Country Music Hall of Fame member Alan Jackson and writer-producer Buddy Cannon are among those to be honored at the upcoming seventh annual Nashville Songwriter Awards — presented by the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and returning to Ryman Auditorium on September 24th. The celebration will honor the peer-voted 10 Songs I Wish I’d Written awards, NSAI’s Song, Songwriter, and Songwriter-Artist of the Year, and will recognize pivotal individuals who have had great influence in the world of songwriting.

The organization’s highest honor of the evening, the ‘Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award’, will be presented Jackson. Jackson has earned 26 Billboard No. 1 Country Airplay hits during his career as a performer, but also as a songwriter on hits including “Don’t Rock the Jukebox,” “Gone Country,” “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow” and “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).” Jackson has been lauded by the Grammys, the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and the Country Music Association, and has earned stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Music City Walk of Fame. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011 and the all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.  Jackson will be the sixth artist to receive the elite award, followed by Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Bill Anderson, Garth Brooks, and songwriter Bobby Braddock.

The celebration will honor the peer-voted “10 Songs I Wish I’d Written,” as well as NSAI’s song, songwriter and songwriter-artist of the year honorees and individuals who have had considerable influence in the world of songwriting.

Jennifer Turnbow, NSAI Chief Operating Officer, said in a statement: “When the NSAI Board of Directors chose Alan Jackson as this year’s recipient of the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award, I knew they had made a fantastic choice. I was eager to craft a segment of our annual awards show around his work as a songwriter. But, it wasn’t until I really studied his body of work and recalled decades of his songs that I realized just how deserving he was of this recognition. Alan’s songs, many of which he wrote by himself, have marked significant moments in time and are etched into the memories of multiple generations. Choosing only a handful of his many hits to highlight in a celebration of his career will be incredibly challenging…that I’m looking forward to!”

The Nashville Songwriter Awards will return to Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 24; for ticket information, head HERE.

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