Taylor Swift, Lyle Lovett and more inducted into Nashville Songwriters
Hall of Fame
[October 27, 2026]
By KRISTIN M. HALL
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Taylor Swift signed her first publishing deal in
Nashville at the age of 14. About 22 years and 14 Grammys later, she
joined the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame along with Lyle Lovett,
Shawn Camp, Lee Thomas Miller, Bruce Channel and J.I. Allison.
Swift added another honor to her trophy wall with her second hall of
fame induction this year and was celebrated at the Nashville Songwriters
Hall of Fame Gala on Monday in a crowded ballroom full of artists,
writers and country music elite.
“I knew from the time I wrote my first song that even if it couldn’t be
my career, it would be my passion," Swift said.
She described soaking up the lessons from other writers like a sponge,
learning how to push through writer's block and write about the human
condition, even when her writing partner was hungover or going through a
divorce.
Swift recalled her mom would regularly pick her up from high school and
drop her off at a publishing house on Nashville's Music Row, where she
poured out her emotions to one of her first co-writers, Liz Rose. She
later would meet Nathan Chapman, who produced her self-titled debut
album in 2006, released 20 years ago this month.
Swift, who took her talents to a much wider audience beyond country
music, said her ability to “genre hop” was because she had learned the
fundamentals of songwriting in Nashville.
“I’m so incredibly honored to be inducted into this sacred club," Swift
said.
Brad Paisley, one of the first major artists to take her on tour after
her debut album, introduced her as “the voice of a generation.”
He joked that Swift “went to Brad Paisley High School" as a 17-year-old
traveling the country while on tour with him. Swift later recounted that
Paisley took a prank too far in 2007 when he filled her bus with
thousands of crickets.
"For months I couldn't sleep. Just chirp, chirp, chirp," she said.
Lainey Wilson performed a bluegrass version of “Love Story” with fiddle
and stand-up bass from Swift's second album, “Fearless.”
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Taylor Swift speaks as she is inducted into the Nashville
Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, at the Music
City Center in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
 Swift wasn't the only big star to be
celebrated, as George Strait, the lauded “King of Country Music,”
was given the Career Maker Award from the Nashville Songwriters Hall
of Fame. Strait, a Country Music Hall of Famer, is known for picking
great songs from other songwriters and sending them to the top of
country charts for five decades.
Surrounded by songwriters on stage, Strait was predictably succinct
in his speech as he sent out his thanks for all the writers who sent
songs to him over the years.
“They made my career," Strait said. “I didn’t make theirs.”
Lovett spent his speech naming mentors and artists and writers who
took a chance on him.
“I am humbled just to be in the room with these amazing Hall of Fame
songwriters and amazing recording artists," Lovett said. "It is such
a privilege to be able to go through your life and do what you want
to do.”
Allison, who died in 2022, was a member of Buddy Holly's band The
Crickets and co-wrote hits like “That'll Be The Day” and “Peggy
Sue.” Camp, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar,
fiddle and more, co-wrote songs like “Two Pina Coladas” for Garth
Brooks and “How Long Gone” by Brooks & Dunn, as well as hits for
Blake Shelton and George Strait and many bluegrass songs.
Channel co-wrote “Hey! Baby!" a song that would become part of the
movie “Dirty Dancing” but also a country hit for Anne Murray and
many others. Miller co-wrote award-winning songs like “You're Gonna
Miss This,” performed by Trace Adkins and “In Color," performed by
Jamey Johnson.
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