Chris Janson & Crew Celebrate No. 1 Hit ‘All I Need Is You’

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Pictured (L-R, back row): Rod Riley, Rusty Gaston, Lindsay Will, Noah Dewey, Kelly Janson, Bryce Sherlow, Emilia James, Jimmy Harnen and Clay Bradley; (L-R, front row): Caroline Hodson, Scott Borchetta, Brad Clawson, Chris Janson, Mitch Oglesby, Ashley Gorley, Julian Raymond and Ron Cox. Photo: Aubrey Wise

BMI gathered industry members earlier this week to celebrate Chris Janson’s No. 1 hit “All I Need Is You,” which marked his fifth career chart-topper as a songwriter and an artist.

The heat of the day began to subside as industry members, family and friends made their way into the BMI lobby on Tuesday (June 25) afternoon. Gathered on stage were the song’s co-writers Ashley Gorley, Brad Clawson, Mitch Oglesby and Janson.

BMI’s Clay Bradley was emcee for the party. He congratulated the songwriters and thanked the crowd for taking the time out of their busy schedules to show up and celebrate the monumental achievement. On hand to celebrate her songwriters, Gorley and Oglesby, was ASCAP’s Emilia James.

She began by noting that, while it was his third No. 1, it was Oglesby’s first No. 1 party. “Mitch is the embodiment of hard work, determination and never giving up. He grew up on a farm in Georgia before moving here as a school teacher. He also worked at Nissan for a couple years, drove a school bus and did whatever it took to make ends meet while keeping his head down and honing his craft. In 2017, he signed his publishing deal and three years later, he had his first No. 1—another Chris Jason hit ‘Done.’ I am so excited that we finally get to celebrate!”

On deck to tout their songwriters were Anthem Entertainment’s Noah Dewey, Round Hill Music’s Lindsay Will and Tape Room Music’s Caroline Hodson. Hodson stepped to the mic to congratulate the teams that helped the song top the charts and Tape Room songwriters Gorley and Clawson.

“Simply put, you’re the kind of guy that everyone wants to be around,” Hodson said to Clawson. “You are ready to write every single day. You are smart, inclusive and ambitious, but, most importantly, you are humble and appreciative of everyone around you. Congratulations to you and everyone else here on stage.”

Warner Chappell’s Bryce Sherlow was up next followed by Sony’s Rusty Gaston to tout Gorley.

“I hear a lot of songwriters say that they admire the success that Ashley Gorley has had, but I want to point out that Ashley exemplifies the philosophy, ‘The harder you work, the luckier you get.’ Ashley was in New York recently, and he got a phone call from an artist saying that he wanted to write that night. So, Ashley got on a plane back to Nashville and wrote until 3 a.m. before getting on another plane and flying back to New York to continue his meetings. It is a work ethic like that that leads to Ashley’s level of success.”

Several more stepped to the stage to speak including Studio Bank’s Ron Cox, Big Machine Records’ Scott Borchetta, Nashville Harbor Record’s Jimmy Harnen and producer Julian Raymond.

Finally, it was time to hear from the songwriters. Oglesby spoke first, ushering Chris’ wife and manager Kelly Janson to the stage to stand next to him. “This lady right here got me on this stage. She went home and told Chris Janson that he had to go write with Mitch. He said, ‘Who is Mitch? How many cuts does he have?’ She said ‘none’ and he said he wasn’t going to write with me. Fast forward to the next day, he walked in and we immediately hit it off,” he laughed.

Next was Clawson, “I want to say thank you to everyone that had a hand in this song. I want to thank my family, Big Machine, Tape Room, Warner and everyone else. I really appreciate you guys.”

Gorley took the mic next to echo Oglesby and thank his team. “First of all, I want to thank God for getting the privilege to create and get to know these guys. I also want to thank Kelly for inspiring this song, and all of Chris’ songs. Thank you to all of the publishing teams and promo teams that made this song happen.”

Lastly, Janson took the opportunity to individually recognize everyone on his crew that helped his song go No. 1. He invited his promo team, management, band members and more to the stage and presented them each with gifts to show his appreciation.

“It’s so easy when you are a successful songwriter or artist to be put on a pedestal, or to have so many ‘yes’ people around you that you think you are more important than you really are,” he explained. “The truth is, it happens from the ground up, and we are just a catalyst to get there. Without the team, you don’t have anything. I have been in the music business long enough to know that the more you love your team, the more they will love you back and I am so grateful for my team.”

John Nix Arledge
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