2011 BMI Awards Winners

Pictured (l-r) are BMI's Clay Bradley, Publisher of the Year Sony/ATV Music Publishing's Troy Tomlinson, BMI President & CEO Del Bryant, Songwriter of the Year Rhett Akins, 2011 BMI Icon Bobby Braddock, Songwriter of the Year Dallas Davidson; and BMI's Jody Williams.

Music publishing company BMI honored a songwriting and producing legend in the country music world at its annual awards show last night (Nov. 8) in Nashville. Bobby Braddock is the latest BMI Icon Award recipient, as he was lauded at the 59th annual ceremony for writing tunes like 'I Don't Remember Loving You,' 'Time Marches On,' 'People Are Crazy' and 'I Wanna Talk About Me.' Braddock has also written hits for the likes of George Jones, Blake Shelton, Tracy Lawrence, Toby Keith, Billy Currington, the Statler Brothers, John Conlee, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mark Chesnutt and many, many more.

The Icon award is given to BMI songwriters who have had "a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers." Previous recipients includes Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams Jr., Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and producer Billy Sherrill.

Miranda Lambert's Pistol Annies, which includes Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, kicked off the tribute with their version of Tammy Wynette's hit 'D-I-V-O-R-C-E.' Blake Shelton, whom Braddock has produced, sang 'Same Old Song,' while John Anderson reprieved his hit, 'Would You Catch a Falling Star.' LeAnn Rimes and Vince Gill performed the George Jones classic, 'He Stopped Loving Her Today.'

"This kind of blind-sided me," Braddock told The Boot. The writer, who is also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, added, "I'm pretty excited about getting inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and getting the Icon award in the same year."

His next goal? "To get some songs cut," he replied, adding with a laugh, "This is not a cash award, so maybe I can parlay it into some cash somewhere."

Dallas Davidson went home with the BMI Songwriter of the Year award, sharing it with his writing buddy, Rhett Akins. "It's exciting to watch the career of someone like Dallas," Braddock said. "There is always a hot guy or girl with hit songs on the charts, but this guy seems to be just burning it up."

Dallas and Rhett wrote five songs that were honored by BMI during the festivities: 'All About Tonight' (Blake Shelton), 'All Over Me' (Josh Turner), 'Gimmie That Girl' and 'The Shape I'm In' (both by Joe Nichols). Additionally, Akins' 'Farmer's Daughter' (Rodney Atkins) and Davidson's 'Rain Is a Good Thing' (Luke Bryan) also received awards.

Prior to the ceremony, Thomas Atkins, Rhett's son, said he was there to hopefully watch his dad pick up Songwriter of the Year "which would be awesome. I'm so proud of him." Thomas is a newly signed artist who will have an album out next year. He is also is a songwriter, having one tune, 'I Ain't Ready to Quit,' on a recent Jason Aldean album.

Josh Turner's 'All Over Me' also earned Song of the Year honors for Davidson and Akins, as well as for publishers EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc., Rhettneck Music, and String Stretcher Music. In a surprise move, it was announced that beginning last evening, the BMI Country Song of the Year award would be called the Frances W. Preston Award in honor of BMI's former president & CEO, who started her career with BMI in Nashville.

Rounding out the night's honors, Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville scored its tenth consecutive Publisher of the Year win, taking home 15 awards.