Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Nominees Announced

Five artists and ten songwriters are among the 2011 nominees named by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation for induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In the Songwriter/Artist category, nominees are Garth Brooks, Larry Gatlin, Amy Grant, Alan Jackson and Townes Van Zandt. In the Songwriter category, nominees are John Bettis, Robert Byrne, J.J. Cale, Jan Crutchfield, Mark James, Dan Penn, Gretchen Peters, Thom Schuyler, Allen Shamblin and John Scott Sherrill.
“This is an amazing group of songwriters and songwriter/artists,” said John Van Mol, chair of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation (NaSHOF), which owns and administers the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.  “Every one of them is extremely worthy of induction, and it is our honor to place each of their names in nomination.”
Songs penned by the nominees include “Top of the World” by The Carpenters/Lynn Anderson (Bettis), “Two Dozen Roses” by Shenandoah (Byrne), “Cocaine” by Eric Clapton (Cale), “Statue of a Fool” by Jack Greene/Brian Collins/Ricky Van Shelton (Crutchfield), “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley (James), “The Dark End of the Street” by James Carr/Archie Campbell & Lorene Mann (Penn), ”Independence Day” by Martina McBride (Peters), “16th Avenue” by Lacy J. Dalton (Schulyer), “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt (Shamblin), “Nothin’ But the Wheel” by Patty Loveless (Sherrill).
Songwriter/Artist nominees had numerous successes writing their own material, including “Unanswered Prayers” (Brooks), “Broken Lady” (Gatlin), “Every Heartbeat” (Grant), “Chattahoochee” (Jackson), “Pancho and Lefty” (Van Zandt).
Two songwriters and one Songwriter/Artist will be inducted at the NaSHOF’s annual Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony Saturday, October 16 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.