Music Professionals Attend Black-Tie Gala with “Eclectic Southern Elegance” Theme
Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash Honored With
ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Awards
Wal-Mart Receives The ASCAP Partners In Music Award

The Stars were out last night as Nashville’s most celebrated artists joined more than 1,000 music industry professionals from around the world for the presentation of the 41st annual ASCAP Country Music Awards at Nashville’s Opryland Hotel, proving once again that ASCAP songs are at the heart of the success of country music. Among those in attendance were Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Rodney Crowell, Brad Paisley, LeAnn Rimes, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Diamond Rio, Ray Benson, Lonestar, Chris Cagle, Dierks Bentley, Trick Pony, Tammy Cochran, Darryl Worley, Terri Clark, Phil Vassar, Mark Wills, Kellie Coffey, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Aaron Tippin, Brenda Lee, Trace Adkins, Joe Diffie, Radney Foster, Earl Thomas Conley, Jeff Bates and Chalee Tennison.

The black-tie gala evening of awards and music featured an Eclectic Southern Elegance theme and was co-hosted by ASCAP’s Senior Vice President Connie Bradley and CEO John LoFrumento. ASCAP Vice President John Briggs joined Bradley to present awards to the ASCAP writers and publishers of the most performed country songs of 2002.

The evening’s top honors were awarded to:

Craig Wiseman: ASCAP Songwriter of the Year for his hit singles "American Child,” “The Cowboy In Me,” “The Good Stuff,” and "Young."
Alan Jackson: Songwriter/Artist of the Year for “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning),” and “Work In Progress.”
EMI Music Publishing: Publisher of the Year for “19 Somethin’," "American Child,” "Drive (For Daddy Gene)," “Forgive,” “Have You Forgotten,” “I Don’t Want You To Go,” “I Just Wanna Be Mad,” “I Should Be Sleeping,” “ I’m Gonna Miss Her,” "It’s A Great Day To Be Alive," "Life Happened,” “Modern Day Bonnie And Clyde,” "My Heart Is Lost To You,” “One More Day,” “That’s Just Jessie,” “That’s When I Love You,” “The Impossible,” “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning),” “Work In Progress,” and "Wrapped Around."

Craig Wiseman was awarded ASCAP’s Country Song of the Year Award (honoring the most performed country song of 2002) for Billboard’s Country Single of the Year, “The Good Stuff,” published by BMG Songs, Inc. and Mrs. Lumpkin’s Poodle Music. Performed by multi-platinum selling artist Kenny Chesney, “The Good Stuff” spent seven weeks at number one on the country radio charts. Chesney and his co-producers Buddy Cannon and Norro Wilson will be honored with awards for their recording of the song.

Among the evening’s highlights was the post-humous presentation of The ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Awards to the late Johnny Cash and the late June Carter Cash. Presented by ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento, the award was accepted on behalf of the Cash family by John Carter Cash, son of Johhny and June and granddaughter, Chelsea Crowell.

This year’s ASCAP Partners In Music Award recipient was Wal-Mart. Vincent Candilora, ASCAP’s Senior Vice President/Director of Licensing, presented the award to Jeff Maas, Wal-Mart Buyer of Domestic Music. This prestigious award recognizes a licensee who has shown exceptional dedication to promoting and expanding the reach of country music.

The ASCAP Awards not only honor music, they celebrate it. This year’s gala featured performances by Ray Benson, the Grammy-award winning leader of world-renowned Texas swing band, Asleep At The Wheel, and Capitol Records newcomer Dierks Bentley, whose debut single “What Was I Thinkin’” recently topped both the Billboard and Radio and Records country charts. ASCAP songwriters Fred Knobloch, Gary Nicholson and Jelly Roll Johnson kicked off last night’s festivities with a rollicking rendition of Feels Like Mississippi.

Also performed tonight was “This Song Ain’t Free”, a song inspired by ASCAP’s efforts to protect copyrights. Writers Chris Wallin and Craig Monday penned the song after attending an ASCAP open forum on the topical issues of music down-loading and piracy. The duo recently performed the song on Capitol Hill for a Nashville Songwriters International legislative event.

This evening ASCAP also honored songwriters Kellie Coffey, Chris DuBois, Kelley Lovelace, Patrick Jason Matthews, Brad Paisley, Kerry Kurt Phillips, Rivers Rutherford, Darrell Scott, Phil Vassar, all of whom received multiple awards. Music publishers receiving multiple awards included BMG Songs, Inc., Famous Music Corporation, House of Fame, Kelodies, Memphisto Music, Mrs. Lumpkin’s Poodle Music, Music of Windswept, Platinum Plow, Sea Gayle Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Sufferin’ Succotash Songs, Teracel Music, Tri-Angles Music, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music Group, and Zomba Enterprises Inc.

The evening’s “Eclectic Southern Elegance” décor was provided by The Gary Musick Company.

Joining Bradley in planning and preparation of the evening were: John Briggs, Suzanne Lee, Michelle Goble-Peay, Pat Rolfe, Jessica Tompkins, Ralph Murphy, Chad Green, Marc Driskill, Herky Williams, Dan Keen, Charline Wilhite, Mary Self and Mike Sistad and all from ASCAP’s Nashville office.

Established in 1914, ASCAP is the world’s largest performing- right organization, with over 165,000 active composer, lyricist and music publisher members. ASCAP is committed to protecting the rights of its members by licensing and collecting royalties for the public performance of their copyrighted works, and then distributing these fees to the Society’s members based on performances. ASCAP’s repertory spans the entire spectrum of music - from pop to symphonic, rock to gospel, Latin to country to jazz, rhythm and blues, theater, film and television music. ASCAP’s Board of Directors is made up solely of writers and publishers, elected by the membership.

Complete list of winners...>>