ASCAP Greats Emmylou Harris & Brad Paisley to Be Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

From “Boulder to Birmingham” to “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song),” Emmylou Harris and Brad Paisley have written some of country music’s most iconic songs. The two acclaimed hitmakers have been elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in the Veteran Songwriter/Artist Category and the Contemporary Songwriter/Artist Category respectively. The Class of 2025 will join the pantheon of esteemed Nashville storytellers in the Hall of Fame, including ASCAP members Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, Bobbie Gentry, W.C. Handy, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Wills and so many more.

Harris, who received the ASCAP Founders Award in 2004, was obsessed with playing guitar by high school. Graduating as valedictorian, she eventually left college for the folk music scene in New York’s Greenwich Village. Signing with Jubilee Records, she released her debut album in 1970 with five self-penned songs. Moving to Washington, DC, she met Gram Parsons, joined his band and discovered a passion for country music. Following Parsons’ untimely death in 1973, Harris formed her own band and signed with Reprise Records. Her 1975 release featured her classic “Boulder to Birmingham,” an elegy to Parsons. Though Harris recorded her own songs only sporadically until the 2000s, her co-write “White Line” reached #14 on the country charts in 1985, and “Heartbreak Hill” reached #8 in 1989. “In My Hour of Darkness,” a collaboration with Gram Parsons from 1973, re-emerged in 2007 as a #15 bluegrass hit for John Starling & Carolina Star. Emmylou’s “Sweetheart of the Pines” from 1986 became a #17 bluegrass hit for Dale Ann Bradley in 2016. Other songs from Harris include “A River for Him,” “Amarillo,” “Red Dirt Girl,” “The Pearl” and “Woman Walk the Line.” She is a 1995 inductee into the SPBGMA Hall of Greats, a 2008 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame and a 2018 recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Paisley received his first guitar from his grandfather, who taught him to play at eight years old. At age 13, he wrote his first song, which he performed publicly, and which eventually led him to an eight-year stint performing on Wheeling’s Jamboree USA. After high-school graduation and two years at West Liberty State College, Paisley moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University. As a music business student, he interned at as many places as possible. Paisley credits his ASCAP internship for shaping his career and helping him secure his first publishing deal. A week after graduating from Belmont, Paisley signed as a writer with EMI Music Publishing. Following cuts by David Kersh, David Ball and Tracy Byrd, Paisley signed with Arista Nashville and soon began to record his own songs. As an artist, he has placed 33 self-penned, top 20 songs on the Billboard charts, including 15 #1s and 14 more in the top 10. Among those compositions are “He Didn’t Have to Be,” “Alcohol,” “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song),” “Celebrity,” “Ticks,” “Letter to Me,” “Then,” “This Is Country Music,” “Water,” and his duet with Carrie Underwood “Remind Me.” A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 2001, Paisley was ASCAP’s 2004 Country Songwriter/Artist of the Year and NSAI’s Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2002 and 2005.

The new group of inductees-elect will be formally inducted during the 55th Anniversary Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala on Monday, October 6, at Music City Center.