Kane Brown Celebrates No. 1 Hit “Lose It” With Co-Writers Chase McGill, Will Weatherly

Pictured (L-R): Producer Dann Huff, RCA Nashville’s Dennis Reese, BMI’s Leslie Roberts, UMPG’s Kent Earls, EFG’s Martha Earls, Chase McGill, Kane Brown, Will Weatherly, Warner/Chappell’s Ryan Beuschel, BMI’s Josh Tomlinson. Photo: Steve Lowry

Kane Brown celebrated his third consecutive No. 1 single on Tuesday (Jan. 29) at the Tusculum Strike and Spare bowling alley, along with co-writers Will Weatherly and Chase McGill. “Lose It” is Weatherly’s first No. 1 song and the event, sponsored by BMI, was McGill’s first No. 1 party. Producer Dann Huff was there to celebrate, as well.

BMI’s Leslie Roberts served as the emcee for the celebration.”I’ve been to a lot of No. 1 parties and I think this is a first,” Roberts joked. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to one in a bowling alley. This is awesome!”

Roberts had a lot to say about McGill. “I want to give a huge shout out to [UMPG’s]  Travis Gordon,” Roberts said. “Way before Chase was at BMI, he would call me and he would go ‘Leslie, do you know Chase? You’ve got to hear his stuff. He’s amazing!’ and Travis, you were right. He’s so great.”

Although this was McGill’s first ever No. 1 party, “Lose It” is his third No. 1. His other chart-toppers, Cole Swindell’s “Break Up In The End” and Luke Bryan’s “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset,” were achieved in 2018 along with “Lose It.” Roberts also congratulated McGill for his two Grammy nominations for Best Country Song for Swindell’s “Break Up In The End” and Little Big Town’s “When Someone Stops Loving You.”

As with BMI tradition, Weatherly and McGill were each presented with BMI-emblazoned Taylor guitars to commemorate the occasion.

Pictured (L-R): BMI songwriters Chase McGill, Kane Brown, Will Weatherly. Photo: Steve Lowry

“The records [Kane] has broken and the accolades he has received in the three short years since he burst onto the country music scene are unbelievable,” Roberts said of the Sony Music Nashville recording artist. “With the release of his album Experiment, he co-wrote 11 of 12 songs and it debuted on the top of the Billboard 200 chart and that has not happened in 24 years. That is astounding.”

Roberts also congratulated Brown for his winning of the Music Business Association’s 2019 Breakthrough Artist Award, which he will receive at their annual Nashville conference in May.

BMI’s Josh Tomlinson paid tribute to Weatherly for his first No. 1. “[Will] said something to me once about his passion to write the best songs that really impacted me, it went something like this,” said Tomlinson. “He said ‘dude, do you know the songs that I really want to write all the time? It’s those songs when you’re at a concert and you run out to go get a drink or whatever and you hear that song and you’re like crap! You have to turn around and run back in because you just can’t miss that song.’ That mindset of I’m going to write the best song every time I go in to write a song is something that I think that whether you’re a writer or a producer or a business person, if you approach every day with that mindset, I think that’s what you’re going to get every time.”

Pictured (L-R): MusicRow‘s Sherod Robertson, songwriters Chase McGill, Kane Brown, Will Weatherly with their MusicRow No. 1 Challenge Coins. Photo: Steve Lowry

Warner/Chappell’s Ryan Beuschel was on hand to congratulate the writers and present them with plaques, and to speak about Weatherly.

“Will came in [the Warner/Chappell office] and he didn’t even have a Google calendar yet. This was starting from scratch,” Beuschel quipped. “The thing I want to say that I’m most impressed with about Will is his hustle. He’s in early working on tracks. He’s in the write all day long. He’s working on mixes. He usually stops and goes to network at Red Door for a couple of hours, but after that he’s back in the studio until [around] 2 a.m.. It’s no surprise that we’re standing here to celebrate your first of what I know will be many No. 1 songs.”

Tape Room Music’s Ashley Gorley echoed Beuschel about Weatherly’s work ethic. “I’m thankful that these guys all went out on the road and rocked hard,” Gorley said. “I remember going to Will’s studio at 9 a.m. and I think they had finished something around 5:30 a.m. and [Kane] cut it at like 10. That’s what I’m talking about!”

“This is special for us so settle in, it will take a minute,” said UMPG’s Kent Earls. “I’ve got two pages [of notes] for the first time ever.”

Earls presented UMPG songwriters Brown and McGill with trophies and thanked a large team of people, including UMPG Nashville, Travis Gordon, Roberts and BMI, Sony Music Nashville, the promotion team at RCA, Dann Huff and more.

Earls also thanked and congratulated his wife and Brown’s manager, Martha Earls. “EFG [Management], Martha and Nikki [Boon], obviously I know how many hours you put in with Kane making sure no rock is unturned,” he said.

“Kane, you’re such an incredible, special young man,” Earls gushed. “Your songwriting is so important and makes a huge difference to who you are as an artist.”

Kane Brown. Photo: Steve Lowry

RCA’s Dennis Reese recognized the Sony and RCA teams and spoke about Brown’s impact as an artist.

Reese told the story of an encounter he recently had at one of Brown’s shows. “A gentleman that was working at the arena walked up to Kane and said ‘I don’t know anything about country music but what I witnessed when you were walking in here, and the fans coming up to you, the way you treated them and the way that you didn’t make them feel unimportant, I’ve never seen that.’ I think the guy probably worked there for 10 plus years,” Reese said. “We at RCA and Sony Music couldn’t be more proud to be your label, and most importantly, your family.”

“I totally concur with what’s been said about your character,” producer Dann Huff said of Brown. “You make people feel important and you bring out the best in people.”

“Chase, Will, congrats to you guys,” Huff added. “What a great lead off single. I was telling Will just a minute ago, the stuff that you guys bring in, it puts this old man to work, I’ll tell you that much! The level is way up there, so thank you so much for bringing this song in and the other ones, too.”

Weatherly first thanked drummer and audio engineer Ben Phillips for giving him his start as an intern at his studio.”[Thanks to] Ashley Gorley for giving me the chance to write,” he said. “Ryan Beuschel, everyone at Warner/Chappell, Blain [Rhodes], Kelley [Bolton], Travis Carter, everyone over there has been amazing. And then Kane for just giving me the opportunity to just get in there and write. Martha, Nikki, Kent, everybody else. I just appreciate the opportunity you all have given me.”

McGill thanked God, his parents and his family for his success. “Y’all are the reason I get up and go to work,” McGill said of his wife Beth and daughter Everly. “I’ve learned to write fast so I can come back home. I know it would have been easier to choose a guy with a little bit more secure path than a songwriter. Her dad told me so when I asked him for her hand in marriage,” he joked.

“Will, Kane, y’all are some crazy hard-workers,” McGill added. “I consider myself a hard worker but there was a couple bus runs where I was like, ‘these dudes won’t stop!’ You’re so talented.” McGill also thanked Travis Carter and the team at UMPG.

When the man of the hour stepped up to the mic, he first admitted that he was bummed that he didn’t get McGill’s first No. 1 of 2018.

“When I first met these guys, they were a team,” Brown said. “I’m excited to have these guys. They’ve both got six songs a piece on my album, not even written together. It’s an honor to have them up here.”

“Everybody in here is family, and I love everybody in this room,” Brown added in closing. “Now, are y’all ready to bowl? I’m ready to bowl.”