Lee Ann Womack will receive the ASCAP Vanguard at the 2018 ASCAP Country Music Awards in Nashville on November 12. (PRNewsfoto/ASCAP)
Country music’s finest will join ASCAP in honoring GRAMMY, CMA, ACM, AMA and Billboard Award-winning artist and songwriter Lee Ann Womackwhen she accepts the prestigious ASCAP Golden Note Award at this year’s ASCAP Country Music Awards on Monday, November 12. The exclusive, invitation-only gala, which celebrates the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP’s most performed country songs of the previous year, will draw hundreds of country songwriters, artists and industry VIPs to the event in downtown Nashville.
The ASCAP Golden Note Award is presented to songwriters, composers and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones. Previous Golden Note recipients include Don Williams, Garth Brooks, Kenny Rogers, Lindsey Buckingham, Lionel Richie, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire and JD Souther, among others.
“Lee Ann Womack’s music celebrates the emotional storytelling of country’s traditionalists,” said ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams. “Her sweet and smoky croon and songs that pull you in and don’t let go have won the hearts of her country peers and fans all over. We are so pleased to present the ASCAP Golden Note Award to Lee Ann.”
Womack’s 2017 release, The Lonely, The Lonesome and The Gone, earned spots on many year-end “best-of” lists including NPR, Rolling Stone and Garden & Gun. Recorded in her home state of Texas, the collection is a breathtaking hybrid of country, soul, and gospel and blues and showcases her songwriting talents as well.
Praised by everyone from The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, New Yorker and more, Womack has sung for multiple Presidents, performed award-winning duets with everyone from Willie Nelsonand John Prine to John Legend, and others. She has built a career on songs that slice life wide open to let the pain and desire pour out; her music is the ultimate form of connection, unvarnished and true. With six albums and international chart-topping singles to her credit, Womack has earned six Country Music Association Awards (including Single and Album of the Year), five Academy of Country Music Awards, a Grammy, and much more.
Signed to Tree Publishing in 1995, Womack immediately found herself co-writing with the likes of Ricky Skaggs, Bill Anderson and Mark Wright; some of those songs were recorded by both Skaggs and Anderson. After spending a few years as a professional songwriter, Womack was signed to Decca Records, becoming one of the breakout contemporary country stars of 1997 with her eponymous Top 10 debut album.
From that first release critics hailed her forthright and traditional approach to country music and she amassed such Top 5 singles as “The Fool,” “You’ve Got to Talk To Me,” “A Little Past Little Rock,” and “Ashes By Now.” Her ’00 single “I Hope You Dance,” – from the triple-platinum album of the same name – enjoyed international crossover success as well.
Womack remains an in-demand guest vocalist and has been featured on projects by Dolly Parton, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Don Henley and Rodney Crowell, among others. She is currently on tour.
About ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP’s mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world’s best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business – from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 670,000 members representing more than 11.5 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook.
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — ASCAP