November 6, 2001
49th Annual BMI Country Awards Release
Press Release
Download this document in Word format.NASHVILLE, November 6, 2001 – Performing rights organization BMI staged the 49th edition of its Country Awards tonight, with ultimate honors saved for “I Hope You Dance,” songwriters Toby Keith, Marv Green and Aimee Mayo, and publishing titan Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. BMI Citations of Achievement were presented by President & CEO Frances W. Preston and Vice President Paul Corbin to the songwriters and publishers of the past year’s 50 most performed songs during a black-tie gala at the company’s Music Row offices. This celebration—the oldest awards program saluting country music’s creators—culminated in the announcements of Country Song, Songwriter, and Publisher of the Year.
“I Hope You Dance” earned writer Tia Sillers the 33rd Robert J. Burton Award as Most Performed Country Song of the Year. A multi-week, multi-format #1 smash for MCA recording artist Lee Ann Womack, “I Hope You Dance” is published by Choice Is Tragic Music (Sillers accepting) and Ensign Music Corporation (Chairman & CEO Irwin Z. Robinson and Vice President Pat Finch of parent The Famous Music Publishing Companies accepting). Sillers, who previously garnered BMI Country accolades for “There’s Your Trouble,” “Lipstick Promises” and “Land Of The Living,” wrote the song with Mark D. Sanders (share not licensed through BMI).
Toby Keith, Marv Green and Aimee Mayo each contributed three songs to the list of 50 to form a Country Songwriter of the Year triumvirate. Keith was presented with a BMI Crystal inscribed “Songwriter/Artist of the Year,” Green and Mayo with “Songwriter of the Year” Crystals.
Keith took the prize via his recordings of “Country Comes To Town,” “How Do You Like Me Now?!” (co-written with Chuck Cannon) and “You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like This,” all from his platinum DreamWorks album How Do You Like Me Now?! Keith’s BMI Awards total now stands at 12, including “Wish I Didn’t Know Now,” “You Ain’t Much Fun,” “Dream Walkin,” “Who’s That Man” and “He Ain’t Worth Missing.”
Green and Mayo teamed to write “Amazed” [2nd award] (Lonestar), “Let’s Make Love” (Faith Hill & Tim McGraw) and “It’s Always Something” (Joe Diffie). Last year the writers shared, along with Chris Lindsey, BMI Country Song of the Year honors for “Amazed.” Green’s previous BMI honors came courtesy of “Day In, Day Out” and “True”; Mayo has BMI Citations for “My Best Friend” and “Places I’ve Never Been.”
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. claimed BMI Country Publisher of the Year by accumulating the highest percentage of copyright ownership in award songs. Accepting the BMI Crystal for the publisher, which placed 11 songs on the most-performed list, were Chairman & CEO Les Bider and Executive VP/GM Tim Wipperman of parent company Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Legendary singer/songwriter Willie Nelson was saluted with the President’s Award. BMI created the President’s Award in 1993 to honor an exceptional person or persons in the entertainment industry deserving of special recognition. Presented tonight for only the fifth time, the honor has previously been bestowed on Harlan Howard, Brian Wilson, Earle Hagen and Alabama.
Highlights of the evening included a special tribute to the victims and rescuers of the September 11th disasters. After a video collage, Preston introduced three men who were on duty that day and responded to the call at the World Trade Center: New York Fire Department Lieutenants Michael Dilena and Vincent Louis of Engine Co. 236 in East New York, Brooklyn, and New York Police Department Lieutenant Stephen Reardon of the Emergency Service Unit (ESU) in Brooklyn. The officers, who have been at the “ground zero” site since the terrorist attack, were presented with Profile In Courage certificates on behalf of the FDNY and the NYPD. The remembrance tribute continued with a stirring performance by Lee Greenwood of “God Bless The USA”; Greenwood was later honored with the Words of Freedom Award.
Of the 64 songwriters recognized, eight, in addition to Keith, Green and Mayo, were multiple winners: Chris Lindsey, Chad Brock, Tom Douglas, Rick Giles, Bill Luther, Bobby Tomberlin, Danny Wells and Darryl Worley.
Additional publishers collecting three or more awards were Careers-BMG Music Publishing, Inc.; EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc.; Sony/ATV Tree; Universal Music Publishing Group (Irving Music, Songs of Universal, Inc., and Universal-Songs of PolyGram International, Inc.); Golden Wheat Music; Mike Curb Music; Songs of Nashville DreamWorks; and Tokeco Tunes.
“Flowers On The Wall” was recognized with its third BMI Country Award. Written by the late Lew Dewitt of the Statler Brothers, the song was honored in 1966 and 1967 (plus a 1966 Pop Award), and has accumulated more than two million performances. Three songs were cited for the second consecutive year: “Amazed” (2000 BMI Country Song of the Year); “Breathe” (2001 BMI Pop Song of the Year); and “How Do You Like Me Now?!”
Among this year’s honorees, 25 songs have reached the status of BMI Million-Air (accumulating at least one million broadcast performances) for a total of over 30 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 2001 Country list translate into 1.5 million hours or 171 years of continuous airplay.
BMI’s Citations of Achievement 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 2001 Country Awards eligibility period ran April 1, 2000 through March 31, 2001.
Founded in 1940, BMI is an American performing rights organization represent-ing more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all music genres. Through music performance and reciprocal agreements, it grants businesses and media access to its repertoire of more than 4.5 million musical works from around the world.
A complete list of the winners of the 2001 BMI Country Awards follows. For additional coverage, visit bmi.com. High-resolution photos will be available for downloading after the awards ceremony at press.bmi.com.
# # #
Contact:
Caroline Davis, Director of Media Relations
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
615/401-2728
Brian Tipton, Coordinator of Media Relations
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
615/401-2746
BMI President & CEO Frances W. Preston (left) is pictured with Tia Sillers, writer of BMI's Country Song of the Year "I Hope You Dance", and the song's publisher Irwin Z. Robinson of Ensign Music, at the 49th annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville (11/6/01)
download
Country Songwriter/Artist of the Year Toby Keith is pictured with BMI President & CEO Frances W. Preston at the 49th Annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville (11/6/01)
download
Willie Nelson accepts the BMI President's Award from Frances W. Preston, President & CEO of BMI (right) with BMI Vice President Writer/Publisher Relations/Nashville Paul Corbin at the 49th annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville (11/6/01)
download
BMI President & CEO Frances W. Preston (left) is pictured with Country Songwriter/Artist of the Year Toby Keith and BMI Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville Paul Corbin at the 49th annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville (11/6/01).
download
Joe Galante, Chairman, RCA Label Group BMG Nashville (left) is pictured with BMI songwriters Sara Evans and Sheryl Crow, and BMI Vice President Writer/Publisher Relations, NY Charlie Feldman at BMI's 49th annual Country Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
BMI Words of Freedom award winner Lee Greenwood is pictured with his wife Kim at the 49th anniual BMI Country Music Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
Award winning BMI songwriter Aaron Tippin is pictured with his wife Thea Tippin at the 49th annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
Award winning BMI songwriter Travis Tritt is pictured with his wife Theresa Tritt at the 49th annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville (11/6/01)
download
BMI songwriter Sheryl Crow greets special guest Lt. Stephen Reardon of New York's elite NYPD Emergency Services Unit at the 49th annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
Legendary BMI songwriter Willie Nelson is pictured with his fellow BMI writers Sheryl Crow and Travis Tritt at the 49th annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville. Nelson and Crow appeared together on the CMA Awards show the following evening. (11/6/01)
download
CMA Award winner and BMI songwriter Sara Evans is pictured with BMI songwriter Sheryl Crow at BMI's 49th annual Country Awards, Nashville (11/6/01)
download
Willie Nelson, who was presented with the BMI President's Award, greets special guests Lt. Stephen Reardon of the NYPD (left) and Lt. Vincent Louis of the FDNY, at the 49th annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville. Lts. Reardon and Louis were presented with the BMI Profile in Courage Award (11/6/01).
download
BMI's Country Songwriter/Artist Toby Keith is pictured with fellow BMI Award-winning writer keith urban at BMI's 49th annual Country Awards (11/06/01). Keith won the CMA Male Vocalist of the Year award, and urban won the Horizon Award at the CMA Awards the following evening.
download
VH-1's John Sykes is pictured with BMI songwriter Sheryl Crow at BMI's 49th annual Country Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
BMI songwriter Kenny Chesney is pictured with Miss America 1999 Nicole Johnson at BMI's 49th annual Country Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
Lt. Vincent Louis of the FDNY (left) is pictured with BMI Words of Freedom award winner Lee Greenwood and with fellow firefighter Lt. Michael Dilena and NYPD's Lt. Stephen Reardon of the city's Emergency Services Unit during the 49th annual BMI Country Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
BMI Words of Freedom Award winner Lee Greenwood is shown during his performance of "God Bless the USA" at BMI's 49th annual Country Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
BMI Award-winning songwriter Vince Gill and his wife Amy Grant are pictured at BMI's 49th annual Country Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
Shown at the 49th annual BMI Country Awards are co-Songwriter of the Year Marv Green, recording artist Lee Ann Womack, Tia Sillers, writer of the BMI Country Song of the Year "I Hope You Dance", President's Award winner Willie Nelson, and co-Songwriter of the Year Aimee Mayo. Nashville (11/06/01)
download
CMA Award winner and BMI songwriter Sara Evans is pictured with BMI songwriter Sheryl Crow at BMI's 49th annual Country Awards, Nashville (11/6/01)
download
BMI songwriters Sara Evans and Steve Wariner are pictured at BMI's 49th annual Country Awards, Nashville (11/06/01)
download
Winners of BMI's 49th Annual Country Awards, from left; Songwriters of the Year Marv Green and Aimee Mayo; Tia Sillers, writer of "I Hope You Dance," BMI's Country Song of the Year; Ensign Music's Pat Finch; Lee Greenwood, winner of BMI's "Words of Freedom" Award; BMI Songwriter/Artist of the Year Toby Keith; BMI President and CEO Frances W. Preston; President's Award Winner Willie Nelson; Ensign Music CEO Irwin Robinson; Warner-Tamerlane's President and CEO Les Bider, BMI Country Publisher of the Year and Warner-Tamerlane Executive VP & GM Tim Wipperman.
download