Songwriter Hall of Fame Inductees

The Songwriters Hall of Fame will induct six new members at the 42nd Annual Induction & Awards Dinner on Thursday, June 16th in New York City.




Garth Brooks, Leon Russell, John Bettis, Billy Steinberg & Tom Kelly and Allen Toussaint will become the newest members inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Garth Brooks has been certified by the RIAA as the No. 1 selling solo artist in U.S. history. He has sold more than 128 million albums and is the only solo artist in RIAA history to have six albums top the 10 million mark. His songwriter credits include hits "If Tomorrow Never Comes," "The Thunder Rolls," "Unanswered Prayers" and more.

Leon Russell's classic songwriting credits include "A Song For You", "This Masquerade", "Delta Lady", "Tight Rope", "Bluebird", "Back To The Island", and "Hummingbird". Leon will also be honored with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s first Award for Musical Excellence in March.

Other inductees include John Bettis, whose songwriting efforts have sold more than 250 million records worldwide; musician, songwriter and record producer Allen Toussaint; and Billy Steinberg & Tom Kelly, a songwriting duo who co-wrote five No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, including "Like A Virgin", "True Colors", and "Eternal Flame".

The country music singer-songwriter

The music board at the cmt.com forums has a discussion currently going about the singer-songwriter era in country music.

As the subject is brought up, it makes me realize that's the main problem with today's mainstream country music. There are basically no female singer-songwriters in the mainstream country genre today. Very few of the females even know how to play an instrument, let alone know how to write a song. There still are a few male singer-songwriters in the mainstream country world, but it's becoming much rarer than in previous decades. Most of today's singer-songwriters are in other genres - most notably Alt-Country, Roots, Folk, Rock or Indie.

If you think back into the history of country music, there have been few female singer-songwriters who made it to the forefront, namely Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. While on the other side of the gender scale, there have been a lot of male singer-songwriters throughout the history of country music. However, that number has decreased significantly in the past two decades.

I'm guessing the singer-songwriter decline in country music is the reason why the mainstream country sounds no different than anything that's played on the pop stations. The songs are all written by the same people.