There is something very special about that first number one record as a songwriter, and Gary Allan savored that sensation yesterday at a number one party for “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain),” sponsored by BMI and ASCAP, at Sambuca’s Restaurant in Nashville.

“I feel like I’ve been in a poker match and I just won,” Allan said, referring to the several years he was in limbo at MCA and not being supported by upper level management. “Mike Dungan (now head of MCA) changed my life when he came over to this label. The support has been amazing for me, and I have the best manager in the world, John Lytle.”

Allan co-wrote the song with Hillary Lindsey and Matt Warren, also celebrating his first number one single. Warren came up with the phrase after going through a particularly long stretch of non-creativity.

“Matt brought Hillary over and he had the hook. He was doing yard work, and he hit rock with the weed eater and it hit the house and then bounced back and hit him in the forehead. He was pissed off and he called me and talked to me about it. He wrote down ‘Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)’ and brought that line over. It started out as this gospel stomp kind of thing and eventually we wrote it on piano, and then when we recorded it I produced it and we changed the piano to a guitar riff. It really worked great.”

“You know you have the ear of the American public when Warren Buffet mentions your song,” Bradley went on to say, referring to Buffet’s mention of the song on CNBC.

Kos Weaver of BMG Publishing was celebrating his third day at the publishing company, along with his first number one song there. “I am so excited because I finally get to work with one of the best songwriters in town, Hillary Lindsay,” Weaver said. “She is one of the best of this generation.”

Allan’s manager, John Lytle, said it all comes down to to great music. “We invited Mike over to hear Gary’s new album and I’m told he listened to it one time and said, ‘We’ve got the songs we need.’ Then I heard he walked into a staff meeting a few days later and told the staff that they were going to put the label behind Gary’s new album.”

From left: BMI’s Clay Bradley, Lytle Management’s John Lytle, producer Greg Droman, Gary Allan, co-writers Hillary Lindsey and Matt Warren, ASCAP’s Mike Sistad, MCA Nashville’s Mike Dungan and BMG’s Kos Weaver (John Russell)

The writers and publishers were all presented with numerous awards from the Country Music Association and Country Radio Broadcasters. Ron Cox of Avenue Bank, one of the sponsors of the event, announced that the bank was making a contribution in their name to the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund. Allan had donated proceeds from the downloads of the single to victims of Hurricane Sandy. He was scheduled to play in Atlantic City the night the storm hit the East Coast.

Lindsay presented Allan and Warren with framed, hand-written lyrics of “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain),” each featuring a rock in the center of the page. [Billboard.biz]