BMI Country Song of the Year recipient Taylor Swift and BMI Country 2008 Icon Hank Williams Jr. at the BMI Country Awards, November 11, 2008. (credit: Rick Diamond)
Nov. 13, 2008 — While much of Tuesday’s BMI Awards focused on this year’s most performed songs, Hank Williams Jr. walked away with a bit of recognition for a lifetime of influence. He was named a BMI Icon, putting him in the ranks of such figures as Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Bill Anderson and Willie Nelson.
"Hank Williams Jr. is an inventor," Blake Shelton said. "He did the impossible twice — he became a country superstar, and he was able to step out of his dad’s shadow, and both of those things weren’t easy to do. The only way to do something like that is to be incredibly talented, and he deserves to win this award."
Hank Jr. was honored at the black-tie event with performances from Kenny Chesney, Robert Randolph, Gregg Allman and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
And among those who was most appreciative of his influence was Casey Beathard, named BMI’s Songwriter of the Year for such titles as "How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls," "Don’t Blink" and the Bocephus-like "Cleaning My Gun (Come On In Boy)."
"There can’t be three or four Hank Jr. songs I don’t know," Casey observed. "I grew up on it. You had to have that in your truck. I had the Hank Jr. license plates, the rebel flag — everything was about Hank Jr. growin’ up. All my generation, all my friends in this town grew up on Hank Jr. and his songs, learned to write from him and wanted to be him."
"My live show and my sound," Trent Tomlinson added, "is based around a lot of that music he used to do — ‘All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight’ and that stick-it-in-your-pipe-and-smoke-it type of honky tonk sound. It’s a huge honor to be here and be part of it."
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