CMA Triple Play Awards Highlight the Heartbeat of Nashville: The Songwriters
16 incredible songwriters were honored during the special event, which also included a touching tribute to the late Ben Vaughn.
Top Row L-R: Tiffany Kerns, Jordan Minton, Chase McGill, Jim Beavers, Charlie Handsome, Ashley Gorley, Taylor Phillips, Sarah Trahern, David Conrad, Josh Thompson, Jessie Jo Dillon, Bottom Row L-R: John Byron, Rocky Block, Randy Montana, Ben Johnson and Hunter Phelps at the 2025 CMA Triple Play Awards on Tuesday, April 29 at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville. Not pictured: Zach Crowell, Jelly Roll, Ernest Keith Smith and Morgan Wallen; Photo by Acacia Evans/CMA
Nashville’s songwriting community took center stage on Tuesday (April 29) at the 2025 CMA Triple Play Awards, held at the beautiful Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University. The event honored 16 standout songwriters who each achieved the impressive feat of writing three No. 1 songs within a 12-month period, bringing together industry peers for a night of celebration and recognition.
Rocky Block, John Byron, Zach Crowell, Jessie Jo Dillon, Ashley Gorley (two-time recipient), Charlie Handsome (two-time recipient), Jelly Roll, Ben Johnson, Chase McGill, Jordan Minton, Randy Montana, Hunter Phelps, Taylor Phillips, Ernest Keith Smith (ERNEST), Josh Thompson and Morgan Wallen were among the 16 writers who were celebrated during the special evening, although ERNEST, Jelly Roll, and Wallen were unable to attend.
Ashley Gorley was one of just two songwriters to receive a double CMA Triple Play Award on Tuesday, celebrating an impressive six No. 1 hits in a 12-month period. These latest honors mark the 25th and 26th Triple Play Awards of his career. Despite his long list of achievements, Gorley remains humbled, calling each of his No. 1 songs a true “miracle.”
“The consensus among most writers is this is their favorite night,” he told Country Now just moments before the ceremony began. “When you can get three in a year, or more than three, it’s amazing. It’s just amazing every time. I’ve been very fortunate to be here a few times…It’s crazy to me that it’s still happening.”
Gorley wasn’t just celebrating his own Triple Play Awards. As the founder of the independent publishing company, Tape Room Music, Gorley was also on hand to celebrate Tape Room Music writers Zach Crowell, Ben Johnson, Hunter Phelps, and Taylor Phillips.
“I’ve got a lot of my writers that I publish that are winning ’em tonight, so it’s extra special,” he pointed out with a smile. “I’ve always had maybe a couple, there’s five of us tonight that all kind of work together and are published under Tape Room, so it’s super special.”
Tape Room’s Ben Johnson admitted the evening felt “surreal” and took a moment to tip his hat to his fellow co-writers.
“To get three [number ones], it’s like, ‘What trick is the universe playing on me?’ I don’t know how that happened. So I’m very grateful,” he said. “It’s a lot of hard work put into it. And of course none of these songs, I didn’t write any of these songs by myself, so I’m very thankful to have such talented collaborators that I get to work with all year.”
Randy Montana was equally as grateful, telling us, “I feel like these are so hard to attain, you know what I mean? The stars have to align for a writer to get one of these awards, and I feel like we can all probably agree on this, that our noses are such as a grindstone all the time, that this is kind of an opportunity to look up and go, ‘Wow, things are going really well.’ I just feel incredibly blessed to be a part of a night like this.”
The only female among this year’s Triple Play honorees was Jessie Jo Dillon. During her acceptance speech she recognized the power of this songwriting community and shouted out several of her co-writers from the stage.
“I can’t believe I got one of these, it’s crazy,” she admitted.
Hosted by songwriter and CMA Board member Jim Beavers, the evening also honored Legendary music publisher David Conrad with the 2024 CMA Songwriter Advocate Award in recognition of his decades-long commitment to supporting songwriters and helping elevate their careers. John Anderson took the stage to perform “Seminole Wind” in tribute to Conrad, while Emmylou Harris honored him with a heartfelt acoustic rendition of “Red Dirt Girl.”
The evening’s most emotional moment came during a heartfelt tribute to the late Ben Vaughn, the beloved President & CEO of Warner Chappell Nashville, who passed away on January 30. Emotions ran high as award-winning singer/songwriters Nicolle Galyon, Thomas Rhett, and Chris Stapleton paid their respects with moving tribute performances.
Galyon delivered a performance of “Boy” and appeared to be too emotional to speak.
Meanwhile, Rhett took a moment to share a few heartfelt words about Vaughn. Fighting back tears, he shared, “He was always my biggest champion as a songwriter, as an artist, as a human being. And I remember when I was 19, I wrote this song and he really championed this song. So I was thinking about how I could best honor him with my voice. It would be to play this song. He loved it so much…This is called ‘Beer With Jesus.’”
The musical tribute came to a close with Stapleton, who performed a goosebumps-inducing rendition of “Mountains Of My Mind” in Vaughn’s honor.
He told the crowd, “It’s kind of hard for me…Ben Vaughn was a champion of mine for my entire career. I moved here to Nashville and he signed me to my publishing deal. [It was] my second home as a songwriter. I wasn’t making records or anything like that and he believed in the songs, he believed in songwriters. I can’t tell you how many times I would’ve sat in his office and he would be excited about a song…He loved songs, not just hit songs. Songs that moved him. That was always moving and encouraging as a songwriter, to hear somebody that just loves songs. I miss that about him. He always had an encouraging word for me. He’d always say, ‘Hey man, how you doing?’ Check on me…I’m just very sorry he’s gone.”
Moments later, Thomas Rhett introduced his father, hit songwriter, Rhett Akins, to the stage to share heartfelt words about Ben Vaughn.
Akins told the room full of music industry professionals that this was “the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” Throughout the next six minutes, Akins shared stories of Vaughn and their friendship. He recalled the ways Vaughn always made him feel seen, shared some of their inside jokes, and recalled a moment that Vaughn stopped him from walking away from the music industry completely.
“In 2007, I was pretty much done. I mean, there was pretty much no reason for me to live here anymore. I was tired of Nashville and it was tired of me and nobody in town wanted to work with me. Nobody wanted to sign me,” he explained. “And for some reason, Ben saw something and he heard something and he said, ‘Hey buddy.’ He goes, ‘You don’t want to go back to Georgia, man, come on, man.’”
Akins revealed that Vaughn worked out a deal for him and because of that, he stayed in Nashville.
“I thank you with all my heart, Ben, for standing up for me during that time,” he said.
Later, he shared the story of Vaughn’s first meeting with Thomas Rhett and how Vaughn deemed him a “superstar” the moment he first met him. He eventually signed Thomas Rhett to a deal and within six months, he started getting major cuts.
“22 straight number ones later, I would say Ben Vaughn was right.”
The entire room filled with applause.
In closing Akins, shared, “Ben, I love you and I miss you, and I think about you all the time. This community thinks about you all the time, and we thank you for everything that you did for us.”
Additionally, at one point in the evening, the Country Music Association also recognized a whopping 72 songwriters for achieving their very first No.1 songs since the last CMA Triple Play Celebration.
It was truly a special celebration that reminded us all of the heartbeat of Nashville – the songwriters.
The 2025 CMA Triple Play Awards Recipients:
Rocky Block
“Man Made A Bar,” recorded by Morgan Wallen feat. Eric Church
“Cowgirls,” recorded by Morgan Wallen feat. ERNEST
“Pour Me A Drink,” recorded by Post Malone feat. Blake Shelton
John Byron
“Thinkin’ Bout Me,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
“Pour Me A Drink,” recorded by Post Malone feat. Blake Shelton
“Love Somebody,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Zach Crowell
“God Gave Me A Girl,” recorded by Russell Dickerson
“Stars Like Confetti,” recorded by Dustin Lynch
“Outskirts,” recorded by Sam Hunt
Jessie Jo Dillon
“Memory Lane,” recorded by Old Dominion
“Back Then Right Now,” recorded by Tyler Hubbard
“Halfway To Hell,” recorded by Jelly Roll
Ashley Gorley
“I Had Some Help,” recorded by Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen
“Cowgirls,” recorded by Morgan Wallen feat. ERNEST
“Bulletproof,” recorded by Nate Smith
“Young Love & Saturday Nights,” recorded by Chris Young
“Love Somebody,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
“I Am Not Okay,” recorded by Jelly Roll
Charlie Handsome
“Thinkin’ Bout Me,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
“I Had Some Help,” recorded by Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen
“Cowgirls,” recorded by Morgan Wallen feat. ERNEST
“Pour Me A Drink,” recorded by Post Malone feat. Blake Shelton
“Love Somebody,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
“I’m The Problem,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Jelly Roll
“Halfway To Hell,” recorded by Jelly Roll
“I Am Not Okay,” recorded by Jelly Roll
“Liar,” recorded by Jelly Roll
Ben Johnson
“TRUCK BED,” recorded by HARDY
“Bulletproof,” recorded by Nate Smith
“Liar,” recorded by Jelly Roll
Chase McGill
“God Gave Me A Girl,” recorded by Russell Dickerson
“Mamaw’s House,” recorded by Thomas Rhett feat. Morgan Wallen
“Chevrolet,” recorded by Dustin Lynch feat. Jelly Roll
Jordan Minton
“Save Me The Trouble,” recorded by Dan + Shay
“your place,” recorded by Ashley Cooke
“Love You, Miss You, Mean It,” recorded by Luke Bryan
Randy Montana
“Different ’Round Here,” recorded by Riley Green feat. Luke Combs
“Where The Wild Things Are,” recorded by Luke Combs
“This Is My Dirt,” recorded by Justin Moore
Hunter Phelps
“TRUCK BED,” recorded by HARDY
“Take Her Home,” recorded by Kenny Chesney
“Bulletproof,” recorded by Nate Smith
Taylor Phillips
“Thinkin’ Bout Me,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
“World On Fire,” recorded by Nate Smith
“I Am Not Okay,” recorded by Jelly Roll
Ernest Keith Smith
“I Had Some Help,” recorded by Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen
“Cowgirls,” recorded by Morgan Wallen feat. ERNEST
“I’m The Problem,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Josh Thompson
“Angels (Don’t Always Have Wings),” recorded by Thomas Rhett
“Stars Like Confetti,” recorded by Dustin Lynch
“Young Love & Saturday Nights,” recorded by Chris Young
Morgan Wallen
“Mamaw’s House,” recorded by Thomas Rhett feat. Morgan Wallen
“I Had Some Help,” recorded by Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen
“Love Somebody,” recorded by Morgan Wallen
Lauren Jo Black is a longtime country music journalist, editor, host, and media personality whose work has helped shape the conversation around country music for nearly two decades. As the current Editor-in-Chief of Country Now, she has become one of the genre’s most respected voices, interviewing hundreds of country music’s biggest stars, including Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain, Randy Travis, Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, and countless others. Over the course of her career, Black’s written work and interviews have reached billions of country music fans worldwide. A 2009 graduate of the University of Central Florida, Black began her career by founding Country Music Is Love, one of country music’s earliest independent digital publications, which she later sold to a major record label in 2015 before it was rebranded as Sounds Like Nashville. She then served as the publication’s Editor-in-Chief for more than two years. Her work has also appeared in Forbes, and she previously served as the Country Music Expert for Answers.com. Widely recognized for her expertise, Black has appeared as a featured guest on The Bobby Bones Show, BobbyCast, and Scripps News Morning Rush, providing insight on country music’s biggest moments. She has also hosted Country Now Live, a concert series featuring performances from artists including Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Riley Green, Jordan Davis, Dustin Lynch, Gabby Barrett, Brett Young, Jon Pardi, Kip Moore, Chris Young, and more. The series has welcomed thousands of fans in person while reaching millions more online. In addition, she hosted Connect With Country Now, a weekly interview series featuring conversations with rising country stars. Throughout her career, Black has earned a reputation for discovering and championing artists long before they become household names. She has covered Luke Bryan since the early days of his career, beginning when he was writing songs for other artists, including Billy Currington’s No. 1 hit “Good Directions,” before stepping into the spotlight with his debut single, “All My Friends Say” and eventually becoming one of biggest names in music. She also gave Megan Moroney her first opportunity to walk a major red carpet as Country Now’s official guest correspondent at the 2022 CMA Awards. An interview she conducted in 2018 for Forbes.com with Luke Combs that inspired his multi-week No. 1 hit, “Doin’ This.” She has also hosted stages at CMA Fest, moderated an industry panel at Country Radio Seminar, and helped lead important conversations about the evolving landscape of country music media. Beyond journalism, Black has also used her platform to support charitable causes and highlight organizations making an impact. Through Country Now Live, she has helped raise awareness and support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, while also advocating for animal rescue through Country Now’s Pupdate series, spotlighting organizations including MuttNation Foundation, Wags & Walks, and Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue. Black has been recognized as one of Country Aircheck’s Women of Influence and received the 2012 Rising Star Award from the University of Central Florida. She is a longtime member of both the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM). After nearly 20 years covering country music, Lauren Jo Black has spent her career telling the stories behind the artists, songs, and moments that have shaped the genre. Her first-ever book, Country Music Forever: An A-to-Z Celebration of Icons, Songs and Stories, brings that same passion and firsthand knowledge to the page, celebrating not only the legendary artists and timeless songs that have become the soundtrack to generations of fans, but also the places, traditions, and cultural moments that have made country music one of the most beloved genres around the world.
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