2018 ASCAP Awards Are All About The Songwriters

There wouldn't be songs without the songwriters!

Written by Lauren Laffer
2018 ASCAP Awards Are All About The Songwriters
NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 12: (L-R) Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley and ASCAP President, Paul Williams pose backstage during the 56th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards on November 12, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

Monday night (11/12) marked a tremendous occasion in Nashville as songwriters for the country music genre were honored with a special awards ceremony. Held at the Renaissance hotel in downtown, the night celebrated ASCAP songwriters and the works they’d created over the last year. This year, songwriter Ashley Gorley (“Black,” “Fix a Drink” and “Marry Me”) deservedly earned his sixth Songwriter of the Year honor after placing six of his songs among the 44-most played titles of the eligibility year.

“I do love that Nashville celebrates the creators like this,”Gorley told Sounds Like Nashville ahead of the ceremony.

Among the artists in attendance to celebrate this year’s songwriting was Cassadee Pope, who knows full well that it means to create music with meaning and praised those who do it so effortlessly.

“We all lean on songwriting and music, in general, so much,” she shared. I just know for me over the past year, it has been essential that I write and get things out and off my chest, so to celebrate people here that are amazing and excel at that is really, really special.”

The event wasn’t complete without performances of the top three songs of the year; “Body Like a Back Road,” “Small Town Boy” and “What Ifs.” But it was Sam Hunt’s “Body Like A Back Road” that took home Song of the Year.

NASHVILLE, TN – NOVEMBER 12: (L-R) John Osborne, Sam Hunt and Zach Crowell perform onstage during the 56th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards on November 12, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

Other honorees at the 2018 ASCAP Awards included Brett Young, who was named Songwriter-Artist of the Year, and Lee Ann Womack, who earned the Golden Note Award.

The ASCAP Awards are held just days before the CMA Awards each year. Fans can catch the awards on Wednesday, Nov. 14 on ABC at 8/7c.

See what else happened on the ASCAP red carpet in the video above.