Nashville, Tennessee (August 15, 2022) – The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) has revealed their Decade honorees, announcing Taylor Swift as the ‘Songwriter-Artist of the Decade’ and Ashley Gorley as the ‘Songwriter of the Decade.’ Their achievements will be honored at the Ryman Auditorium on September 20, 2022 with special segments during the 5th annual Nashville Songwriter Awards presented by City National Bank.
With nearly 20 previously announced performers set to take the stage to honor their favorite writers and award-winners, the line-up continues to grow with the additions of Jordan Davis, Little Big Town, Luke Combs, Parmalee, and Alana Springsteen. Previously announced performers include: Pat Alger, Tony Arata, Babyface, Kent Blazy, Jacob Davis, GAYLE, HARDY, Walker Hayes, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins, Matt McGinn, Thomas Rhett, Matt Rogers, Jenn Schott, Nathan Spicer, Matthew West, and more to come.
Decade award winners are determined by their cumulative songwriting success between the designated years (2010-2019), where points are given by calculating the percentage of songwriting credit in a Nashville-associated song and tracking each song’s performance on a week to week basis in the Top 20 of the Billboard Country Airplay Chart, Billboard Pop Songs Chart, Billboard Christian Airplay Chart or Billboard Rock Airplay Chart. For the ‘Songwriter-Artist of the Decade’ award, there is the additional requirement that they must be the recording artist as well as a credited songwriter of the song for points to count.
Taylor Swift’s incredible success between 2010-2019 now puts her in the company of previous decade award recipients: Toby Keith (2000-2009) and Vince Gill (1990-1999). This decade honor adds to her long list of NSAI achievements which most-notably includes being named NSAI’s ‘Songwriter-Artist of the Year’ a record-breaking seven times. Swift has also received three ‘10 Songs I Wish I’d Written’ awards (2020: “Lover” [written and recorded by: Taylor Swift]; 2017: “Better Man” [written by: Taylor Swift / recorded by: Little Big Town ]; 2015: “Shake It Off” [written by: Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift / recorded by: Taylor Swift]).
"A good songwriter can have you see the flowers in a song," shares Keith Urban. "A great songwriter can have you see and feel them. But, a truly gifted songwriter’s songwriter will have you see, feel and smell those roses in the window. That’s Taylor.
"When she sings ‘memorized the creaks in the floor,’ I’m there in a house with so many immediate details of my own - I’m hooked. In a time where a song can have a dozen writers, the above mentioned song Cornelia Street (one of my all-time fave Tay songs) is one of many with just one. Taylor Swift. She’s the real fucking deal!!!!
"She’s also constantly mining - digging, untethered, uncovering new forms of artistic expression and going at it in such a way that I’m not sure if she’s fearless, or just able to compartmentalize fear. What’s the difference anyway. Answering your calling is not for the faint of heart, but when you do you forge new frontiers and inspire others to do the same. Congrats Taylor. Lead on!"
Chart-topping songwriter Ashley Gorley will be honored as NSAI’s ‘Songwriter of the Decade’ an award fitting for the songwriter who has earned the title of NSAI’s ‘Songwriter of the Year’ five times in the past eight years.
“I have so much respect for Ashley Gorley. His talent as a songwriter is obvious, but his work ethic combined with that talent is truly inspirational. He’s one of the hardest working and most passionate people in town and truly deserves this honor.” – Thomas Rhett
Gorley recently celebrated yet another hit with his 62nd No. 1 and he has previously earned a total of nine awards from NSAI including NSAI’s 2008 ‘Song of the Year’ award for “You’re Gonna Miss This” (written by: Ashley Gorley, Lee Thomas Miller / recorded by: Trace Adkins). Additionally, Gorley has earned three ’10 Songs I Wish I’d Written’ awards (2018: “I Lived It” [written by: Rhett Akins, Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley, Ben Hayslip / recorded by: Blake Shelton] and “Marry Me” [written by: Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley, Shane McAnally, Thomas Rhett / recorded by: Thomas Rhett]; 2017: “Dirt On My Boots” [written by: Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure, Rhett Akins / recorded by: Jon Pardi]).
In addition to celebrating the aforementioned decade winners, the evening will also honor the 2022 song, songwriter, and songwriter-artist of the year, as well as previously announced recipients, GARTH BROOKS (Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award) and Sony Music Publishing Chairman & CEO, Jon Platt (NSAI President’s Keystone Award).
“On behalf of City National Bank we would like to congratulate Taylor and Ashley on their Songwriter-Artist of the Decade and Songwriter of the Decade Awards,” said Diane Pearson and Lori Badgett, Co-Heads of City National Bank Entertainment Division, Nashville. “We look forward to an incredible night at the Nashville Songwriter Association Awards featuring performances by songwriters and artists now including Jordan Davis, Little Big Town, Luke Combs, Parmalee, Alana Springsteen and more as we celebrate the 5th annual event!”
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.ryman.com. Follow @nsaiofficial / #songwriterawards on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up-to-date on all announcements and news.
Official 2022 Nashville Songwriter Awards Sponsors: Presenting Sponsor City National Bank, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Loeb & Loeb, Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation (NCVC), Jack Daniel’s, Recording Academy’s Songwriters & Composers Wing™, Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, SoundExchange and other supporting sponsors.
About Taylor Swift
Singer, songwriter, producer and director, Taylor Swift is an 11-time Grammy winner. She is the only female artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year three times. Her countless accolades include; the most awarded artist ever in American Music Awards’ history along with being named Artist of the Decade; Billboard’s first-ever and only two-time winner of the Woman of the Decade award; the only solo artist this century to have three albums reach No. 1 in one year; the first artist in history to debut atop the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 charts simultaneously and the only artist to accomplish this feat three times; holds the record as the longest No. 1 by run time in Billboard’s Hot 100’s history with her magnum opus, “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),”; VMA Director of the Year for “The Man,” and BRIT’s International Female Solo Artist of the Year in 2015 and the Global Icon Award in 2021. With billions of music video streams and 11 chart topping albums, her success is unparalleled.
About Ashley Gorley
Ashley Gorley has written 62 #1 singles and has had more than 300 songs recorded by artists such as Morgan Wallen, Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood, Cole Swindell, Blake Shelton, HARDY, Kelsea Ballerini, Florida Georgia Line, Sam Hunt, Parmalee, Lee Brice, Brad Paisley, and Darius Rucker. He was named the ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year in 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, Billboard Country Songwriter of the Year in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2019, and the NSAI Songwriter of the Year in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020. He was also named the NMPA’s Top Male Songwriter of 2021 with 24 certified songs. Gorley has been nominated for multiple Grammy and CMA and ACM Awards, and has received the CMA’s Triple Play Award sixteen times in his career, which recognizes songwriters with three or more #1 songs in one year. In 2016, he became the first songwriter to be honored with three CMA Triple Play Awards in a single year for earning nine chart-topping songs in a 12-month period. He repeated that feat in 2020 and in 2021. In 2011, Gorley formed his own publishing company, Tape Room Music. Tape Room Music writers have celebrated 38 #1s and several Top Ten songs recorded by artists such as HARDY, Sam Hunt, Keith Urban, Dustin Lynch, Jake Owen, and Florida Georgia Line.
About City National
With $90.9 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 74 branches, including 22 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Miami*. In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $80.6 billion in client investment assets.
City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of the world’s leading diversified financial services companies. RBC serves more than 17 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 27 other countries.
For more information about City National, visit the company’s website at cnb.com
*City National Bank does business in Miami and the state of Florida as CN Bank.
About Nashville Songwriters Association International
Established in 1967, The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is the world’s largest not-for-profit songwriters trade association consisting of a membership of nearly 5,000 professional and developing songwriters from all genres.
NSAI maintains the steadfast commitment, set by its founding songwriters, to protect the rights and future of the profession of songwriting and to educate, elevate and celebrate the songwriter. With over 80 chapters throughout the U.S. and beyond, NSAI acts as a unifying force within the music community and the community at large.
With a dedicated staff and a board comprised of professional songwriters, NSAI upholds its mission through legislative, judicial, regulatory, and marketplace advocacy on behalf of the songwriting profession with immense success. As a result of its advocacy efforts, NSAI has directly contributed to U.S. Tax Code changes, the creation and passing of the Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act, victorious Copyright Royalty Board trials, and the development of Songwriter Caucuses in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
For more information about NSAI or the awards, visit: www.nashvillesongwriters.com.
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