Taylor Swift speaks as she is inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala on Oct 26 at the Music City Center in Nashville. (AP Photo)
Taylor Swift signed her first publishing deal in Nashville at the age of 14. About 22 years and 14 Grammys later, she joined the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame along with Lyle Lovett, Shawn Camp, Lee Thomas Miller, Bruce Channel and J.I. Allison.
Swift added another honor to her trophy wall with her second hall of fame induction this year and was celebrated at the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala on Monday in a crowded ballroom full of artists, writers and country music elite.
Swift, who took her talents to a much wider audience beyond country music, said her ability to “genre hop” was because she had learned the fundamentals of songwriting in Nashville.
Brad Paisley, one of the first major artists to take her on tour after her debut album, introduced her as “the voice of a generation.”
Lainey Wilson performed a bluegrass version of “Love Story” with fiddle and stand-up bass from Swift’s second album, “Fearless.”
Swift wasn’t the only big star to be celebrated, as George Strait, the lauded “King of Country Music,” was given the Career Maker Award from the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Strait, a Country Music Hall of Famer, is known for picking great songs from other songwriters and sending them to the top of country charts for five decades.
Surrounded by songwriters on stage, Strait was predictably succinct in his speech as he sent out his thanks for all the writers who sent songs to him over the years.
“They made my career,” Strait said. “I didn’t make theirs.”
Lovett spent his speech naming mentors and artists and writers who took a chance on him.
Allison, who died in 2022, was a member of Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets and co-wrote hits like “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue.” Camp, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, fiddle and more, co-wrote songs like “Two Pina Coladas” for Garth Brooks and “How Long Gone” by Brooks & Dunn, as well as hits for Blake Shelton and George Strait and many bluegrass songs.
Channel co-wrote “Hey! Baby!” a song that would become part of the movie “Dirty Dancing” but also a country hit for Anne Murray and many others. Miller co-wrote award-winning songs like “You’re Gonna Miss This,” performed by Trace Adkins and “In Color,” performed by Jamey Johnson.
