BMI saluted the top country music songwriters, artists and publishers at its 2005 Country Awards, staged October 18 at the performing rights organization's Music Row offices. The black-tie ceremony was hosted by Del Bryant, BMI President and CEO, and Paul Corbin, Vice President of Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville, who presented Certificates of Achievement to the writers and publishers of the 50 most performed country songs in the BMI repertoire.

Tim McGraw's smash "Live Like You Were Dying," written by Tim Nichols, was named Song of the Year; three-time Grammy winner Harley Allen, Big & Rich's Big Kenny and Lonestar frontman Richie McDonald shared the Songwriter of the Year crown; and Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville was named Publisher of the Year. A highlight of the gala was a tribute to legendary artist Charlie Daniels, who was honored as a BMI Icon for his "enduring influence on generations of music makers."

Charlie Daniels	Tim Nichols

"Live Like You Were Dying" earned the 37th Robert J. Burton Award as Most Performed Country Song of the Year for writer Tim Nichols and publishers Nichols Worth Music and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. The title track from McGraw's triple-platinum CD, the inspirational hit spent a record-breaking 10 weeks at #1 and won every award for which it was nominated since its release in 2004, including multiple Grammy, CMA, ACM, Billboard, NSAI and CMT awards.

Harley Allen	Big Kenny	Richie McDonald

BMI writers Harley Allen, Big Kenny and Richie McDonald tied to claim the Country Songwriter of the Year trophy with three tunes each on the most performed list. Songs earning them the prestigious title were Allen's "Awful, Beautiful Life," "If Nobody Believed In You" and "My Last Name"; Big Kenny's "Holy Water," "Here for the Party" and "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)"; and McDonald's "Let Them Be Little," "Mr. Mom" and "Let's Be Us Again." McDonald also penned BMI's 2002 Country Song of the Year, "I'm Already There."

With 15 songs on this year's list, Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville (through its companies Sony/ATV Acuff Rose and Sony/ATV Tree) picked up its fourth consecutive Publisher of the Year Crystal by once again accumulating the highest percentage of copyright ownership in award songs.

The evening culminated in the Icon tribute to Charlie Daniels, which featured a musical salute by country artists Travis Tritt and Montgomery Gentry. With a career that spans nearly four decades, Daniels has connected with millions of fans around the world with his mix of rock, country, bluegrass, blues and gospel.

Songs like "Uneasy Rider," "In America," "Long Haired Country Boy," "The South's Gonna Do It Again," "Wichita Jail," and the Southern rock classic "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," are a part of the American musical landscape. His legendary Charlie Daniels Band, twice named the ACM's Touring Band of the Year, logged more than a million miles on the road, traveling in a convoy of buses and gleaming black tractor-trailer rigs that stopped traffic from coast to coast.

Among Daniels' numerous accolades are multiple BMI Pop and Country Awards, a Grammy, three CMA's, a Dove Award, the ACM Pioneer Award, and several Gold and Platinum albums totaling more than 18 million in sales. His signature song, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," simultaneously topped the country and pop charts and has amassed more than three million broadcast performances since its release in 1979. In addition to his own successful career, Daniels contributed to recording sessions for a diverse array of artists including Bob Dylan, Al Kooper, Flatt & Scruggs, Ringo Starr and Marty Robbins.

The 2005 BMI Country Awards also honored songwriters Bob DiPiero, Ed Hill, Tommy Lee James, Toby Keith, Vicky McGehee, Shania Twain, Keith Urban and Song of the Year writer Tim Nichols, who had two songs each on the list of 50.

Multiple publisher awards went to Careers-BMG Music Publishing, Inc./Zomba Songs Inc. (9); Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (6); Universal Music Publishing (Songs of Universal, Inc. and Universal-Songs of PolyGram International, Inc.) (5); Coburn Music, Inc. (4); Big Love Music, EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc., Harley Allen Music and Mike Curb Music (3); and Big Yellow Dog Music, Cake Taker Music, Dimensional Songs of the Knoll, Guitar Monkey Music, Loon Echo, Inc., Love Monkey Music, Music Hill Music/Sagrabeaux Songs, Nichols Worth Music, Still Working For The Man Music, Inc., Tokeco Tunes and Tommy Lee James Songs (2 each).

BMI's David Preston, Byron Gallimore, Darran Smith, Still Working For The Man Music's Barbara Orbison, Lerner's manager Whitney Daane, Robin Lerner, Tommy Lee James and Still Working For The Man Music's Clay Myers.

The party marked Lerner's third #1 country single, joining "This Kiss" (Faith Hill) and "Out Of My Bones" (Randy Travis). Other artists who have recorded Lerner's songs include Martina McBride, Take 6, Luther Vandross, Carly Simon and Wilson Phillips.

Lisa Hensley-Johnson, Shawn Hefflin, Melissa Kij, Katherine Blasingame, Melanie Howard, Judy Harris, Whitney Daane, Dewey Daane, Barbara Orbison, Meredith Miller

James has five previous #1's, including "What I Really Meant To Say" (Cyndi Thompson), "A Man This Lonely" (Brooks & Dunn) and "If You See Her/If You See Him" (Brooks & Dunn with Reba McEntire), "And Still" (Reba McEntire) and "Wrong Again" (Martina McBride).

Tommy Lee James, BMI's David Preston, Robin Lerner

"She's My Kind Of Rain" is on McGraw's Curb Records album Tim McGraw and The Dancehall Doctors, which is nominated for Album of the Year at the 2003 CMA Awards.

Colin Cameron, Robin Lerner, Whitney Daane

photos by Beth Gwinn

Such versatility is nothing less than astounding. While many of their contemporaries have focused on writing only pop songs or only r&b tunes, Mann and Weil have consistently proven themselves adept at working in a wide range of styles, often working with other songwriters either alone or as a team.

The recognition that they have received is extraordinary in itself: Mann and Weil have collected myriad accolades from BMI, including 108 Pop, Country and R&B Awards and 76 "Million-Air" Awards, denoting airplay of 1 million or more. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" is the most performed song in BMI's repertoire and is the first song ever to achieve 8 million performances.

In addition, the twosome received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Songwriters, The Clooney Foundation's Award for Legendary Song Composition, and has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The Mann & Weil story has a humble beginning. While still a teenager, Mann gave up studying architecture to become a full-time songwriter. After penning "She Say (Oom Dooby Dom)," a hit for the Diamonds, Mann joined music publisher Aldon Music as a staff writer. There he co-wrote such hits as "Footsteps" by Steve Lawrence, "I Love How You Love Me" by The Paris Sisters," and "Patches" by Dicky Lee. A talented singer in his own right, in 1961 Mann recorded the hit single "Who Put the Bomp (In the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)," co-written by Gerry Goffin.

Weil began her career as an actress and dancer, but, encouraged by famed composer Frank Loesser, soon began pursuing songwriting as a career. Before long she, too, found herself at Aldon, where a professional relationship soon began with Mann. This was the famed "Brill Building" era, during which the pair competed and sometimes collaborated with such other talents as Goffin, Carole King, Jerry Lieber & Mike Stoller (with whom they wrote "On Broadway") and Phil Spector ("Lovin' Feelin'").

Songwriting was only one of Mann and Weil's collaborations, however; they married during their stay at Aldon. Professionally, as the partnership deepened and evolved, Mann would take care of the music while Weil wrote the lyrics. Weil's savvy extended well beyond the routine love songs that marked the era, and she is widely credited with helping to bring a political consciousness to the Brill Building style via such cornerstone works as "On Broadway" and "Uptown." The increasing intensity of their work became even more evident with such songs as "Kicks," a top 10 hit for Paul Revere & the Raiders, which examined the pitfalls of drug use, and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," popularized by the Animals, which served as a desperate anthem for both Vietnam War soldiers and protesters.

Moving into the '70s, '80s and '90s, Mann & Weil were instrumental in crossing Dolly Parton over from country to pop ("Here You Come Again"), introducing James Ingram ("Just Once"), and reinvigorating the careers of Aaron Neville (the Grammy-nominated "Don't Know Much") and Sergio Mendes ("Never Gonna Let You Go"). During this period the pair also wrote with teen idols Hanson the hit ballad "I Will Come to You."

Hits have also consistently been scored with other tunesmiths: Weil wrote "Running with the Night" with Lionel Richie, "Through the Fire" with David Foster and Tom Keane, "He's So Shy" with Tom Snow and "Wrong Again," a number one country hit for Martina McBride, with Tommy Lee James. Mann has collaborated with such acts as Leo Sayer ("How Much Love"), Dan Hill ("Sometimes When We Touch") and Curtis Stigers ("Never Saw a Miracle").

The team has also made its mark in the film world, winning (with James Horner) a pair of Grammys, an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail, receiving a Grammy nomination (with Horner) for "Whatever You Imagine" from The Pagemaster, and writing the song score for Muppet Treasure Island. In addition, Weil provided the Christmas carols (again with Horner) for the big-screen version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and wrote the song "For Always" with John Williams for the A.I. soundtrack album.

Even after their many successes over the years, the team is hardly slowing down: In addition to songwriting, Mann and Weil are currently working on two Broadway projects: one based on their amazing catalog of songs, and Mask, an original rock musical based on the 1985 film.

Obviously, it is impossible to consider popular songwriting in the second half of the past century (and beyond) without including the landmark work of this phenomenal duo. Maintaining popular and critical success for such an extended time - and continuing to diligently hone their craft - Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil are, simply put, a songwriting team for the ages.