Nashville, TN – On Thursday, December 28, some of Nashville’s hit songwriters joined forces for the second annual Milkbone Challenge (MBC). Twenty-two writers, artists and composers met at Parmalee’s house west of Nashville to write songs and compete for the MBC awards including Best Song of the Day, Lick O’ The Day and Line Of The Day. The challenge was divided into two sessions with five writing teams per session where teams had three hours to write and record their song. At the end of the day, those involved gathered ‘round to listen to all the songs devised throughout the day. Judges Tom Luteran (SonyATV), Dave Rose (Deep South Entertainment {DSE}), Mandelyn Monchick (DSE), Tiffany Bearden (Evolution PR) and Kasey Cleckler (NSAI) deliberated to choose the winners of the three existing categories, as well as establish a new, much-needed category for Best Radio Song.
Check out the video about event below:
Best Song of the Day was awarded to “Back Of A Baptist Church,” penned by Seth Ennis, Jaida Dreyer, Tommy Cecil and Jared Mullins.
Line of the Day was awarded to Seth Ennis for “Cause she’s got it all and her only flaw is who’s holding her hand” in the song “She Loves Me,” penned by Ennis, Barry Knox, Matt Alderman and Lainey Wilson.
Lick O’ The Day was awarded to James McNair for the song “Home Away from Home,” written by McNair, Jona Sherwood, Parmalee’s Matt Thomas, Kasey Tyndall and Parmalee’s Barry Knox.
The brand new Best Radio Song award was presented to “Looking For A Song,” written by Jody Stevens, Jay Brunswick, Greylan James and Brad Clawson.
This year’s participants included: Tommy Cecil, Jared Mullins, Jaida Dreyer, Seth Ennis, Jody Stevens, Jay Brunswick, Greylan James, Brad Clawson, Barry Knox, Jona Sherwood, Matt Thomas, James McNair, Kasey Tyndall, Will Weatherly, Scott Thomas, Jamie Paulin, Matt Alderman, Josh Dunne, Brock Berryhill, Tyler Reeve, Lainey Wilson, Jeremy Bussey.
Special thanks to Deep South Entertainment, Regions Bank, Evolution PR and Pinnacle Bank for sponsoring the event.
The MBC Backstory
On the last Thursday of 2016, two Nashville songwriters decided to combine their scheduled co-writes, forming a 5-way “super” write. Word spread to fellow writer/artist friends with the day off, and the group of 5 quickly expanded into a group of 16, including Matt Alderman, Tommy Cecil, Seth Ennis, Cale Dodds, Jay Brunswick, Matt Thomas (Parmalee), Jeremy Bussey, Faren Rachels, Jaida Dreyer, Eric Paslay, Preston Brust (LoCash), Brock Berryhill, Cole Taylor, Brandon Lancaster (LANCO), Jake Owen, and Jody Stevens. There were no labels, managers, or publishers involved, just people getting together to do the thing they love the most – write songs.
Before the day began, Cecil went out to stock up on the necessary food and beverages. He sent a photo back to the group of his full grocery cart, featuring a box of Milk-Bones on top. A few jokes were thrown around, and as a result, the day’s events have casually been referred to as the Milkbone Challenge ever since.
The MBC assigned 4 people to a write, with writers/artist divided up by random draw. There were two rounds, with a 3-hour writing time limit for each round.
At the end of the day, awards were presented, including awards for “Best Song of the Day” and “Best Line of the Day.” Appropriately, the awards were made of dog bones and spray-painted gold.
Less than a year later, the song “Everybody Lives”, written as part of the Milkbone Challenge was cut and released by Granger Smith as a part of his most recent album, When The Good Guys Win.