“I had a pop/doo-wop kind of vocal group that signed with RCA Victor and our first record was released in 1956,” recalls Crutchfield. “It’s amazing to think I’ve been in this crazy business for 50 years!”

Crutchfield’s group never had a hit. But it did start him on a successful songwriting career — and he remains a BMI writer.

“I sent a demo of ‘Little Sparrow’ to Chet Atkins and he cut it with Eddy Arnold — my first major [cover] release,” says Crutchfield, who had to sing the melody part for Atkins on the phone since it was mixed too low on the demo. He would go on to land over 150 covers by the likes of Elvis Presley, Tanya Tucker, Lee Greenwood and Tammy Wynette. His “My Whole World Is Falling Down” became a pop hit for Brenda Lee in 1963 and was also a major European hit for French singing and film star Sylvie Vartan.

But Crutchfield began producing, too. “I really enjoyed the energy of the studio — and musicians making music,” he says, and sure enough, he produced Dave Loggins’s “Please Come to Boston,” one of the most successful pop records ever cut in Nashville — not to mention country hits including Lee Greenwood’s Grammy-winning “I.O.U.”

Crutchfield would serve as Executive Vice President/General Manager of Capitol Records and President of the Nashville division of MCA Music. But he also established MCA Music Publishing (now Universal Music Publishing) as a major Nashville publishing house, and had a hand in signing and developing such top Music Row writers as Loggins, Don Schlitz, Gary Burr and Mark Nesler.

He continues to run the Crutchfield Music Group of publishing companies (its Glitterfish Music catalog has had hits by George Strait, Tim McGraw and Martina McBride) while writing a series of “The Adventures of Dr. Raccoon” children’s books.

His alma mater, Murray State University in Kentucky, is currently exhibiting his memorabilia to commemorate a new scholarship in his name, but Crutchfield looks ahead. “People complain about changes in the business,” he says, “but time marches on and you have to stay with the program.”

Hit songwriter Mark Alan Springer and 2003 CMT/NSAI Song Contest winner Jesse Terry at one of their many co-writing sessions.

BMI writer Jesse Terry, winner of the 2003 CMT/NSAI Song Contest, secured a staff writing deal with Masville Music shortly after his win. Masville Music is one of Music Row's most prominent independent publishing companies, owned and operated by hit songwriter Mark Alan Springer (Tanya Tucker's "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane," Kenny Chesney's "Grandpa Told Me So"). Jesse currently has several songs on hold for major artists.

CMT and NSAI are giving songwriters another chance to win big like Jesse. The 7th Annual CMT/NSAI Song Contest runs through Nov. 30, 2006, and features a plethora of prizes focused on helping songwriters realize their dreams, including:

• An exclusive mentoring session with award-winning songwriter and artist John Rich of Big & Rich
• A single-song contract from a major Music Row publisher
• A $500 gift certificate to Sam Ash Music
• A three-day trip to Nashville
• A "Star Treatment Prize Package" including a special guest performance at the world-famous Bluebird Café a limo ride to and from the show by Celebrity Limousines; a cut, color and style from Music Row's premier salon, Gordon & Co.; an artist promo package from Krista Lee Photography; a Kiehl's gift box and personal consultation; and dinner for two at Sunset Grill
• A demo of your song by professional producers and musicians at Parlor Studio on Music Row
• A private tour of the CMT studios
• Tickets to the 2007 CMT Music Awards
• Prizes from Gibson, SHURE, Masterwriter, Elixir, CMT and more

Click here to enter online.]]> 2006-11-10T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334727 Artists, Anderson, Bill, Big & Rich, Cropper, Steve, Daniels, Charlie, Everett, Jace, Gill, Vince, Nelson, Willie, Parnell, Lee Roy, Parton, Dolly, Tucker, Tanya, Wright, Chely GuitarTown Auction Gala held recently at BMI's Music Row offices. The arts projected presented by Gibson Guitar culminated in a star-studded gala auction by Juliens Auctions. BMI songwriter Big Kenny of Big & Rich put on his old auctioneer hat and assisted on stage with getting the crowds to bid high and recognize his other celebrity friends in the audience.

Auction host Big Kenny from Big & Rich puts his auctioning skills to the test with the Willie Nelson-signed showcase guitar	Some of the signed showcase guitars on display in the BMI lobby

Country singer Keni Thomas kicked off the evening with an acoustic performance and the action went live around the world via online bidding and a live three-hour television broadcast. Gibson Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz welcomed everyone with a short overview of the project from the stage and BMI's Paul Corbin thanked everyone for coming to the event. Emcee Billy Block kept the crowds warmed up and ready to bid throughout the night.

Some of GuitarTown's 10-foot tall guitar sculptures on display in front of the BMI building

Among the guitar sculptures auctioned off were Dolly Parton's BMI-sponsored "Flutter" guitar, which fetched an impressive $4,200.00, and the Charlie Daniels Band's "Let Freedom Sing" guitar, which went for a whopping $15,600.00.

In addition to hosts Big & Rich, the sold-out evening saw arrivals from musical greats Vince Gill, Tanya Tucker, Lee Roy Parnell, Whisperin' Bill Anderson, Steve Cropper, Brenda Lee, Chely Wright, Jamie O'Neal, Keni Thomas, Disney recording artists Everlife, Jace Everett, Little Texas, Tracy Lawrence, the Muzik Mafia and Richard Marx.

Nashville's GuitarTown Gala Auction event was the climax of the year-long GuitarTown arts project, which featured 10-foot Gibson guitar sculptures and showcase guitars displayed around Nashville. The project has gained worldwide recognition and has been covered from every corner of the globe. The money raised at the gala will go to help four local charities: The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Nashville's United Way and the Downtown District.]]> 2006-03-12T17:00:01-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/234438 Allan, Gary, McClinton, Delbert, McLaughlin, Pat, Morrison, Van, Prine, John, Tucker, Tanya, Wariner, Steve, Blues, Rock, Hitmaker Pat McLaughlin is well known around Nashville, and in the nationwide musicians’ circle, as one soulful dude. And a humble one, too, because he downplays that endemic respect by saying that practically anybody who tries to do their own thing and is successful at it, gets tagged by others as having soul. Maybe he’s right to a certain degree; but anyone who knows McLaughlin’s music will tell you that there are few as poignant, or smart, or as funky as he is, and that he obviously draws his creativity from a very private, personal well. Most of us think, in fact, that McLaughlin’s groove-power borders on the mystical.

Just listen to his latest release, Next Five Miles (Cream-Style Records), and you’ll understand. Part John Prine — with whom he writes — part Van Morrison, part Stevie Ray Vaughn, yet wholly, unequivocally Pat McLaughlin, Next Five Miles is grown-up, literate soul/pop/cool.

Next Five Miles opens with “Hey, Yeah,” an adult feel-good anthem. “Just Getting By,” with its loping, rise-above-the-fray cinematic quality makes you feel good about the struggle. The of “Little Grass Shack” conjures up Vaughn with Elvis Costello as his channel, and “Mornin’ Train” reincarnates Sam Cooke as Morrison. This is, quite simply, magnificent music for the mature music fan.

And though McLaughlin may not be on the tip of the average music consumer’s tongue, he, for a couple of decades, has been many a musicians’ favorite musician. He’s even been called the greatest rhythm guitar player on the planet. He plays rhythm — he calls it “chunking” — with some venerated bluegrassers, including Tim O’Brien and Ronnie McCoury. And McLaughlin even got a gig as a rhythm player for the last round of the American Recording sessions with Johnny Cash. “That was probably the biggest reward for learning to chunk,” he says.

Besides being a revered under-the-radar artist — an anonymity he nearly escaped with a Capitol recording deal in the mid ’80s — he’s also a heralded songwriter with about 40 cuts. Not bad for a guy who doesn’t really do the Nashville songwriting thing. Delbert McClinton and Tanya Tucker had a hit with “Tell Me About It.” Steve Wariner had a #1 with “Lynda,” and Texafornian Gary Allan recently took McLaughlin’s “Songs About Rain” into the top five. Alan Jackson cut “It’s Alright To Be a Redneck,” and, just to show how deep is his soul, McLaughlin has even been covered by blues icon Taj Mahal.

The Waterloo, Iowa native credits his parents for giving him his start in the business. “I got a lot of encouragement from my parents to play music,” he says. “I came from a family who liked to just sit around and sing songs.”

Barry Beckett, Roger Murrah, Jerry Laseter, Tanya Tucker, BMI's Paul Corbin and Joyce Rice

Tanya's fast-rising Top 40 debut single, "A Memory Like I'm Gonna Be," was written by Laseter, who is Tucker's fiancé, and Murrah.. Other songwriters contributing to the project are Bob DiPiero, Hank Cochran, Marcus Hummon, Monty Criswell, Earl Clark, David Stewart, Pat Terry, Gary Burr, Kerry Kurt Phillips, Beth Hooker and Gary Nicholson. Special guests include background vocalists Vince Gill and Bekka Bramlett plus musicians the Nashville String Machine.

Capitol Nashville's Fletcher Foster and Tanya Tucker

Tucker, who will celebrate her 30th year as a BMI affiliate in January, was presented with a black leather jacket by BMI's Paul Corbin. Since her 1972 debut hit, "Delta Dawn," Tucker has scored with a steady string of hits: "What's Your Mama's Name?", "Blood Red And Goin' Down," "Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone)?", "Lizzie And The Rainman," "San Antonio Stroll," "Here's Some Love," "I Won't Take Less Than Your Love," "If It Don't Come Easy," "Strong Enough To Bend," "Down To My Last Teardrop," "(Without You) What Do I Do About Me," "Some Kind Of Trouble" and "It's A Little Too Late."

She was the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year in 1991.

Tanya Tucker, daughter Layla Laseter and BMI's Paul Corbin

Tanya Tucker performing "A Memory Like I'm Gonna Be"

Indeed, Anderson's compositions have been recorded by an impressively broad array of acts, including Tim McGraw, Alabama, Wynonna, Deana Carter, Lonestar, Shenandoah, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aaron Tippin, Neal McCoy, Asleep at the Wheel, Etta James, K.T. Oslin, Sara Evans, Charlie Daniels, Tanya Tucker, Chris LeDoux, Deborah Allen, Ty England, Sammy Kershaw, Billy Ray Cyrus, Confederate Railroad, T. Graham Brown, Joe Diffie, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Neal McCoy, Rhonda Vincent, Stacy Dean Campbell, Lari White, Jason Sellers, Robbie Fulks and Olivia Newton-John.

Though he's risen to the level of Nashville royalty in recent years, Anderson was well known to rock fans long before he stormed the country charts. He first made his mark as singer, guitarist and main writer of the Connecticut foursome the Wildweeds, who scored a substantial regional hit in 1967 with his composition "No Good to Cry," and subsequently in a 24-year stint with the beloved cult band NRBQ. Over the course of a dozen or so NRBQ albums, Anderson contributed numerous memorable tunes, and was celebrated equally for his stellar instrumental work; in 1993, Musician magazine named him one of the Top 100 guitar players of the century.
At the end of 1993, Big Al shocked NRBQ's fans by exiting the hard-touring band to concentrate on working behind the scenes as a songwriter. Anderson says the decision to quit had more to do with embracing sobriety than any dissatisfaction with the legendarily eclectic band.

"I'll tell ya, those are very fuzzy years," Anderson laughs. "Playing with NRBQ was a great school, and I can't tell you how much I learned from those guys. It wasn't until I got clean that I realized that 24 years of the Quality Inn and Red Roof and smoky clubs and the same broken chairs in the dressing room was getting old for me. I was in the most free band in rock & roll, but I started to feel limited."

Anderson had actually begun going to Nashville to co-write in the mid-'80s, and Hank Williams Jr. recorded his "You're Gonna Be A Sorry Man" in 1988, but it wasn't until after leaving NRBQ that he began pursuing the life of a professional songwriter in earnest. His transition from road warrior to pro tunesmith began when he and Carlene Carter co-wrote "Every Little Thing," which became the biggest hit of Carter's career. Anderson followed that success with another Carter collaboration, "Something Already Gone," for the Maverick film soundtrack, and hasn't looked back since.

Anderson has also found himself in demand as a session player for the inventive guitar chops he honed during his years on the road, and his distinctively gruff vocals have been tapped for numerous commercial jingles. But it's his writing talents that are his main focus these days.
"I've learned a lot, but I still have no idea what I'm doing," he says. “I'm still a rock & roll guy, and I believe in recognizing the value of dumbness. My motto is 'Make dumb good.' 'All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down' is, like, the dumbest song ever written — the chorus is exactly the same melody as the verses — but it's the greatest record goin'."

Anderson, whose discography includes three solo releases, says that he's hoping to release a new album of his own at some point in the near future, though not under his own name. He's more interesting in making an album with his Nashville-based combo Whitey, which also includes the aforementioned Jeffrey Steele, guitarist Scott Baggett, bassist Glenn Worf, keyboardist Reese Wynans and drummer Chad Cromwell. Though the band has played some local dates and Anderson admits that he misses performing, he's quick to add that he's in no hurry to return to the road.

"I'm not getting on the bus again," he says. "Considering that I'll be 54 in July, (songwriting) is a much nicer way to be making a living in music. I like feeling good every day."

During his tenure on the RCA artist roster in the '80s and early '90s, Overstreet enjoyed success with singles such as "Seein' My Father in Me" and "Daddy's Come Around."

Alone or with co-writers, Overstreet also has created career songs for some of his peers. He has two Grammys, two CMA Awards and five BMI Songwriter of the Year awards to show for it.

Overstreet penned many of Randy Travis's biggest hits, including "On the Other Hand," "Diggin' Up Bones" and "Forever and Ever, Amen." Country fans also will know "When You Say Nothing at All," made famous by Keith Whitley and later Alison Krauss, and "Same Ole Me," a chart-topper for George Jones.

Overstreet's own renderings of these songs, plus seven others, appear on a new CD, A Songwriters' Project: Volume 1, released nationally on his own label, Scarlet Moon Records.

"On the road, people told me they wanted a copy of me singing this song or that song," Overstreet says. "I always wanted to get around to making this album, but I've been busy and I was signed to a major label. I knew at a major label it would just end up on a shelf somewhere. They wouldn't see it as important. I really wanted to do this project for historical documentation."

The prolific tunesmith has enough leftovers for a second volume, for which he imminently plans to record originals such as "The Battle Hymn of Love" (which Kathy Mattea cut), "My Arms Stay Open All Night" (Tanya Tucker) and "You're Still New to Me" (Paul Davis and Marie Osmond).

Overstreet, whose most recent songwriting success is Kenny Chesney's "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," has plans to expand his label. The company, distributed through Navarre, will sign and release albums by artists like Overstreet, former major label artists who have written a significant number of songs for others.

"There are some writers that I am really interested in pulling into this project, because I admire them so much and I would love to hear them do their own songs," Overstreet explains. "I think fans would like that, too. I love to put on recordings of great writers performing their own songs. It's like, 'Wow, isn't this nice.' It is not manufactured hype - all that big production - it's simply great songs.

"There are some great songs currently on country radio, but right now the industry is more driven by production than songs. The vocals sound great; everything is in tune; and when you hear it 10 years from now, it won't move you because there is not a lot in the song."

Staunchly following his muse resulted in numerous hit albums and singles for Daniels in the 1970s and '80s. He will probably always be best known for his 1979 country-rock anthem, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."

But more than anything, Daniels's independent spirit has garnered him the type of long and steady career that's rarely achieved in the record industry. The almost-64-year-old North Carolina native has toiled in the business for over 40 years, and during this span, he's released 35 albums.

Earlier this year, his Charlie Daniels Band released its latest album, Road Dogs, on the Blue Hat label. Not surprisingly, the disc finds the outfit delivering its patented mix of rock, country, bluegrass, blues and gospel. It's a musical stew Daniels simply describes as "CDB," or Charlie Daniels Band, music. Its penchant for long songs and extended instrumental solos led one critic to brand the group "a countrified Grateful Dead."

Daniels main objective as a performer is to entertain people. But he's also a committed Christian and activist with plenty of strong social and political opinions.

Since 1974, Daniels has spearheaded the Volunteer Jam, fund raising concerts benefiting such organizations as Habitat for Humanity. In the past, such singers and groups as Billy Ray Cyrus, Tanya Tucker, Amy Grant, the Outlaws, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Alabama, the Allman Brothers, Steppenwolf and Willie Nelson have performed at the Volunteer Jams. For the last two years, the Volunteer Jam has been the Volunteer Jam Tour. This year's tour featured Little Feat, Hank Williams Jr., Edgar Winter and a host of surprise guests.

Daniels's fans can find out how the vocalist-guitarist-fiddler views the world by logging onto his website, www.charliedaniels.com. Here he writes a regular column in which he expresses his largely conservative opinions on such issues as abortion (he's against it) and the confederate flag (he's distanced himself from it because it's been appropriated by racists). Fittingly, he has a standing invitation to appear on ABC's topical gabfest, Politically Incorrect.

In 1964, Daniels sold his first song, "It Hurts Me," to Elvis Presley. The track was a B side to Presley's single "Kissin' Cousins." Daniels received a check for $5 for the song. In the late '60s and early '70s, Daniels performed on four albums by Bob Dylan, including the influential country album Nashville Skyline.

In 1973, the newly formed Charlie Daniels Band began to attract attention thanks to the song "Uneasy Rider." Daniels subsequently scored hit albums with 1975's Fire on the Mountain and Saddle Tramp in 1976. Thanks to the Grammy-winning song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," his 1979 Million Mile Reflections album went multi-platinum. 1980's Full Moon, 1982's Windows and 1989's Simple Man were also popular albums.

"If you want to make a serious career, you have to take care of yourself," says Daniels. "You can't maintain that singing in the clubs and staying up all night. . . . I did my share when I was younger, but longevity is very important to me."