November 22, 2023

On the Road Again: Ferris State Student Vinny Short’s Internship Takes Him Behind the Scenes of the Music Business Touring with Dailey & Vincent

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – Vinny Short headed to Nashville, Tenn. two weekends a month last summer to hop on a tour bus with the band Dailey & Vincent and travel across the country selling merchandise, preparing music charts, recording audio and video liners, and performing other duties to help the band on the road.

For Short, a student in Ferris State University’s Public Relations program, the experience was both thrilling and grueling – a fantastic internship to get a peek behind the scenes of the music business.

When on tour, “You average only a couple hours of sleep per night, you live off venue catering and gas station food, and by the end of a weekend, you feel exhausted.”

But Short also gained valuable connections to the music industry, connecting with publicists of Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, Morgan Wallen, Eric Church, and George Strait.

He graduated from high school in 2020, and started at Eastern Michigan University before deciding the campus and curriculum were not the right fit.

He enrolled at Ferris State in fall 2022 and quickly bloomed into leadership roles on campus.

With his passion for performance arts, Short navigated toward the Music and Entertainment Business registered student organization, the Music and Entertainment Business Association, becoming the group’s director of External Relations.

“MEBA was going to save my life and make my life,” he said. “I saw the beauty in every person I came across in that program, and for the first time, I felt like I was a part of something.”

He is now studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Relations.

Short was inspired to make a change when he was introduced to the Public Relations program in the PR Principles class and the professor who teaches the program, Dr. Patrick Bishop. He was inspired to make a major change.

“I fell in love with PR and put two and two together by doing PR in the music industry,” he said.

Short also became the Programming chair and Publicity chair of Entertainment Unlimited, the registered student organization responsible for on-campus events such as concerts, comedians, and festivals.

He also is a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America, the Ferris State chapter of a national organization focusing on student advancement, networking, and development.

Short took a Music and Culture class with professor Daniel Cronk during his first semester at Ferris State and enjoyed staying after class to talk music. The conversation was often sparked from the band on his t-shirt and would wander to Cronk's vast music entertainment experiences.

Cronk asked Short if he would be interested in learning more about the music business through an summer job in the tour industry and connected him with a Ferris State alumnus working for Morris Higham Management, a Nashville-based artist management firm.

He was offered an intern position as the official tour assistant and merchandise seller for Dailey & Vincent, a band that plays a mix of bluegrass, gospel, and country.

Experiences ranged from watching Billy Ray Cyrus rehearsing while backstage at the Grand Ole Opry to selling his parents t-shirt when they came for a show at the historic Ryman Auditorium.

Short said he had a fantastic experience and learned a lot during his tour but is excited to be studying public relations to work in the music industry.

He’s still making connections. Short was thrilled to receive a call from his alumnus contact in early October, asking him to work an additional three shows. He was flown to Nashville and toured with Dailey & Vincent to Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri, resuming his previous duties. Short’s hard work, passion, and attitude have his Nashville contact consistently asking when he graduates.

Story reported by Hailey Dard