SOURCE Nashville Hosts 2026 Hall of Fame Luncheon

SOURCE Nashville celebrated its 2026 Hall of Fame inductees on Thursday, May 21, during an intimate luncheon held at FBMM. The afternoon was filled with heartfelt, honest stories, laughter, and tears as the six trailblazers shared the highs and lows of being women in the music industry.

This year’s SOURCE Hall of Fame honorees are Debbie Carroll, Paige Conners, Cris Lacy, Margie McGahey, Sherry Oakley, and Carla Wallace. The 2026 Hall of Fame class shared insights into the industry, the hurdles faced as a woman in charge, and offered candid career and life advice during an insightful hour-long panel moderated by industry veteran Devon O’Day.

After discussing their move to Nashville and early mentors, the women each shared the best advice they received. Carla revealed the advice Margie offered her minutes earlier about building a life outside the industry: “securing your real foundation with outside friends, family, having them in your life, which is truly difficult.”

Margie then shared the importance of continuing despite sometimes getting your feelings hurt. “One day in that office, somebody’s going to hurt you, and you’re just going to say, ‘I’m quitting, I’m walking out of here.’ … You stick to it, you keep going, because if you don’t, they win.”

Along a similar theme, Sherry remembered advice from BMI’s Frances Preston during a busy season. “She would say, ‘Don’t wear your feelings on your sleeves. If somebody upsets you, just ignore it, because we’re all tired, we’re all busy.’”

Chris added an important outlook: “When you’re worried about what somebody thinks of you, just remember they’re not thinking of you at all," she promised. "They're not. We’ve all got so much stuff in our heads, and we tell ourselves so many stories about what somebody thinks about what we did, or how we did it, and we’re not that important.”

Both Debbie and Paige offered simple yet helpful thoughts for the business and life in general.

“Show up and give 110%,” Paige said. “You just keep going and do your job and move on.”

“One drink and twice around the room,” Debbie shared of advice she received early on in her career about navigating industry events, receiving many laughs at her honesty.

Stay tuned for a video from the luncheon.

These six women will be honored at the 23^rd annual SOURCE Nashville Hall of Fame Awards, presented by Springer Mountain Farms, on August 25, 2026, at the Musicians Hall of Fame. Ticket information will be announced in the coming weeks.