ASCAP’s Nashville office recently hosted the second annual ASCAP Music City Retreat three-day songwriting event, held at Blackbird Studios in Berry Hill. The retreat served to highlight the unique talents of the ASCAP songwriting community in country and pop music, and combined some of the hottest ASCAP songwriters and songwriter-artists based in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles and across the country, hand-selected by ASCAP membership staff representing each genre.
The purpose of the event is to provide an intimate and focused setting for hit songs to be created, and ultimately recorded and released while developing long-lasting relationships between the songwriters involved for future collaborations.
Songwriter-artist participants included Dan+Shay, Tom and Mike Gossin of Gloriana, Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three, Love and Theft, Mickey G, Priscilla and David Nail. Country music songwriter participants included Jessi Alexander, JT Harding, Brett James, Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins, as well as songwriter-producers Chris DeStefano and Jimmy Robbins. Pop songwriters and producers who participated in the retreat included AC, DJ Whiteshadow, Robopop and Kyle Shearer.
Their combined songwriting and production credits include huge hits recorded by a diverse list of artists such as Rihanna, Carrie Underwood, Lady Gaga, Florida Georgia Line, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, Kenny Chesney, Kesha, Lady Antebellum, Lana Del Ray, Luke Bryan, Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus, Miranda Lambert, Pitbull, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw and more.

Lisa Johnson of Razor & Tie Music Publishing (RTMP) and Lisa Ramsey Perkins of Little Extra Music have signed songwriter Kylie Sackley to a worldwide publishing co-venture.
The Australian Country writer has penned songs for LeAnn Rimes (“Nothin’ ‘Bout Love Makes Sense”), Faith Hill (“Sunshine and Summertime”), Alan Jackson (“It’s Just That Way”), Danielle Bradbery (“Young In America”), Thompson Square, John Rich, Lee Brice and Jo Dee Messina. Sackley won Australia’s Country music talent search, Star Maker (Keith Urban was a previous winner). She has been recently nominated for the APRA (Australian Performing Rights Association) “Breakthrough Songwriter Of The Year” award.
“When two of Nashville’s strongest, smartest, most fabulous firecrackers ask you to sign a publishing deal, you say —hell yes!!” said Sackley of Ramsey-Perkins and Johnson, who are both quoted as admirers of Sackleys’ work ethic.
Nashville-based Little Extra Music is home to songwriters Will Bowen and Carolyn Dawn Johnson, and represents catalogs for Jessi Alexander and Jim McCormick. RTMP’s Nashville writer roster includes Allen Salmon, Andrew Combs, Brennin Hunt, Catt Gravitt, Gerald O’Brien, John King, Maggie Eckford, Marshall Altman, Mindy Smith, Pete Sallis, Phillip LaRue, Seth Jones, Shannon Wright, and Tofer Brown.

Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and Warner/Chappell brought out a few of Music City’s best songwriters Tuesday evening (Aug. 19) for a #FightToWrite songwriters round, to help raise awareness and support for fair songwriter royalties and copyrights. Warner/Chappell writers Brett James, Lee Thomas Miller, Chris Stapleton and Nicolle Galyon performed an intimate, in-the-round set at Nashville music venue The Listening Room.
“What we want is a free market,” NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison told the packed house, to enthusiastic applause. “We want to be able to set our own prices, because those songs are worth it.”
Warner/Chappell Nashville’s Executive VP Ben Vaughn recalled being invited to Washington, D.C. with Herbison, Miller, and Galyon. “I was fired up about it. You go to Washington with Bart Herbison, and you’re rolling with congressmen. NSAI is an amazing, unique organization that we need to support in Nashville. We spend our days working with great songwriters, so I encourage you to get involved with NSAI.”
Miller, a songwriter and president of NSAI, was among those to testify recently on behalf of songwriters at one of several congressional hearings in Washington, D.C. in June. A video clip of his testimony was shared Tuesday evening before the writers finished their set. Those hearings will aid in crafting changes to copyright law, which will affect business models, the amount digital services will pay for music licensees, and the royalty rates that will be given to songwriters and publishers.

During the songwriters round, James offered up hits co-written with Kenny Chesney and Dierks Bentley, including “Beer In Mexico” and “I Hold On.” The crowd loudly showed its appreciation for Stapleton’s burly voice and smart songwriting as he offered tunes such as “Whiskey and You,” which Tim McGraw recorded for his 2007 album Let It Go.
“It’s beyond humbling to sit with these guys,” Miller said, before offering the Jamey Johnson classic “In Color,” which Miller co-wrote with Johnson and James Otto. As the writers sailed through numerous chart-topping songs, photos of songwriters and industry members taking part in the Washington, D.C. campaign were featured on screens that flanked the stage.

“We’re a small organization,” Miller said. “Even in the world of the trade organizations that are fighting, we can be overlooked in our own community. You can’t make enough noise to help people grasp the importance of what’s going on. I  feel like some people think it’s too enormous and you can’t make any difference in Washington. I think we are beginning to do better about making our own community understand that we can make a difference.”
Galyon recalled her experience traveling to Washington D.C. to perform for lawmakers, and to plead the case of songwriters and publishers. “It was great to see people’s eyes light up when they realized there is a heart and a real human and a real story behind these songs,” Galyon stated. She offered her renditions of “Automatic,” “God Made Girls,” and “We Were Us,” among others.
James gave credit to Warner/Chappell. “From the songwriter perspective, it’s the first time we’ve had a major publisher step up, so it’s a big deal for us that Ben Vaughn and Warner/Chappell have put their money where their mouth is and helped put this together. We’re all in this together.”
“We have to keep making people aware of the issues songwriters are facing. We just have to keep going, keep fighting and keep spreading the message,” Miller summed.

BMI partnered with Famous Dave’s recently to present the Country Songwriter Series at three of the barbeque restaurant chain’s Chicago area locations on Aug. 13-Aug. 15. Nashville songwriters Brandon Kinney and Kendell Marvel performed their hits and told the stories behind their songs in front of packed crowds in Bolingbrook and Oswego. Marvell has penned hit songs for George Strait, Jake Owen and Gary Allan. Kinney has written chart-topping tunes for Craig Campbell, Lonestar and Randy Houser.
The chain is considering rolling out the songwriter series across all of their Chicago area stores over the next few months.