Toby Keith, HARDY, Luke Combs, more celebrated at 2022 BMI Country Awards

Though separated by their Music City arrivals by roughly 25 years, Oklahoma native Toby Keith and Mississippi-born HARDY knew one thing when they arrived in Nashville: being affiliated with a company that advocates for over a million composers, publishers and writers of songs with the businesses and organizations that want to play their music publicly was essential to legitimizing their creative careers.

For both of these iconoclastic songwriters -- plus a room of nearly 1000 guests (for the first time in two years) -- the support they placed in Broadcast Music Inc. yielded hit singles that are a part of the modern American canon of popular country music was a reason to celebrate on Music Row.

At Tuesday evening's BMI Country Awards -- celebrating the songwriters and music publishers behind the 50 most-performed country songs of the year -- three-time BMI Country Songwriter of the Year Keith's 30th anniversary of recording his 1993 hit single "Should've Been A Cowboy" was highlighted with their BMI Icon Award -- an honor previously received by names including Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton.

Upon receiving the trophy from BMI president/CEO Michael O'Neill and Clay Bradley, BMI's Nashville Vice President of creative, Keith noted that he appreciated BMI [being] so great to [him] "because [he] knew that even if [he] didn't make it as an artist, that maybe somebody would cut [his] songs."

James Stroud produced "How Do You Like Me Now" with Keith in 1999. While on the red carpet, he recalled that the album of the same name's second single only reached the air after a late-night phone call from an antagonized Keith. The former was adamant that unlike "When Love Fades," a song that was initially titled "You Never Loved Me Before, So How Do You Like Me Now" (a kiss-off to an old flame), would not -- like the album's lead single was meant to -- play well to female audiences.

"I was wrong and he was right!" Stroud exclaimed. "Toby is his own man. He knows what he wants to say and what the people want to hear. So you trust him and basically leave him alone."

Moreover, as a patriotic influence whose songs like "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)" Keith courted a multitude of opinions yet significant popularity, a video noted songs that keyed his "unique and indelible influence on generations of songwriters" led to 11 USO tours in 18 countries for 250,00 troops and families overseas.

Regarding HARDY, his post-pandemic quarantine surge has spanned not just his career but a multitude of others, too. Aside from his hits like "One Beer" and "Give Heaven Some Hell," he's aided Dierks Bentley ("Beers on Me"), Blake Shelton ("Come Back as a Country Boy"), Cole Swindell ("Single Saturday Night") and Morgan Wallen ("More Than My Hometown" and "Sand in My Boots").

He was awarded the 2022 BMI Country Songwriter of the Year Award for his success.

Exclusive for The Tennessean, on the BMI Country Awards red carpet, HARDY was overwhelmed by a "whirlwind" year that has seen him become a superstar both behind the scenes and on stages nationwide. Regarding his songwriting process, he noted that he was "stunned, but proud that he had defied the incredible odds of seeing multiple of his creations shepherded from being written to cut to becoming a radio and streaming favorites.

"I'm so in awe, fortunate and in a state of euphoria about this." Concerning a process that sees him being able to make honest -- sometimes complex -- topics approachable and ear-worming, he added, "those songs are crafted in a wide-open lane in country music -- I'm not good at writing love songs, so it's left me with only real s**t to write about."

Also, the creative pair of Luke Combs and Drew Parker (as well as Rob Williford) were celebrated as the writers of Combs' chart-topping "What You See Ain't Always What You Get" album newlywed anthem "Forever After All."

Co-writer Parker noted to The Tennessean that writing a song with a friend about an important experience in their life -- like marriage -- is "a super-special experience." "[Luke's] success is based around being so willing, as a songwriter, to let people deep into his life," he added.

Combs noted that "continuing to measure success by writing music that I love, about the people I love, while playing with the people I love for people I love" is his most significant goal moving forward. "Writing songs that people can feel in so many different ways and see themselves in my lyrics."

As well, Sony Music Publishing's impressive achievement of having published 25 of the 50 most-performed songs of the year led to them being named BMI Music Publisher of the Year. These songs included Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney's "Half of My Hometown," Kane Brown's "One Mississippi," Elle King/Miranda Lambert collaboration "Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)," and Morgan Wallen's "Sand in my Boots."

However, regarding Keith, the evening's most iconic honoree, he was feted onstage by a multitude of artists, including Carrie Underwood, who offered a spirited rendition of "Should've Been A Cowboy," plus Eric Church, who performed a stripped-down version of Keith's 2003 hit "I Love This Bar."

Regarding bars, Church recalled an early Keith co-writing session that he was scheduled to attend with the celebrated artist at Printer's Alley bar Fiddle and Steel (now The Dream Hotel's Dirty Little Secret).  Walking into the bar, he saw the tail end of a bar brawl in which Keith emerged victorious.

Later, regarding his early years in town, Keith offered, "youth is wasted on the young…and when we were young, we got wasted."

"Like [Toby Keith], songwriting has perpetually been a vehicle to my artistry," stated HARDY's Big Loud label mate ERNEST, a first-time BMI Country Awards attendee -- like many of the evening's 72 first-time BMI award-winning songwriters present. "Toby, like myself, is an 'I don't give a damn kind of guy -- but he's the original article. He's in my DNA as a country artist and songwriter."

Notable there is ERNEST's connection to Keith via his 2011 single "Red Solo Cup" (and yes, there were plentiful red cups and buckets of Bud Light on the numerous guest tables at BMI's Music Row venue during the event). Brad and Brett, The Warren Brothers, co-wrote the single with Keith. Moreover, they continued their legacy in Nashville via being early proponents of the "Flower Shops" vocalist's rise into prominence, currently keyed with both his solo work and written cuts with a multitude of country favorites.

For an event attended by the honorees named, plus others including singer-songwriters Ashley McBryde, Priscilla Block, Dustin Lynch, Jake Owen, Keith Urban and more, the broader sense of the value of the event, overall, comes from elsewhere.

The blend of feeling simultaneous hope and joy for those both achieving award-winning prowess and on the cusp of greater renown was summed up on the red carpet by Baltimore native and breakout Nashville star Brittney Spencer. The Highwomen affiliated and newly Elektra Records signed artist, co-signed by names including Mickey Guyton, Jason Isbell, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir and more offered the following:

"Living and touring with [prospective hit material] and figuring out if it has broad appeal is important. A decade into my career, where I knew that I would likely have to excel as a songwriter before I did as an artist, mastering the art of connecting with someone's heart and soul -- more than anything else -- means the world to me. So being in this room is an achievement already."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Toby Keith, HARDY, Luke Combs, more celebrated at 2022 BMI Country Awards