Several prominent artists and songwriters are up for consideration for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Class of 2023. On Friday (June 30), the 13 nominees were announced across the categories of Contemporary Songwriter/Artists and Contemporary Songwriters. Nominated for Songwriter/Artists are Keith Urban, The Chicks’ fiddle player Martie Maguire, Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman, and the duo of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.
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Some of the biggest hit-making songwriters in country music are nominated in the Contemporary Songwriters category, including “Dust on the Bottle” singer David Lee Murphy, Casey Beathard (“Hell of a View” by Eric Church, “Come Back Song” by Darius Rucker), Victoria Shaw (“The River” by Garth Brooks), Leslie Satcher (“Troubadour” by George Strait) and Shawn Camp (“Two Piña Coladas” by Garth Brooks, “Would You Go With Me” by Josh Turner).
Jim Collins (“She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” and “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” by Kenny Chesney), Don Henry (“All Kinds Of Kinds” by Miranda Lambert) and Darrell Scott (“You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” by Patty Loveless and “It’s A Great Day To Be Alive” by Travis Tritt) have also scored nominations.
Of these nominees, a total of two songwriters and one songwriter/artist will be elected into the Hall of Fame. The inductees will be announced at a press conference later this year and then celebrated during the 2023 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala at the Music City Center on October 11.
“We congratulate this year’s nominees in our contemporary categories,” Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Executive Director Mark Ford says in a press release. “Their nominations are richly deserved. We look forward in several weeks to announcing those who will be inducted this fall as members of our Class of 2023.”
Brooks, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Jimmy Buffett, Bill Anderson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Vince Gill, Ronnie Dunn, Amy Grant and Bobbie Gentry are among the many cross-genre artists who’ve been inducted into the Hall of Fame since it was founded in 1970.
“The Hall of Fame boasts members from all genres of music who have reached the pinnacle of their craft,” the organization states. “Induction into the Hall of Fame is one of the nation’s highest songwriting honors and the highest honor that can be bestowed by the Nashville songwriting community.”
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