Hardy Is the Big Winner at AIMP Nashville Awards

HARDY was the big winner at Tuesday night’s seventh annual AIMP Nashville Awards.

Put on by the Nashville chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers at the Listening Room Cafe, the event celebrates the accomplishments of Nashville’s independent publishers and writers over the past year.

While HARDY, aka Michael Hardy, is making his mark as an artist, he was heralded for his songwriting prowess Tuesday night, taking home the awards for songwriter of the year and for song of the year for “Sand in My Boots,” which he co-wrote with Josh Osborne and Ashley Gorley. HARDY performed the song with Morgan Wallen, who recorded it for his Dangerous: The Double Album project. Kobalt Music won publisher of the year.

Fellow AIMP nominees chimed in to perform the other song of the year finalists (even if they didn’t write or record them), with Matt Stell playing GAYLE’s “abcdefu”; Lee Brice taking on Jordan Davis’ “Buy Dirt”; Callista Clark and Jimmie Allen performing Kelsea Ballerini’s “half of my hometown”; Kylie Morgan and Dylan Marlowe singing Brothers Osborne’s “Younger Me”; Davis doing Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris’ “Chasing After You”; and CJ Solar and Hannah Ellis playing Cody Johnson’s “’Til You Can’t.”

Co-hosted by AIMP member Jackie Lee and comedian John Crist, the show was open to nominees only in person, but livestreamed to all members. AIMP Nashville chapter members voted on the winners.

The full list of nominees and winners for each category is listed below:

AIMP RISING SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Brinley Addington (Spirit Music)
Sara Davis (Big Machine Music)
Josh Jenkins (SMACKSongs) – WINNER
John Morgan (Triple Play/Double Down Music)
Brett Tyler (Combustion Music)
Dallas Wilson (Riser House Entertainment)

AIMP RISING ARTIST-WRITER OF THE YEAR
Tenille Arts (Noble Vision Music) – WINNER
Callista Clark (Big Machine Music)
Hannah Ellis (Curb | Word Music Publishing)
Dylan Marlowe (Play It Again Music Group)
Kylie Morgan (SMACKSongs)
CJ Solar (Edgehill Music)

AIMP ARTIST-WRITER OF THE YEAR
Jimmie Allen (Endurance Music)
Lee Brice (Double Down Music) – WINNER
HARDY (Relative Music Group)
Walker Hayes (SMACKSongs/Rare Spark Media Group)
Ryan Hurd (Big Machine Music)
Morgan Wallen (Big Loud)

SONG CHAMPION OF THE YEAR
Jake Gear (Hang Your Hat Music)
Lee Krabel (SMACKSongs)
Cris Lacy (Warner Music)
Colt Murski (Curb | Word Music Publishing)
Ciara Shortridge (Curb | Word Music Publishing)
Trina Smith-Dort (MeGusta Music) – WINNER

AIMP PUBLISHER’S PICK OF THE YEAR
“Bigger Man” written by Joy Oladokun, Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins, Laura Veltz – Prescription Songs/Heroes and Halos Music/JRM Publishing/Round Hill Music/Big Machine Music – recorded by Joy Oladokun and Maren Morris

“Briefcase” written by Walker Hayes, Lori McKenna – SMACKSongs/Rare Spark Media Group/Concord Music Publishing/Creative Nation – recorded by Walker Hayes

“Miles” written by Luke Preston, Elvie Shane, John Sherwood – Anthem Entertainment/Little Louder Publishing /Rome Phrey Publishing – recorded by Elvie Shane

“Over You is You” written by Tenille Arts, Matt Stell, Ben Stennis, Alex Kline – Young Guns Publishing/Kobalt Music/Noble Vision Music/Endurance Music/Sheltered Music Publishing – recorded by Matt Stell and Tenille Arts

“Truth About You” written by Matt Alderman, Mitchell Tenpenny, Thomas Archer – Curb | Word Music Publishing/MV2 Entertainment/Riser House Entertainment – recorded by Mitchell Tenpenny

“Younger Me” written by TJ Osborne, John Osborne, Kendell Marvel – King Pen Music/Concord Music Publishing – recorded by Brothers Osborne – WINNER

AIMP SONG OF THE YEAR
“abcdefu” written by GAYLE, Dave Pittenger, Sara Davis – Big Yellow Dog/Art House Entertainment/Big Machine Music – recorded by GAYLE

“Buy Dirt” written by Jordan Davis, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins, Jacob Davis – Anthem Entertainment/SMACKSongs/Combustion Music – recorded by Jordan Davis and Luke Bryan

“Chasing After You” written by Brinley Addington and Jerry Flowers – Mojo Music/Anthem Entertainment – recorded by Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd

“half of my hometown” written by Kelsea Ballerini, Shane McAnally, Jimmy Robbins, Nicolle Galyon, Ross Copperman – SMACKSongs/Tempo Investments/JRM Publishing/Round Hill Music

“Sand In My Boots” written by Michael Hardy, Josh Osborne, Ashley Gorley – Relative Music Group/SMACKSongs/Round Hill Music – recorded by Morgan Wallen – WINNER

“’Til You Can’t” written by Ben Stennis and Matt Rogers – Young Guns Publishing/Anthem Entertainment – recorded by Cody Johnson

AIMP SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Corey Crowder
Jesse Frasure
Ashley Gorley
Michael Hardy – WINNER
Hunter Phelps
Jonathan Singleton

AIMP PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR
Big Loud Publishing
Big Machine Music
Kobalt Music – WINNER
Round Hill Music
SMACKSongs
Spirit Music

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