NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Top40 Charts/ BMI) Global rights leader Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) celebrated the songwriters and publishers behind country music's most-performed songs of the past year during the 59th annual BMI Country Awards. BMI staged the event in its Nashville offices, located on
Music Row.
"a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers."
Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson share the Songwriter of the Year crown. Both contributed five songs to the year's most-performed.
Josh Turner's recording of "
All Over Me" earned Song of the Year honors for its writers Davidson and Akins, as well as publishers EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc., Rhettneck Music, and StringStretcherMusic. The BMI Country Song of the Year award was rechristened the
Frances W. Preston Award in honor of the former BMI President & CEO.
With 15 songs among the year's most performed, Sony/ATV
Music Publishing Nashville scored its tenth consecutive Publisher of the Year win.
Bobby Braddock was saluted as a BMI songwriting Icon. Braddock is the songwriter behind "He Stopped Loving Her Today," "People Are Crazy," "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," "I Wanna Talk About Me," "Texas Tornado," "Old
Flames Have New Names," "Golden Ring," "Faking Love," "Time Marches On" and more.
An all-star musical lineup featuring Pistol Annies, John Anderson, BlakeShelton, LeAnnRimes and VinceGill paid homage to Braddock.
The Icon designation is given to BMI songwriters who have had "a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers." Past honorees include Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, John Fogerty, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Brian Wilson, Loretta Lynn,
James Brown, and more.
BMI President & CEO Del Bryant hosted the show with Jody Williams, Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations; and Clay Bradley, Assistant Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations.
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High-resolution photos will be available to registered users via www.bmi.com/press at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 9, 2011.
Handout footage, as well as high-resolution photos, will be available by request and via the official EPKlink: https://www.epklink.com/2011bmicountryawards/
Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®), a global leader in rights management, is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 500,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 7.5 million musical works. The company provides licenses for businesses that perform music, and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.
www.bmi.com
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: https://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50063466&lang=en
