RECAP: SongTown Birthday Bash and Townie Awards (10/1/2016)

The SongTown Birthday Bash took place this past Saturday night at the Listening Room Cafe in Nashville, TN. Around 300 people attended to celebrate two years of SongTown! We also held our first ever Townie Awards show highlighting outstanding members of SongTown (full list of winners and photo gallery below).

The night began with a writers round of talented SongTownians, including Hayley McDaniel, Megan Barker, Arvid Nielsen, Conner Sweet, and Lily Nelson. Each writer performed one of their own songs to an energetic, cheering group of crowd-goers.

In between rounds, SongTown co-founders and #1 hit songwriters Clay Mills and Marty Dodson took the stage and gave out some Townie Awards (and witty banter!)

The next crop of songwriters to take the stage were SongTownians that Clay chose, including Towne, Jeff Callery, The Darlins, Sasha Aaron, and Nick Verzosa. This group of talented artists left the audience hootin’ and hollerin’ for more.

Before the last writers round of the night, Clay and Marty gave away a few more Townie Awards! These awards included Staff Writer Awards, Co-Writer of the Year, and an honorary industry award to Live Music Producer Tom Jackson (who has worked with Taylor Swift, The Band Perry, and Jars of Clay).

The night concluded with an EPIC hit writers round with Clay Mills (Lady Antebellum, Diamond Rio, Darius Rucker), Marty Dodson (Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts) and Marti Dodson (Saving Jane, Thompson Square, Luke Bryan). We heard hits such as Darius Rucker’s “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” Kenny Chesney’s “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven,” and Luke Bryan’s latest song “You Look Like Rain”.

Special thanks to Batson Guitars for sponsoring the event!

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Here’s a full list of the 1st ever Townie Awards winners:

1)   Writer of the Year – Blake Griffith

2)   Co-Writer of The Year – PJ Ju

3)   Citizen of The Year – Todd Dickinson

4)   Most Popular Co-Writer– Lucy Leblanc

5)   Most Improved – Arkady Gelman

6)   Best Educated Songwriter – Jonathan Helfand

7)   Most Likely To Re-Write Until It’s Right – Nancy Moser

8)   Funniest Song – Roy Holdren (for “The Bouquet”)

9)   Forum Whiz – Phil Hodge

10)  Staff Writing Deal – Mary Haller / Jon Decious / Steevie Steeves

11)  Most Likely To Hear On The Radio – Hayley McDaniel

12)  Rising Star – Conner Sweet

13)  Most Generous SongTownian – Jan Edwards / Treci Ladd

14)  Song of The Year – Sara Davis (for “Drinking In A Bar”)

17)  Honorary SongTown Industry Pro – Tom Jackson

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Photo Gallery

(courtesy of Amanda Cirotto)

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