journey Event) is on the agenda, but Englehardt doesn’t have any major changes on his mind.

“Everything is rockin’ good,” he said. “Obviously, we want to continue to highlight ROMP and encourage attendance.” 

Though there are artists he hopes to bring to Owensboro, “I don’t want to name names and then disappoint,” he said with a smile. 

Englehardt said if you love the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland or the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, “we’re a bit smaller, but just as impressive.” To Owensboroans — or anyone, for that matter — who haven’t visited the Hall of Fame, he urges them to come to a concert and or an exhibit to check it out. OL