News Archive
BMI is pleased to congratulate Mike Curb, GRAMMY-winning producer, songwriter, composer, philanthropist and founder of Curb Records, who will be honored at this year’s Hot Buttered Soul Awards. Beyond being a celebrated and prolific singer/songwriter (some of Curb’s hits include “Burning Bridges,” “Sweet Gingerbread Man,” “The Candy Man,” and “See…
BMI Mourns the Loss of Legendary Songwriter Dewayne Blackwell
BMI is saddened by the passing of Dewayne Blackwell, co-writer of one of the most popular songs in modern music history, “Friends in Low Places,” recorded by country star Garth Brooks in 1990. The legendary recording took Single of the Year at both the CMA and ACM Awards, and it…
Vibing Against the Lag: A Conversation with Songwriter/Producer Tommy English
Growing up in Chicago in the 80’s and 90s, songwriter/producer Tommy English took to music early. Spurred by his parents, who placed a high value on music education, English picked up piano, trumpet, drums and guitar, versing himself in musicianship and songwriting at a young age. By his late teens,…
SXSW Indie Spotlight: Logan Ledger
An avid roots musician, Logan Ledger was already immersed in music from other eras when he first picked up a guitar at age 12. Though a child of the 90’s in San Francisco, Ledger’s grandmother introduced him to the sounds of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and the timeless doo-wop records…
Indie Spotlight: The Peach Kings
What do you get when you combine the talents of a Texas native and a Silver Lake-based Angeleno that met in San Francisco? A juxtaposition of gritty and glossy, airy and rough, which the band has expertly listed in their influences: Portishead, Led Zeppelin, the Kills, Nancy Sinatra, the Cramps…
10 Questions: LP
When a recent ad campaign by Citi featured “Into the Wild,” an aptly scaled blast of indie-pop fronted by the sweeping vocals of singer/songwriter LP, it sparked a national singalong that she, for one, did not expect. That’s probably because “Into the Wild” is but one of countless…
Remembering Barbara Orbison: 1951-2011
Barbara Orbison, the widow of rock-and-roll architect Roy Orbison, died at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center on December 6, 2011, on the 23rd anniversary of her husband’s death. Orbison lost a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 60 years old. In addition to being a devoted wife and mother, Orbison…
Randy Rogers Band: It’s Always About the Songs
“It’s frustrating to me sometimes when people classify us as Texas music,” says Randy Rogers, lifting his cowboy hat to drag a hand through cropped curls. Ah, but Randy, the association’s just too easy to make. The Randy Rogers Band frontman was born and raised in Cleburne as the son…
BMI’s New Holiday Standards Announce That Time of Year
Holiday songs are no longer elevator music for the month of December—nor, as seems to increasingly be the case, for late October and November. The BMI repertoire is stacked with new classics that command attention, channeling lovesick blues, winking irreverence and funk-laced grooves into original odes to the season. In…
Share Memories of Roy Orbison
Twenty-two years ago, rock-and-roll icon Roy Orbison passed away. He was gone suddenly and tragically, in the midst of crafting an influence that still echoes throughout music. The voice and songwriter behind “Oh, Pretty Woman,” “Only the Lonely,” “Crying,” “In Dreams,” “Blue Bayou,” “You Got It,” and more, Orbison composed…