BIG BEN

Warner/Chappell Nashville prexy Ben Vaughn—who's having a pretty excellent week, what with earning ASCAP and (for the first time in 20 years) BMI Country Pubco of the Year and big wins for his writers at the CMAs—takes a moment to pose triumphantly with W/C COO Carianne Marshall and WMG CEO Steve Cooper. Later, Cooper brewed up some hooch in the trunk of his Bentley.

W/C writers who scored bigtime at the CMAs include Chris Stapleton, who took Song and Single of the Year for "Broken Halos" (produced by W/C-signed Dave Cobb) along with Male Vocalist of the Year honors; Kacey Musgraves, who won Album of the Year; Matt Ramsey of Old Dominion (Group of the Year) and Jesse Frasure and Ashley Gorley, who co-wrote Thomas Rhett's Video of the Year-winning "Marry Me."

W/C tunesmiths took 19 ASCAP Most Performed Song Awards and 20 BMI Top Song Awards, not to mention three SESAC Country Performance Activity Awards, the sexiest of all PRO award names. Frasure was named BMI Songwriter of the Year, while Gorley took ASCAP Songwriter of the Year.

Now, let's see some quotes!

"I’m so proud of our songwriters, and the entire Warner/Chappell family,” said Vaughn, "and I’m endlessly inspired by all the talent in this community. It’s a really special thing to see everyone come together to celebrate the amazing songwriters and music in this town. Now where's my damn Pellegrino? I asked for it three minutes ago!"

"This week, we’ve seen what’s possible when a group of hard-working, thoughtful people, who love what they do, give it their absolute best," said W/C boss Jon Platt. "It’s amazing to see our songwriters enjoying this unprecedented success, especially in a community where songwriting and songwriters are recognized unlike anywhere else in the world."

"Huge congratulations to our brilliant songwriters, and to Ben and our team in Nashville, who keep pushing the boundaries and raising the bar," said Marshall.

Speaking of raising the bar, pass that Cooper hooch.