Meet the Songwriters
Rhett Akins
Rhett Akins has had 30 No. 1 singles (and counting), which is remarkable! Some of them include, Luke Bryan’s “I Don’t Want This Night to End and Huntin’ Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day,” Chris Young’s “I Can Take it From There,” Justin Moore’s “Point at You,”, Dustin Lynch’s “Mindreader” and Locash’s “ I Know Somebody” Rhett’s also responsible for Blake Shelton’s “All About Tonight,” “Boys ‘Round Here” and “Honey Bee,” the latter of which spent a total of four weeks at No. 1. His Jason Aldean cuts include “When She Says Baby,” “Just Gettin’ Started” and “Tonight Looks Good on You.” He had another three week No. 1 with Thomas Rhett’s “It Goes Like This.” He also wrote TR’s “Get Me Some of That” and “Star Of The Show” which was co-written with, Thomas Rhett and their first No. 1 together. In 2017, John Pardi’s “Dirt On My Boots” went No.1 and later that year, Dustin Lynch's "Small Town Boy" spent 4 weeks at #1 on Billboard. Rhett celebrated with Thomas Rhett and fellow co-writers his 29th number one, “Life Changes” in 2018 and his 30th #1 with in the summer of 2019, “Look What God Gave Her”. In November of 2019, Rhett celebrated his 31st #1 with Brantley Gilbert’s “What Happens In A Small Town”
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Jessi Alexander
“In Nashville, everybody wants to categorize you as either an ‘artist’ or a ‘writer,’” says Jessi Alexander, “but there was never a distinction for me.” The CMA and ACM Song of the Year winner’s extraordinary new album, ‘Decatur County Red,’ is proof of that. Recorded at Zac Brown’s Southern Ground studio with a cast of Nashville’s finest, the collection finds Alexander at her most honest and vulnerable, looking back on her humble Tennessee roots and tracing her remarkable journey through heartbreak and joy, pain and reconciliation, disappointment and triumph. The songs here reflect a lifetime spent obsessing over southern rock and classic country, showcasing the melodic instincts that have garnered her multiple #1’s while at the same time stretching her sound beyond the mainstream pop hits she’s written for the likes of Blake Shelton, Miley Cyrus, Lee Brice, Tim McGraw, Celine Dion, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, Trisha Yearwood, and Ashley Monroe among others. Reckoning the darkness that drove her away from home and the ties that will forever bind her, the album is at once a celebration of the simplicity of Southern living and a love letter to the music that raised her. “A lot of people like to argue what is and isn’t country music,” says Alexander, “but I think it’s pretty simple. Be real, be raw. That’s country music to me.” With ‘Decatur County Red,’ Jessi Alexander is as country as it gets.
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Dylan Altman
Originally from the great state of New Jersey, Dylan Altman has been writing and performing in Nashville since 1994. He has had three #1 songs: Tim McGraw’s “Watch The Wind Blow By”, Jake Owen’s “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”, Jason Aldean’s “Take A Little Ride” as well as Chase Bryant’s top ten hit “Take It On Back”. Other artists who have recorded his songs include Trace Adkins, Eli Young Band, Joe Nichols and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
Clint Daniels
Born in Panama City, Florida, Clint Daniels is an American country music singer and songwriter. He was signed as a solo artist with Arista Nashville in 1998. There, Daniels released four songs, two of which charted on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs. In 2003, Daniels signed with Epic Records but never released an album. Having already co-written his first Number One single for Joe Nichols (Brokenheartsville), he focused his career on songwriting and has been primarily known for his songwriting and performing at showcases across the country. As a BMI award-winning songwriter, Daniels has co-written Number One singles for Joe Nichols, Montgomery Gentry (Roll With Me) and most recently, Eric Church (Some Of It). His songs have helped shape country music for almost 20 years and have been recorded by George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, Clay Walker, Easton Corbin, Jon Pardi and other country acts. In 2019, Daniels signed a co-venture publishing deal with BMG and Porch Light Music. In 2020, he was both nominated for a Grammy (country song of the year) and an ACM for the song, Some Of It.
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Barry Dean
Barry Dean is a prolific country and pop music songwriter based out of Nashville, Tennessee. He is often believed to be among the most gifted songwriters in the United States. He has co-written songs such as, “We Don’t Care” on BORNS new album Blue Madonna, Michael Ray’s #1 Country Radio single, “Think A Little Less”, “Drunk Girls Don’t Cry” on Maren Morris’ #1 Country Album Hero. He has also co-written “Free” on Little Big Town’s #1 Country Album The Breaker and “Damn Good at Holding on” with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill which became the #1 Country album, The Rest of Our Life. He is currently writing with Maren Morris, Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert and Tim McGraw.
Luke Dick
Luke Dick was raised in a topless bar and grew up to be a philosophy professor; now he’s a songwriter, a filmmaker, and a new wave bandleader, in no particular order. He has been profiled in Rolling Stone; written chart-topping and award winning hits for Kacey Musgraves, Dierks Bentley, and Eric Church; and spent some time in NYC writing Jingles for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and Hilton Hotels. 2019 saw the release of Dick’s first feature-length documentary called Red Dog, which he co-directed, co-produced and scored. He is also the mastermind behind the new wave punk band STEVE, formerly Republican Hair.
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Natalie Hemby
Natalie Hemby is an American country music songwriter and singer. She has written songs for Lee Ann Womack, Eli Young Band, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Sunny Sweeney, Little Big Town, Jon Pardi, and Lady Gaga. In 2019, she joined the quartet The Highwomen alongside Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Maren Morris. Natalie has accumulated five #1 Billboard singles during her career, including "White Liar" and "Only Prettier" by Miranda Lambert, "Pontoon" and "Tornado" by Little Big Town, "Drinks After Work" by Toby Keith and "Automatic" by Miranda Lambert.
Jeff Hyde
Jeff Hyde was raised on the sounds of artists such as Vern Gosdin, Tom T. Hall, and The Statler Brothers - chart-toppers who wrote many of their own hits. A native of Marshall, Texas, Hyde moved to Nashville in 2001 inspired to write songs like those he admired from a young age. His songs have been recorded by artists such as Charlie Worsham, Bobby Bare, Easton Corbin, Alan Jackson, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, George Strait, Keith Urban and Eric Church, including Urban’s single “We Were,” and Church’s “Record Year,” “Springsteen,” and current single "Monsters". Jeff is a Grammy-nominated songwriter and has been a member of Eric Church’s touring band for over 13 years. He is currently signed as a songwriter at Little Louder Music.
Brandon Kinney
With his skewed images, offbeat personalities, unpredictable phrasing, songwriter Brandon Kinney doesn't take himself, or the world around him, too seriously. “Seriousness is not in my personality,” he admits. “I have been able to get in the room with some of the best craftsmen in the business; I have been able to share my sense of easy going with their seriousness.” This is what drew peermusic to sign him to a publishing deal in 2016. Kinney has been influenced by artists like Roger Miller, John Anderson, Don Williams and John Conlee, particularly drawn to songs with lighter themes or blue-collar subject matter in the traditional form of the genre. His journey as a songwriter has garnered him cuts with artists like Jason Aldean (“Drowns The Whiskey,” “Set It Off”), Cole Swindell (“Love You Too Late,” "Reason To Drink," "No Can Left Behind," “Should’ve Ran After You”), Jon Pardi ("Ain't Always The Cowboy"), Luke Bryan (“Beer In The Headlights”), Justin Moore (“I’d Want It To Be Yours,” “Off The Beaten Path”), Chase Rice (“Dirt Road Communication”), Chris Janson (“Right In The Middle”), Willie Nelson (“Ain’t Goin’ Down On Brokeback Mountain”), Craig Campbell (“Outta My Head”) and Randy Houser, whose single "Boots On" was named BMI's 2nd Most Played Song of 2009.
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Jon Randall
Jon Randall Stewart started his musical journey singing backup and playing guitar with Emmylou Harris. He’s toured and recorded with countless artists including Vince Gill and Dierks Bentley. Most known for his CMA Song of the Year award for ‘Whiskey Lullaby”, Randall is credited the co-write with Whisperin’ Bill Anderson. Producer of “Up on the Ridge”, Dierks Bentley’s acoustic project earned CMA, GRAMMY, and ACM nominations. He also earned a GRAMMY nomination and ACM Song of the Year in 2018 for “Tin Man” co-written with Miranda Lambert & Jack Ingram and a CMA and ACM Nomination for Album of the Year for Dierks Bentley, "The Mountain" which he co-produced. Other hit songs include “Am I The Only One” cut by Dierks Bentley and “Drink On It” by Blake Shelton. Randall is currently working on his fifth studio album that will be released in this year.
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Wynn Varble
Wynn came to love country music at a very young age. He discovered his father’s collection of classic country albums. He even traded his big brother’s “Grand Funk Railroad” for a copy of Jimmy Dean’s “Big Bad John”. He still has a scar to prove it. Around the age of 14, a neighbor named Ned Smith showed him a few chords on an old guitar. As soon as Wynn learned a few chords, he began to write his own songs. Wynn says Willie Nelson taught him the rest from the “Red Headed Stranger” album. After many years of playing in honkytonks, bars and feed store parking lots, he decided to make the move to Nashville. His first radio single was “Fit to Be Tied Down” by Sammy Kershaw. Since then he has had dozens of hits including three number ones…all three were nominated as Song of The Year by either CMA or ACM and sometimes both. Those songs are: “Have You Forgotten” by Darryl Worley, “Waitin’ on A Woman” by Brad Paisley, and “I’m A Little More Country Than That” recorded by Easton Corbin. Wynn received Nashville Songwriters Association’s Songwriter of the Year Award in 2009. Wynn has three songs on the new Garth Brooks CD “Man Against Machine”, including the hit single, “Mom”. Wynn still writes songs every day and tours extensively. His latest CD “Portrait of My Father” has just been released. It is available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and CD Baby. Wynn is currently with BMG Music Publishing.