The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (NaSHOF) revealed its Class of 2025 inductees this morning (Aug. 6) at press conference on Music Row. It was announced that Emmylou Harris, Brad Paisley, Jim Lauderdale, Don Cook, Steve Bogard and Tony Martin will become members of the esteemed Hall in October.
The six will join the 247 previously-inducted members when they are formally inducted during the 55th Anniversary Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala on Monday, Oct. 6, at the Music City Center.
The news was shared by Rich Hallworth, Chair of the organization’s board of directors, and Mark Ford, its Executive Director, at Nashville’s historic Columbia Studio A – part of Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business.
“Gathering as we do each year – to reveal and welcome the members of our incoming class – is truly one of the highlights of our calendar,” said Hallworth. “To these outstanding songwriters, we say – thank you for sharing your songs and your artistry with us. We are proud to honor you this fall, when you will officially join your legendary peers in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.”
Ford introduced each member of the new class at the press conference event. Bogard and Martin were elected in the contemporary songwriter category; Lauderdale in the contemporary songwriter/artist category; Cook as the veteran songwriter, Harris as the veteran songwriter/artist, and Paisley, who was elected in 2024 but deferred at his request to 2025, as the contemporary songwriter/artist.
Below is bio information for each inductee, provided by the NaSHOF:
STEVE BOGARD [electee – contemporary songwriter category]
Florida native Steve Bogard’s songwriting path began in Tampa where his teenage Rock band days led to two solo-penned singles on Scepter Records. Following a move to Memphis, where he scored a top 20 R&B hit with James Carr, Steve made his next move to Miami as a 19-year-old staff writer for Atlantic Records, where he garnered cuts by Rita Coolidge, Delaney & Bonnie, and others. Steve followed with solo albums in Canada and the U.K. Then in 1979, one of his 11-year-old songs, “Touch Me With Magic,” was released by Marty Robbins, reached No. 15 Country, and became a BMI-award winner. Steve moved to Nashville in 1982. His first No. 1, Lee Greenwood’s “Mornin’ Ride,” came five years later and was followed by more No. 1’s: “New Fool At an Old Game” by Reba McEntire, “Carried Away” and “Carrying Your Love With Me” (both by George Strait), “Wherever You Are” by Jack Ingram, and “Seein’ Red” by Dustin Lynch. In 2000, “Prayin’ For Daylight” launched Rascal Flatts’ career as their debut single, and in 2006 and 2007, two of Steve’s songs by Dierks Bentley were nominated for Grammys – “Every Mile A Memory” and “Long Trip Alone.”
TONY MARTIN [electee – contemporary songwriter category]
Born in Georgia and raised in Nashville, Tony Martin has been around country songwriting his entire life. The son of country composer Glenn Martin, Tony grew up at the feet of other stellar songwriters such as Sonny Throckmorton, Mickey Newbury, and Hank Cochran. During his time as a journalist for a Chicago newspaper, Tony was writing parody songs for fun when his father urged him to take his talent more seriously. In 1988, Tony wrote “Baby’s Gotten Good At Goodbye,” which his father successfully pitched to George Strait. The song proved to be the dream scenario for a songwriter. It was Tony’s first demo, first cut, first single, first hit and first No. 1. Since that time, Tony has added more chart-topping hits to his resume. Among those are “A Little More Summertime” by Jason Aldean, “I’ll Think Of A Reason Later” by Lee Ann Womack, “Just To See You Smile” by Tim McGraw, “Living And Living Well” and “Go On” (both by George Strait), “No Place That Far” by Sara Evans, “Settle For A Slow Down” by Dierks Bentley, “Third Rock From The Sun” by Joe Diffie, and “You Look Good In My Shirt” by Keith Urban.
DON COOK [electee – veteran songwriter category]
Don Cook was born in San Antonio, Texas. He was writing songs by age 12, recording his first demo by age 14 and playing various Houston coffeehouses throughout his teenage years. Three days after his graduation from the University of Texas, Don arrived in Nashville. He soon met publisher Don Gant, who signed him to a deal at Acuff-Rose Publishing. When Gant moved to Tree Publishing, Don followed. In his first year at Tree he had 11 cuts, including “Cryin’ Again” by The Oak Ridge Boys and “Lady Lay Down” by John Conlee — Don’s first No. 1 as a songwriter. Other hits followed in the ’80s, including “Julia” by Conway Twitty, “I Wish That I Could Hurt That Way Again” by T. Graham Brown, “Small Town Girl” by Steve Wariner and “Somebody’s Gonna Love You” by Lee Greenwood. In the early ’90s, Don co-wrote “Brand New Man,” the first single for Brooks & Dunn, and began to produce the duo, a collaboration that yielded the co-written No. 1 hits “My Next Broken Heart,” “Only In America” and “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone,” among others.
JIM LAUDERDALE [electee – contemporary songwriter/artist category]
Born in Troutman, North Carolina, Jim Lauderdale grew up in Due West, South Carolina. After college graduation in 1979, Jim made his way to Nashville for a few months before moving on to New York. By the late 1980s, Jim had joined the national touring production of Pump Boys & Dinettes and relocated to Los Angeles, where he began to find traction musically as a writer and performer. In the early 1990s Jim returned to Nashville, where he began to land early cuts by George Strait. By the mid ’90s Jim’s songs were finding homes on the country chart: “Gonna Get A Life” by Mark Chesnutt, “Halfway Down” by Patty Loveless and “You Don’t Seem To Miss Me” by Loveless & George Jones. Near the end of the decade Strait had top 5 hits with Jim’s “We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This” and “What Do You Say To That” (originally recorded by Jim on BNA Records in 1998). Across Jim’s career as an Americana recording artist, he has released 37 albums – achieving two Grammy wins for Bluegrass Album of the Year and charting bluegrass hits such as “Mighty Lonesome,” “One Blue Mule” and “Iodine.” His collaborations with Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys have yielded the bluegrass top 10 “I Feel Like Singing Today” and “She’s Looking At Me,” the 2002 AMA Song of the Year. Jim was honored with the AMA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
EMMYLOU HARRIS [electee – veteran songwriter/artist category]
Birmingham, Alabama-born Emmylou Harris was raised in North Carolina and Virginia. By high school, she was obsessed with playing guitar. Graduating as valedictorian, she eventually left college for the folk music scene in New York’s Greenwich Village. Signing with Jubilee Records, she released her debut album in 1970 with five self-penned songs. Moving to Washington, D.C., she met Gram Parsons, joined his band, and discovered a passion for country music. Following Parson’s untimely death, Emmylou formed her own band and signed with Reprise Records. Her 1975 release featured her classic “Boulder To Birmingham.” Though Emmylou recorded her own songs sporadically until the 2000s, her “White Line” reached No. 14 country in 1985, and her “Heartbreak Hill” reached No. 8 country in 1989. Her co-written “In My Hour Of Darkness,” recorded by Gram Parsons in 1973, re-emerged in 2007 as a No. 15 bluegrass hit for John Starling & Carolina Star. Emmylou’s “Sweetheart Of The Pines” from 1986 became a No. 17 bluegrass hit for Dale Ann Bradley in 2016. Other songs from Emmylou include “A River For Him,” “Amarillo,” “Red Dirt Girl,” “The Pearl” and “Woman Walk The Line.” She is a 1995 inductee into the SPBGMA Hall of Greats, a 2008 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and a 2018 recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
BRAD PAISLEY [electee – contemporary songwriter/artist category 2024]
Brad Paisley was born and raised in Glen Dale, West Virginia. He received his first guitar from his grandfather, who taught him to play at eight years old. At age 13, Brad wrote his first song, which he performed publicly, and which eventually led him to an eight-year stint performing on Wheeling’s Jamboree USA. After high-school graduation and two years at West Liberty State College, Brad was awarded a fully paid ASCAP scholarship to Belmont University in Nashville where he majored in music business. A week after graduating from Belmont, Brad signed as a writer with EMI Music Publishing. Following cuts by David Kersh, David Ball and Tracy Byrd, Brad signed with Arista Nashville and soon began to record his own songs. As an artist, he has placed 33 self-penned top 20 songs on the Billboard charts, including 15 No. 1s and 14 more in the top 10. Among those compositions are “He Didn’t Have To Be,” “Alcohol,” “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song),” “Celebrity,” “Ticks,” “Letter To Me,” “Then,” “This Is Country Music,” “Water,” and his duet with Carrie Underwood “Remind Me.” A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 2001, Brad was ASCAP’s 2004 Country Songwriter/Artist of the Year. He was NSAI’s Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2002 and 2005.
