Public Programs
Poets and Prophets
Since 2007, this in-depth interview series has hosted songwriters who have made significant contributions to country music. Through one-on-one interviews with legendary writers, the audience gains a better understanding of how songwriters work behind the scenes to create famous songs. Historic recordings, photographs, and film clips supplement the interview. The honoree often performs some of their songs during the program as well.
Poets and Prophets: Salute to Songwriter Hillary Lindsey
Saturday, October 26, 2024 | 2:30 – 4:00 PM | Ford Theater
Hillary Lindsey grew up in tiny Washington, Georgia, and arrived in Nashville in 1994, after enrolling at Belmont University. She signed her first song-publishing deal as a college senior and earned her first #1 song in 2002 (Martina McBride’s “Blessed”). Lindsey won her first of three Grammys in 2007, for “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” one of more than four dozen of Lindsey’s compositions recorded by Carrie Underwood. Lindsey is also a 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee; a 2022 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee; a two-time Academy of Country Music Songwriter of the Year award winner (2020, 2021); and a Country Music Association Song of the Year award winner (“Girl Crush,” 2015).
See Past Programs
Past Poets and Prophets Include:
- Pat Alger (2019)
- Al Anderson (2016)
- Bill Anderson (2009)
- Matraca Berg (2009)
- Bobby Braddock (2007)
- Gary Burr (2017)
- Wayne Carson (2011)
- Buzz Cason (2014)
- Jerry Chesnut (2009)
- Hank Cochran (2007)
- Roger Cook (2013)
- Rodney Crowell (2022)
- Sonny Curtis (2012)
- Jackie DeShannon (2024)
- Dean Dillon (2008)
- Bob DiPiero (2014)
- Tom Douglas (2013)
- Kye Fleming (2012)
- Jerry Foster (2011)
- Dallas Frazier (2010)
- John Hiatt (2024)
- Luke Laird (2023)
- Red Lane (2010)
- Dickey Lee (2015)
- John D. Loudermilk (2007)
- Shane McAnally (2016)
- Bob McDill (2008)
- Lori McKenna (2018)
- Roger Murrah (2010)
- Paul Overstreet (2016)
- Dan Penn (2010)
- Gretchen Peters (2015)
- Curly Putman (2009)
- Mike Reid (2017)
- Allen Reynolds (2012)
- Liz Rose (2019)
- Mark D. Sanders (2012)
- Don Schlitz (2011)
- Whitey Shafer (2008)
- Allen Shamblin (2018)
- Billy Joe Shaver (2018)
- Red Simpson (2013)
- Jeffery Steele (2008)
- Mike Stoller (2023)
- JD Souther (2023)
- Sonny Throckmorton (2013)
- Sharon Vaughn (2017)
- Jim Weatherly (2019)
- Jimmy Webb (2017)
- Billy Edd Wheeler (2014)
- Norro Wilson (2011)
- Craig Wiseman (2007)