Join Hall of Fame Songwriter Roger Murrah as he hosts a night of hit makers sharing music and stories at The Harpeth in downtown Franklin, Tennessee. Featuring Keith Stegall, Jimmy Melton, Connor Myers, and Roger Murrah.

ROGER MURRAH

With hit songs spanning four decades and dozens of airplay and achievement awards, Roger Murrah is one of Nashville’s most prolific songwriters and successful independent music publishers. His respect as a writer was gained through the years due to his songs being known for more than just a hook-line or a catchy melody. He writes with insight and understanding about the entire range of human experience, from the loving commitment of Al Jarreau’s Grammy-nominated “We’re In This Love Together”, to the emotional homecoming of the Oakridge Boy’s “Ozark Mountain Jubilee” and the “audio-biography” of Waylon Jennings’ A Man Called Hoss.

Personally, Roger Murrah is more like the people in his songs than those at his level of success. He is a soft-spoken man of humility and moral conviction. He grew up on the family farm in Athens, Alabama with four brothers and a sister. While serving in the Army in 1968, Murrah signed on as a staff writer with the acclaimed, Muscle Shoals music publisher/producer Rick Hall. Following his military service, he and some partners opened a recording studio in Huntsville, Alabama. It was there that he met industry veteran Bobby Bare, the recording artist and music publisher who would give Murrah his first major break. In 1972 he moved to Nashville to sign with Bare’s Return Music. In 1973, Murrah married the former Kitty Goodman of Huntsville and had his first nationally charted song, “It’s Raining In Seattle,” recorded by Wynn Stewart. He credits Kitty with being a very positive influence in his life, as well as the ideal support for his career.

By 1978 Murrah was on the staff of award-winning songwriter Bill Rice’s Magic Castle Music. The successful songs continued with Mel Tillis’ recording of “Southern Rains” (Murrah’s first #1 song), Conway Twitty’s “A Bridge That Just Won’t Burn”, Steve Wariner’s “Life’s Highway” and the Oak Ridge Boys’ “Ozark Mountain Jubilee”. Then in 1981, Al Jarreau recorded and released “We’re In This Love Together”, which became an international jazz/pop hit and a BMI Multi-Million-Air Award winner for Murrah.

In 1984 Murrah signed with Tom Collins Music. His string of successes continued with “Hearts Aren’t Made to Break (They’re Made To Love)”, by Lee Greenwood, “It Takes A Little Rain (To Make Love Grow)”, “Crazy Love” and “Bridges And Walls”, three of five Oak Ridge Boys’ hits to his credit. During those days, Murrah broke new ground by co-writing with Waylon Jennings, the late singer’s life story, A Man Called Hoss. The Jennings album yielded two more hit songs for Murrah, “Rough and Rowdy Days” and “If Ole Hank Could Only See Us Now”. In addition to those songs, Murrah’s writing credits include “Where Corn Don’t Grow”, recorded by Travis Tritt and Waylon Jennings, two hits in a row by Alabama entitled “Southern Star” and “High Cotton”, Ronnie Milsap’s “Stranger Things Have Happened”, Steve Wariner’s “When I Could Come Home To You”, John Anderson’s “Somebody Slap Me” and the Grammy/CMA Song Of The Year nominated “Don’t Rock The Jukebox,” recorded by Alan Jackson.

In 1990 Murrah formed Murrah Music Corporation. Within two years, the company had achieved the position of Billboard Magazine’s Independent Publisher of the Year. The firm continued to flourish with activity including another hit song for Alabama entitled “I’m In A Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)”, Tanya Tucker’s “Two Sparrows In A Hurricane”, “It’s A Little Too Late” and “A Memory Like I’m Gonna Be”; Wynonna’s “Only Love”, and Clay Walker’s “If I Could Make A Living Out Of Loving You”. Other hit records the company has enjoyed are Academy Country Music Songs of the Year, “I’m Movin’ On”, recorded by Rascal Flatts and “Keeper Of The Stars”, recorded by Tracy Byrd.

Reba McEntire’s “He Gets That From Me”, Blaine Larson’s “How Do You Get That Lonely”, Blake Shelton’s “Goodbye Time”, Sammy Kershaw’s “National Working Woman’s Holiday”, Kenny Chesney’s “When I Close My Eyes”, Reba McEntire’s “I’m A Survivor”, Mark Chesnutt’s “She Was”, Martina McBride’s Where Would You Be” as well as “Can’t Keep Going On And On” recorded by Take 6 on their Grammy winning album Join The Band. Along with the company’s chart activity with Billy Currington’s “Good Directions”, Luke Bryan’s “All My Friends Say”, “We Rode In Trucks” and “Country Man”. In 2007, Murrah Music was Nashville’s first independent publisher to make Billboard Magazines’ Top 10 Music Publisher’s Media Base Airplay Chart.

Murrah’s commitment extends to the music industry and community as well. He served two consecutive terms as president of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), where he is credited with exemplary leadership that guided the organization to the respectable and professional standing that it still enjoys today. During his second term as president of NSAI, Murrah was also elected chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation, where he served a total of 5 terms. He has served on the boards of the Country Music Association, Biblical Resource Center & Museum President on the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Board of Governors, as well as a three-term Governor’s appointee to the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Advisory Council. Murrah is an alumnus of Leadership Music.

A 2005 inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame himself and a recipient of a Bronze Star induction into the Walk of Fame of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Murrah is also listed among Broadcast Music Incorporated’s celebrated Songwriter(s) of the Year and Songwriter(s) of the Decade. In 1997, he was also honored when Resolution HJR 355 was passed by both houses of the Alabama State Legislature and signed by the state’s governor, commending Murrah for an “Outstanding Professional Career”.

KEITH STEGALL

For multiple CMA, ACM and Grammy awarding winning producer, Keith Stegall, music has always been a huge part of his life. His father, Bob Stegall, was an artist on Abbott Records in 1950’s and played steel guitar for the legendary country singer Johnny Horton.

A chance meeting during his college years with another famous Texan, Kris Kristofferson, inspired Keith to move to Music City.

“Show me what you got!” Kris told Keith backstage at a Kristofferson show. Keith played a couple songs, which prompted Kristofferson to remark “Son, you need to get your ass to Nashville and hang out with other writers. They will break you down and make you the best you can be.”

Keith took the advice to heart, three months after his arrival in 1978, Keith co-wrote his first hit, Dr. Hooks’ 1980 smash “Sexy Eyes.” Soon after, Helen Reddy, The Commodores, Johnny Mathis, and many others rushed to record Keith’s songs. Most notable was Al Jarreau’s huge hit “We’re In This Love Together.”

Eventually Keith signed a record deal with Capitol Records and later Epic Records. He released a pair of albums in the early 1980s with minor chart success. “Because I grew up in the studio,” Keith recalls, “the mistake I made was they told me to produce myself.” The upside, he says, was he learned how to produce other artists by producing himself.

In the midst of trying to get his own artist career off the ground, a struggling nightclub singer named Randy Ray asked Keith to produce an independent album to sell at his local gigs. The project led to Keith producing the standout songs “On The Other Hand” and “Reasons I Cheat” on the singer’s epochal debut, Storms of Life, under the singer’s new moniker, Randy Travis.

The success of Storms of Life convinced Keith that a life behind the scenes was more suited for him. “I wasn’t able to accomplish what I wanted to do until I became a producer,” Keith says. “When I did, I told myself, `this is where I belong.’ ”

Meanwhile, a friend and songwriting partner asked Keith to produce a tape to play for record companies in hopes of getting a record deal. That friend, Alan Jackson, would go on to sell over 50 million records and have 35 number one hits with Keith in the producer’s chair. Keith continued collaborating with Jackson, co-writing such hits as “Don’t Rock The Jukebox” and “Dallas.”

In 1992, Keith received an offer to head Mercury Nashville’s A&R department and a chance to release another album as an artist. “I thought this is not my gig. I’ve spent half my life fighting with record labels,” recalled Keith. “Alan (Jackson) said, ‘Half the reason I wanted to work with you is that you are an artist and you understand.” So reminiscent of Chet Atkins years earlier at RCA, Keith became an artist and executive at Mercury Records. His subsequent 1996 Mercury debut Passages was critically acclaimed.

In 1997, Keith teamed up with legendary songwriter Dan Hill (“Sometimes When We Touch”). The collaboration quickly yielded two number one records: Sammy Kershaw’s “Love Of My Life” and Mark Wills’ “I Do (Cherish You).” Shortly after Wills recorded “I Do,” the platinum selling pop act 98 Degrees heard the song and included it on their sophomore album 98 Degrees And Rising, as well as on the soundtrack to the 1999 Julia Roberts film Notting Hill. The song became one of the group’s biggest hits reaching the top 5 in the CHR and AC charts.

1999 saw Stegall working with country music legend, George Jones. The album, Cold Hard Truth went Gold and included the Grammy award winning track “Choices.” Three more albums with Jones followed including an album featuring another country music legend, Merle Haggard.

In late 2006, Keith was invited to a show by an unsigned band out of Georgia called the Zac Brown Band. “Zac had already been passed around Nashville a little bit. He had been Nashville’d to death,” according to Keith.

Just as he’d been for Alan Jackson, Keith Stegall was the absolutely ideal producer and mentor for the Zac Brown Band. Seemingly going counter to all the 2008 Music Row rules and conventional wisdom, the first nine singles went to No. 1 on the country charts. Three platinum albums and millions of single downloads quickly followed. The group’s third album Uncaged earned Keith and the group a Grammy Award for Country Album of the Year.

Even after over fifty-five number one hits as a producer and/or songwriter, forty million airplays as a songwriter, producer of over 70 million records sold, multiple CMA and ACM awards and a Grammy award, Keith Stegall has the exact same passion as he always has, he keeps right on painting outside the lines to bring country fans, radio, and artists some of the greatest music they’ve ever heard.

JIMMY MELTON

Jimmy Melton was a bluegrass sensation long before he even looked at a country song. As a teenager, Melton was a popular act at festivals and on television, playing Scruggs-style banjo. After his teen years, Jimmy turned his attention to country music, and the songwriting that had intrigued him from his youth just as the banjo had. By 1996 he had signed a writing deal with Murrah Music, which led to cowriting opportunities with legendary songwriter Harlan Howard.

Over a long career, Melton’s songs have been cut by a who’s who of Nashville stars, including Hank Williams, Jr., Mark Chesnutt, Trace Adkins, Kenny Rogers, Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire, Joe Nichols, Daryle Singletary, Gene Watson, Chely Wright, Craig Morgan, Trent Willmon, Dierks Bentley, Dillon Carmichael, Luke Bryan, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and George Jones.