“I grabbed my guitar and wrote a song called ‘That Girl Made a Fool Out of Me’,” he recalls with a chuckle. “Even then I was thinking, ‘God, this song sucks.’ Still, I couldn’t believe that I had actually written a song. That blew me away.”

Within a few years the Ada, Oklahoma, native moved to Nashville and began developing his songwriting skills with master mentors including Mae Boren Axton, Naomi Martin and Bobby Braddock. “It was probably three years into writing that I wrote what I would consider a complete song — something that has a beginning and a hook, and the second verse says something,” he says. “It was not something that came natural to me at all.”

Shelton remains modest about his considerable songwriting gifts. He’s never included more than a handful of his own tunes on the four albums he has released to date, including last year’s Pure B.S. “There’s just too many good songs in town,” he explains. “I’ll guarantee you Craig Wiseman or Jeffrey Steele is going to have written something that will beat the hell out of any of mine. That’s just the truth. Why would you shut those people out?”

In fact, Shelton hopes to someday be in their position. “Nothing would excite me more than to have another artist cut one of my songs,” he says. “Will that ever happen? I don’t know, but that’s a goal of mine. When I sit down and write a solid country song, that’ll always be in the back of my mind.”

Citations of Achievement will be presented to the writers and publishers of the top 50 country songs, with the evening's highest honors going to BMI's Songwriter of the Year, Publisher of the Year and Most Performed Country Song of the Year (the Robert J. Burton Award).

The evening will culminate in a tribute to a new BMI Icon, acknowledging songwriters who have had "a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers." Past BMI Icons from the country music community include Loretta Lynn, Bill Anderson and Dolly Parton, and most recently, Charlie Daniels.

Among the distinguished talents who have previously been crowned BMI Country Songwriter of the Year are last year's winners Harley Allen, Big & Rich's Big Kenny and Lonestar frontman Richie McDonald, and previous winners Harlan Howard, Don Gibson, Roger Miller, John D. Loudermilk, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, Dennis Morgan, Paul Overstreet, Vince Gill, Shania Twain, Tom Shapiro, Troy Verges, Dixie Chick Martie Maguire, Ronnie Dunn, Jeffrey Steele, Bobby Braddock and eight-time victor Billy Sherrill.]]> 2006-05-22T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/234584 Anderson, Al, Braddock, Bobby, Bryant, Del, Gentry, Montgomery, Gill, Vince, Grant, Amy, Hanna, Jeff, Hicks, James Dean, Hill, Ed, Hummon, Marcus, Loveless, Patty, Martin, Tony, Montana, Billy, Overstreet, Paul, Pinson, Bobby, Prestwood, Hugh, Rascal Flatts, Rochelle, Karyn, Shapiro, Tom, Shelton, Blake, Steele, Jeffrey, Wariner, Steve, White, Phillip, Williams, Hank, Country, Rock, International Vince Gill, Jerry Reed and Roger Murrah are the newest additions to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. They were inducted Sunday, October 16 during annual ceremonies conducted by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.

Hugh Prestwood, Jeffrey Steele, Dennis Morgan

In addition to the Hall of Fame inductions, the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) conferred a series of Songwriter Achievement Awards, with the top prizes won by BMI affiliates. BMI Award-winning writer Jeffrey Steele earned his second NSAI Songwriter of the Year title, honored this year for his compositions "Gone," recorded by Montgomery Gentry, and "Help Somebody," recorded by Van Zant. NSAI's Song of the Year honors went to "Bless the Broken Road," written by Bobby Boyd, Jeff Hanna and Marcus Hummon. The song, previously recorded by Hummon, was a recent hit for Rascal Flatts.

Del Bryant, Patty Loveless

Longtime friend and fellow Hall of Famer Rodney Crowell gave a poignant introduction speech for Vince Gill, followed by a stunning performance of "Whenever You Come Around" by Gill's wife, Amy Grant. Patty Loveless brought the house down with her rendering of Gill's "Go Rest High on That Mountain," backed by John Hobbs and Al Anderson, who also paid tribute to Gill by treating the audience to a sampling of his other signature songs, including "When I Call Your Name," "Never Knew Lonely," "Pocket Full of Gold," "Don't Let Our Love Start Slipping Away," "I Still Believe in You," "Look at Us," "Whenever You Come Around," and "Which Bridge To Cross (Which Bridge To Burn)."

NSAI's Mark Alan Springer, Phillip White, Roger Murrah, Jeff Hanna, Bobby Boyd, Vince Gill, Jeffrey Steele, Del Bryant, James Dean Hicks

Blake Shelton and BMI's Thomas Cain saluted Murrah, whose hits include "Goodbye Time," "Don't Rock the Jukebox," "High Cotton," "I'm in a Hurry (and Don't Know Why)," "We're in This Love Together," "Ozark Mountain Jubilee," "It Takes a Little Rain (To Make Love Grow)," "Life's Highway," "It's a Little Too Late" and "National Working Woman's Holiday." Murrah's induction speech was provided by Hall of Fame member Bobby Braddock.

Billy Montana, Del Bryant	Jeffrey Steele

Steve Wariner joined Jeffrey Steele, Reed band member Mark Thornton and guitarist John Knowles to celebrate Reed, whose classics include "East Bound and Down," "Amos Moses," "When You're Hot, You're Hot," "A Thing Called Love," "Guitar Man," "The Claw," "Crazy Legs," "Misery Loves Company," "Talk About the Good Times" and "Tupelo Mississippi Flash." Longtime friend Bobby Bare provided the induction speech.

Besides honoring the Song, Songwriter and Songwriter/Artist of the Year, the writers of NSAI's Professional Songwriters Division also singled out 13 songs and their writers for its 2005 Achievement Awards (informally dubbed "The Songs I Wish I'd Written").

BMI recipients were Bobby Boyd, Jeff Hanna and Marcus Hummon for "Bless The Broken Road," Bart Butler and Bobby Pinson for "Don't Ask Me How I Know," James Dean Hicks and Roger Murrah for "Goodbye Time," Phillip White for "He Gets That from Me," Hank Williams, Sr. for "Hey, Good Lookin'," Joe Diffie, Tony Martin and Tom Shapiro for "My Give a Damn's Busted," Billy Montana for "Suds in the Bucket," Ed Hill, Karyn Rochelle for "Georgia Rain" and Paul Overstreet for "Some Beach." "Bless The Broken Road" was the top choice of the NSAI Pro writers.]]> 2005-10-17T05:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/234416 Artists, Braddock, Bobby, Krauss, Alison, Overstreet, Paul, Shelton, Blake, Travis, Randy, Whitley, Keith, Musical Styles, Country, Musicworld, Feature For Paul Overstreet, heading to the beach not only feeds his soul, it sometimes feeds his family. The well-respected singer/songwriter recently returned to the top of the country charts with "Some Beach," which was in residence for four weeks. The success of the song was sweetened for both Overstreet and the artist who recorded it, Blake Shelton, through their mutual admiration society. Blake has repeatedly credited Overstreet as one of his main influences growing up, citing Overstreet's Heroes as the album that virtually changed his life and piqued his interest in becoming an artist. Overstreet is flattered that 15 years later, he is having an effect on the younger generation of artists coming through Music City.

"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."

Phillip White, Craig Wiseman, Bobby Braddock, Billy Montana, D. Vincent Williams, Chris Wallin, Troy Verges, Bruce Robison, Helen Darling, NSAI's Bart Herbison, Dean Dillon, Jim Collins, Wood Newton, and Thom Shepherd

Singer/songwriters Bobby Bare and Don Henry revived favorites from Silverstein’s catalog, which includes “A Boy Named Sue,” “Marie Laveaux,” “The Unicorn,” “Queen Of The Silver Dollar,” “Sylvia’s Mother” and “The Cover Of The Rolling Stone.”

BMI President and CEO Frances W. Preston, Dean Dillon, and Waylon Holyfield

Leslie Satcher and George Strait treated the audience to a sampling of Dillon’s many hits, a collection that includes “Homecoming ’63,” “All The Good Ones Are Gone,” “Set ’Em Up Joe,” “The Chair,” “Nobody In His Right Mind Would Have Left Her,” “Unwound” and “Ocean Front Property.”

George Strait

In conjunction with the Hall of Fame inductions, the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) conferred a series of Songwriter Achievement Awards. The NSAI Songwriter of the Year prize went to BMI's Troy Verges, who placed four songs among the top 40 vote-getters -- Jessica Andrews’ “Who I Am,” Martina McBride’s “Blessed,” Trisha Yearwood’s “I Would’ve Loved You Anyway” and Andy Griggs’ “Tonight I Wanna Be Your Man."

Phillip White, FP, Troy Verges, Waylon Holyfield, Dean Dillon, D. Vincent Williams

In addition to naming Songwriter of the Year, the writers of NSAI’s Professional Songwriters Division also honored 10 songs with 2002 Achievement Awards (informally dubbed “The Songs I Wish I’d Written”). “I’m Movin’ On,” by BMI writers Phillip White and D. Vincent Williams was named Song of the Year. Other BMI winners were Bruce Robison for “Angry All The Time,” Billy Montana and Helen Darling for “Bring On The Rain," Bobby Braddock for “I Wanna Talk About Me,” Jeffrey Steele for “I’m Tryin’,” Mark Sherrill, Don Goodman, James Bohon for “Ol’ Red," Wood Newton for “Riding With Private Malone" and Jim Collins for “The Good Stuff."

Bruce Robison, David Preston, Chuck Cannon, Kelly Willis

Troy Verges, Chuck Cannon

]]> 2002-11-03T17:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233178 Holy, Steve, Alabama, Anderson, Bill, Braddock, Bobby, Diamond Rio, Dunn, Ronnie, Gill, Vince, Grant, Amy, Green, Marv, Griggs, Andy, Haggard, Merle, Howard, Harlan, Johnson, Carolyn Dawn, Keith, Toby, Kristofferson, Kris, Loudermilk, John D., Maguire, Martie, McBride, Martina, Miller, Roger, Overstreet, Paul, Owen, Randy, Preston, Frances, Robison, Bruce, Roe, Marty, Shapiro, Tom, Sherrill, Billy, Sillers, Tia, Steele, Jeffrey, Tippin, Aaron, Trick Pony, Twain, Shania, Urban, Keith, Wariner, Steve, Country, BMI Country Awards Frances Preston and BMI Nashville Vice President Paul Corbin will present Citations of Achievement to the writers and publishers of the top 50 songs. The evening will culminate in the announcement of Songwriter of the Year, Publisher of the Year, and Most Performed Country Song of the Year (the Robert J. Burton Award).

Among the guests expected are last year's BMI Songwriter/Artist of the Year Toby Keith, Kix Brooks & Ronnie Dunn, Martina McBride, keith urban, Kenny Chesney, Marty Roe and Jimmy Olander of Diamond Rio, Vince Gill & Amy Grant, Aaron Tippin, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Steve Wariner, Bill Anderson, Jeffrey Steele, Randy Owen of Alabama, Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis, Andy Griggs, Trick Pony and Steve Holy.

Among the distinguished talents who have previously been crowned BMI Country Songwriter of the Year are Harlan Howard, Don Gibson, Bill Anderson, Roger Miller, John D. Loudermilk, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard, Dennis Morgan, Paul Overstreet, Vince Gill, Shania Twain, Tom Shapiro, Dixie Chick Martie Maguire, Ronnie Dunn, Bobby Braddock and eight-time victor Billy Sherrill. In addition to Keith, other top winners from the 2001 BMI Country Awards were Songwriters Marv Green and Aimee Mayo, and Tia Sillers, writer of Song of the Year "I Hope You Dance."

Check back here at 10 pm CT/11 pm ET November 5 for a complete list of 2002 BMI Country Award winners. High-resolution photos will also be available for downloading at press.bmi.com.

Looking groovy are producer Don Henry, Bobby Braddock, Lauren Braddock and BMI's Paul Corbin

photo: Alan Mayor

Bobby Braddock, Lauren Braddock Havey

BMI's Paul Corbin, Sony/ATV's Donna Hilley, Bobby Braddock, CMA's Ed Benson, DreamWorks' James Stroud

We complain about consultants
And radio consolidation
And downloadin' music
Could be our ruination.
We dis' file-sharing
And the MP3,
Controlled composition
And reduced royalty.
We got more gripes to gripe
Than we can say.
But on this day ....

We wanna talk about Bob
Wanna talk about art.
Wanna talk about number one
On the Billboard Chart.
'Cause he writes what he likes
What he feels & does a real good job.
We whine about how the industry gets robbed
But in this mob
We wanna talk about Bob!

Sony/ATV

The song was inspired by a conversation Braddock held with a friend, who at the time was dealing with several problems and "tending to be self-centered." Originally written for Blake Shelton, whom Braddock produces, "Let's Talk About Me" was then pitched to Stroud and Keith. A two-time BMI Country Songwriter of the Year, Braddock has penned such classics as "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," "We're Not the Jet Set," "Golden Ring," "Time Marches On" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today."

DreamWorks' James Stroud, Bobby Braddock, Sony/ATV's Donna Hilley, DreamWorks' Scott Borchetta and Bruce Shindler, BMI's Paul Corbin

James Stroud, Bobby Braddock and Sony/ATV's rapping Woody Bomar

photos by Alan Mayor

"It was the first time I stepped on stage," offers Shelton, cringing at the memory. "And it was with 50 little girls! I was humiliated. I told Mom I didn't want to sing any more."

Five years later, the Ada, Oklahoma kid finally took the stage again, singing on country shows. He learned the basic guitar chords and wrote his first song. "I thought it was cool at the time, but, really, it was a piece of crap," he admits.

When he was 17, playing honky-tonks and local shows, Blake met Mae Boren Axton, co-writer of "Heartbreak Hotel," and patron to struggling artists. She suggested a move to Nashville. Fresh out of high school in 1994, Blake heeded the call, packing guitar and dreams for the journey to Music City.

His first Nashville lesson was discovering that as a performer, he made a good painter. He called Mae, asking what he should do. Her advice: "You can come and paint my house for me."

That stint led to another Axton encounter: Mae's singer/songwriter son Hoyt, who was temporarily living there in his tour bus. Both Axtons offered music biz survival tips, keeping Shelton focused as he played writers' nights gigs at Nashville clubs. Legendary writer Bobby Braddock heard about the new kid on the block, met him and worked with him.

The first single, "Austin," written by David Kent and Kirsti Manna, hit number one on the country charts. Blake co-wrote four of the songs on the Braddock-produced Warner Bros. album that swings from honky-tonk to social problems.

"It ain't all about sunshine and flowers," he observes. "Because it's real people and they want to hear real life."

So, Blake, singing at a beauty pageant isn't such a bad a way to launch a career, huh?

"That's a good way not to start off," he insists, his face quickly blushing after all these years.]]> 2001-10-10T18:00:00-05:00