‘American Songwriter’ Lyric Contest Judges Announced

American Songwriter magazine has selected its judges for its annual Lyric Contest, which will run over the course of the year.

One winner will be chosen by the panel of judges for each of the magazine’s bi-monthly issues (six in all). In addition, the judges will determine the overall winner, who will receive the opportunity to fly to Nashville, co-write a song with Mary Gauthier and record a full-band demo at OmniSound Studios.

This year’s judges are:

John Paul White (The Civil Wars)
Co-founding partner, Single Lock Records; singer/songwriter/producer

Sarah Zimmermann (Striking Matches)
Recording Artist, Songwriter

Jonny Fritz
Songwriter/Leatherworker

Laurel Kittleson
A&R Manager, Big Machine Label Group

Matraca Berg
Songwriter, Patrick Joseph Music

Gabe Dixon
Artist, Singer, Songwriter

John Ozier
GM, Creative, ole Music Publishing

Jeff Skaggs
Creative Director, Creative Nation

Will McDonald
Director of A&R/Marketing, Dualtone Music Group

Griffin House
Singer/Songwriter, Recording Artist

Bobby Rymer
Partner/GM, Writer’s Den Music Group

Kristie Sloan
Co-owner, The GreenRoom PR

Greg Gallo
Sr. Director Creative, Big Deal Music

Sunny Sweeney
Singer/Songwriter, Recording Artist

Caine O’Rear
Editor-in-Chief, American Songwriter

Each of the six semi-finalists also receives a Gibson SJ-100 Walnut Guitar and Shure SM-58 microphone, and their lyrics are printed in the magazine.

The American Songwriter Lyric Contest has had two recent notable success stories. Earlier this year Lance Carpenter, a 2010 Lyric Contest winner, scored his first No. 1 song with Kelsea Ballerini’s “Love Me Like You Mean It.” Matt Hoggatt, a 2012 contest winner, caught the attention of Jimmy Buffett with his lyric “Dear Jimmy Buffett,” who in turn signed him to his label Mailboat Records and released the album Hotter Than Fishgrease the same year.

Submissions are now being accepted.