"Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to play music. My first guitar was a Sears and Roebuck special. I started lessons when I was seven," states Nelson. He was instrumental in starting a bluegrass band during his middle school years, competing in talent contest and performing at local and state venues. Later he joined a Bluegrass group that performed regularly at Carowinds of Charlotte, a division of Paramount Communications by Viacom, a CBS Corporation.

Nelson continued to play music and in 1985, joined "Carlton Moody and The Moody Brothers", and began touring the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. While touring with Carlton they also joined forces as the band for George Hamilton IV, a native Carolinian known around the world as “The International Ambassador of Country Music”.

In the late 80's, Nelson married and several years later became a father. After a couple of years of missing out on his children’s accomplishments and the joy of just being around to enjoy the small things in life, Nelson decided to take a hiatus from the music industry to be at home. He never lost his passion for being a part of the music industry and continued to follow the industry with its many changes. He continued to stay in touch with the many friends that he had made in the industry and music was always in his heart. During this hiatus, Nelson began working for a major manufacturing company and worked his way from an inside sales position to production and purchasing manager, but he was always thinking music.

In 1998 Nelson decided it was time to get back into the music industry. He began traveling, working with recording studios across the country with their replication and mastering of CDs and graphics design. As the industry continued to move forward, so did Nelson and he soon became an owner with a premier independent label and entertainment company, Lamon Records, Incorporated.

During his time at Lamon, Nelson was instrumental in producing and co-producing artists from all walks of life, which truly gave him a new prospective on the life of an artist in all genres of music. He became aware of the struggles for all artists, and the need to have someone to share ideas, give directions, and be instrumental as a sounding board for them. “Whether the artist is at a state, regional, national, or international level, there is a need to listen to them, help them develop a plan and then put that plan into action. It is important to help them feel the satisfaction of being the best that that they can be, no matter what,” states Nelson.

Although he enjoyed his time at the record company, there was still something missing. He felt the need to share his talents further and wanted to be a vessel that God could use by sharing his knowledge of the music industry and helping others fulfill their dreams. Nelson felt that a company working as a team, networking together and sharing ideas could further help artists move to levels beyond their wildest dreams. In 2008 he and his wife of 23 years created their own entertainment company with a vision of community. The premise of the company is to help the artists on the label in all aspects of their career, all the while encouraging one another to help each other.

Nelson recalls that he has fulfilled many of his dreams as a performer (percussion, bass, guitar, vocals) but he now wants to help others accomplish their dreams too. He has played at the Grand Ole Opry, worked with Motor Racing Outreach (MRO), performing concerts at various Sprint Cup Events across the country. He has produced, co produced, engineered, mixed, mastered, sang harmony and background vocals, played bass and percussion, taken photos and created graphic design covers and there is nothing that this talented producer won’t take on as a challenge. He has worked with Country Music Legends George Hamilton IV, Margo Smith, Ed Bruce and Dove Award Winners and Nominees like Corey Brooks, Lynn McCarn, Honi Deaton and Dream, Leonard, The Alabama Spirituals, Revonda Roberts and Harvest Wind, Ricky Traywick (brother of Randy Travis), The Bradleys and Young Harmony.

Kristen Patinka is a children’s educator of the arts including music art, drama and dance. She has been a valued mentor to children of all ages for over twelve years. "I have found that working with children in their environment motivates me to think creatively and living in their colorful world can be an inspiration to everyday living" says Patinka.

Kristen has developed a diversity of success with the business of fine arts and entertainment. Her most recent accomplishment is as a songwriter, vocalist and percussionist playing music with the band Peralta. In touring across the country, Kristen has the opportunity to meet local, regional, national, and international artists, while also meeting radio personalities and venue personnel.

Being an excellent conversationalist, Kristen says "I just love to talk to people!” Uniquely enough, she is an even better listener. Her strength lies in being able to pay close attention to details and adapting to individual needs. She knows the importance of meaningful songwriting and loves every opportunity to transform people’s lives through music, melody and harmony. Her styles of songwriting vary but include Jazz, Pop, Country, Rock, and Ballad. Artists like Jewel, Madonna, Cindi Lauper, Tina Turner, Maroon 5, Etta James, Bon Jovi, and Santana influence her.

"My spiritual journey through music and entertainment has allowed me to challenge and affect many people’s lives. As we all climb the ladder of success, by using our God given talents and working together, I know that our experiences can make a profound difference in the world we live in," states Kristen.

Her love for entertaining began at an early age. As a young dancer just six years old Kristen won many dance titles such as the “United States Tournament of Dance Jr. Miss” and continued to compete nationally as a title winner throughout her teens. As a dance instructor, Kristen has been recognized for numerous choreography awards throughout National dance competitions including DMA, Showstoppers, and Star Systems. Kristen developed new interests and pursued her love for acting when she was discovered in the Miss New York, USA Pageant. There she was awarded an acting scholarship with a professional acting coach Bob Luke who worked with well-known actors such as Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Patrick Dempsey.

Kristen’s most fond memories often included the time she spent training as a dancer in New York. Because her mentors were most often her instructors; she also wanted to follow in their footsteps by sharing her love for the arts with others. Kristen began teaching dance, music art and drama becoming a motivational mentor for many people.

Contact: kristen@candlentertainment.com.

A talent in her own right, Lindsay Nicole is a singer/songwriter, performing live at every opportunity. She is a student at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, majoring in Communications. Currently Lindsay is helping develop the Youth Division for C&LE. She is constantly talking with high school and college students interested in a music career and she is fast to share the highs and lows of the music industry with lots of enthusiasm and honesty.

Lindsay plays guitar and a little piano but her passion is singing and acting. She attended John Casablanca’s Modeling and Career Center in Charlotte, NC developing her skills in scene and technical study, make up & wardrobe, on camera auditioning including script and copy techniques as well as character analysis for film. She became interested in singing, film and acting while participating in several productions during her high school years and she has never lost that passion. Lindsay has performed background vocals on several national released albums and was part of the Praise Street Kids CD Series. She has also been in several independent films.

Her interests include spending time with her animals (two dogs and a cat), reading, hanging out with friends, and being on the lake in a boat or a wet bike.

Lindsay Nicole enjoys sharing her love of music with everyone and enjoys spending time with C&LE artists, sharing stories and developing new ideas.

Contact: Lindsay@candlentertainment.com

As a young man with a love of music and an eye for art, Cody McSwain is right at home designing CD covers, flyers, posters, and artist T-shirts. He handles the graphics and manufacturing for C and L Entertainment Inc. With several years of experience with a local record company in design, Cody now uses his background in computer technology, graphics design, and freestyle art to help C and L Artists develop their logos and establish their new look. Cody is a great asset to the company. Artists present him with an idea and then he runs with it.

Cody has a little musical talent as well, he enjoys playing drums, guitar, and a little mandolin. He also enjoys the great outdoors, with fishing one of his favorite past times along with playing video games. "What can I say, if it involves the great outdoors (getting out of the office!), I'm in to it", says Cody.

Contact: Cody@candlentertainment.com

With over 20 years of management experience, Bridget McSwain has much to offer the entertainment world. Her management skills are diverse from managing small offices to large physicians’ clinics, but her passion is simple; she enjoys meeting and helping people.

She started in the music industry putting her management skills to work in 2000 organizing, manufacturing, and sales at dLAB Tapes and Disc. She later began working with Lamon Records Inc. talking with artist about the opportunities that the label had to offer and managed manufacturing for the company as well. She soon picked up the position of radio and media promotion and she became successful in charting songs and promoting artist media across the country.

Through the years Bridget has work with the youth programs at her church, teaching Sunday school and youth programs for many years. She has traveled the eastern seaboard as well as to France, helping organize street festivals with groups such as Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) and town festivals.

Discovering that her passion was helping singer/songwriters accomplish their goals, she was instrumental in helping her husband, Nelson, open C and L Entertainment, Inc. Bridget believes that listening, being that sounding board, and spending her time researching the markets helps fulfill her passion while helping the artists of C and L Entertainment with the overwhelming task of marketing themselves to radio and the media.

In her spare time, Bridget enjoys boating, fishing and just meeting new people.

Contact: Bridget@candlentertainment.com