BMI Music Awards

Global rights leader Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) celebrated the songwriters and publishers behind country music’s most-performed songs of the past year during the 59th annual BMI Country Awards. BMI staged the event in its Nashville offices, located in the heart of Music Row, where behind-the-scenes hit-makers and center stage superstars came together to toast one another as songwriters.

Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson share the Songwriter of the Year crown. Georgia natives and close friends, the two are frequent collaborators, and part of a songwriting trio known as the “Peach Pickers.” They both contributed five songs to the year’s most-performed, four of which they co-wrote together: "All About Tonight" (Blake Shelton), "All Over Me" (Josh Turner), "Gimmie That Girl" (Joe Nichols) and "The Shape I’m In" (Joe Nichols). Individually, Akins’ "Farmer’s Daughter" (Rodney Atkins) and Davidson’s "Rain Is a Good Thing" (Luke Bryan) also made the list.

“All Over Me” also earned Song of the Year honors for Davidson and Akins, as well as publishers EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc., Rhettneck Music, and String Stretcher Music. Recorded by Josh Turner, the light-hearted summer love song topped country charts.

In a surprise announcement, the BMI Country Song of the Year award was rechristened the Frances W. Preston Award in honor of the legendary former BMI President & CEO.

With 15 songs among the year’s most performed, powerhouse Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville scored its tenth consecutive Publisher of the Year win.

Bobby Braddock was saluted as a BMI songwriting Icon. Braddock is the master craftsman behind staples including “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “People Are Crazy,” “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” “I Wanna Talk About Me,” “I Feel Like Loving You Again,” “Texas Tornado,” “Old Flames Have New Names,” “Golden Ring,” “Thinkin’ of a Rendezvous,” “Faking Love,” “Time Marches On” and more. Thirty years after his induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Braddock became the only living songwriter to have penned chart-toppers in five consecutive decades. The CMA Award winner has earned 30 BMI songwriting awards, and 10 of his compositions have earned more than one million performances each. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame earlier this year.

An all-star lineup paid homage to Braddock. Pistol Annies (Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley) kicked off the tribute with “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”; Blake Shelton delivered “Same Old Song”; John Anderson followed with “Would You Catch a Falling Star”; and LeAnn Rimes was joined by Vince Gill for “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”

The Icon designation is given to BMI songwriters who have had “a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.” Braddock joins a list of past honorees that includes Billy Sherrill, Kris Kristofferson, John Fogerty, Willie Nelson, Isaac Hayes, Merle Haggard, Brian Wilson, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, the Bee Gees, James Brown, and more.

BMI President & CEO Del Bryant hosted the show with Jody Williams, Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville; and Clay Bradley, Assistant Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville.