Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

Scott and Paul look back on the first two years of Songcraft, sharing memories and clips of previous episodes, including some of their favorite moments from classic interviews.

Sonny Curtis began his music career in Lubbock, Texas, playing lead guitar in Buddy Holly’s pre-Crickets band, The Three Tunes. He landed his first hit as a songwriter when Webb Pierce took his song “Someday” to #12 on the Billboard country chart in 1957. He went on to his own performing career, both as a solo artist and as the longtime guitarist and vocalist for the post-Buddy Holly Crickets, while continuing to write songs that became hits for others. These include The Everly Brothers’ “Walk Right Back,” Andy Williams’ “A Fool Never Learns,” The Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought the Law,” Bobby Goldsboro’s “The Straight Life,” Leo Sayer’s “More Than I Can Say,” and Keith Whitley’s #1 country hit, “I’m No Stranger to the Rain.” In addition, Curtis wrote and performed “Love is All Around,” the theme song to The Mary Tyler Moore Show. His music has been covered by Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, The Grateful Dead, The Stray Cats, Bryan Adams, John Cougar Mellencamp, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr., Joan Jett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Chet Atkins, Johnny Rivers, Green Day, Harry Nilsson, Glen Campbell, and many others.  He’s a member of the Musician’s Hall of Fame and the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991. In 2012 he and his fellow Crickets were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which also counted Sonny’s “I Fought the Law” as one of the 500 “Songs That Shaped Rock.” Similarly, “I Fought the Law” is on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

Multi-Grammy award winner Loretta Lynn is an American music legend. The Kentucky native married as a young teenager, moved to Washington State, and had four children by age 20. She poured her energies into life as a homemaker before teaching herself to play guitar and write songs. Her life experiences informed her writing style, which gave voice to the concerns of everyday working class women. She landed a record contract with a regional label and tirelessly promoted her first single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,” to radio stations across the country. The record climbed to #14 on the Billboard country chart, leading to a move to Nashville. After appearing on the Grand Ole Opry and signing a songwriting deal with the Wilburn Brothers’ publishing company she was recruited to Decca Records by legendary producer Owen Bradley. Loretta went on to place more than 75 singles on the Billboard country chart as either a solo artist or as a duet partner with Ernest Tubb or Conway Twitty. More than 50 of those singles hit the Top 10, including 15 #1 hits. Many of her classic songs were self-penned, including “Dear Uncle Sam,” “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind),” “Fist City,” “Your Squaw Is on the Warpath,” “Rated X,” “The Pill,” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” which NPR named one of the “100 Most Significant Songs of the Century.” She has received a combined 21 awards from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, including the ACM’s Artist of the Decade Award in 1979, the Pioneer Award in 1994, and the Crystal Milestone Award in 2014. She became the first female to win CMA Entertainer of the Year honors in 1972 and became the first female ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1975. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983, the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008. She received Kennedy Center Honors in 2003, earned the prestigious BMI Icon award in 2004, took home a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2010, and was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. She has sold more than 45 million records worldwide, was the first woman in country music to receive a certified Gold album, and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry for nearly 55 years.  

Tom Russell is a painter, essayist, and critically lauded singer-songwriter in the Western folk tradition, All Music Guide called him “perhaps the finest American folk-roots artist that most Americans never heard of,” while Rolling Stone’s John Swenson dubbed him “the greatest living folk-country songwriter.” Russell was discovered by Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter in New York in the early 1980s and launched his solo artist career soon after. His songs “Blue Wing” and “Black Pearl” each reached the Top 40 on the Canadian country charts, while Suzy Bogguss took “Outbound Plane,” which Tom co-wrote with Nanci Griffith, to the Top 10 in the US. The hyper-literate and historically-minded troubadour poet has found loyal devotees including cultural icons ranging from Johnny Cash, who recorded his songs, to David Letterman, who invited Russell on his late night show on at least five different occasions. Songs such as “Gallo del Cielo” and “Navajo Rug” have become fan favorites, while “Tonight We Ride” was selected by the Western Writers of America as one of the Top 100 Western Songs of all time. Tom’s songs have been recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Dave Alvin, Doug Sahm, Joe Ely, Nanci Griffith, Iris Dement, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Ian Tyson, k.d. lang,  and others. Mojo magazine called his conceptual LP The Rose of Roscrae “the top Folk album of 2015. That same year, Russell won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music journalism. His most recent work is Ceremonies of the Horsemen, a collection of essays he has written for Ranch & Reata, the Journal of the American West.

The daughter of legendary Nashville songwriter and producer Buddy Cannon, Marla Cannon-Goodman first made her mark when Lee Ann Womack took her song “The Fool” to the top of the country charts in 1997. Cannon went on to pen the #1 hits “Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo” by Tracy Byrd and “Cleaning This Gun” by Rodney Atkins, as well as the hit singles “Don’t Make Me” by Blake Shelton and “Rock On” by Tucker Beathard. Other artists who’ve recorded her songs include Sammy Kershaw, Susan Ashton, Craig Morgan, Tracy Lawrence, Billy Currington, Eric Church, Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Joe Nichols, Sara Evans, and others. She is a multiple ASCAP award winner and regularly lends her talents to various charities and fundraising efforts in the Nashville community.

Launching his professional career as a child actor on Broadway, Gary Wright eventually moved to Europe to pursue post-graduate studies in Psychology. While there, he co-founded the group Spooky Tooth as keyboardist and primary songwriter. He departed in 1970 to launch a solo career and, during this era, began working as a studio musician, playing on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album, Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy,” Harry Nilsson’s “Without You,” and other notable recordings by legends such as B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis. His work with George Harrison led to a lifelong friendship, resulting in Wright appearing on every Harrison solo album in the 1970s. George recorded several of their co-written compositions, including “If You Believe” from his 1979 self-titled album and “That’s What It Takes,” which the two composed with Jeff Lynne for the acclaimed Cloud 9 album. After a second stint with Spooky Tooth from 1972-1974, Gary’s commercial breakthrough as a solo artist came when he signed with Warner Bros. Records. The Dream Weaver LP from 1975 spawned two massive hits; the title track, which became a #1 single, and “Love is Alive,” which climbed to #2 on the Billboardpop chart. He continued to record for Warner Bros. into the 1980s, with highlights including the critically acclaimed Headin’ Home album in 1979 and the Top 20 single “Really Want to Know You” from 1981. After spending several years exploring world music, Gary returned to his rock and pop roots with a Spooky Tooth reunion in 2004, followed by a multi-year stint in Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band beginning in 2008. His most recent release is the previously unheard album Ring of Changes, which he recorded in 1972 with his band Wonderwheel, featuring a pre-Foreigner Mick Jones. In 2014 Gary released his autobiography, Dream Weaver: Music, Meditation and My Friendship with George Harrison.

A multiple BMI award-winning songwriter, Maurice Williams is best known for penning two R&B classics, “Stay,” and “Little Darlin’.” The latter song first appeared on the Excello label in 1957 as recorded by Williams’ own group, The Gladiolas. It was soon covered by The Diamonds, who made it a national #2 hit on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts. Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” kept the song from the top spot, though Elvis himself would later record “Little Darlin’” for his 1977 Moody Blue album. Williams’ Gladiolas eventually morphed into Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, who topped the charts with “Stay” in 1960. Though the song is only 97 seconds long, its infectious falsetto harmony hook, “Oh won’t you stay just a little bit longer,” made it an instant doo-wop classic and the record holder for the shortest song to ever hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart.  Other artists have charted with their own Top 20 hit versions, including the Hollies, the Four Seasons, and Jackson Browne. The Zodiacs’ original version became well-known to a new generation with the release of the multi-million selling soundtrack to the film Dirty Dancing in 1987. Following the success of “Stay,” Williams continued to perform with the Zodiacs, scoring charting pop singles such as the self-penned titles, “I Remember” and “Come Along.” His “May I” became a million-selling record for the Zodiacs and a Top 40 single for Bill Deal and the Rhondels in 1969. Williams continues to perform and record, and has been inducted into the Carolina Beach Music Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, and the South Carolina Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Pioneering female artist and celebrated Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, landed more than 30 songs on the Billboard charts between 1954 and 1974. These include the self-penned singles "Right or Wrong" and "In the Middle of a Heartache," two Top 10 hits which proved to be Jackson’s most successful records as a solo artist. Beginning her career as a pure country singer, Wanda’s debut single was a duet with Billy Gray called “You Can’t Have My Love.” Released on Decca Records, the song hit #8 on the country chart in 1954. She later switched to the Capitol label where she was encouraged by then-boyfriend and tour mate Elvis Presley to embrace rockabilly. Facing a lack of female-oriented material in the genre, Wanda penned her own songs, including the rockabilly standards "Mean Mean Man," "Rock Your Baby," "Cool Love" and "Baby Loves Him," each of which was released as a single on Capitol Records and later appeared on her classic Rockin' with Wanda LP. Additionally, she penned Top 10 hits for other artists, including Bobby Lord's "Without Your Love" in 1956, Buck Owens's "Kickin' Our Hearts Around" in 1962, and Ronnie Dove's revival of "Right or Wrong" in 1964. Jackson is a BMI Performance Award winner, multiple Grammy nominee, and a member of the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. "I love her, she's so brilliant. I don't think 'Rollin' in the Deep' would exist if it wasn't for Wanda Jackson." - Adele "Wanda Jackson, an atomic fireball of a lady, could have a smash hit with just about anything." - Bob Dylan "Look around today and you can hear lots of rocking girl singers who owe an unconscious debt to the mere idea of a woman like Wanda. She was standing up on stage with a guitar in her hands and making a sound that was as wild and raw as any rocker, man or woman, while other gals were still asking, 'How much is that doggy in the window?'" - Elvis Costello "In his London office, [Paul] McCartney is surrounded by his roots and history - there is Beatles and Wings memorabilia, and a vintage jukebox loaded with 78s by Fats Domino, Wanda Jackson and Elvis Presley." - Rolling Stone magazine "There's an authenticity in her voice that conjures up a world and a very distinct and particular place in time." - Bruce Springsteen

Gordon Kennedy is a Nashville-based songwriter, producer, and guitarist best known for co-writing “Change the World,” which Eric Clapton took to the top of the charts and kept in the Top 20 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary rankings for an unprecedented 81 weeks. That success won Kennedy a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and turbocharged his commercial songwriting career. After scoring a #3 Billboard country hit with “You Move Me” in 1998, Garth Brooks went on to release 10 more Kennedy-penned songs on his 1999 Chris Gaines album. These included the Top 5 pop hit “Lost in You” and “It Don’t Matter to the Sun,” which fell just shy of the Top 20 on the country chart. Kennedy has enjoyed additional charting singles, such as Faith Hill’s “It Will Be Me;” the Clark Family Experience’s “Meanwhile Back at the Ranch;” Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood’s “Love Will Always Win;” Carrie Underwood’s “The More Boys I Meet;” and Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Help You Now,” “I Will Not Be Broken,” and “Gypsy in Me.” Other artists who’ve recorded Gordon’s songs include Tim McGraw, George Strait, Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, Joan Osborne, Bruce Hornsby, Wynonna, Jerry Reed, Martina McBride, Kristin Chenoweth, and more. He has worked extensively with Ricky Skaggs and Peter Frampton, earning two Grammy nominations for his work on Skaggs’ Mosaic album and winning a Grammy for producing Frampton’s 2006 album, Fingerprints. His most recent project is called Heel, a celebrated reunion album with his mid-1990s band Dogs of Peace.

Mississippi native Trent Dabbs relocated to Nashville in the early 2000s, where he’s carved out a niche on the local indie rock and Americana scene. Over the last twelve years, he’s released ten solo albums, a collaborative EP with edgy country sensation Ashley Monroe, and two retro R&B inspired projects with fellow singer/songwriter Amy Stroup under the name Sugar + The Hi-Lows. Earning significant critical acclaim, All Music predicted that Sugar + The Hi-Lows “just might be the next breakout band to capture the nation’s imagination.” Dabbs is a co-founder of the Ten out of Tenn artist collective, and has collaborated with high-profile songwriters, including Lori McKenna, Gabe Dixon, Joy Williams of the Civil Wars, and Kacey Musgraves, with whom he penned the Top 40 country single “Undermine” from the hit TV show Nashville. Other songs from the Trent Dabbs catalog that have appeared on the series include “World on Time,” “I’m Coming Over,” “Shine,” and “Don’t Put Dirt on My Grave Just Yet,” which became a Top 40 hit for series regular Hayden Panettiere in 2014. Many of the songs from Dabbs’ solo projects have landed on high profile TV shows such as The O.C., The Hills, Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, So You Think You Can Dance, The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Hawaii-Five-O, NCIS, and others. Dabbs contributed six songs to Ingrid Michaelson’s 2014 album Lights Out, including “Girls Chase Boys,” a Top 10 single on both Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs and Adult Top 40 chart. His latest album as a solo artist is called The Optimist.