Nashville's songwriters spread out beyond country music

Working with Lady Gaga, H.E.R., Miranda Lambert and more!

Tanya Tucker is nominated for Song of the Year and three other Grammy Awards. 
(AP)
Tanya Tucker is nominated for Song of the Year and three other Grammy Awards. (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Nashville songwriters are showing up at the Grammys this year, but not just in the country music categories. The city's writing talent has been increasingly tapped to help craft nominated soundtracks, pop songs and R&B albums over the last couple of years.

In the all-genre song of the year category, four of the eight songs nominated include Nashville-based writers, including Taylor Swift, country legend Tanya Tucker, songwriting couple Ruby Amanfu and Sam Ashworth, and a trio of hit country songwriters Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Natalie Hemby (who also is a member of The Highwomen). The Grammy Awards air tonight on CBS.

"For me, it's opened a lot of doors, which I am grateful for," said Hemby, who scored two nominations, including song of the year for "Always Remember Us This Way" and best song nod for visual media for "I'll Never Love Again" from the A Star Is Born soundtrack with Lady Gaga.

"We've known as long as we've been active here, it's not just about country," said Amanfu, who has released her own solo albums and has appeared on albums by Jack White and Beyonce.

Amanfu and Ashworth met R&B artist H.E.R. through producer David Harris and the couple worked with her during a week long writing session in Nashville where "Hard Place," which is nominated for song of the year and record of the year, was written.

"We've been writing all kinds of other music for years," said Ashworth, who is also nominated in the album of the year category as a co-writer on H.E.R.'s album I Used to Know Her.

Tucker, who is nominated for four Grammys, is up for the all-genre Song of the Year category for "Bring My Flowers Now," which she co-wrote with Brandi Carlile and Carlile's bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth.

Swift is nominated for the title song of her album Lover.

Lindsey, McKenna and Liz Rose are the trio of country songwriters dubbed "The Love Junkies," whose reputation as songwriters soared with Little Big Town's "Girl Crush," that won two Grammys and was also nominated for song of the year in 2016. They are nominated again for best country song for co-writing "It All Comes Out in the Wash" with Miranda Lambert.

Lindsey has been writing for soundtracks for years and also with pop writers including Lady Gaga and Michelle Branch. In addition to the Lambert track, she has Grammy nominations for song of the year for "Always Remember Us This Way" and for best song written for visual media for "I'll Never Love Again."

When Nashville producer Dave Cobb was brought in to help craft songs for the A Star Is Born soundtrack, he called up some of his favorite Nashville writers. Lindsey already had writing credits with Lady Gaga from her Grammy-nominated Joanne album, including the hit "Million Reasons."

Hemby admitted to being starstruck in the studio as Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were working on the script while the songs were being written.

"I hugged Bradley Cooper a little longer than he probably hugged me," Hemby said.

McKenna, Lindsey and Hemby described the soundtrack recording as very fluid, with the script still being tweaked and Lady Gaga working with a live band in the studio.

"Sometimes you have to get out of your own lane, like the way you write best, and sort of be exposed to a different way of writing," McKenna said. "It makes you grow as a writer, so the next time something comes up and you land in a room with someone that is real pop oriented, in the back of your brain, you're like, 'Wait a minute. I can do this. I've done this before.'"

Style on 01/26/2020

Upcoming Events