(L-R) Vince Gill, Fred Foster, Kyle Young and David Conrad. photo: Donn Jones

When songwriter Cindy Walker died in March 2006, she left the writer’s share of her cherished catalog of songs to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Befittingly, the organization celebrated her life and work with a donation ceremony yesterday (8/12) and also revealed plans for a new Walker project.

The 1997 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee’s bequest included files and notebooks related to the songs, sheet music, photographs and business documents. Museum Director Kyle Young explained that Walker, who was once married briefly and had no children, thought of her songs as her “babies.” In one of her files, curators found Walker’s farewell note to her songs. “Goodbye my darling,” she wrote. “You have been so good to me. You have made me rich and famous. I love you, you are the reason I am, and you are in the Hall of Fame. I will miss you. Goodbye, your girl, Cindy Walker.”

“Few things have served as a more emotional reminder of our responsibilities here than Cindy Walker’s note to her ‘babies,’” said Young.

Museum trustee David Conrad described the Museum’s plans for the Walker songs. Crediting the idea to Sony/ATV Music Publishing President-CEO Troy Tomlinson, also a Board member, Conrad announced plans for a 12-song Walker demo to be shopped to film and television music supervisors. Conrad will executive produce, while Tony Brown, Fred Foster and Vince Gill have each volunteered to produce four songs for the project. Artists from different genres will create new arrangements of Walker’s songs which will then be pitched to Sony/ATV’s list of 450 film and television supervisors via MySpace. The publishers will contribute to the recording budget.

The celebration concluded with a musical salute to Walker presented by Nashville’s premier western swing unit, the Time Jumpers. The band presented four songs from their standard repertoire including “Sugar Moon” with Kenny Sears on vocals, “You Don’t Know Me” with vocals by Carolyn Martin, “Miss Molly” with vocals by Ranger Doug, and “I Don’t Care” featuring the voice of Dawn Sears. Museum President Vince Gill joined the Time Jumpers to sing “Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream).”

Jack Ingram will release his second Big Machine studio project Big Dreams & High Hopes on Tues., Aug. 25. The lead single “Barefoot and Crazy” is already at No. 8 on MusicRow’s Country Breakout Chart. Ingram’s list of top-notch co-writers, producers and collaborators for the new project includes Americana songstress Patty Griffin on the Ingram-penned “Seeing Stars,” and mainstream chart-topper Dierks Bentley on the honky-tonk party anthem “Barbie Doll.” Elsewhere, Little Big Town, Randy Houser, James Otto and The Lost Trailers (also known as The Little Big Lost Beat-Up Ford Funky Times Freedom Choir) contribute gang vocals. Jay Joyce, Jeremy Stover, Doug Lancio and Radney Foster all get production credits on the 11-track effort, and Ingram’s stellar cast of co-writers includes Jeffrey Steele, Darrell Brown, Dallas Davidson, Gary Burr and Tom Shapiro.

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Mac McAnally’s latest album, Down By The River, will be out Aug. 4. The 11-song collection of new original material is his 11th release as a solo artist and his debut for Show Dog Nashville. The self-produced album showcases the acclaimed musician/songwriter on guitar, piano, harmonica, ukulele and percussion. Proceeds from “You First,” the lead single, will benefit the Wounded Warriors Project, whose mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors.

McAnally received his first No. 1 single as an artist and sixth as a writer on his recent collaboration with Kenny Chesney, “Down The Road.” He was named 2008 Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association, and is also a 2007 inductee to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Starting as a Muscle Shoals session musician, then signing as Geffen Records’ first artist at the age of 16, McAnally went on to become a respected guitar player and singer, working with artists including Roy Orbison, Hank Williams Jr., Jimmy Buffett, Travis Tritt, and Dolly Parton. As a producer, he’s helmed successful projects by Sawyer Brown, and Chris LeDoux.

Hit songwriter Matraca Berg will take a seat at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum on Saturday, July 18, as the latest subject of the quarterly programming series Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters. The 1:30 p.m. program, which will be held in the Museum’s Ford Theater, is included with Museum admission and free to Museum members.

Museum Editor Michael Gray will conduct an in-depth, one-on-one interview with Berg, illustrated with audiovisual elements from the Museum’s collection, including recordings, photos and film clips. Berg will perform briefly during the program, and immediately following she will sign autographs in the Museum Store (visit the Museum’s Web site for signing details).

Matraca Berg’s stirring, powerful songs have helped her remain one of Music City’s most successful songwriters for more than two decades. Berg’s Billboard #1 hits include “Wild Angels” (Martina McBride), “You Can Feel Bad” (Patty Loveless), “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl)” (Trisha Yearwood), “The Last One to Know” (Reba McEntire) and “Strawberry Wine” (Deana Carter), among others. Other artists who have cut her songs include the Dixie Chicks, Sara Evans, Faith Hill, Ray Price, Linda Ronstadt, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker, Keith Urban and Gretchen Wilson.  As a recording artist, Berg charted a handful of singles herself in the 1990s.

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Jude Johnstone, Danny Flowers and James House will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 18, in the third concert of the 2009 Bluebird on the Mountain series. Held on the scenic grounds of Vanderbilt’s Dyer Observatory, Bluebird on the Mountain showcases artists from the Bluebird Cafe. Season tickets are sold out for this year’s series, but advance tickets for the remaining single shows are available through Ticketmaster, which will add a handling fee. Tickets are $95 for a carload.

The series was created in collaboration with Amy Kurland, who founded the Bluebird Cafe in 1982 and built the club into one of Nashville’s premier performance venues for songwriters before selling it to the Nashville Songwriters Association International in late 2007.