Career[edit]

After college, Halsey split his time between the Agency, Management and Record Company division headquartered in Tulsa, and their Beverly Hills office where he and Dick Howard developed the television production arm of the Jim Halsey Company. As vice chairman of the Jim Halsey Company, the largest agency in country music in the world at that time, he was involved in all aspects of the artists' careers. The Jim Halsey Company represented 47 of country music's top stars, Roy Clark, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Bellamy Brothers, The Judds, Waylon Jennings, Reba McEntire, Merle Haggard, Roy Orbison and many others. Halsey was vice chairman of the Jim Halsey Company from 1980 to 1990 when the Halseys sold the Agency division to William Morris. The Halseys maintained ownership of the Management and Production divisions of the Company.^[3]


Halsey discovered and managed an unknown Dwight Yoakam. Drawing upon his directing talent, Halsey combined his management and marketing skills to design and implement a plan which would develop Yoakam’s career through the newly emerging video market. As Yoakam’s manager, he produced and directed numerous music videos for Yoakam including one of the first big budget music videos, “Honky Tonk Man”. Halsey also worked as manager of the group The Clark Family Experience.^[4] He discovered them after seeing a videotape of one of their performances, but with no contact information on the tape, it took him six months to find them. He asked them if they wanted to open for Tim McGraw, and got them signed to Curb Records, within a few weeks of meeting them.^[5][6]


Halsey became a prolific music video director, especially for Tim McGraw. Regarding their work together, McGraw said in an interview, ""Sherman has documented pretty much everything and almost all the videos I've done."^[7] McGraw delayed plans for a television network special, eventually titled, Tim McGraw: Sing Me Home, until he could be assured that Halsey would direct the special.^[8]