Hugh Prestwood

Hugh Prestwood has been a Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame member since October 2006 (he was inducted along with Jimmy Buffet). Known as a critically acclaimed “writer’s writer,” Prestwood has been penning songs, sans co-writer, for over 25 years. Over the years, Hugh has released a solo record with RCA records, and written 5 #1 hits for various artists. In 1991, Hugh was named the #2 Country Songwriter of the Year by Billboard magazine. He is currently teaching writers workshops for NSAI members throughout the country.

Three of the top earning hits, “Sound of Goodbye,” “Hard Rock Bottom Of Your Heart,” and “Ghost In This House” were nominated for Grammy Awards. The Randy Travis #1 hit, “Hard Rock Bottom Of Your Heart” was honored as Song of the Year at the 1991 BMI Awards. The song “The Sound of Goodbye” was nominated for an Emmy after being featured in a Disney special, and was named Song of the Year by NSAI. “Ghost in this House” is considered a landmark song recorded by Alison Krauss.

David Kent

David Kent has written songs for some of the genre’s biggest artists including Blake Shelton, Tracy Lawrence, and Rodney Atkins. As music major from Ithaca College, Kent has worked in many different genres of music. He gained experience when he toured with Hall & Oats for five years, and recorded 3 albums with the band. He was then signed to a record deal with Epic records, where he released solo material. In 1990 Kent moved to Nashville to focus on songwriting.

Kent’s biggest hit, “Austin” was a career-making song for Blake Shelton, after staying at #1 on all three Country charts for five straight weeks. The song also earned at “Two Million Broadcast” award from BMI.

Wynn Varble

Renowned songwriter, Wynn Varble moved to Nashville in 1992 after playing his songs in the club circuit for nearly a decade. Two years later Varble was signed to a publishing deal with Starstruck Writer’s Group. Wynn penned his first #1 hit in 2003, “Have You Forgotten” recorded by Daryl Worely. He has since had songs recorded by legends like Garth Brooks, Lee Ann Womack, and Brad Paisley.

The #1 hit “Waitin’ On A Woman” is a multiple award winning song, and a classic for Brad Paisley. The song has an unusual history in that it was released on 2 Paisley albums. The marketing team felt the song had been overlooked on the 2005 album “Time Well Wasted”, and re-released it on the 2007 album“5^th Gear”. Then it was released as a single and went to #1. Paisley refers to the song as one of the “most important” of his career. The song, along with “Have You Forgotten”, is a BMI Awarding winning song in Wynn’s catalog. His first #1 hit was “Have You Forgotten” and was nominated for a CMA song of the year.

Steve Dean

“Watching You” is a #1 Billboard Country hit co-written by Steve Dean, Brian Gene White, and Rodney Atkins. Atkins released this song on his 2006 #1 album “If You’re Going Through Hell.” The song was named 2007’s #1 song on Billboard’s year-end chart. BMI also awarded Dean with a Million-Air certificate, for more than one million performances of the song.

Phillip White

Phillip White grew up in Rogersville, Alabama. In his teens he began playing guitar with cousin, Spooner Oldham, (session player for Aretha Franklin and Jim Croce). Through Oldham, White developed a network of co-writer and publishing relationships in Nashville including: J. Aaron Brown, Paul Overstreet and Roger Murrah. Murrah eventually recruited him as a staff writer for his company in 1996. During this time he developed this catalog that included 24 recorded titles and 9 singles, including 5 Top-10s.