BMI presented its 2024 BMI Country Awards this evening, honoring the unparalleled career of BMI Icon Award recipient Randy Owen as well as the Country Songwriter, Song and Publisher of the Year. The 72nd annual event also celebrated the top songwriters and music publishers behind this past year’s 50 most-performed songs in Country music. BMI’s President & CEO Mike O’Neill hosted the evening alongside Nashville’s VP, Creative, Clay Bradley.

As this year’s BMI Icon, Owen joins an elite group of songwriters who have had an indelible influence on music makers over generations, including Toby Keith, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Dean Dillon, Hank Williams, Jr., Bill Anderson and Vince Gill. During the evening, Owen’s chart-topping Alabama hits were on display as Riley Green put a southern spin on “My Home’s in Alabama” and Luke Bryan performed his own rendition of “Feels So Right.” Blake Shelton closed out the tribute with the Alabama classic, “Mountain Music.”
The evening began with a heartfelt collaboration from Ella Langley, Lukas Nelson and Aaron Raitiere who joined forces on “With a Little Help from My Friends,” as the Country community was praised for its charitable efforts throughout the year. Chase McGill and Zach Bryan tied for the coveted BMI Songwriter of the Year award, as each songwriter co-wrote six of BMI’s most-performed songs in Country music. McGill co-wrote Morgan Wallen’s “Ain’t That Some,” Luke Bryan’s “But I Got a Beer in My Hand,” Conner Smith’s “Creek Will Rise,” Russell Dickerson’s “God Gave Me a Girl,” Jordan Davis’ “Next Thing You Know” and Thomas Rhett’s “Mamaw’s House.” Bryan serves as a writer behind “Burn, Burn, Burn,” “Dawns,” “Hey Driver,” “I Remember Everything,” “Oklahoma Smokeshow” and “Sun to Me.”

Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” was named 2024 BMI Country Song of the Year, published by Big Loud Mountain, John Byron Music, Sony/ATV Songs LLC and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. BMI’s most-performed Country Song of the Year was written by John Byron and Charlie Handsome and was No. One on the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 nonconsecutive weeks, the most ever for a solo song.
The Publisher of the Year accolade went to Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., which published 34 of the 50 most-performed songs of the year, including megahits like Parker McCollum’s “Burn It Down,” Tyler Hubbard’s “Dancin’ in the Country,” Riley Green’s “Different ‘Round Here,” Warren Zeiders’ “Pretty Little Poison,” and Bailey Zimmerman’s “Religiously.”

During the ceremony, BMI also saluted the songwriters and publishers of the 50 most-performed country songs of the previous year including Chayce Beckham’s “23,” Chris Janson’s “All I Need Is You,” Kane Brown’s “Bury Me In Georgia,” Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor,” Cody Johnson’s “The Painter,” and Luke Combs’ “Where the Wild Things Are.”

A special thank you to BMI’s partners Crown Royal and WP Global Private Equity Partners for supporting the 72nd annual BMI Country Awards.

ABOUT RANDY OWEN:
Alabama, country music’s first band, is known for hit songs including “Mountain Music,” “Roll On,” “Dixieland Delight” and “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band).” From humble beginnings to international stars, Alabama went on to sell 80 million albums and charted 43 No. One hits, becoming the most successful band in the history of country music. In November 2022, Alabama co-founder Jeff Cook passed following a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. With his prior encouragement and wishes, Alabama continues touring on a limited basis, keeping the iconic music they created alive for the current and future generation of fans. Most recently, Alabama was honored by CMT with the nationally televised CMT GIANTS: ALABAMA. The two-hour special featured Blake Shelton ft. Steve Wariner, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Jason Aldean, Little Big Town, Old Dominion, Pam Tillis & Lorrie Morgan, Riley Green, and Sam Hunt performing some of the band’s most legendary hits. For more information visit www.thealabamaband.com.

ABOUT BMI:
Celebrating over 80 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, BMI® is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in over 22.4 million musical works created and owned by more than 1.4 million songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI’s repertoire, from chart toppers to perennial favorites, span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year. For additional information and the latest BMI news, visit bmi.com, follow us on X and Instagram @BMI or stay connected through BMI‘s Facebook page. Sign up for BMI’s The Weekly™ and receive our e-newsletter every week to stay up to date on all things music.

It’s hard for the tenderly shy and humble soul that Mac McAnally possesses to grasp the fact that he’s sold out the music staple that the Ryman Auditorium has become. Nonetheless, that is the news out of the heart of downtown Music City today, highlighted by The Tennessean. McAnally sat down with the stalwart news outlet’s Marcus Dowling at local haunt Wendell Smith’s Meat and Three to discuss the journey to get to one of music’s greatest stages.

The news comes as a testament to McAnally’s lasting influence on the music world and the community’s excitement surrounding this milestone performance. The sold-out event is expected to be a truly unforgettable evening, with McAnally taking the stage to share decades of musical brilliance, blending storytelling with his signature guitar work and a song catalog full of depth and prowess.

“It’s outside my imagination and hard to believe, but I am very grateful,” said Mac McAnally, of the sold-out news.

As a longtime member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, McAnally has played to sold-out crowds around the world, and as a solo artist, he’s proving just how much his legacy resonates with fans. His work continues to reach new heights, including sold out shows of his own across the country, his recent contributions to the reimagined Country Bear Musical Jamboree at Walt Disney World and his ongoing producing and writing for artists like Sawyer Brown and Ned LeDoux.

About Mac McAnally
Mac McAnally’s journey is one of divine providence and musical mastery. With an astonishing ten Country Music Association Musician of the Year awards and a place in the Nashville Songwriters Hall, the Mississippi Musicians Hall and the Alabama Music Hall of Fames, McAnally’s contributions to the world of music are nearly unparalleled. Born into a family of Gospel musicians in a dry county, McAnally’s early years were steeped in the rich traditions of Southern music. His humble beginnings paved the way for a career marked by extraordinary talent and unwavering dedication. As a songwriter, McAnally has penned chart-topping hits for artists like Alabama, Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffett, while his musical abilities have graced albums by legends such as Toby Keith, Dolly Parton and George Strait. Despite his numerous accolades and collaborations with music royalty, McAnally remains grounded in his love for the art itself. For McAnally, music is not just a career but a calling—a testament to the joy of creation and the power of storytelling. With each note he plays and every lyric he writes, McAnally continues to inspire and uplift audiences around the world, leaving an indelible mark on the fabric of American music.

Capitol Records recording artist Christian Hayes has poetically drawn on his life experiences growing up in the foothills of Appalachia since his grandfather gifted him his first journal at seven years old. While his debut EP Last I Love You, released in September, followed Hayes’ journey navigating heartbreak and growing up, he’s now offering an upbeat new song underscoring the beauty of finding love in imperfection with “Wildflower,” available now.

Self-written by Hayes, the concept for “Wildflower” was born from Hayes’ observation of seeing beauty found in imperfections and embracing uniqueness in love. Recalling how wildflowers are each unique and grow to their own accord, Hayes drew from this inspiration to celebrate the qualities that make them distinctly beautiful.

“I had family members who I watched struggle a lot with discontent growing up, always striving to find that perfect spouse, rather than being happy with the one they were with,” Hayes reflects. “This song was inspired by that inner conflict, but rather than always striving for perfection where it doesn’t exist, the ‘wildflower’ serves as a metaphor to finding a person who’s right for you, while embracing the beauty in their imperfections.”

The song comes on the heels of the September release of Last I Love You, which casts a wide net, fusing Americana and folk while bouncing between campfire ballads, cinematic soundscapes and raw, rowdy barn-burners. At the center of that sound is Hayes himself: a wise-beyond-his-years musician who knows he can’t move forward without taking a look at his past.

Genuine and articulate, Hayes comes from a long line of storytellers that includes his Grandpa Jack – a poet by profession – who gave Christian his first journal. Born and raised in the foothills of Appalachia, Hayes began playing guitar at age eight. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve and attended the University of Alabama.

Hayes recently signed with Capitol Records, as well as with William Morris Endeavor (WME) for booking, Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) for publishing, Wildrose Projects for management and Flood Bumstead McCready & McCarthy (FBMM) for business management.

Hailed as “country’s most down-to-earth songwriter” by The New York Times, CMA Female Vocalist of the Year nominee Ashley McBryde offers poetic nostalgia with “Ain’t Enough Cowboy Songs,” set for release Friday, December 6 via Warner Music Nashville.

Written by McBryde with Chris Harris and Patrick Savage, “Ain’t Enough Cowboy Songs” emerged from a shared feeling of loss and a desire to reconnect with timeless principles, longing for meaning and clarity in a changing world.

“In the last several years, we’ve all been feeling like something is missing. I noticed it in myself and then noticed it in most people I came in contact with. And we don’t always know how to articulate it,” McBryde admits. “For us, this song helped us do that. We are all starving to reconnect with the things that made us who we are. Sometimes that comes as our sense of justice and duty, maybe for some of us it’s work ethic, for some of us it’s a sense of community.

“When we got together to write, the three of us realized the cowboys we looked up to growing up made us want to be the way that we are – the music associated with them and the lives they lead,” she explains. “Those things fully embodied what I am starving for. There’s no substitute for hard work, resilience, kindness, standing up for and with folks in their weaker moments. There’s no substitute for knowing when to take it on the chin and when to give it. And no matter what else we may try to fill that hole with…there ain’t enough of it to ever resemble the real thing.”

Fans have been clamoring for the full version as McBryde has been teasing the release on social media, including a portion of the song’s live debut in Greeley, Colorado earlier this month, sparking comments such as, “Don’t be shy, drop the whole song,” “Stealing my heart one chord at a time,” and “I think it’s my new favorite song and I am chomping at the bit for it to get released!”

McBryde performed at the 58th Annual CMA Awards Wednesday, Nov. 20 ahead of a performance at the Grand Ole Opry on Dec. 3. She will perform with Cody Johnson in Las Vegas on Dec. 13 before joining him for his Leather Deluxe Tour in 2025 among festival dates at Stagecoach, Country Thunder Arizona and Country Thunder Florida.

“Cowboys Cry Too” Up for “Best Country Duo/Group Performance”

Four-time GRAMMY nominee Kelsea Ballerini can now make it five. Receiving her first “Best Country Duo/Group Performance” nomination for “Cowboys Cry Too” with two-time GRAMMY-nominated multi-platinum-selling singer/songwriter Noah Kahan. The pair’s inherent chemistry and willingness to probe people’s most vulnerable emotions connected with the GRAMMY voters in a palpable way.

Having come together with a “Stick Season” mash-up performance at the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards, Kahan and Ballerini recognized each other’s curiosity about the faltering places most of us face – and decided to collaborate further. That collaboration sees the 2024 “Best New Artist” GRAMMY nominee coming into the emerging country music superstar’s world to co-write a song that leaves space for grief, doubt and raw feelings.

“I’m just so proud of the heart of this song, and the vulnerability it celebrates and stands for,” Ballerini says of the duet that debuted at No. 27 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, was most added its first week, as well as amassing 12 million streams. “I believe a lot of people wish they could drop their armor, admit when they’re hurt or scared — and not feel like a failure for owning very human emotions.

“When Alysa (Vanderheym) and I were writing this last fall, there was a real feeling of freedom celebrating the scope of feelings. Noah adding his perspective and lyricism made it a different level, and I’m so grateful he added his magic and made this song what it is.”

The New York Times offered, “With string-band fiddle and mandolin set amid an arena-country march, Ballerini and Kahan praise vulnerability as a different form of toughness, one that’s not encouraged by family or culture,” People raved, “the artists bare it all, talking emotional suppression and stoic fathers, noting it’s OK to pour one out from time to time – ‘cause cowboys cry too’,” and American Songwriter praised the “beautifully crafted country song that hits all the right notes, from the fiddle to acoustic guitar;” AS also cited the duet’s power, “While this song could have worked with just Ballerini, Kahan’s verses punch it up and give it a new point of view. This expands the song beyond a single mindset, making it universally understood.”

Kahan embraced the process, saying, “It’s the writers who are willing to go to the awkward places that inspire me. Kelsea is one of those, and I knew if we could find something we both believed to sing, it would expand how we look at the way we live, what society decides and we should reject. ‘Cowboys Cry Too’ is everything I believed our collaboration could be.”

With Kahan’s vocal produced by Gabe Simon, Billboard notes that in spite of earlier collabs with Kacey Musgraves and others, the record, which features John Osborne on lead guitar, “(Kahan} has never sounded as comfortable picking up the cowboy hat as he does here.”

Both artists are TIME Magazine’s TIME100 Next and Saturday Night Live veterans, as well as all-genre GRAMMY “Best New Artist” nominations for following music instead of formats. “Cowboys Cry Too” shows the fluidity with which both Ballerini and Kahan inhabit their songs, delivering on their strengths as citizens of a global world that recognizes the critical need for a space that allows people to find shelter from the storm.