00:00First, let me say I'm so proud of my son, Austin, for receiving this award.
00:06As a third generation Neal in the music business, preceded by his grandfather, Bob Neal, and I,
00:15Austin is succeeding beyond belief.
00:20And he's such a good person.
00:22That's one thing.
00:25His grandfather, I don't know if you all know, was Elvis Presley's first manager.
00:32From his degree in forensic chemistry from Ole Miss to owning a major agency is a dream come true.
00:39When he came to me 14 years ago, wanting to be an agent, I warned him of the pitfalls,
00:44long hours that he was, and he was up for the task.
00:50Now, due to his persistence, creativity, and analytical thinking, he has built a major, what we call a boutique agency.
01:01Well, it's no longer a boutique agency.
01:03He is a builder of artists.
01:05He has done amazing things with Morgan Wallen, Riley Green, Hardy, and now Ella Langley.
01:13He has added management, publishing, sponsorship to the Neal Agency, I think international,
01:23to the Neal Agency offerings that are all successful.
01:28He has built a team of amazing agents and a co-head, Adi Sharma, who was my assistant.
01:36All outstanding people.
01:38The great thing is that the managers and artists trust him to make the right decisions.
01:44He has an artist mentality.
01:49There's not much more I can say.
01:50He's such a great son and agent, person in this business.
01:58I don't know anybody that can say anything bad about him, which is great.
02:03He was, my dad taught me, be nice to everybody.
02:07And he's kind to everybody.
02:09So, where's my boy?
02:18Congratulations.
02:19Love you.
02:20Love you.
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