The President and Mrs. Bush stand in the Oval Office with the recipients of the 2006 National Medal of Arts. Pictured from left are: Ben Jaffe and his mother Sandra Jaffe, director and co-founder of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band; literary translator Gregory Rabassa; dancer Cyd Charisse; photographer Roy DeCarava; industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost; musician Ralph Stanley; arts patron Billie Holladay; composer William Bolcom; Interlochen Center for the Arts CEO Jeffrey Kimpton; and NEA Chairman Dana Goia. photo by Paul Morse

William Bolcom, winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Music, is known for his eclectic music that pulsates with vernacular from ragtime to reggae. His most celebrated works include the opera A View from the Bridge and his massive setting of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. The composer/pianist and his collaborator and wife, Joan Morris, have recorded 20 albums together, specializing in show tunes, cabaret and popular songs from the early 20th-century. A 1953 BMI Student Composer Award winner, Bolcom has also received two Guggenheims, four Rockefeller Foundation awards, and four NEA fellowships. Since the fall of 1994, he has held the title of Ross Lee Finney Distinguished University Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan; he joined the faculty in 1973.

William Bolcom	Ralph Stanley

With a career that spans six decades as a recording and performing artist, multiple Grammy and IBMA Award-winning bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley was born in 1927 in the Clinch Mountains of Virginia, which inspired much of his music. He and his brother Carter formed the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946, quickly gaining a following due to their broadcasts on WCYB in Bristol, Va. In addition to his son, Ralph II, many contemporary bluegrass artists came up through the Clinch Mountain Boys band, including Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, Larry Sparks and Charlie Sizemore. The Grand Ole Opry member performed on the multi-platinum soundtrack for the movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the surprise Album of the Year winner at the 2002 Grammy Awards ceremony.

Administered by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Medal of Arts has been issued to over 200 individuals since its inception in 1984. Among the distinguished BMI recipients are blues giants B.B. King and Buddy Guy, country legends George Jones, Dolly Parton, Bill Monroe and Roy Acuff, jazz masters Dave Brubeck, Paquito D'Rivera and Betty Carter, concert composer Elliott Carter, and soul artist Ray Charles.

"You never know what motivates people out there," admits Paul, "and if something I did back then got him excited about music, then man, that's cool! I couldn't be more thrilled to be working now with him and his producer, Bobby Braddock."

Overstreet has a second cut on Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill, and is excited to be at top of the charts againa. He and his co-writer, Rory Lee Feek, came upon the idea for "Some Beach" when they heard that Kenny Chesney was recording an island-themed album and hoped to land a song on the collection (Chesney had already scored with Overstreet's "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy"). Instead, "Some Beach" found "the right home" with Shelton, and sparked something in Overstreet creatively that he hadn't tapped into before.

"I've been going to the Caymans a lot," he explains. "I really relax down there and love to scuba dive. And I've written so many island type songs now, that I'm going to do an island-themed album soon."

Paul also has material ready for a traditional country record, much like those he recorded in the early 1990s, and songs for a wacky, funny album as well. The second one might surprise people who don't know Paul well and think he is a serious, pious artist without a sense of humor. "Perception is a lot of what goes on in our business, and the perception of me from my records is that I was real stoic and not too jovial — but I've always been into pranks and jokes."

At the island-themed "Some Beach" bash, the five-time BMI Country Songwriter of the Year also received a Million-Air certificate for "Deeper Than the Holler," recorded by Randy Travis, and a 4 Million-Air honor for "When You Say Nothing At All," a career song for both Keith Whitley and Alison Krauss. The feats are particularly gratifying for a songwriter who is 20 years into his career and can still see his songs holding up and receiving recognition. "I love those certificates, because that lets you know that your song is still out there working, and that radio's playing it, even though it's been awhile."

During his tenure on the RCA artist roster in the '80s and early '90s, Overstreet enjoyed success with singles such as "Seein' My Father in Me" and "Daddy's Come Around."

Alone or with co-writers, Overstreet also has created career songs for some of his peers. He has two Grammys, two CMA Awards and five BMI Songwriter of the Year awards to show for it.

Overstreet penned many of Randy Travis's biggest hits, including "On the Other Hand," "Diggin' Up Bones" and "Forever and Ever, Amen." Country fans also will know "When You Say Nothing at All," made famous by Keith Whitley and later Alison Krauss, and "Same Ole Me," a chart-topper for George Jones.

Overstreet's own renderings of these songs, plus seven others, appear on a new CD, A Songwriters' Project: Volume 1, released nationally on his own label, Scarlet Moon Records.

"On the road, people told me they wanted a copy of me singing this song or that song," Overstreet says. "I always wanted to get around to making this album, but I've been busy and I was signed to a major label. I knew at a major label it would just end up on a shelf somewhere. They wouldn't see it as important. I really wanted to do this project for historical documentation."

The prolific tunesmith has enough leftovers for a second volume, for which he imminently plans to record originals such as "The Battle Hymn of Love" (which Kathy Mattea cut), "My Arms Stay Open All Night" (Tanya Tucker) and "You're Still New to Me" (Paul Davis and Marie Osmond).

Overstreet, whose most recent songwriting success is Kenny Chesney's "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," has plans to expand his label. The company, distributed through Navarre, will sign and release albums by artists like Overstreet, former major label artists who have written a significant number of songs for others.

"There are some writers that I am really interested in pulling into this project, because I admire them so much and I would love to hear them do their own songs," Overstreet explains. "I think fans would like that, too. I love to put on recordings of great writers performing their own songs. It's like, 'Wow, isn't this nice.' It is not manufactured hype - all that big production - it's simply great songs.

"There are some great songs currently on country radio, but right now the industry is more driven by production than songs. The vocals sound great; everything is in tune; and when you hear it 10 years from now, it won't move you because there is not a lot in the song."

Dirk Johnson, Steve Chandler, Gene Johnson, Jeff White, Dale Ann Bradley, J. D. Crowe, Steve Gulley and Doug Jernigan

In addition to all of 1982's Somewhere Between album -- the record that introduced Whitley -- Sad Songs and Waltzes boasts five previously unreleased cuts, including the four demos that landed Whitley his record deal with RCA. Longtime Whitley admirer Alison Krauss contributes harmonies to the new project, as does noted writer/performer Carl Jackson, Diamond Rio's Gene Johnson, Dale Ann Bradley, Jeff White and Steve Gulley of bluegrass band Mountain Heart. Among the songwriters included are Lefty Frizzell, Whitey Shafer, Billy Joe Shaver, Mark Wright, Lewis Anderson, Glenn Martin, Merle Haggard, Kix Brooks, Willie Nelson and Tom T. Hall.

David Skepner and BMI's Patsy Bradley

Carson Chamberlain, Rounder Records' Ken Irwin and Brad Paul

J. D. Crowe, BMI's Roger Sovine, Tom T. Hall and Rounder's Ken Irwin

photos by Beth Gwinn

Tim McGraw, who blasted his way out of the pack of '90s country solo artists with multi-platinum CDs and fistsful of #1 singles, was nominated for a whooping seven CMA Awards this year, more than any other nominee, taking home awards for Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year. McGraw has already sold more than 13 million albums and four million singles and achieved a record in country music when six singles from one album (Everywhere) hit the #1 spot on the charts. It was also the 1998 CMA Album of the Year.

McGraw was born in the aptly-named Start, Louisiana where music took a back seat to athletics in his early years. When a knee injury during his enrollment at Northeast Louisiana University ended his dreams of a professional sports career, he bought a guitar and started performing in area clubs. In 1989 he moved to Nashville, arriving the day his avowed musical role model Keith Whitley died. Two years later Tim was signed to Curb Records.

Not A Moment Too Soon, his second album released in 1994, proved to be his breakthrough, selling more than five million copies and garnering McGraw scores of awards and nominations. It was Billboard's sixth best-selling album of the year - regardless of genre - and 1994's best selling country album. That year he also became the first country artist in a decade to achieve two gold singles in less than three months with the somewhat politically incorrect "Indian Outlaw" and the ballad "Don't Take the Girl."

His next album, All I Want, sold more than three million copies and included "I Like It, I Love It," a single that stayed at the #1 position for five weeks. It was during his "Spontaneous Combustion Tour" supporting the CD that McGraw conducted his most successful promotion: wooing Faith Hill, his opening act. They were married in 1996 and now have two daughters.

1997 saw the release of Everywhere, the Byron Gallimore-James Stroud co-production and the collection of even more awards and accolades. In addition to the CMA Album of the Year, he also won the Association's Vocal Event of the Year award and four ACM Awards. The singles "It's Your Love" and "Just To See You Smile" each spent a record-breaking six weeks in Billboard's #1 spot.

McGraw's nominations this year are based on the release of his latest album, A Place in the Sun, and the mega-hit "Please Remember Me" written by Will Jennings and Rodney Crowell. "It's such a great song," McGraw said. "The musical track puts you in such a mood. That's what good music is supposed to do: create emotions".

On New Year's Eve, McGraw will be creating lots of emotions when he celebrates the beginning of the new millennium with his fourth annual "Blast" at the Nashville Arena. "It's going to be the biggest and best show we've ever done. We are pulling out all the stops." Spoken by someone who has already pulled out all the stops on the country music scene.