Songwriter Bob McDill to be Honored at ASCAP Awards

ASCAP has announced it will honor Country music songwriter Bob McDill with the prestigious Golden Note Award at its 50th Annual Country Music Awards, to be held Oct. 29 at Opryland Hotel.

“Bob McDill is one of Country music’s most eloquent and literary songwriters,” said ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams. “His dedication to the art and craft of writing honest songs that come straight from the soul has touched the hearts of millions around the world.”

The Texas-born songwriter has written 31 No. 1 songs throughout his three decade career. He has garnered four Grammy nominations, ASCAP Songwriter of the Year (1994), NSAI Songwriter of the Year three times and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985.

After Perry Como recorded his song, “Happy Man” in the ’60s, McDill moved to Nashville. He went on to score hits and cuts by Johnny Russell (“Catfish John”), Don Williams (“It Must Be Love” and “Good Ole Boys Like Me”), Waylon Jennings (“Amanda”), Alabama (“Song of the South”), Mel McDaniel (“Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On” and “Louisiana Saturday Night”), and Keith Whitley (“Don’t Close Your Eyes”).

McDill’s success continued into the ’90s with titles including “Gone Country,” “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful,” “Why Didn’t I Think of That,” and “All The Good Ones Are Gone.”

“Bob McDill wrote [“Gone Country”] and he is one of my favorite writers of all time,” said Alan Jackson in the liner notes of his Greatest Hits Collection. “When I first heard it, I fell in love with it. I wish that I’d written it cause it says a lot of things that I’d like to say.”

ASCAP’s invitation-only gala will also award Songwriter of the Year, Songwriter/Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Publisher of the Year, and feature live performances of the top five most performed songs of 2011.

Previous recipients who have earned the Golden Note award for extraordinary career milestones include Don Williams, Garth Brooks, Lindsey Buckingham, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire and J.D. Souther.