50 Years Of Nashville Hits

It is true ... Nashville is a song town. It is what separates the Nashville made music from everywhere else.

Country performance and recordings are what you see and hear, but it's the songs that live forever.

The Ryman this week was the site of a one-time-and-done show that saluted the 50 songs of the year as chosen by the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

It was a ticketed event and those lucky enough to have gone found it was pretty amazing! Garth, Trisha, Kris, Paul Overstreet ... you knew they would be good. It was bringing back to the front some other singers and their songs of the year that made the night very special.

Billy Dean ... and songwriter Richard Leigh performing "Somewhere in My Broken Heart." What a great song and great performance. You don't hear that diamond nearly enough. That song is waiting to be recorded again!

Dallas Frazier ... "There Goes my Everything." A song made famous by the late Jack Greene. What a SAD Country song. But isn't that what put Country songs on the map in the first place? Your heart just sinks with this one and "Somewhere in My Broken Heart."

Billy Ray Cyrus ... "Achy Breaky" Billy. Songwriter Don Von Tress was in the Ryman balcony and took a bow. What a mega-hit that was. It was overplayed and you might have even hated it at some point. Well, enough time has passed, I think, and the crowd was standing and clapping and singing along. As in the broken heart song, isn't fun a part of the DNA for Country music? Fun is not lacking into today's Country ... the heartbreak pretty much gone.

All-4-One ... "I Swear" and "I Can Love You Like That." Thanks to record exec Doug Morris, the quartet had the good sense to hear a hit Country song and go L.A. pop with it. Both are Nashville-born songs that were just great. No matter what the genre. Worldwide #1 ... two in a row, in fact. Do those Nashville songs still grow here? A few ...

In the '60s, '70s through the '90s ... and a little beyond, the songs of Nashville were everywhere. Country, for sure, but all over the pop world, too. Many had no idea that "Skinny Legs and All" by Joe Tex was recorded right off music row. "Flight of the Phoenix" by Grand Funk recorded right off Music Row ... After the Gold Rush, Neil Young - that, too. One of the '60s biggest pop songs was "Honey" written by Bobby Russell ... dozens recorded that pop gem that went multi-genre.

It is great to celebrate the song and songwriter -- especially today with the professional songwriter in great trouble, thanks to the streaming services. Can friends in Congress beat the powerful lobby? Only if the fans get behind the writers. Much more can be done!

2018 plans for all the major artists are in full bloom. Little Big Town announced their new tour this week that will feature Midland and Little Big Town. Everything they do these days seems to be the right thing. It's great when great things happen to great people.

Award season and Fall go together in Nashville. "Blue Ain't Your Color" was NSAI's song of the year. And so it begins.

In the charity world, no shortage of Country artists helping others. That Hand in Hand benefit now has raised 55 million.

Aldean is helping with Komen Cancer fundraising in October, Brad Paisley fronting a big Sunday Night Opry, October 1st, Band against Cancer with Sarah Cannon. Tickets at Opry.com.

The hurricane disasters created by Harvey, Irma and now Maria are going to mean more fundraising. The hurt in some of Country music's most loyal places is great.

Saw where David Lee Murphy is releasing his own album project soon, No Zip Code. He's written so many great songs for others and his own "Party Crowd" was a smash in 1995. Kenny Chesney and Buddy Cannon were in the booth for this album. Good luck, David Lee Murphy!