Don Pitts
Founder and President
After 30 years in the music and entertainment industry, Don Pitts launched Sound Music Cities to help emerging and established music and entertainment cities find practical solutions to sound issues and grow their music economy. Having garnered the nickname “The Sound Whisperer” from his tenure as the head of the City of Austin’s Economic Development Department’s Music and Entertainment Division where he reduced sound complaints by over 70%, Don brings his experience and passion for creating vibrant music cities to Sound Music Cities and its clients. While with the City of Austin, Don’s leadership fueled programs to increase prosperity for musicians, music businesses, and music venues—all important when building a sustainable economic engine.
Originally from Nashville, Don has gone far and wide in the music industry, doing everything from managing bands and venues, to handling entertainment relations for Gibson Guitar, to co-founding the North American Music Cities Summit, to working in the public sector. His strategic perspective lies at the cross-section of these experiences—lending him the ability to navigate and bring together the political and industry landscapes.
Have just one conversation with Don and it will become evident that he has a special combination of political know-how, street-smarts, and active listening skills—three things that help when beginning to connect the dots over the course of a large music ecosystem project. He always brings a fresh, unbiased perspective and listens for patterns and themes unique to your city. Above all else, Don works alongside clients as a partner, digging deep into the foundational issues that make or break a sound music economy. And at the end, he’ll give you a clear, actionable path forward.
When he’s not advising clients on music-related business or devoting his time to enhancing the quality of the Austin music/musician experience, Don is adding to his collection of rare and vintage western shirts or walking the trails with his family and black lab Konjo.
Kat Jones
Director of Operations & Strategy
Kat is an experienced and accomplished creative leader who brings an innovation and design perspective to organizations pushing boundaries to improve people's lives. Kat works to understand complex concepts and disparate evidence and then translates those data into insights that reframe opportunities, visualizations that drive better decisions, and stories that open understanding and engagement.
Previously Kat served as Deputy Director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation leading an Insights Team that delved into complex systems, human behavior, geospatial data, modeling, analytics, and storytelling to generate data-driven insights to improve delivery strategies. The team’s work often involved reframing seemingly intractable problems to gain a new understanding that clarifies a way forward. Before joining the foundation in 2020, Kat served as the director of strategy and missions for the Design Institute for Health, a radical collaboration between the Dell Medical School and the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin aimed at using design-led approaches to improve the way people get and stay healthy. Earlier, she founded and led Milkshake, a strategy and brand consultancy that created and shaped brands that build community. Trained as a medical illustrator, Kat works to understand complex concepts and then translate them into a story that many can comprehend.
Kat graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in fine arts and a BGS in zoology and earned an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in biological and medical illustration.
Consultants and Advisors
Riane Yates
Data & Visualization Consultant
Riane Yates brings a unique combination of experience in public policy research, product development, data analytics, and the music industry. She began her career as Product Manager at LoudMouth Rentals, introducing a new sound and lighting production company to the Austin market and managing over 2,000 live events. She later joined Indeed as a Manager on the Product Strategy team, where she designed and launched new offerings to diversify the product suite and reach underperforming customer segments.
Currently, Riane leads the product team at The Digital Advance, a public affairs company specializing in digital strategy and public opinion research. In this role, she develops proprietary research tools and client deliverables, applying her expertise to help organizations leverage data for strategic decision-making. Throughout her career, she has cultivated a deep understanding of urban ecosystems and the role of data in shaping public policy and community initiatives.
Riane holds a BA in Urban Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and an MS in Public Policy from The New School, where she specialized in applied quantitative methods and data visualization.
Chris Cobb
Music Community Outreach Consultant
For 25 years, Chris has found a way to surround himself and others with live music. Whether he was hanging show posters with his first company, Golden Squid; founding and operating the music venue Marathon Music Works (Nashville), The Truman (Kansas City MO), and The Signal (Chattanooga); or booking Nashville’s Live on the Green Music Festival and Chattanooga’s Riverbend Festival; It has been with the same passion and excitement as the first time he heard that Pink Floyd album on his dad’s record player.
In 2024, Chris served as a lead partner for Nashville’s record-breaking community response to the 2024 Music Census. He acts as an advisor and coach to communities conducting their Music Census in building their community partners and community engagement.
Chris founded Bonafide Live, which serves a range of clients across Tennessee, providing programming, consultation, production, and marketing to independent venues, corporate clients, fairs, and festivals. He co-founded D Tour, which is reimagining touring. He advocates fiercely for the independent live music ecosystem by serving as president of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) South Central Chapter and Music Venue Alliance Nashville.
Bobby Garza
Sound and Noise Regulatory Policy Consultant
Bobby Garza has spent the last 20 years at the intersection of the music and events industry and public policy. Most recently, Bobby led the Creative & Experience Team at Forefront, where he was responsible for leading the creative design, event management and brand activation efforts for the company’s portfolio of events. Prior joining Forefront, Bobby was the General Manager for Transmission Events, a multi-faceted events company producing more than 800+ live music shows a year across Texas and producing some of Austin’s most well-respected festivals in the industry, Fun-Fun-Fun Fest and Levitation Austin.
Before working in the music and events industry, Bobby spent the first 15+ years of his career working in public service in Austin, Texas – both at City Hall and the State Capitol. He served as the Chief of Staff to Council Member Mike Martinez from 2006-2013 where he led the Council Member’s policy direction and staff and was responsible for issues across a wide range from parks and music to public safety and budgets.
In his spare time, Bobby is a musician and passionate advocate for parks. He currently serves on the board of the Austin Parks Foundation, the Special Events Task Force for the City of Austin and previously served on the Parkland Events Task Force. He lives in South Austin with his two sons, Gael and Mauro.