Kudos for Brett James and Josh Kear

Brett James was named songwriter of the year at ASCAP's 48th annual Country Music Awards Tuesday in Nashville, which recognized writers of country's most performed songs between April 2009 and March 2010.

James wrote or co-wrote five chartworthy tunes over the past year: "Cowboy Casanova" (Carrie Underwood), "It's a Business Doing Pleasure With You" (Tim McGraw), "Out Last Night" (Kenny Chesney), "Summer Nights" (Rascal Flatts) and "The Truth" (Jason Aldean).

Country Song of the Year went to "Need You Now," written by Josh Kear and performed by Lady Antebellum, while Country Songwriter/Artist of the year was awarded to Dierks Bentley, whose "Sideways" was also among the top five most-performed songs of the year.

A total of 44 song honors were handed out, with performances by Lady Antebellum and Steve Earl spicing up the proceedings.

Special tribute was paid to Alan Jackson, who was honored with the ASCAP Founders Award. The ASCAP Global Impact Award, a special nod for a song that has had significant impact on multiple formats, was given to Jessi Alexander for "The Climb," recorded by Miley Cyrus and Joe McElderry, ASCAP Publisher of the Year honors went to Sea Gayle Music.

Source: Variety.com

CN congratulates both of these amazingly talented writers!

Oklahoma-bred songwriter Brett James pens his Nashville success

Oklahoma-bred Brett James first set out to become a doctor, then a recording artist and now has forged a career as a hitmaking Nashville songwriter.





From left, songwriters Brett James, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson hold their 2007 Grammy Awards for penning the Carrie Underwood hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” which was named best country song. James grew up in Oklahoma City and Cordell and still has family in Oklahoma.


Would-be physician finds healthy career as songwriter

Brett James initially set out to become a doctor like his dad, checking out patients, X rays and medical charts.

But these days, the 41-year-old Oklahoma-bred songwriter spends his days checking out the Billboard charts, watching his compositions climb into the hit range for stars like Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts (which includes Joe Don Rooney of Picher) and Jason Aldean.

“Like a lot of songwriters, I kind of fell backward into it by the failure of my artist career. I always planned on being the guy singing the songs, but of course, now that I’ve been doing it for 17 years, I realize that it’s fun to be the guy behind the scenes. In some ways it’s more fun because I don’t have to write songs just for me,” James said on a recent road trip with his wife and four children from his Nashville, Tenn., home to the Oklahoma City area, where he still has family.

Born Brett James Cornelius in Columbia, Mo., the Grammy winner grew up in Oklahoma City and Cordell. While he was in college at Baylor University, his parents gave him a $90 pawn shop guitar for a Christmas gift.

“As soon as I learned three chords, I just thought it’d be fun to write a song with ‘em,” he said. “It just kind of seemed like the natural thing to do. … I just kind of did it for fun and I certainly never dreamed it would be a job.”

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Carrie Underwood, 'Cowboy Casanova': Story Behind the Lyrics

Carrie Underwood and co-writer Brett James talked to The Boot about the writing of Carrie's 11th No. 1 smash, 'Cowboy Casanova."

Carrie: People are always asking about 'Cowboy Casanova' -- like, who's that? And they try to make it about one specific guy in particular. But 'country music' and 'cowboy' are part of my vocabulary, so I'm not aiming that towards any particular football team, or guy or anything! I sing country music, so I sing about cowboys. But 'Cowboy Casanova' is about a type of guy -- not about a cowboy. I think of cowboy as being quiet and strong and rugged and good looking ... and having an inner confidence kind of thing. Not necessarily just boots and hat.

Brett: With 'Cowboy Casanova,' we started with a concept -- how should we write about a 'Cowboy Casanova?' What's the story we need to tell about this guy? And we decided that the way to tell it would be to warn women about him. [laughs] Because the singer, Carrie, puts herself in the place of the woman who's been burned by this guy, and she wants to warn other women about the evil of his ways.

Carrie: I think to every woman, this song would be telling a story about someone they know or met, or has tried to pick them up in a bar. There's definitely guys in my past, even if it was a friend's boyfriend or something.

Carrie and Brett have written several songs together the past few years, and know each other well. But for this writing session last February, while penning songs for Carrie's latest album, 'Play On,' they decided to bring in someone totally different -- Mike Elizondo, a rap producer best known for hip-hop collaborations with artists such as Eminem, 50 Cent and Dr. Dre.

Carrie: Everybody kind of freaked out at first ...

>> More at The Boot

Carrie Underwood, 'Cowboy Casanova': Story Behind the Lyrics

Carrie Underwood and co-writer Brett James talked to The Boot about the writing of Carrie's 11th No. 1 smash, 'Cowboy Casanova."

Carrie: People are always asking about 'Cowboy Casanova' -- like, who's that? And they try to make it about one specific guy in particular. But 'country music' and 'cowboy' are part of my vocabulary, so I'm not aiming that towards any particular football team, or guy or anything! I sing country music, so I sing about cowboys. But 'Cowboy Casanova' is about a type of guy -- not about a cowboy. I think of cowboy as being quiet and strong and rugged and good looking ... and having an inner confidence kind of thing. Not necessarily just boots and hat.

Brett: With 'Cowboy Casanova,' we started with a concept -- how should we write about a 'Cowboy Casanova?' What's the story we need to tell about this guy? And we decided that the way to tell it would be to warn women about him. [laughs] Because the singer, Carrie, puts herself in the place of the woman who's been burned by this guy, and she wants to warn other women about the evil of his ways.

Carrie: I think to every woman, this song would be telling a story about someone they know or met, or has tried to pick them up in a bar. There's definitely guys in my past, even if it was a friend's boyfriend or something.

Carrie and Brett have written several songs together the past few years, and know each other well. But for this writing session last February, while penning songs for Carrie's latest album, 'Play On,' they decided to bring in someone totally different -- Mike Elizondo, a rap producer best known for hip-hop collaborations with artists such as Eminem, 50 Cent and Dr. Dre.

Carrie: Everybody kind of freaked out at first ...

>> More at The Boot