Music News 8/2/12

Bob McDill

ASCAP has announced it will honor Country music songwriter Bob McDill with the prestigious Golden Note Award at its 50th Annual Country Music Awards, to be held Oct. 29 at Opryland Hotel.

“Bob McDill is one of Country music’s most eloquent and literary songwriters,” said ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams. “His dedication to the art and craft of writing honest songs that come straight from the soul has touched the hearts of millions around the world.”

The Texas-born songwriter has written 31 No. 1 songs throughout his three decade career. He has garnered four Grammy nominations, ASCAP Songwriter of the Year (1994), NSAI Songwriter of the Year three times and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985.

After Perry Como recorded his song, “Happy Man” in the ’60s, McDill moved to Nashville. He went on to score hits and cuts by Johnny Russell (“Catfish John”), Don Williams (“It Must Be Love” and “Good Ole Boys Like Me”), Waylon Jennings (“Amanda”), Alabama (“Song of the South”), Mel McDaniel (“Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On” and “Louisiana Saturday Night”), and Keith Whitley (“Don’t Close Your Eyes”).

McDill’s success continued into the ’90s with titles including “Gone Country,” “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful,” “Why Didn’t I Think of That,” and “All The Good Ones Are Gone.”

“Bob McDill wrote [“Gone Country”] and he is one of my favorite writers of all time,” said Alan Jackson in the liner notes of his Greatest Hits Collection. “When I first heard it, I fell in love with it. I wish that I’d written it cause it says a lot of things that I’d like to say.”

ASCAP’s invitation-only gala will also award Songwriter of the Year, Songwriter/Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Publisher of the Year, and feature live performances of the top five most performed songs of 2011.

Previous recipients who have earned the Golden Note award for extraordinary career milestones include Don Williams, Garth Brooks, Lindsey Buckingham, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire and J.D. Souther.

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2011 CASC finalist with judges, Wyatt Durrett, Corb Lund, and Molly Nagel and volunteer chairperson Jim Lauderdale

The Chris Austin Songwriting Contest began accepting online entries yesterday (8/1) for an early entry discount price of $25 per song.

Now in its 21st year, the contest offers aspiring writers exposure to a judging panel of Nashville music industry professionals including this year’s volunteer contest chairperson Jim Lauderdale. Twelve finalists representing four categories, bluegrass, country, general and gospel/inspirational, will be narrowed with the finalists competing at MerleFest on April 25-28, 2013.

Pete Fisher and Kari Estrin created the songwriting contest to honor Chris Austin, a member of Reba McEntire’s band, recording artist and songwriter himself, who passed in the private plane crash carrying him and six other members as well as her tour manager.

Net proceeds from the contest support the Wilkes Community College Chris Austin Memorial Scholarship. Since its inception the scholarship has awarded over $36,000 to 75 students.

Mail-in entries will be accepted Nov. 1 through Feb. 19, 2013. To learn more details about the contest, click here.

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Nashville songwriter Paul Sikes recently got the opportunity of a lifetime after doing what writers typically do: play a round at the Bluebird.

The Nashville native gained national renown after NBC’s Today Show co-host Hoda Kotb discovered him at the Bluebird and invited him to play on the show. Following his July 13 appearance and performance, the song he performed, “My Epitaph,” was the No. 2 downloaded song on iTunes’ singer/songwriter chart. See the performance here.

Sikes chalks it up to being in the right place at the right time. He played the round at the Bluebird back in May and noticed Kotb among the audience members. Days later word spread that she had raved about him on the show and even played a video clip of his performance. NBC producers contacted him via Twitter to extend the performance invitation.

Sikes still considers himself a producer and songwriter first. He says he has “never really chased the road of being an artist, but has enjoyed playing songs at smaller venues around town.” His independent album Craft was released to iTunes July 9.

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SESAC-affiliated songwriter Brian White took to the streets recently to announce his new publishing agreement with SB21 Music. White, who has penned several No. 1 hits in both the Country and Christian Music genres, and executives from SESAC and SB21 Music stopped traffic on the busy streets of Music Row to celebrate the new partnership.

(L-R) (standing): SESAC’s John Mullins & Tim Fink and SB21’s Shane Barrett & Steve Pasch (seated): White. Photo: Peyton Hoge