With “Record Year,” EMI Nashville artist Eric Church and co-writer Jeff Hyde dropped the needle on another No. 1 hit. The industry gathered at BMI on Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 11) to wax poetic about the achievement.

BMI’s Jody Williams, whose publishing company signed Hyde to his first deal, presided over the afternoon. When Williams stated that there’s only one Jeff Hyde, Church quipped, “Thank God.” As for that original publishing deal, Williams joked, “Jeff went on to achieve absolutely nothing.”

Since then, the tables have turned. Hyde is the utility player in Church’s touring band. The two men are also co-writers on “Smoke a Little Smoke,” “Springsteen,” and “Kill a Word.” In addition, “Record Year” received CMA nominations in the single, song and video categories. Church is also nominated for male vocalist and album (Mr. Misunderstood).

At the party, Little Louder Music’s Arturo Buenahora Jr. spoke on behalf of Hyde, while Sony/ATV’s Troy Tomlinson represented Church. Producer Jay Joyce was not in attendance. John Peets of Q Prime Management, Brandi Simms of CMA and John Shomby of Country Radio Broadcasters also addressed the industry audience.

Ron Cox of Pinnacle Bank shared news of a donation to Chief Cares, a nonprofit administered by Church and his wife Katherine. After that, UMG Nashville’s Mike Dungan delivered the label’s so-called “Impaler Award,” an small obelisk given to artists on the roster who reach No. 1.

Hyde recalled a time he worked at a gas station and a customer asked him what he wanted to do for a living. When Hyde said he wanted to be a songwriter, the customer remarked, “Don’t be an smart-a.”

After laughter, Hyde continued, “To make a living writing songs, when I was back in the small town of Marshall, Texas, seemed like a distant dream. I feel really blessed to be able to do this for a living and to be a small part of the songwriting community here.”

Hyde said he brought the idea of “Record Year” to Church, who told him to save it so they could finish it together. “He took it a different level,” Hyde noted. “Eric and Katherine, thank you for believing me and giving me a chance.”

Church started his remarks by complimenting Hyde. “I’m going to thank him first because he doesn’t get that a whole lot, ever, in life.” With ripples of laughter in the crowd, he continued, “I’ve written a lot of songs with a lot of people, and very rarely do you come up against an idea that’s unique, and you think, ‘There’s no way this is unique.’ I remember when Jeff pitched me the idea of ‘Record Year,’ I thought, ‘This had to have been done in this way.’ I was shocked to find out it hadn’t been done.”

He continued, “I always know when I sit down with Jeff, I’m going to get something unique. Sometimes he’s batshit crazy but that’s what makes him good. He’s one of those rare guys in town. He’s always on that edge. So, Jeff, thank you for the idea. You’re the one who came up with it. I enjoyed it and I’m terrified of our next co-write.”

Church referred to his radio promotion team at EMI Nashville as the best in town. “I never make the job easy. I know that,” he said, eliciting more laughter. “It wasn’t that funny,” he quickly added.

After a beat, he said, “But here’s what’s important. I promise I’ll never embarrass you. I promise I think about this as I write—where we’re going, where we’ve been, and where we’re headed. I appreciate you guys very much and I appreciate the work you do, and I can’t wait to make it really, really difficult as we go from here.”

Following thank-yous to Williams, Buenahora and Peets, he praised his wife — “who basically runs this whole thing, no kidding, and does a great job of it. Household, career. Thank you for being a confidante. I love you very much.”

Church also emphasized his gratitude to his band and crew, describing them as friends and family as well as “my soldiers on the road.”

He concluded, “I can tell you that we’ve been off a little bit, but in 2017, we’re going to have the biggest tour out there. And here’s what’s important: It’s got to be the best tour out there. And I believe it will be. So I thank you guys very much, and I appreciate this, and I hope to see you soon.”

When Gary Reamey retired from his role as Sr. Partner at financial services firm Edward Jones after 35 years there, he wasn’t quite ready to kick back and relax.

A lifelong lover of music and songwriting, Reamey would meet every six months or so with former work partners who shared his creative zeal. Three years ago, the group ventured to Nashville.

“I read an article in the New York Times about a company called Pivot Planet. If you wanted to learn more about songwriting, or any topic, they connected you with people. I looked at three or four pictures and bios, and I chose the guy who looked like James Taylor,” he quips. “So, that’s how we got here.”

The James Taylor look-a-like was longtime songwriter and publisher Steve Leslie. “Brand New Strings,” his title cut for Ricky Skaggs’ 2004 album, earned Leslie a Grammy. He has also penned 20 Darryl Worley songs, including “Tennessee River Run” and “Second Wind,” as well as songs recorded by George Strait, Kenny Rogers and more.

In addition to years of experience in Nashville’s songwriter circles, Leslie ran his own independent publishing company for several years. From 2011-2014, Leslie was an adjunct professor of songwriting at Belmont University.

They met at music industry haunt Noshville in Nashville’s Green Hills area.

“It was immediately like I’ve known these guys my whole life. We spent a good part of the day doing some mentoring and they sent me some songs ahead of time,” recalls Leslie. The group, which included Dave Skinner, Howard Lopez, Dan Terry, and Rob Boyd, would end up co-writing a song called “Masterpiece” later that afternoon. Garth Brooks would later put the song on hold.

The group began exploring options for launching a publishing company. As the idea developed, Reamey and Leslie proved to be the most committed and passionate about the project. Leslie gave Reamey “probably thousands and thousands of pages of publishing information to read,” recalls Reamey.

Leslie later visited Reamey’s home in Naples, Florida. In four days, the duo crafted the business plan for SNG Music, with a vision to create a home for top-shelf country songwriters, and the goal of always having a tune in the top 20 on the country charts. SNG Music opened in 2014 in Nashville.

Currently, the roster includes Leslie, Reamey, Marianne Allison, Abbey Cone, Bobby Fischer, Zarni de Vette, and Marty Dodson, who signed with SNG Music in July. He penned Billy Currington’s “Must Be Doin’ Something Right” and “Let Me Down Easy,” Carrie Underwood’s “Songs Like This,” Kenny Chesney’s “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven,” and more. His song “Bounce” topped the K-Pop charts in Korea, and earned him Asian Song of the Year honors in 2013.

The boutique company’s model focuses on country music, and on keeping its roster at six songwriters, in order to fully engage in developing the writers it represents.

“You can’t be all things to all people,” says Reamey, sitting in a writer’s suite just off Nashville’s Music Row area. “You can do it two ways, based on my business experience. You can either be boutique or try to be the biggest, because anything else in between is tough to run as a business.”

He adds, “I’ve done big. Edward Jones was 40,000 employees and 12,000 offices and 4 million clients and I loved it. But as songwriters owning this business, we needed to stay boutique, and we needed to be very selective in whom we represent. Those writers need to be talented, to be driven to write great songs, and have a music philosophy that is consistent with SNG. They also have to want to help mentor and give back to other songwriters.”

SNG Music is a private partnership, and 100 percent owned by its employees. Each songwriter receives co-publishing on every song they create, and each contract has one-year mutual renewal options.

Additionally, each songwriter develops an annual business plan, outlining what they hope to accomplish in the year ahead. The plan can involve anything from identifying specific writers they hope to co-write with, devising paths for getting songs heard and/or cut by specific artists, outlining writing goals, and recognizing networking and performance opportunities.

“It’s the first time a publisher has ever asked me to do that,” Dodson says. “When they first mentioned it, I thought, ‘Well, my business plan is to write a song tomorrow better than the one I wrote today.’ Gary is great at bringing these business principles into what we do because what we do can be artsy and loose. It helped me really look at what do I want to accomplish and how can I get there? How much time do I need to spend mentoring other people and pitching songs, and working on ideas? Now, I consciously spend more time pitching songs. I block out time for it. It has helped me be more balanced as a writer.”

“It also takes care of addressing expectations that they have and things that I’m accountable for,” says Leslie. “We can have a meeting and talk about where we are. If we didn’t accomplish something, it’s ok, why didn’t we? So Gary brings that great structure here.”

“One of the benefits to it being a private company owned by the employees is we can take a long-term view of things, from a business and a songwriter/development perspective,” Reamey says.

“As an example, Zarni and Abbey are newer writers. They have talent and we’ll take the time to develop them in whatever way it needs to happen,” he adds. “In my old business, we used to say, ‘We are not driven by quarterly financials. We make our decisions based on what is best for the company.’ A lot of times we will say, ‘How will this impact us five, 10, 15 years down the road?’ We can pass this on to the next generation and let them do what they need to do.”

“We want to leave a legacy company,” sums Leslie.