Country Hall Honors Murrah
Prolific songwriter and successful music publisher Roger Murrah will be honored on March 6 as part of the Museum’s quarterly programming series Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters. The 1:30 PM program, which will be held in the Museum’s Ford Theater, is included with Museum admission and free to Museum members. The program will also be streamed live at www.countrymusichalloffame.org.
Museum Editor Michael Gray will conduct an in-depth, one-on-one interview with Murrah, illustrated with audiovisual elements from the Museum’s collection, including recordings, photos and film clips. Immediately following the program, he will sign autographs in the Museum Store.
Roger Murrah
Born in 1946 and raised on a family farm in Athens, Alabama, Murrah was elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005. He ranks among country music’s most prolific songwriters, with hit songs spanning over four decades. Murrah has written or co-written a host of memorable country songs, including “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” (Alan Jackson), “Goodbye Time” (Conway Twitty, Blake Shelton), “It’s a Little Too Late” (Tanya Tucker), “High Cotton” (Alabama), “Life’s Highway” (Steve Wariner), “Only Love” (Wynonna Judd), “Ozark Mountain Jubilee” (O
ak Ridge Boys), “Where Corn Don’t Grow” (Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt) and many more. Murrah also co-wrote Al Jarreau’s breakthrough pop and R&B hit “We’re in This Love Together.” Currently Murrah is serving as Bug Music’s Senior Vice President, Nashville.
The Poets and Prophets series honors songwriters who have made significant contributions to country music history. Previous Poets and Prophets honorees include Bill Anderson, Matraca Berg, Bobby Braddock, Jerry Chesnut, Hank Cochran, Dean Dillon, John D. Loudermilk, Bob McDill, Curly Putman, Whitey Shafer, Jeffrey Steele and Craig Wiseman.
Music publisher ole has announced the appointment of Kele Currier to the position of Director of Administration. Working closely with ole’s Toronto team on all administration matters, Currier will manage the company’s Nashville-based catalogs, serve as the administration client representative for ole’s roster of country music writers, and actively seek out new administration clients among the self-published Nashville songwriter community.
Final preparations are underway for this year’s Key West Songwriters Festival, scheduled for Wednesday, April 28 – Sunday, May 2. Presented by Better Angels Music and benefiting the Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation, the annual festival, now in its 15th year, will feature more than 100 top-tier songwriters.
Nashville’s Big 98/WSIX-FM has added The Crook & Chase Countdown to the station’s lineup, starting yesterday (1/24). The Nashville-based program will air Sundays from 6 – 10 p.m. CT. Each week, Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase count down the top 30 Country music songs and interview the genre’s superstars and rising artists. The show is nationally syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, and can be heard on nearly 200 stations.