CMA Songwriters Series Expands To Louisiana And Virginia

The CMA Songwriters Series will host performances in New Orleans on Sept. 6 and Bristol, Virginia, on Sept. 8.

Eric Paslay, Victoria Shaw, and Wrabel will perform a special CMA Songwriters Series event in the Parish at House of Blues in New Orleans on Sept. 6, highlighting the CMA Foundation’s efforts to support music education programs in and around the city.

Paslay will visit with CMA Foundation beneficiary programs, including a local Notes for Notes recording studio and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, all in support of the CMA Foundation’s $295,000 music education grants to the New Orleans community. Several local music teachers will attend the CMA Songwriters Series Tuesday as Paslay’s guests.

Shaw, who is also a member of the CMA Foundation Board of Directors, is an award-winning songwriter and producer who has written for artists including Garth Brooks (“The River,” “She’s Every Woman”) and Eric Church (“Two Pink Lines”). She is a CMA Award-winning producer for Lady Antebellum’s “I Run To You.”

Pop artist Wrabel will round out the group. He has written for artists including Phillip Phillips (“So Easy”), Ellie Goulding (“Devotion”), and Adam Lambert.

The CMA Songwriters Series will travel to The Birthplace of Country Music Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, in Bristol, Virginia, on Sept. 8 . The lineup includes Tracy Lawrence, Barry Dean and Luke Laird.

“The Birthplace of Country Music Museum honors the shared musical heritage of Country Music songwriting and recording and the roots of the legacy that have led us to the 50th anniversary of the CMA Awards,” said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “It is fitting that the CMA Songwriters Series visit such a revered museum at the beginning of the kick-off season for this year’s historic CMA Awards.”

Lawrence has sold more than 13 million records, earned 18 No. 1 singles, and has been nominated for three CMA Awards, taking home a trophy in 2007 for Musical Event of the Year with “Find Out Who Your Friends Are.” He returns to the studio next month to begin work on a new collaborations record.

Dean was nominated in 2013 for CMA Song of the Year for “Pontoon.” Laird has six CMA Award nominations including three consecutive nods for Song of the Year for penning “Pontoon,” “Give Me Back My Hometown,” and “American Kids.”