Tequila was the drink of choice when Nashville\u2019s music community toasted Nicolle Galyon and Ross Copperman as songwriters of the year during the 67th annual BMI Country Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Galyon\u2019s \u201cTequila,\u201d co-written with ASCAP\u2019s Dan Smyers and Jordan Reynolds for Dan + Shay, claimed country song of the year, one of four Galyon-penned titles honored among the 50 most-performed country songs during a chilly Nov. 12 event at BMI\u2019s Nashville facilities. Galyon also co-wrote Lee Brice\u2019s \u201cBoy,\u201d Keith Urban\u2019s \u201cComing Home\u201d and Lady Antebellum\u2019s \u201cHeartbreak\u201d to nail down her first songwriter of the year honor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Copperman likewise loaded four compositions onto the most-performed list — Kenny Chesney\u2019s \u201cGet Along,\u201d Blake Shelton\u2019s \u201cI Lived It,\u201d Justin Moore\u2019s \u201cKinda Don\u2019t Care\u201d and Dierks Bentley\u2019s \u201cWoman, Amen\u201d — though it marked his third time to lead the BMI country field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s always shocking when a song succeeds,\u201d Copperman said on the red carpet. \u201cIt’s so hard to get it cut by an artist, and then to get it to go to radio, and then for it to work at radio and be consumed by the fans. So literally winning one of these awards is like winning the Super Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most commercial songs often have such a ring of inevitability about them that they become as endemic to pop culture as the Super Bowl, though they would not exist unless a songwriter took the time to create them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNeither of my parents are musicians, but they’re both experts on making something out of nothing,\u201d Kansas native Galyon said, noting their attendance. \u201cMy dad has poured concrete his whole life, and he has built a foundation every day. And my mom has built a house from the inside out from scratch. And isn’t that really what we’re all doing here every day? We\u2019re just trying to make something out of nothing in this town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Warner-Tamerlane Music Group benefited from Galyon\u2019s song structures, folding her four titles alongside 20 others to win BMI\u2019s publisher of the year a second time. The win gave Warner Chappell a PRO sweep, matching similar publisher of the year honors from SESAC on Nov. 10 and ASCAP on Nov. 11. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three PRO events lead into the Country Music Association Awards, aired by ABC on Nov. 13. A number of the CMA nominees were present to collect BMI medallions, including Luke Combs, Maren Morris, Morgan Wallen and Carrie Underwood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the BMI celebration made a point to celebrate career achievements in addition to recognizing the best of 2019. Dwight Yoakam received the President\u2019s Award, adding his name to a list of influential music figures that already includes Kenny Chesney, Toni Braxton, Brooks & Dunn, P!nk, Pitbull and late Nashville songwriters Harlan Howard (\u201cI Fall To Pieces,\u201d \u201cWhy Not Me\u201d) and Billy Sherrill (\u201cStand By Your Man,\u201d \u201cThe Most Beautiful Girl\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BMI also introduced the Evergreen Award, honoring the iconic bluegrass standard \u201cRocky Top,\u201d created by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant in a focused, 10-minute spurt in 1967. It became a signature for the Osborne Brothers, but also emerged as the fight song for the University of Tennessee. Former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, who led a storied collegiate career with the Volunteers, indicated in a video package that \u201cRocky Top\u201d is one of his go-to songs when he ends up on stage with country artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe gotta sing something that you know the words to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ironically, a poll of country artists walking the red carpet suggested that almost no one knows all the words. \u201cWe can fake it pretty good,\u201d LOCASH\u2019s Preston Brust confessed. \u201cI think we can get through the chorus just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No faking was apparent during Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder\u2019s rippling cover of \u201cRocky Top\u201d at BMI. The Yoakam tributes were also convincing. Jon Pardi delivered \u201cGuitars, Cadillacs\u201d with garage-band ferocity, Margo Price and Bob Weir applied a raw feel to \u201cFast As You,\u201d and The Highwomen \u2013 backed by Jason Isbell on guitar \u2013 layered four-part harmonies on \u201cA Thousand Miles From Nowhere,\u201d with Brandi Carlile\u2019s end-of-chorus yodel-like embellishments recalling Yoakam\u2019s trademark hiccup effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe doesn’t take things lightly,\u201d actor Billy Bob Thornton said of Yoakam in a pre-produced video package. \u201cWhen Dwight writes a song, or does anything, he goes into it 100 percent. He and I share the gift of OCD, so Dwight will beat it ’til it’s right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BMI Nashville vp creative Jody Williams was saluted during the evening, as he prepares to step down at the end of the year to go back into music publishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams\u2019 final ceremony as a PRO employee was unofficially the coldest in the agency\u2019s history, as temperatures dropped to a stiff 18 degrees with a wind chill of 11. While propane heat and hundreds of blankets raised the temps in BMI\u2019s dressed-up parking garage, cold feet were abundant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThank you all very much for honoring me,\u201d Yoakam quipped, \u201cand for sticking it out in arctic-like conditions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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