Craig Wiseman Inducted into Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

Craig Wiseman added another honor to his long list Sunday night when he is inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

He joined the Hall of Fame with Rosanne Cash, Mark James and Even Stevens during a gala at the Music City Center in Nashville.

“Everybody going in is really cool, journeyman songwriters,” Wiseman said in a phone interview.

He’s in pretty good company. Previous Hall of Fame inductees include Gene Autry, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Vince Gill, Woody Guthrie, Merle Haggard, Buddy Holly, Harlan Howard, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller, Bill Monroe, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Ernest Tubb, Conway Twitty, Hank Williams and Hank Williams Jr.

“The idea of me getting this award – I’m pretty famous for talking, but I don’t know what to say. I’m so blessed to have a few awards on the mantel, but nothing will ever equal this,” Wiseman told the Nashville Tennessean recently when the inductees were announced.

Wiseman has penned country music hits for the past 20 years, including the 2004 Grammy Award-winning Tim McGraw hit “Live Like You Were Dying,” Tracy Lawrence’s “If the Good Die Young,” and Blake Shelton’s “Boys Round Here.”

McGraw and Ronnie Dunn will perform two of Wiseman’s hits during the induction ceremony.

Stevens co-wrote many of Eddie Rabbitt’s hits, including “Driving My Life Away.”

James’ catalog includes Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind,” and Blue Swede’s “Hooked On a Feeling.”

Cash, the daughter of country music legend Johnny Cash, will be inducted as a songwriter/artist. Her self-penned hits include “Seven Year Ache” and “I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me.”

Wiseman started writing songs while playing drums for a band touring Florida. The college drop-out moved to Nashville in 1985 to pursue a music career and was so poor, he slept in his car for a while and every few days would sneak a shower at the KOA campground near Opryland. He became a staff writer with Almo/Irving in 1990, and then started his own Music Row publishing company, Big Loud Shirt, in 2003. His No. 1 hits include Kenny Chesney’s “The Good Stuff” and “Summertime,” and Toby Keith’s “Love Me If You Can.”

Wiseman has penned more than 100 charting singles, including 21 No. 1 hits. He has taken home CMA and ACM Song of the Year awards, and was honored as the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s Songwriter of the Decade in 2009. Last November, he received the ASCAP Heritage Award in commemoration of the performance-rights organization’s 100th anniversary. He and two staff writers wrote five of the top 10 Billboard country music hits in 2014. In February, Wiseman received a Mississippi Governor’s Award for the Arts.

In addition to his publishing company, Wiseman has also launched an independent record label. He said he never imagined he would have this kind of success.

“I’m having fun, man, it’s a blast,” he said. “Who’s sleeping in their van going, ‘Someday I’m going to own a record label’? It’s nuts. I’m tremendously blessed.”

 

Hattiesburg American, Robyn Jackson, American Staff Writer