The BMI Nation Music Awards had been held Tuesday night (Nov. 8) at BMI’s Nashville headquarters, and a cavalcade of music artists and business members attended the ceremony to venerate the yr’s 50 most-performed songs, in addition to the songwriters and music publishers behind them.
Over 900 visitors attended the shindig, together with artist-writers Ashley McBryde, Kelsea Ballerini, Priscilla Block, Kane Brown, Kenny Chesney, Luke Combs, Michael Hardy (who information below the title HARDY), Elle King, Miranda Lambert, Dustin Lynch, Jake Owen, Carrie Underwood and Keith City.
Main the ceremony was BMI president/CEO Michael O’Neill, who welcomed the gang, saying, “We’re thrilled to honor all of you who’re delivering one of the best in nation music.” Additionally feting this yr’s successful songs, writers and publishers had been BMI vp, inventive, Nashville Clay Bradley, in addition to AVP, inventive Mason Hunter, AVP, inventive Leslie Roberts and government director, inventive Shannon Sanders.
Bradley famous that amongst this yr’s honorees had been 72 first-time BMI award-winning songwriters.
The night launched with Shy Carter performing “Beer With My Pals” alongside David Lee Murphy.
Sony Music Publishing was named BMI music writer of the yr, having printed 25 of the 50 most-performed songs of the yr, together with Ballerini’s “Half of My Hometown,” the King/Lambert collaboration “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Residence),” Brown’s “One Mississippi,” Lambert’s “If I Was a Cowboy” and Morgan Wallen’s “Sand in my Boots.”
The 2022 BMI nation music of the yr honor went to Luke Combs’ “Without end After All,” written by Combs, Drew Parker and Rob Williford and printed by 50 Egg Music, Massive Music Machine, Oak Tree Swing Publishing, Rowdy Rob Music, Straight Dimes Music, and Sony/ATV Tree.
Hardy was named BMI nation songwriter of the yr, following his ACM songwriter of the yr win earlier this yr.
Roberts gifted him with a customized guitar with BMI songwriter of the yr as he took the stage to thank those that have been instrumental in his profession. As a songwriter, Hardy has written not solely his personal hits together with “One Beer,” and “Give Heaven Some Hell,” however was a contributing author to Dierks Bentley’s “Beers on Me” (which additionally options him as a vocalist), Morgan Wallen’s “Extra Than My Hometown” and “Sand in My Boots,” Blake Shelton’s “Come Again as a Nation Boy” and Cole Swindell’s “Single Saturday Night time.”
Hardy thanked his dad and mom and sister for his or her affect in his life and profession, in addition to champions together with Casey Beathard and Ashley Gorley.
“After I heard that I had gained, which was very lately, my first thought was, ‘I’m so glad that I’m with BMI, as a result of it’s the one approach I’d ever beat Ashley Gorley in something,’” he quipped. He went on to thank Relative Music Group’s Dennis and Jesse Matkosky.
“Dennis was the primary and solely particular person to signal me to a publishing deal again in 2014,” Hardy mentioned. “Since then, we’ve got began an actual publishing firm known as Relative Music and we’re rattling happy with that s***.”
Hardy thanked his sister Madison for main him to signal with BMI, and thanked Roberts for being a robust champion for him.
“She took an opportunity on me…she let me go into her workplace and play her actually the 5 or 6 songs I needed to my title,” he mentioned, recalling that one of many songs he performed her was “Scars.” “On the finish of that assembly, I keep in mind Leslie saying one thing alongside the strains of, ‘Yeah, these are okay, however there’s this one music known as ‘Scars’ that’s fairly good and I feel you’re onto one thing.’ That one remark Leslie made meant your complete world to me. Identical to everybody on this room, I moved from a small city to Nashville…listening to that from Leslie gave me all the arrogance to consider that I might truly make it on this city.”
Toby Keith was introduced with the BMI Icon award, commemorating his work as a songwriter, together with essential contributions to his personal catalog of hits, together with “American Soldier,” “Ought to’ve Been a Cowboy,” and “How Do You Like Me Now?!”. Earlier recipients of the distinction embody Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton. Keith was beforehand named BMI nation songwriter of the yr 3 times, and gained the BMI nation music of the yr honor for “As Good As I As soon as Was.”
O’Neill mentioned of Keith, “His inventive accomplishments are second to none however at his coronary heart he’s a songwriter. That’s who we’re celebrating tonight—the author behind the hits.”
Bradley added, “You’re a songwriter’s songwriter.”
Keith’s fellow Oklahoma native Underwood carried out Keith’s No. 1 Nation Airplay debut hit, 1993’s “Ought to’ve Been a Cowboy,” which Keith wrote by himself.
“It was artists such as you that taught children like me that greatness is feasible,” Underwood mentioned.
Eric Church provided a slowed down, uniquely “Chief” model of Keith’s 2003 Billboard Nation Airplay chart chief “I Love This Bar.” Church additionally shared his first reminiscence of seeing Keith on the Fiddle & Metal Guitar Bar in downtown Nashville, an incident which concerned Keith taking a bullying barfly by the collar and dragging him down a line of barstools, earlier than depositing him on the finish of the bar simply as Church walks in.
“I believed, ‘I like this motherf***er.’ In order that was my first Toby Keith reminiscence, and I cherish that,” Church mentioned. “For me, he’s all the time been a man who did it his personal approach.”
Video tributes poured in all through the evenings from Willie Nelson, Scotty Emerick, and Keith’s longtime supervisor TK Kimbrell. Later within the night, Keith’s dedication to army members was lauded, and as footage of Keith’s post-9/11 Billboard Nation Airplay hit “Courtesy of the Crimson, White & Blue (The Indignant American)” performed on the display, a number of within the music business crowd started singing alongside, in the end giving Keith a standing ovation. Emerick and Dean Dillon carried out Keith’s “A Little Too Late.”
Keith took the stage and provided heartfelt because of his dad and mom and household, in addition to to Kimbrell and producer Harold Shedd (identified for his work with Alabama, Ok.T. Oslin, Lorrie Morgan and extra), who produced Keith’s earliest albums. Shedd was in attendance, spending his 91st birthday to assist have a good time Keith. Keith additionally namechecked producer James Stroud, who co-produced albums together with Keith’s Dream Walkin’, How Do You Like Me Now?! and Shock’n Y’all.
Keith additionally recalled being a Nashville newcomer singer-songwriter from Oklahoma with a set of songs and a dream.
“After I bought to Nashville, was they mentioned, ‘You bought to get affiliated.’ I mentioned, ‘What the f***’s affiliated?’” On the recommendation of producer Shedd, he walked into the BMI Nashville workplace “in 1990 or 1991” and shortly met Bradley.
“You understand how you bought that intern that you just all the time dump your s*** on? They dumped me on Clay,” Keith mentioned. “Since 1990 or 1991, I’ve been affiliated with the best group within the music enterprise, and that’s BMI. They’ve been so nice to me as a songwriter as a result of I knew that even when I didn’t make it as an artist, that possibly any individual would lower my songs. I all the time felt that the songwriting was an important a part of this complete business.”
Keith additionally thanked his agent Curt Motley, Reside Nation’s Brian O’Connell, and his frequent collaborators Emerick, Dillon, Bobby Pinson and others who’ve collaborated with him on the highway although the years.
“TK [Kimbrell] ’bout gave his profession up as a supervisor to should handle me, as a result of I used to be arduous to deal with…in all places we went, no matter label we had been on, we had been in a fistfight. I needed to play my songs and costume out of my closet and it didn’t work that approach then…again then they needed to groom you and I used to be ungroomable. Bless TK’s coronary heart, he mentioned ‘I’m with ya, dawg.’”
In closing, Keith made it clear that of all of the accolades he’s acquired in his profession, it’s those that honor the craft of songwriting that imply probably the most to him.
“All I ever cared about was Songwriters Corridor of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Corridor of Fame and BMI Icon,” he mentioned.
