February 9, 2003

News, Country

“She’ll Leave You With a Smile” Breaks Into History Books

The #1 single "She'll Leave You With A Smile" hit several milestones in one release: the first #1 for songwriters Jay Knowles and Odie Blackmon, and the 50th #1 for MCA superstar George Strait. The song, from Strait's The Road Less Traveled album, is published by Sony/ATV Tree and Big Yellow Dog Music and produced by Strait and Tony Brown. To mark the occasion, BMI Nashville hosted a breakfast for Knowles and the rest of the creative team. Among Knowles's other credits are the Montgomery Gentry single "Self Made Man" and cuts by Billy Ray Cyrus, Chris LeDoux, Cyndi Thomson and Trent Summar.

Celebrating at BMI Nashville are MCA Nashville's Pat Payne; Connie Woolsey of the Erv Woolsey Company, representing Strait; Big Yellow Dog Music's Carla Wallace; songwriters Jay Knowles and Odie Blackmon; Sony/ATV Tree's Woody Bomar; and BMI's Bradley Collins.

According to MCA Records, with this achievement by "She'll Leave You With A Smile," Strait sets a new record for #1 songs by a single artist in any genre, breaking Conway Twitty's long-standing tally of 49.

Jay Knowles and father John Knowles

Sony/ATV Tree's Arthur Buenahora, Trent Summar, Summar's manager John Leal, Sony/ATV Tree's Scott Johnson, BMI's Perry Howard

Jay Knowles and family celebrate his first #1

Big Yellow Dog's Kerry O'Neil, Sony/ATV's Woody Bomar, producer Tony Brown, BMI's Harry Warner

photos by Beth Gwinn

In this story: Montgomery Gentry, Jay Knowles, Chris LeDoux, Trent Summar

Most Recent

BMI represents more than 400,000 songwriters, composers, and publishers with more than 6.5 million works.