CMT News

"A large percentage of the people I love are in this room right now," said songwriter Bobby Braddock as he gazed out at friends and family members gathered Tuesday (Oct. 5) at the BMI building in Nashville to honor him for his five decades of writing country hits. Nine of those hits, BMI's Jody Williams pointed out, have been played on the radio from 1 million to 3 million times each. Just 1 million plays, Williams explained, equals being played around the clock for six and a-half years. The Braddock songs BMI cited at the 3 million level are "I Wanna Talk About Me" and "Time Marches On." In the 2 million category are "He Stopped Loving Her Today," "Texas Tornado" and "Old Flames Have New Names." "Would You Catch a Falling Star," "People Are Crazy," "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and "Thinking of a Rendezvous" have received 1 million spins each. Among those lifting champagne toasts to Braddock were novelist and songwriter Alice Randall, singer and songwriters Matraca Berg, Deborah Allen and Marshall Chapman, songwriter and producer Buddy Cannon and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Jeff Hanna. In responding to all the praise directed at him, the ever self-effacing Braddock quipped, "I think what this essentially is, is an award for not dying."