When I worked in the A & R Department at a major record label, and later, as production coordinator for albums by hit artists, in many cases, my ears were the first barrier that had to be crossed when a song was submitted for those acts. Almost all the songs I… Read more...
Every country music fan knows that there are more than a few tales about country stars that sound almost too unbelievable to be true. These stories work extremely well with the film genre of animated documentary, which is exactly what it sounds like: an animated version of the truth. What better… Read more...
BMI is saddened at the passing of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member and multiple BMI award-winner Curly Putman, who died Sunday at the age of 85. Putman’s vast catalog of songs undeniably helped shape country music history and include, among others, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” and “Green, Green Grass of Home.” He also… Read more...
Dick Clark, the gracious and towering ambassador of American popular music and mainstream youth culture, passed away on Wednesday, April 17 in Santa Monica, California. He was 82. After stints as a television announcer and DJ, Clark began the career that would eventually unfold into a media empire with a humble… Read more...
BMI’s songwriting history, in pictures. Legends catch up at the 1981 BMI Country Awards in Nashville. Pictured are (seated) Billy Sherrill, Jerry Kennedy and Jerry Lee Lewis; with Curly Putman, Faron Young, Johnny Bush and Willie Nelson (standing). Read more...
Longtime BMI songwriter Liz Anderson has died. She was 81. The writer behind Merle Haggard’s “(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers” and “Just Between the Two of Us,” which Haggard recorded with Bonnie Owens, Anderson also penned songs for Jerry Lee Lewis, Del Reeves, Roy Drusky, Waylon Jennings, and others, including… Read more...
Performers to pay tribute to unsung hero of soul songwriting with a night of music at B.B. King’s Blues Club in Nashville on August 28 Read more...
Gregg Allman is no stranger to the blues. As singer, songwriter, and organ player for the Allman Brothers Band, he has taken them about as far as they have ever gone. As skeletal 12-string Piedmont finger-picking stretches into swirling chromatic rhapsodies of improvisation, his Hammond B-3 sloshes against thundering double drummers… Read more...
Keb’ Mo’ had two big reasons to smile during a recent visit to BMI’s Nashville offices. The acclaimed blues slinger earned BMI Film/TV Awards—one for composing the original theme and background music for brand new series Mike & Molly, and the other for his role in the… Read more...
Against all conceivable odds, expectations, predictions, rumors, gossip and reason, Jerry Lee Lewis is 75 years old. He still sounds like he could hit the key of a piano with his pinky harder than most men could hit it with their right fist. His legacy—a smoldering trail of mayhem and masterpieces… Read more...
