Wagoner, a longtime BMI songwriter, was born August 12, 1927 in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. He began his career in 1951 at KWTO radio station in Springfield, MO, which led to a recording contract with RCA Victor that spawned such hits as “Company’s Comin” and the No.1 song “A Satisfied Mind”.

In 1957, he joined the Grand Ole Opry, hosting The Porter Wagoner Show for 21-years, working with Dolly Parton as his duet partner beginning in 1967. Viewers tuned into his syndicated program to catch his innovative approach to traditional country arrangements and legendary handmade rhinestone suits.

During their professional relationship, Wagoner and Parton won the Country Music Association’s Duo of the Year in 1970 and 1971 and recorded the hit duets “Just Someone I Used to Know,” “Making Plans” and “The Last Thing on My Mind.” A three-time Grammy winner and an inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Wagoner recently released the album Wagonmaster, earning rave reviews and opening at Madison Square Garden for rock duo White Stripes. This year also marked his 50th anniversary with the Grand Ole Opry, prompting a celebration in his honor where Parton performed “I Will Always Love You”

Wagoner is survived by three children: daughters Debra and Denise, and son Richard.

Talent and authenticity are ageless, and Porter Wagoner is living proof. At 80 years old, Wagoner is enjoying a career resurgence that has included a Madison Square Garden performance with the White Stripes, an appearance on David Letterman’s late night talkfest and a celebration of his 50th anniversary as a member of the Grand Old Opry.

“So many great things are happening to me and it’s just been terrific,” says Wagoner. “It’s not the fact that I’m the greatest performer or writer or anything; it’s the fact that I can still do it and still do a good job at it. I’m so thankful for that.”

Wagoner has always been among country music’s most visible entertainers — and that’s not just because of his signature, flashy Nudie suits. Wagoner has continued to tour nationally and perform regularly on the Opry. In the past year, his profile gained an additional boost with Wagonmaster, a compelling new album produced by Marty Stuart and released on the Los Angeles-based Anti-label.

“Marty was pretty smart in doing that because they really wanted the record,” Wagoner says of the company, whose eclectic roster includes Mavis Staples, Galactic, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Neko Case. “They really like me and my style that’s why he decided on going out there with it.”

Wagoner says he and Stuart had talked about collaborating for a long time. “Marty grew up watching ‘The Porter Wagoner Show’,” Wagoner says of his syndicated TV show that ran throughout the ’60s and ’70s. “He knew all about me and he became a big fan of mine when he was about 12 or 13 years old. He had some great ideas for the album and I was really pleased with what he did.”

Wagonmaster is just the latest in a long line of achievements. Born August 12, 1927 in West Plains, Missouri, Wagoner got his start on a local radio station. He signed with RCA Records in 1952 and released “Settin’ the Woods on Fire.” The following year he scored his first success as a songwriter, penning “Trademark” for Carl Smith. He moved to Nashville in 1957, joined the Opry, and began churning out such hits as “Misery Loves Company,” “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “A Satisfied Mind,” and “The Carroll County Accident.”

Wagoner is also responsible for introducing the world to Dolly Parton on “The Porter Wagoner Show.” A BMI writer for decades, Wagoner credits Parton for spurring his songwriting. “She gave me a lot of encouragement, [saying] how good a writer I was,” says Wagoner, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002. “We wrote a lot of the duets that we did and we had a lot of success.”

Wagoner looks back fondly on the TV show, but admits when he started, he was advised not to do television because it would negatively affect his live shows. Back then, conventional wisdom said people wouldn’t pay to see you in concert if they could see you on TV for free. Wagoner challenged that notion and his bookings went up with his TV ratings. “Being a member of the Opry of course was a big thing for me, but it wasn’t like being on television on a regular basis every week. People would plan their Saturday and they wouldn’t go anywhere until they’d seen ‘The Porter Waggoner Show.’ It was a wonderful thing,” Wagoner says of the show, which is currently airing again on RFD-TV.

Though surgery for an aneurysm slowed Wagoner down for a few months last year, the four-time Grammy winner is back in action. He’s been writing songs and plans to record another gospel project as well as another country album with Stuart.

Wagoner admits he’s enjoyed the renewed focus on his music; the fact that his grandchildren are seeing it is an added plus. “I played a big auditorium and my granddaughter came backstage and tears were pouring down her face. She said, ‘Pawpaw, people out there stood up for you!’ Just things like that really make you feel like you have accomplished something,” he says. “This late in life, that’s kind of nice.”

photo: Marty Stuart

BMI presented its Country Awards last night (11/4), recognizing the songwriters and publishers of the past year's 50 most performed country songs. Ultimate honors went to the Stevie Nicks-penned "Landslide" as Song of the Year; to Jeffrey Steele as Songwriter of the Year; and to Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville as Publisher of the Year. A highlight of the evening was the tribute to Dolly Parton, who was honored as a BMI ICON. The BMI Country Awards -- country music's oldest awards celebration -- were hosted by President & CEO Frances W. Preston and Vice President Paul Corbin at the company's Music Row offices.

"Landslide" earned songwriter Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac the 35th Robert J. Burton Award as Most Performed Country Song of the Year. This distinction is given to the song tallying the most feature US broadcast performances during the eligibility period. Nicks is also publisher of the song, through her company Welsh Witch Music. Included on the Dixie Chicks' platinum Monument album Home, "Landslide" was a Country, Adult Top 40, Hot 100 and AC Billboard charts smash. Nicks previously collected a Pop Award in 1998 for Fleetwood Mac's recording of the song, which has achieved Million-Air status with over three million airplays.

Stevie Nicks | Bio

Jeffrey Steele | Bio

Dolly Parton | Bio

Jeffrey Steele claimed the title of Songwriter of the Year by placing four songs on the list of 50: "Chrome" (Trace Adkins), "The Cowboy In Me" [2nd Award] (Tim McGraw), "My Town" (Montgomery Gentry) and "These Days" (Rascal Flatts). Steele's BMI Awards total now stands at 14, with 11 Million-Air songs [16 million performances total].

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville claimed BMI Country Publisher of the Year by accumulating the highest percentage of copyright ownership in award songs. President & CEO Donna Hilley accepted on behalf of the publisher, which placed 12 songs on the most-performed list [through its companies Sony/ATV Tree and Sony/ATV Acuff Rose]: "Brokenheartsville," "I Keep Looking," "I Miss My Friend," "Living and Living Well," "A Lot Of Things Different," "Man To Man," "My Heart Is Lost To You," "Red Rag Top," "She'll Leave You With A Smile," "Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo," "These Days," and "What If She's An Angel."

Dolly Parton was saluted as a BMI ICON for her "unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers." After a video tribute, Kris Kristofferson and Porter Wagoner took the stage to share reminiscences. Closing the program were performances by Lee Ann Womack, who sang "Jolene," and Vince Gill, who performed "I Will Always Love You."

With her first solo hit "Dumb Blonde" in 1967, Parton launched a career that helped revolutionize the world of country music for women and, through her songwriting, performing, film & television projects and entrepreneurial ventures, has made her one of the most successful and recognizable artists in history.

She has scored with more than 100 charting songs -- including 24 #1s -- and has collected 37 BMI Country and Pop Awards for such classics as "I Will Always Love You," "9 To 5," "Jolene," "Two Doors Down," "To Daddy," "Here You Come Again" and "Love Is Like A Butterfly." A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame since 1999, she is nominated as Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2003 CMA Awards. Parton enters the elite company of previously honored BMI ICONs: James Brown, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Little Richard, Isaac Hayes, Motown songwriting trio Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland, and last year's Country ICON, Bill Anderson.

Of the 64 songwriters recognized, nine joined Steele as multiple winners: Tony Martin and Tom Shapiro with three songs each; Al Anderson, Toby Keith, David Lee, Lee Thomas Miller, Mark Nesler, Tia Sillers and Troy Verges with two each.

Additional publishers with three or more awards were Songs of Windswept Pacific; Universal Music Publishing Group; Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.; Mosaic Music; Careers-BMG Music Publishing, Inc./Zomba Songs Inc.; EMI Music Publishing; Steele's companies Gottahaveable Music/My Life's Work Music; and Shapiro's company Wenonga Music.

Among this year's honorees, 24 songs have reached the status of BMI Million-Air (accumulating at least one million broadcast performances) for a total of over 32 million performances. Based on an average length of three minutes, one million airplays is the equivalent of 50,000 hours or 5.7 years, continuously; Million-Airs on the 2003 Country list translate into 1.6 million hours or 185 years of continuous airplay. In addition to "The Cowboy In Me," songs cited for the second consecutive year were Million-Airs "Blessed," "Bring On the Rain," "I'm Movin' On" and "Young."

BMI's Citation of Achievement awards are given annually in recognition of popularity in the field of country music, as measured by feature broadcast performances on American radio and television; the 2003 Country Awards eligibility period ran April 1, 2002 through March 31, 2003.

BMI represents approximately 300,000 songwriters, composers and publishers in all areas of music. It collects license fees on behalf of American creators, as well as for thousands of creators from around the world who haven chosen BMI for American representation. The fees for the public performances of its repertoire are then distributed as royalties to the writers and copyright holders BMI represents. These performances include radio airplay, broadcast and cable television carriage and live and recorded performances by other music customers, including but not limited to the Internet, cell phone ring tones, restaurants and clubs, retail outlets, and music-on-hold.

BMI songwriter/artist Vince Gill served as the show's host for the 11th year.

Jerry Douglas

Martina McBride

Keith Stegall

Rascal Flatts

BMI's 2002 CMA Awards Winners

Female Vocalist
Martina McBride

Horizon Award
Rascal Flatts

Vocal Group
Dixie Chicks

Vocal Duo
Brooks & Dunn

Single
"Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)"
Keith Stegall (producer)

Album
Drive -- Keith Stegall (producer)

Vocal Event
Willie Nelson
"Mendocino County Line"

Musician
Jerry Douglas

Radio Personality
Eddie Stubbs

Hall of Fame
Bill Carlisle
Porter Wagoner

*share not licensed by BMI

photo credits:
Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts by Jim Hagans
Jerry Douglas by Theresa Montgomery]]> 2002-11-07T17:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233166 Artists, Atkins, Chet, Carlisle, Bill, Parton, Dolly, Wagoner, Porter, Awards, Industry Awards, Country Music Awards, Musical Styles, Country, Pop BMI legends Bill Carlisle and Porter Wagoner will become the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, bringing the Hall's total to 88. Formal induction will take place during the 36th Annual CMA Awards, which will be broadcast live on CBS-TV, Wednesday, November 6 (8:00 - 11:00 PM/EST) from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.

Bill Carlisle

Porter Wagoner

Wagoner is being inducted in the annual “Open” Category, while Carlisle is to be inducted in the special “Performer Whose Career Achieved National Prominence Prior To 1980” Category. All inductees are chosen by the Hall of Fame panel of electors, consisting of more than 300 anonymous voters appointed by the CMA Board of Directors.

Porter Wagoner

A Missouri native, Wagoner brought Country Music into television households on a weekly basis long before the TNN, CMT or GAC cable networks were ever conceived. Before he signed with RCA Records in 1952, “The Thin Man from West Plains” was a featured performer on Red Foley’s groundbreaking “Ozark Jubilee” (broadcast nationally on television and radio from Springfield, Missouri).

A string of successful hit songs, including “Company’s Comin’,” “A Satisfied Mind” and “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry,” led Wagoner to move to Nashville and accept an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry in 1957. He returned to television in 1961 with “The Porter Wagoner Show,” a weekly syndicated series based out of Nashville. The program started with 18 stations and eventually grew to more than 100 stations in the early ‘70s. The series, which ended in 1981, provided a showcase for the hottest Country Music stars of the day; but the show also gave Wagoner tremendous exposure as he continued to hit the music charts with songs like “Misery Loves Company,” “I’ve Enjoyed As Much of This As I Can Stand,” “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “The Cold Hard Facts of Life,” “The Carroll County Accident” and many more.

He won three Grammy Awards (1966, 1967, 1969) for gospel albums he recorded with the Blackwood Brothers. Wagoner added the then-unknown Dolly Parton to the cast of his television show in 1967 and soon began recording duet albums with the young singer as well as producing her solo albums. Their first collaboration, “The Last Thing On My Mind,” launched a string of Top 10 hits for the duo. They went on to win three CMA Awards (1968 Vocal Group of the Year, 1970 & 1971 Vocal Duo of the Year) as well as a 1975 BMI Country Award for co-writing "Please Don't Stop Loving Me." Wagoner and Parton went their separate ways in 1975 to focus on their solo careers. Parton would later write her classic song “I Will Always Love You” about him.

In addition to recording his own albums, Wagoner appeared in the Clint Eastwood film “Honky Tonk Man,” served as Opryland’s Goodwill Ambassador for several years and was a frequent host of the long-running “Opry Backstage” TNN television series. “The Wagonmaster” has long been known for his flamboyant rhinestone-studded Manuel stage outfits. He is currently celebrating his 45th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, where he continues to be one of its most popular entertainers. Wagoner’s new album, Unplugged, will be released on September 10.

Bill Carlisle

A Kentucky native, Carlisle established one of country music’s most enduring careers. Born in 1908, Carlisle got his start performing with his family on local radio in Louisville. His older brother, Cliff Carlisle, went on to become a popular singer in the 1930s and Carlisle soon followed in his footsteps, scoring his first big hit with “Rattlesnake Daddy.”

Although they maintained solo careers, Bill and Cliff frequently joined forces as The Carlisle Brothers and became major radio stars during the Depression, fusing hillbilly, Hawaiian, blues, yodeling and vaudeville elements into their performances. The brothers’ best-known song as a duo was “Rainbow at Midnight.” After splitting amicably with Cliff in the late ‘40s, Carlisle hit the charts with “Tramp on the Street.”

Based in the Knoxville area, Carlisle worked frequently with the Carter Family, Archie Campbell, Don Gibson, Homer & Jethro and others. He hired a young Chet Atkins for both radio and road work. Soon, Carlisle had formed a new group -- The Carlisles -- and continued recording hit songs such as “Too Old To Cut The Mustard,” “No Help Wanted,” “Knothole,” “Is Zat You, Myrtle?,” “Shake-A-Leg” and “Honey Love.” The group’s success led to an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry in 1953, where Carlisle soon earned his nickname “Jumpin’ Bill” for his wild movements on stage during his performances. Among his awards are a 1952 BMI Pop Award for “Too Old To Cut The Mustard” (also recorded by Marlene Dietrich) and a 1953 BMI Country Award for "No Help Wanted."

The group disbanded in the mid-‘60s, but Carlisle continued as a recording artist, earning a hit with “What Kinda Deal Is This?” in 1966. He still performs regularly alongside his son, Billy, on the Grand Ole Opry, where he reigns as the oldest member and serves as a living link to the dawning days of the country music industry.

Legendary BMI writer Harlan Howard, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, died suddenly on Sunday evening , March 3, in Nashville. He was 74.

photo: Beth Gwinn

In a career that spanned six decades, Howard penned more than 100 Top 10 hits. The man behind such timeless songs as "I Fall To Pieces," "Busted," "I've Got a Tiger By the Tail" and "Heartaches By the Number" was once dubbed "the Irving Berlin of country music" because of the size of his catalog of classics. A BMI writer for over 45 years, Harlan Howard provided hit songs to several generations of stars, from Kitty Wells to Patty Loveless, from Patsy Cline to Reba McEntire, from Mel Tillis to Pam Tillis. A who's-who of the country music world has sung his compositions: ? George Jones, Buck Owens, Waylon Jenning, Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell, the Judds, Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price and Conway Twitty, to name just a few. But his songs have also enjoyed R&B and pop interpretations by a variety of artists such as Ray Charles, Joe Simon, Shirley Caesar, Brenda Lee, The Kingston Trio, Kay Starr and Burl Ives.

At the 1994 BMI Country Awards: Patty Loveless, Kostas, Sony/Tree's Donna Hilley, BMI's Roger Sovine, Harlan Howard, and BMI"s Frances Preston celebrate Song of the Year "Blame It On Your Heart"

Among his numerous accolades were 45 BMI Country Awards, 4 BMI Pop Awards and two BMI R&B Awards. BMI President & CEO Frances Preston, who met Howard almost 40 years ago, remembered, "When Harlan was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame several years ago, he said he was surprised he was being honored by people in New York when he so rarely crossed Tennessee’s Cumberland River. Harlan himself may have stayed close to his Nashville home, but his songs were his ambassadors to the rest of the world and the world loved him for it.

Greeting Roger Miller and Waylon Jennings at the 1990 Harlan Howard Birthday Bash

"He understood the spirit of creative collaboration and was willing to share his melodies and his words with other songwriters -- those who were his contemporaries and those who came to "the master" to learn the art. He was generous with his gifts and another generation of successful songwriters is grateful to him for showing them the way.

"Harlan was my friend and I will miss him," concluded Preston.

With co-host Tammy Wynette and Mark Knopfler at the 1990 Birthday Bash

Harlan Perry Howard was born September 8, 1927 in Detroit, Michigan. After a difficult childhood in a number of foster homes, he dropped out of school in the ninth grade and became a manual laborer. After military service, he settled in Los Angeles in 1955 and began driving a forklift in a printing factory.

At the 1961 BMI Country Awards: BMI's Frances Preston and Robert J. Burton, Harlan Howard, Joe Allison and Buck Owens

As a boy, he'd been captivated by the music of Ernest Tubb and had begun writing song lyrics. In California, he socialized with other country-music lovers; one of his early writing partners was Buck Owens. His first publishing deal came courtesy of cowboy stars Tex Ritter and Johnny Bond.

With Buck Owens at the 1998 Birthday Bash

Grand Ole Opry star Charlie Walker launched Howard's hit writing career in 1958 with "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down." The following year, "Heartaches B y the Number" topped both the country and the pop hit parades in versions by Ray Price and Guy Mitchell.

After writing for Kitty Wells, Warren Smith and Jan Howard (his wife from 1957 to 1967), Harlan Howard moved to Nashville in June 1960. Along with fellow BMI writers Bill Anderson, Boudleaux & Felice Bryant, Willie Nelson, Mel Tillis, Danny Dill, Marijohn Wilkin, John D. Loudermilk and Roger Miller, he was among the first full-time songwriting professionals in the city.

Working at Pamper Music, he collaborated on songs with Hank Cochran, with whom he cowrote Patsy Cline's "I Fall To Pieces" and George Jones' "You Comb Her Hair." At one point in 1961 Harlan Howard had 15 songs on the country popularity charts at the same time , a feat not equaled since. BMI gave him 10 songwriting awards that year of the 39 songs on the "most performed" list and he was named Billboard magazine's songwriter of the year in 1962 and 1963.

Prominence as a writer led to recording his own albums in 1961, 1965, 1967 and 1971. But the finest collection of his songs came with a 1967 tribute LP by Waylon Jennings, titled Waylon Sings Ol' Harlan. During his career, Jennings recorded more than 40 of Howard's songs, far more than any other artist.

Howard was Jennings' songwriting mentor and his bonds with other artists were equally strong. Harlan Howard helped Bobby Bare obtain an RCA recording contract and lobbied for Conway Twitty's transition from teen pop idol to country superstar. He also opened doors on Music Row for current star Sara Evans.

Howard's peers began calling him "Mr. Songwriter" after Ray Charles won a Grammy Award with "Busted" in 1963. Originally recorded by Johnny Cash, that song is one of a number of Harlan Howard compositions that have been recorded multiple times. Others include "Life Turned Her That Way," "The Chokin' Kind," "Yours Love," "Above and Beyond," "I Fall To Pieces," "The Key 's In the Mailbox" and "Too Many Rivers."

In 1982, Opry star John Conlee revived "Busted" and introduced "I Don' t Remember Loving You" and "Nothing Behind You (Nothing in Sight)". Thereafter, a new generation of Nashville stars began singing his songs. Reba McEntire ("Somebody Should Leave"), The Judds ("Why Not Me"), Highway 101 ("Somewhere Tonight") and others extended Howard's hit streak through the 1980s.

In the 1990s Pam Tillis ("Don't Tell Me What To Do"), Doug Stone ("These Lips Don' t Know How To Say Goodbye"), Collin Raye ("All I Can Be") and more had hits with Harlan Howard songs. Trisha Yearwood and Aaron Neville won a Grammy Award for their 1994 revival of "I Fall To Pieces." At the 1994 BMI Country Awards banquet, Howard's "Blame It O n Your Heart," co-written with Kostas and recorded by Patty Loveless, was named BMI Country Song of the Year.

His presence on Music Row was such that that for a dozen years (1983-95 ) the community celebrated the "Harlan Howard Birthday Bash," an all-star concert staged in the BMI Nashville parking lot as a benefit for songwriter organizations. Declining health forced him to discontinue these events after 1995. He and fifth wife Melanie Howard continued to run his song publishing business, however, and they aided such developing writers as Jackson Leap and Bobbie Cryner.

Harlan Howard was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and, in 1997, both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Survivors, in addition to his wife, Melanie Howard, are sons Perry Howard (BMI Nashville Associate Director, Writer/Publisher Relations) and Carter "Corky" Howard, daughters Clementine Howard and Jennifer Howard Carmella, granddaughter Michele Carmella, and brother Milton Howard.

Visitation at Nashville's Roesch-Patton-Austin-Bracey & Charlton funeral home (1715 Broadway) is scheduled for Tuesday, March 5 from 11am - 2pm and 6pm - 8pm and again on Wednesday, March 6 from 11am - 2pm. There will be a private family service on Wednesday.

A memorial service has been set for Tuesday, March 19th, from 2-4 p.m. at the Ryman Auditorium.

The Howard family has requested memorial donations to The Harlan Howard Music Scholarship Fund, SunTrust Bank, 1206 17th Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212. (reference account number 7021676536).

Harlan Howard's Hit Songs

1958: "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" ? Charlie Walker
1959: "Heartaches by the Number" ? Ray Price
"Heartaches by the Number" ? Guy Mitchell "Mommy for a Day" ? Kitty Wells
1960: "Excuse Me (I Think I've Got a Heartache)" ? Buck Owens
"Above and Beyond" ? Buck Owens
"I Don't Believe I'll Fall in Love Today" ? Warren Smith
"The One You Slip Around With" ? Jan Howard
"I Wish I Could Fall in Love Today" ? Ray Price
"The Everglades" ? The Kingston Trio
"The Key's in the Mailbox" ? Freddie Hart
1961: "I Fall to Pieces" ? Patsy Cline
"Heartbreak U.S.A." ? Kitty Wells
"Under the Influence of Love" ? Buck Owens
"Foolin' Around" ? Buck Owens
"Foolin' Around" ? Kay Starr
"The Blizzard" ? Jim Reeves
"Odds and Ends" ? Warren Smith
"Three Steps to the Phone" ? George Hamilton IV
1962: "Call Me Mr. In-Between" ? Burl Ives
"Second Hand Rose (Second Hand Heart)" ? Roy Drusky
"Mary Ann Regrets" ? Burl Ives
"Sally Was a Good Old Girl" ? Hank Cochran
1963: "Busted" ? Johnny Cash
"Busted" ? Ray Charles
"You Comb Her Hair" ? George Jones
"You Took Her Off My Hands" ? Ray Price
"Don't Call Me from a Honky-Tonk" ? Johnny & Jonie Mosby
"Another Bridge to Burn" ? Jimmy Dickens
"The Deepening Snow" ? Johnny Darrell
1964: "I Won't Forget You" ? Hank Snow
"Your Heart Turned Left" ? George Jones
"Go Cat Go" ? Norma Jean
"Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming In" ? Johnny & Jonie Mosby
"It Takes One to Know One" ? Jimmy Martin
"Life Turned Her That Way" ? Jimmy Dickens
1965: "Too Many Rivers" ? Brenda Lee
"I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" ? Buck Owens
"I Wouldn't Buy a Used Car from Him" ? Norma Jean
"Someone's Gotta Cry" ? Jean Shepard
"She's Gone, Gone, Gone" ? Lefty Frizzell
"What Makes a Man Wander?" ? Jan Howard
"Take Him Fishing" ? Tex Ritter
"Meanwhile Down at Joe's" ? Kitty Wells
1966: "The Hurtin's All Over" ? Connie Smith
"The Minute Men" ? Stonewall Jackson
"Evil on Your Mind" ? Jan Howard
"Streets of Baltimore" ? Bobby Bare
"Look Into My Teardrops" ? Conway Twitty
"Time to Bum Again" ? Waylon Jennings
"Green River" ? Waylon Jennings
"It's All Over But the Crying" ? Kitty Wells
"I've Cried a Mile" ? Hank Snow
1967: "Heaven Help the Working Girl" ? Norma Jean
"The Chokin' Kind" ? Waylon Jennings
"Life Turned Her That Way" ? Mel Tillis
"Any Old Way You Do" ? Jan Howard
1968: "It's All Over But the Crying" ? Hank Williams Jr.
"He's a Good Old Boy" ? Arlene Hardin
"Baby Me, Baby" ? Johnny Duncan
"California Sunshine" ? Waylon Jennings
"Yours Love" ? Waylon Jennings
"I Wish I Felt This Way at Home" ? Dolly Parton
1969: "The Chokin' Kind" ?Joe Simon
"Yours Love" ? Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton
"Thinking �Bout You Babe" ? Billy Walker
"Odds and Ends" ? Tompall & The Glaser Brothers
1970: "Watermelon Time in Georgia" ? Lefty Frizzell
"She's a Little Bit Country" ? George Hamilton IV
1971: "Sunday Morning Christian" ? Harlan Howard
"He Called Me Baby" ? Candi Staton
1972: "The Key's in the Mailbox" ? Tony Booth
1973: "Streets of Baltimore" ? Gram Parsons
1974: "No Charge" ? Melba Montgomery
"She Called Me Baby" ? Charlie Rich
1975: "No Charge" ? Shirley Caesar
1978: "Toddy for the Body" ? Bobby Bare
1980: "Sally Was a Good Old Girl" ? Hank Cochran
"She's Gone, Gone, Gone" ? The New South
1981: "All Fall Down" ? Kris Kristofferson
1982: "Busted" ? John Conlee
"I Don't Remember Loving You" ? John Conlee
"Nothing Behind You (Nothing in Sight)" ? John Conlee
1984: "I Don't Know a Thing About Love" ? Conway Twitty
"You're a Hard Dog to Keep Under the Porch" ? Gail Davies
1985: "Why Not Me?" ? The Judds
"Somebody Should Leave" ? Reba McEntire
1987: "Somewhere Tonight" ? Highway 101
"Too Many Rivers" ? The Forester Sisters
"Never Mind" ? Nanci Griffith
1988: "Life Turned Her That Way" ? Ricky Van Shelton
"I Wish That I Could Fall in Love Today" ? Barbara Mandrell
"I'm Down to My Last Cigarette" ? k.d. lang
1989: "Above and Beyond" ? Rodney Crowell
"She's Gone, Gone, Gone" ? Glen Campbell
1991: "These Lips Don't Know How to Say Goodbye" ? Doug Stone
"Don't Tell Me What to Do" ? Pam Tillis
"The Key's in the Mailbox" ? Barbara Mandrell
"All I Can Be (Is a Sweet Memory)" ? Collin Raye
1993: "Blame it on Your Heart" ? Patty Loveless
1994: "I Fall to Pieces" ? Trisha Yearwood & Aaron Neville
1997: "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" ? Sara Evans
1999: "I Fall to Pieces" ? LeAnn Rimes

"This is the greatest honor I've ever received," Parton beamed, after her recent induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. "I'm thrilled because I started out wanting to become a songwriter."

Just learning she would be receiving the tribute injected creative adrenaline. "I was in Los Angeles when I heard about it," she notes. "I immediately took off wandering into the San Bernardino Mountains and along the shoreline to get away from it all and jump back into songwriting. I got so inspired that I wrote 15 songs in a row!"

The brains-meets-beauty bombshell has won raves for her Oscar-nominated movie debut in 9 to 5, sparkling concerts, charitable activities and business ventures. Her Dollywood theme park, snuggled in the Smoky Mountains, has become Tennessee's major tourist attraction.

Parton's east Tennessee hills were alive with the sound of music when she was born on January 19, 1946. She sang in church when she was six and started playing guitar a year later. "What soul I have in my voice, the feeling and sincerity that's there, is from those church-singing days," Dolly says.

She headed for Nashville the day after high school graduation. Her first day in Music City was fateful: She met Carl Dean, and two years later they were married. In 1967, Porter Wagoner hired her for his syndicated TV show. The Dolly/Porter tandem landed a score of hits, earning the Country Music Association's vocal duo honors twice.

As a solo artist, she hit the country charts for the first time in 1967 with her single "Dumb Blonde." In the early '70s, she ruled the charts with such classics as "I Will Always Love You," a number one country hit in 1974. She cut it again in 1982 and the ballad repeated its climb to the zenith. Then, 10 years later, Whitney Houston released the most popular version yet, clinging to the top of the pop charts for 14 weeks and earning BMI's Most Performed Song of the Year accolades (the highlight of her collection of more than two dozen BMI Country and Pop Awards). Dolly's platinum-plated recording success gained her country music's loftiest plaudits, including CMA Entertainer of the Year and enshrinement in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The bubbly, self-deprecating Parton continues to work non-stop. Two of her finest albums have been her latest. The Grass Is Blue captured a bluegrass Grammy while the folky Little Sparrow garnered more sparkling reviews.

Dolly has managed to stay personally and professionally centered with the two loves of her life: Carl Dean and songwriting.

"Carl is good for me because he's so different in nature from me," Dolly explains.

Parton's newest venture has her portraying the equally sassy and busty Mae West in a CBS-TV movie. "I figure I'm as brassy as she was," Dolly adds, with her tinkly, wind-chime laugh. "I'm writing a bunch of new music for it."

Then her eyes grow soft with distant mountain memories. "You know, I came from the hills into Nashville to make it as a songwriter. That's what got me started, and that's what keeps me going. I've always considered myself as a songwriter first."

With her latest Epic album, Strong Heart, Patty Loveless demonstrates why critics and fans alike continue to come back to her for more, just as they have since her 1986 debut. With a fresh, bluesy, bluegrassy sound, Strong Heart has perhaps the most stellar roster of talent of any non-event album, including contributions by Matraca Berg, Trisha Yearwood, Claire Lynch, Ricky Skaggs, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Steve Earle, and Travis Tritt. Writers include Berg, Craig Wiseman, Al Anderson, and John Bunzow. Loveless teams as a co-writer with husband/producer Emory Gordy Jr. on three of the album's 10 songs.

Loveless says, "I'm not one of those people who can just cough out a song and I've gotten really rusty at it. I'm also a little shy because I'm intimidated by the songwriters of all these great songs I've recorded through the years.

"There are writers who go in every day and write a song that may not be recorded. The hard part for me is that I want to write a hit!" she laughs. "That's the way I was after Emory and I wrote 'You Don't Get No More.' I was a little nervous about writing it. He kept after me about it. It's one of those 'out there' fun things. That's definitely part of me and who I am.

"I'm not really a musician either," says Loveless. "My only true musical instrument is my voice and what melodies I hear in my head. For some reason, Emory's able to transpose what I'm thinking into his fingers and write it out. He's very good at that. That's why we work so well together."

Because she considers herself to be primarily a singer, Patty continues to broaden her range and skills vocally.

"My voice is the instrument I play. Sometimes I have to think a certain way to sing so that the sentiments of the song come across. You have to express yourself in the right way. You can't always shout to get across. Sometimes you have to whisper, to lower your voice. Every guitar player knows what note they want to go for and they go for it. I do that with my voice."

Even as Strong Heart continues to beat, she will soon offer another album called Mountain Soul, set for a June 26 release on Epic. A musical return to her Appalachian roots, the 14-song collection (recorded live) draws on traditional material and Loveless/Gordy originals, including "The Sounds Of Loneliness," which Loveless wrote as a young girl and sang for Porter Wagoner on her very first trip to Nashville at 14.

"That song has been with me throughout my career," Loveless says. "It was my father's very favorite thing I ever wrote . . . [and it] opened doors for me - and it was part of my very first album. It is a song that came literally out of the hollers where I grew up, so it seemed like the perfect fit for this project."

Legendary BMI songwriters Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty and Johnny Bond were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame during the 33rd Annual Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday, September 22 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

The Hall of Fame is devoted to the recognition of noteworthy individuals for their outstanding contributions to country music. Founded in 1961 by the CMA, the Hall of Fame currently has 62 members, including BMI President and CEO Frances W. Preston, who was inducted in 1992.

Dolly Patron is revered for her musical genius, business savvy, ambition and humanitarian efforts. She began her performing career at age 11, recording her first single, "Puppy Love." In 1964, she went to Nashville and became the newest singer on the "Porter Wagoner Show." She signed a deal with Monument Records but soon moved to RCA, Wagoner's label, where they recorded numerous duets. In 1974, Parton left Wagoner's organization and quickly became an international superstar, consistently topping the charts with hits like the self-penned "Jolene," "Here You Come Again," and "9 to 5," the theme song to the hit movie in which she made her first film appearance. The song earned an Oscar nomination in 1981.

Perhaps the most well-known song Parton has written and recorded is "I Will Always Love You," which reached number one on the country charts three times as well as the pop charts in 1993 via Whitney Houston. The song was also named Song of the Year at the BMI Pop Awards, adding to the long list of over 35 Pop and Country Awards she has earned throughout her extraordinarily prolific songwriting career.

During his 35-year relationship with BMI, Conway Twitty (born Harold Lloyd Jenkins in 1933) has received 14 BMI Country Awards and saw three of his songs reach Million-Air status.

At the age of 12, Twitty put together his first band, The Phillips County Ramblers. He scored his first number one as a pop/rockabilly artist on MGM Records with "It's Only Make Believe." Eight years and three gold records later he made the switch to country music and became one of the most consistent and successful artists in that genre both as a soloist and as partner to Loretta Lynn. The duo won a Grammy and four CMA Awards for their recordings of such songs as "After the Fire Is Gone" and "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man." Twitty died suddenly on his way to Nashville's Fan Fair in 1993.

Johnny Bond (1915-1978) was well known as a songwriter, singer, actor, businessman and author during his career. He is probably best remembered for "Your Old Love Letters," which won a BMI Country Music Award in 1961, and his western classic "Cimmaron." He and his original trio The Bell Boys appeared in the Roy Rogers' film Saga of Death Valley and were later the house band on Melody Ranch, Gene Autry's popular radio show. As a solo artist, Bond recorded for several labels during the '40s and '50s, and in 1965 his career was revived with the novelty song "10 Little Bottles," earning him another BMI Country Award.

In addition to his work as a musician, he continued to appear in movies and served for more than 10 years as host and writer of the television show Town Hall Party. In his later years he penned his autobiography as well as a biography of his friend Tex Ritter.