(Standing) - BMI's Mason Hunter, Cox TV VP of Sales Bill Spell, BMI songwriter Bobby Tomberlin, BMI's Dan Spears, Cox TV President Andy Fisher and BMI songwriter Steve Dorff (at keyboards)

With more than 40 BMI Awards, 11 Billboard #1 Awards, three Grammy nominations, five Emmy nominations and a NSAI Songwriter of the Year crown, Steve Dorff is a versatile songwriter and film/tv composer whose dossier includes nine No. 1 film songs and 15 Top 10 hits, including the Kenny Rogers' classic "Through The Years" and the Anne Murray hit "I Just Fall In Love Again. " He made his breakthrough with the score to the 1978 Clint Eastwood classic Every Which Way But Loose, and is credited with TV themes such as Murphy Brown and Growing Pains.

Grammy-nominated songwriter Bobby Tomberlin wrote the Diamond Rio No.1 single "One More Day", a 2001 BMI Country Award winner and CMA Song of the Year nominee. He is also co-writer of Darryl Worley's Top 10 hit, "A Good Day To Run." Both are certified BMI "Million-Airs" for two million and one million spins, respectively. Other artists who have cut Tomberlin's songs include Chely Wright, Linda Davis, Ty Herndon, Trini Triggs, Billy Dean, Russ Taff and Deana Carter; he has also contributed to three other Diamond Rio albums.

Steve Dorff, who has written over 20 Top 10 country and/or pop hits and nine #1 film songs, is a three-time Grammy nominee and a five-time Emmy nominee. His credits include the Kenny Rogers' classic "Through The Years," TV themes such as "Murphy Brown" and "Growing Pains," and the George Strait smash "I Cross My Heart" from the Pure Country soundtrack. BMI Award-winning writer Bobby Tomberlin, also a Grammy nominee, has had songs recorded by Darryl Worley, Diamond Rio, Chely Wright, Linda Davis and Russ Taff.

Seen after the dinner are BMI's Dan Spears and Darlene Rosado, BMI songwriter Bobby Tomberlin, BMI's Michelle Mazzara, Texas Association of Broadcasters' Ann Arnold and BMI songwriter Steve Dorff.

Pictured (l-r) are Bobby Tomberlin, Lisa Brokop, Doug Johnson, BMI's Joyce Rice, Billy Montana, Mike Curb Music's Drew Alexander and BMI's Thomas Cain. photo: Brian Tipton

Congratulating Clark (center) are Bobby Tomberlin, Gilles Godard, Tim Nichols and BMI's Ron Solleveld. Photo by Caroline Davis

* share not licensed through BMI]]> 2003-09-04T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233789 Artists, Bentley, Stephanie, Roe, Marty, Tomberlin, Bobby, Wells, Danny, Musical Styles, Country

[kneeling] RLG's Joe Galante, Diamond Rio's Marty Roe, BMI's Thomas Cain, Diamond Rio's Brian Prout, producer Mike Clute, [standing] Modern Management's Ted Greene, Arista's Bobby Kraig, Diamond Rio's Dan Truman, songwriters Skip Ewing and Donny Kees, Diamond Rio's Jimmy Olander, Dana Williams and Gene Johnson

The multi-week hit, recorded by Diamond Rio on their Arista album Completely and produced by Mike Clute, is published by Sony/ATV/Acuff-Rose Music and Write On Music. In charge of handing out the commemorative #1 cups was BMI's Thomas Cain, who played the healing angel in the accompanying "I Believe" video.

Kees and Ewing previously topped the country charts with "I'm Not Supposed To Love You Anymore" (Bryan White) and "If I Never Stop Loving You" (David Kersh). Other hits for Ewing -- BMI's 2000 Country Songwriter of the Year -- include "Wish You Were Here," "Someone Else's Star" and "Love, Me." This #1 success is Kees' second this year, following Joe Nichols' smash "Brokenheartsville."

Donny Kees, Sony/ATV's Troy Tomlinson, BMI's Thomas Cain, Skip Ewing

Lily Prout [center] with parents Stephanie Bentley and Brian Prout

Skip Ewing, Claudia Young, Angela Kaset

Danny Wells, Donny Kees, Randy Boudreaux

Isabella Roe and dad Marty

Bobby Tomberlin, Gilles, Jazz, Chloe & Susan Godard, Andrew Dorff

Sony/ATV's Mike Whelan, BMI's Perry Howard, Clint Daniels, Blake Mevis, Buddy Brock

photos by Kay Williams]]> 2003-07-21T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233738 Artists, Tomberlin, Bobby, Musical Styles, Country Bobby Tomberlin recently received Million-Air certificates for two million broadcast performances of "One More Day" (Diamond Rio) and one million broadcast performances of "A Good Day To Run" (Darryl Worley). Co-written with Steven Jones, "One More Day" won a BMI Country Award and was nominated for CMA's Song of the Year (2001). It received nominations for Single and Song of the Year at the ACM Awards, and a Best Country Song nomination at the Grammys (2002). The BMI Award-winning "A Good Day To Run" was co-written by Tomberlin and Worley. Based on an average length of three minutes, one million airplays is equivalent to 50,000 hours or 5.7 years of continuous airplay.

Pictured are BMI's Mark Mason, Bobby Tomberlin, Curb Music's Drew Alexander and Jeff Tweel and BMI's Thomas Cain. photo: Brian Tipton

]]> 2003-06-10T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233187 Artists, Anderson, Bill, Beathard, Casey, Berry, Chuck, Brooks & Dunn, Brown, James, Bryant, Del, Byrd, Tracy, Diddley, Bo, Green, Marv, Kirkpatrick, Wayne, Little Richard, Lonestar, McBride, Martina, McDonald, Richie, Myers, Frank, Preston, Frances, Shapiro, Tom, Sillers, Tia, Steele, Jeffrey, Tomberlin, Bobby, Verges, Troy, Wariner, Steve, White, Phillip, Awards, Musical Styles, Country, Pop, Urban, Musicworld, Feature, BMI Country Awards Lonestar’s “I’m Already There” as Song of the Year, to Tom Shapiro and Troy Verges as Songwriters of the Year, and to Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville as Publisher of the Year. 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.

Pictured (l to r) onstage at BMI Nashville are BMI Senior VP Del Bryant, Richie McDonald, Sony/ATV Music Publishing's Donna Hilley, BMI ICON honoree Bill Anderson, BMI President & CEO Frances Preston, BMI VP Paul Corbin, Tom Shapiro and Troy Verges.

“I’m Already There” earned songwriter Richie McDonald of Lonestar the 34th Robert J. Burton Award as Most Performed Country Song of the Year. This distinction is given to the song tallying the most feature broadcast performances during the eligibility period. Sony/ATV Tree (an entity of Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville) was also presented with a BMI Crystal as publisher.

Click here for photos from the event

Click here for the Country Awards Song List

The title track from Lonestar’s platinum RCA album was a multi-format smash, including six weeks at #1 on the Country chart, and has already achieved Million-Air (million performance) status. McDonald, who previously garnered BMI Country and Million-Air accolades for Lonestar’s “Everything’s Changed,” wrote “I’m Already There” with Gary Baker and Frank Myers (shares not licensed through BMI). This marks the second time Lonestar has recorded the BMI Country Song of the Year: “Amazed” (written by Marv Green, Chris Lindsey and Aimee Mayo) won in 2000.

Click a photo to learn more about these writers:
Bill Anderson	Troy Verges	Richie McDonald	Tom Shapiro

A veteran writer and a newcomer each contributed four songs to the list of 50 to share the title of Country Songwriter of the Year. Tom Shapiro, also BMI’s top country songwriter in 1993, ’96 and ’97, took the prize via “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” (Brooks & Dunn), “In Another World” (Joe Diffie), “Just Let Me Be In Love” (Tracy Byrd) and “Loving Every Minute” (Mark Wills). Shapiro’s BMI Awards total now stands at 32, with 23 BMI Million-Airs.

Troy Verges saw his first BMI Awards - “Blessed” (Martina McBride #1), “I Would’ve Loved You Anyway” (Trisha Yearwood), “Who I Am” (Jessica Andrews #1) and “With Me” (Lonestar) - deliver a share of the night’s top songwriting prize.

Complementing its Song of the Year victory, 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 16 songs on the most-performed list through its companies Sony/ATV Tree and Sony/ATV Acuff Rose.

Legendary singer/songwriter Bill Anderson was saluted as a BMI ICON for his “unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.” Since his first hit, “City Lights,” in 1958, Anderson has scored with nearly 50 charting singles and more than 50 BMI Country and Pop Awards. Presented tonight for only the fifth time, the honor was bestowed earlier this year on Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Little Richard at the BMI Pop Awards and on James Brown at the BMI Urban Awards.

Of the 54 songwriters recognized on the list of 50 songs, six collected two awards: Casey Beathard, Brett James, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Jeffrey Steele, Steve Wariner and Phillip White.

Additional publishers collecting three or more awards were Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., Universal Music Publishing (Irving Music, Songs of Universal, Inc., and Universal-Songs of PolyGram International, Inc.), EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc., Shapiro’s company Wenonga Music and Ensign Music Corporation.

Among this year’s honorees, 20 songs have reached the status of BMI Million-Air (accumulating at least one million broadcast performances) for a total of over 23 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 2002 Country list translate into 1.1 million hours or 131 years of continuous airplay.

Two songs were cited for the second consecutive year: multi-Million-Airs “I Hope You Dance” by Tia Sillers (2001 BMI Country Song of the Year) and “One More Day” by Bobby Tomberlin.

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 2002 Country Awards eligibility period ran April 1, 2001 through March 31, 2002.

High-resolution photos are available for downloading at press.bmi.com/country02

Toby Keith and Rand Bishop

While this is Bishop's first #1 single, he has more than 180 recordings to his credit, with cuts by Tim McGraw, Lorrie Morgan, Doug Stone, The Beach Boys, Heart, Cheap Trick, Indigo Girls, Richie Havens, Peter Noone, The Searchers, The Outlaws and Vanilla Fudge, among many others. In addition to writing songs and composing for films, commercials and stage musicals, Bishop has done just about everything in the creative end of the music business -- with experience as a recording artist signed to several major labels (including Elektra, Epic, A&M and MCA), and as a music producer, publisher, A&R and talent development executive.

"My List" follows "I Wanna Talk About Me," "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight" (from Pull My Chain) and "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This" (from How Do You Like Me Now?!) to the pinnacle of the country charts for Keith. His new album, Unleashed, will be released July 23. For more information, visit http://www.tobykeith.net/

BMI's Thomas Cain, Susie & Gilles Godard, Rand Bishop, Bobby Tomberlin

Rand Bishop, Jody Williams

Holly Butler, Caroline Johnson, Stacey Shaffer-Bishop

Sara Evans

Brooks & Dunn

Stuart Duncan

Travis Tritt

The duo is nominated for Entertainer Of The Year, Album of The Year (as both producers and recording artists), Song Of The Year, Single Record Of The Year (as both producers and recording artists of "Ain't Nothin' Bout You"), Top Vocal Duo and Country Video Of The Year. Keith is up for Entertainer Of The Year, Top Male Vocalist, Album Of The Year (as both producer and recording artist), Single Record Of The Year (as both producer and recording artist), Song Of The Year and Country Video Of The Year (the single "I Wanna Talk About Me").

Nickel Creek

Trick Pony

Tim McGraw and Travis Tritt each earned four nominations, both vying for Top Male Vocalist. Diamond Rio is on the final ballot with three nominations apiece; Trick Pony, Nickel Creek and the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, produced by T-Bone Burnett, earned two nominations each.

The 37th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards will be a live primetime television show broadcast by the CBS Television Network. The west coast based Academy will once again hold the highly rated awards show at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. This year's show will air on Wednesday, May 22 (8:00-11:00 PM, live ET; delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Nominees and winners of the Academy of Country Music Awards are voted on by members of the Academy Of Country Music, which works to enhance and promote country music throughout the world. Presenters and performers who will appear on the special will be announced at a later date. Also to be presented during the live broadcast will be the Academy's Pioneer Award, which goes to an outstanding pioneer in the field of country music.

BMI'S ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARD NOMINEES

TOP FEMALE VOCALIST
SARA EVANS
FAITH HILL MARTINA MCBRIDE

TOP MALE VOCALIST
TOBY KEITH
TIM MCGRAW
TRAVIS TRITT

TOP VOCAL DUO
BROOKS & DUNN
MONTGOMERY GENTRY
THE KINLEYS
THE WARREN BROTHERS

TOP VOCAL GROUP
DIAMOND RIO
DIXIE CHICKS
LONESTAR
NICKEL CREEK
TRICK PONY

TOP NEW MALE VOCALIST
BLAKE SHELTON

TOP NEW VOCAL DUO/GROUP
NICKEL CREEK
TRICK PONY

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
BROOKS & DUNN
TOBY KEITH
TIM MCGRAW

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
I WANNA TALK ABOUT ME -- Toby Keith
ONLY IN AMERICA -- Brooks & Dunn
WHERE THE STARS AND STRIPES AND THE EAGLE FLY -- Baquas (producer)/Aaron Tippin

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
DOWN THE ROAD I GO -- Travis Tritt
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? -- T-Bone Burnett (producer)/Various Artists
PULL MY CHAIN -- James Stroud & Toby Keith (producers)/Toby Keith
SET THIS CIRCUS DOWN -- Byron Gallimore, James Stroud & Tim McGraw (producers)/Tim McGraw
STEERS & STRIPES -- Kix Brooks, Ronnie Dunn & Mark Wright (producers)/Brooks & Dunn

SINGLE RECORD OF THE YEAR
AIN'T NOTHING 'BOUT YOU -- Kix Brooks, Ronnie Dunn & Mark Wright (producers)/Brooks & Dunn
I WANNA TALK ABOUT ME -- James Stroud & Toby Keith (producers)/Toby Keith
IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE -- Travis Tritt
ONE MORE DAY -- Diamond Rio
WHERE WERE YOU (When The World Stopped Turning) -- Keith Stegall (producer)

SONG OF THE YEAR
ANGELS IN WAITING -- Stewart Harris (songwriter); Peermusic III Ltd., Wide Ocean Music
I WANNA TALK ABOUT ME -- Bobby Braddock (songwriter); Sony/ATV Songs LLC/Toby Keith
ONE MORE DAY -- Bobby Tomberlin (songwriter); Mike Curb Music/Diamond Rio
ONLY IN AMERICA -- Kix Brooks, Don Cook, Ronnie Rogers (songwriters); Sony/ATV Tree, Buffalo Prairie Songs, Don Cook Music, Route Six Music/Brooks & Dunn

VOCAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
BEER RUN -- George Jones; Allen Reynolds (producer)
BRING ON THE RAIN -- Tim McGraw
I AM A MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW -- Soggy Bottom Boys; T-Bone Burnett (producer)
OUT OF CONTROL RAGING FIRE -- Patty Loveless with Travis Tritt; Emory Gordy Jr. (producer)
TOO COUNTRY -- Buck Owens, George Jones & Bill Anderson

BMI'S ACM INSTRUMENTALIST FINALISTS

FIDDLE
Stuart Duncan
Aubrey Haynie

STEEL GUITAR
Jay Dee Maness

GUITAR
Brent Mason
Jimmy Olander

KEYBOARDS
John Hobbs
Matt Rollings

SPECIALTY INSTRUMENT
Jerry Douglas - Dobro
Gene Johnson - Mandolin