They helped pen the soundtrack of country music—and now, their names will be etched in its history.
Emmylou Harris, Brad Paisley, Jim Lauderdale, Don Cook, Steve Bogard, and Tony Martin will officially join the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame this fall, the organization announced Tuesday morning at a press conference. NaSHOF hosted the announcement inside the legendary Columbia Studio A, part of Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, in Nashville.
The six celebrated tunesmiths will be inducted at the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame 55th anniversary gala on Oct. 6 at the Music City Center, also in Nashville. Their additions will bring the Hall’s roster of members up to 253.
“We are dedicated to honoring the rich legacy of songwriting through both preservation, celebration, and education,” said Rich Hallworth, Chair of the organization’s board of directors. “Induction into the Hall of Fame is one of the nation’s most highly prized songwriting achievements. Since 1970, we’ve inducted 247 of the greatest songwriters from all genres of music here in Music City.”
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Dedicated to Honoring Legacy of Songwriting
As also happens in the Country Music Hall of Fame, members are elected in categories. Bogard and Martin will be inducted into the contemporary songwriter category. Lauderdale is this year’s inductee in the contemporary songwriter/artist category. Cook will go into the Hall as this year’s veteran songwriter. Harris is this year’s veteran songwriter/artist. And Paisley was elected in 2024 but was deferred, at his request, to 2025. He is the class’s contemporary songwriter/artist.
Many of the inductees were on the road touring and couldn’t make it to Columbia Studio A to attend the announcement. However, they sent videos. NaSHOF Executive Director Mark Ford revealed the names and introduced the incoming class.
“Once again, we add a new page of legendary names to a list that began more than a half century ago,” Ford said, before explaining why each inductee deserved a permanent place in Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
He opened with Paisley, explaining that by 8 years old, the West Virginian had learned to play guitar from his grandfather. By 13, he had written and performed his first song in public. Paisley spent his teen years heavily engrossed in the region’s country music scene. He won a full scholarship to attend Belmont University from ASCAP. The week after he graduated from Belmont with a music industry degree, Paisley signed a publishing deal and then a record deal with Arista Nashville.
Brad Paisley has 15 No. 1 Hits
To date, Paisley has had 33 songs he wrote go Top 20 on the Billboard charts-including 15 No. 1s and 14 Top 10s. His hits include “He Didn’t Have to Be,” “Old Alabama,” “This is Country Music,” “Ticks,” and “Alcohol.”
“What an honor this is to be included in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame,” Paisley said via video. “It’s still sinking in what that means. It’s really an amazing thing to be in this group and to know that I’m accepted enough in the town that I wanted to live in so desperately, and to be a part of this industry is such an amazing honor and blessing. Thank you so much for this. It’s still really sinking in, and I look forward to October when this is made official. Most importantly, I’d like to thank Chris Dubois, who taught me how to write songs.”
Harris didn’t waste time launching her music career, either. She graduated valedictorian of her high school and was already obsessed with playing guitar. She left college for New York’s Greenwich Village folk music scene and signed with Jubilee Records. Harris wrote five songs on her debut album in 1970, and moved to Washington, D.C., where she met Gram Parsons, joined his band, and fostered a love for country music. By 1985, she had a Top 15 country hit, and four years later, she was in the Top 10 with “Heartbreak Hill.” Her career blossomed from there. Harris is a 1995 inductee into the Hall of Greats for the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America, a 2008 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and a 2018 recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Induction “Means the World” to Jim Lauderdale
Ford introduced Lauderdale, explaining he had hopscotched from the Carolinas to Nashville to New York, then California and back while he honed his skills as a singer and songwriter. He landed cuts by George Strait, Patty Loveless, and Mark Chesnutt before finding his own fame as an artist that eventually led to 37 albums and two Grammy wins for Bluegrass Album of the Year.
“This just means the world to me to be in the company of so many of my songwriting heroes,” Lauderdale said.
Ford explained Bogard as a Florida native who followed music from his teenage rock band days in Tampa to Memphis for a Top 20 R&B hit, then became a 19-year-old staff writer at Atlantic Records. He made solo albums in Canada and the U.K. before moving to Nashville in 1982, where he wrote chart-toppers for Lee Greenwood, Reba McEntire, George Strait, and other hits for Dustin Lynch, Rascal Flatts, and Dierks Bentley.
Steve Bogard is “Thrilled” with Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Inclusion
“I’m thrilled to be in a group with my songwriting heroes,” Bogard said. “These are men and women that I looked at the back of records and read their names. I learned their songs and covered their songs. I saw their names on Billboard and tried to live up to them, never dreaming I’d be actually in their company. For me, the ultimate acceptance, and I can’t express my gratitude enough.”
Martin’s dad was a songwriter, and he grew up to be a journalist. But he wrote parody songs for fun. When his dad urged him to take songwriting more seriously, Martin wrote “Baby’s Gotten Good at Goodbye,” which Strait made a hit.
It was Martin’s first demo, first cut, first single, first hit, and first No. 1. Since then, artists including Lee Ann Womack, Tim McGraw, Bentley, and Keith Urban have recorded his songs.
“I always said half-jokingly that writing a song is either the easiest thing in the world to do or it’s impossible,” Martin said. “That’s kind of how I feel about trying to describe how I feel right now. It’s very easy to express, but finding all the right words is going to be impossible.”
Impossible to Find the Words
Ford said Cook was writing songs by the time he was 12 years old and made his first demo at 14. He played coffee houses in his native Texas as a teen, then moved to Nashville three days after he graduated from the University of Texas.
Don Gant signed him to a deal at Acuff Rose Publishing, and when Gant moved to Tree Publishing, Cook followed him. Cook had 11 cuts, including “Cryin’ Again” by the Oak Ridge Boys and his first No. 1 hit, “Lady Lay Down” by John Conlee.
“I’ve worn a lot of hats in this community,” Cook said following his announcement. “I’ve been here for a long time. If I’m remembered for anything, I hope I’m remembered for my part in this beautiful community. I can’t believe I get to do this for a living. It is such an unbelievable honor for me. The blessing in my life is my wife, Charlene – and the blessing in my career is being a songwriter.”
(Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)
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