Rodney Clawson

Rodney Clawson took a huge career leap from farmer to songwriter when he began to make trips from his home in Gruver, Texas to Nashville, Tennessee. Longtime friend John Rich encouraged Rodney’s writing trips, which eventually led to his first publishing contract in 2000.

Three years later, he earned his first top 20 song with “I Can’t Be Your Friend”, cut by the band Rushlow. This was quickly followed by his first top 5 song, “Sweet Southern Comfort”, recorded by Buddy Jewel. After this success, Rodney made the decision to leave his farming career behind and move to Nashville to be a full-time songwriter.

In the summer of 2006, he landed his first #1 hit with “Why”, recorded by Jason Aldean and followed by another #1, “Lost In This Moment”, recorded by Big and Rich. In 2007, Rodney received two nominations, including CMA Song of the Year with “Lost In This Moment” and ACM Song of the Year with “Amarillo Sky” by Jason Aldean.

In 2008, Rodney signed an exclusive publishing agreement with Big Loud Shirt, a company owned and operated by Grammy award-winning songwriter, Craig Wiseman. In February of that year, country music legend George Strait released Rodney’s song, “I Saw God Today”, as the first single off of his Troubadour album. It became Strait’s highest debuting single of all time and his record breaking 56th #1 song. The song won CMA Single of the Year and was nominated for Best Country Song at the 2009 Grammy Awards.

Rodney took on the role of producer when he recorded some songs on the Jake Owen’s Barefoot Blue Jean Night album and songs on James Wesley’s release with Broken Bow Records.

In 2012, Rodney earned himself three #1 songs on country radio, with Blake Shelton’s “Drink On It”, Luke Bryan’s “Drunk On You” and Jason Aldean’s “Take A Little Ride”. He co-wrote the groundbreaking Kenny Chesney & Tim McGraw duet, “Feel Like A Rockstar”, which won the 2012 CMA Vocal Event of the Year. At the 2013 ASCAP Awards, his song, “Drunk On You”, was named Country Song of the Year. That same year, Rodney was awarded NSAI Songwriter of the Year. A month later, he was awarded BMI Songwriter of the Year and nominated for ACM Songwriter of the Year.

2014 was another banner year in Rodney’s career; six of his songs reached the #1 spot, including “Helluva Life” by Frankie Ballard, “Lettin’ The Night Roll” by Justin Moore, “Bartender” by Lady Antebellum, Kenny Chesney’s “American Kids”, “Dirt” by Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean’s “Burnin’ It Down”. “American Kids” was nominated for Country Song of the Year at the 2015 Grammy Awards. Additionally, he was nominated for ACM Songwriter of the Year.

In 2015, Rodney had yet another phenomenal streak, being named NSAI Songwriter of the Year and BMI Songwriter of the Year; he also received a Double CMA Triple Play Award. Following in 2016, Rodney achieved his 23rd #1 with Florida Georgia Line’s “May We All”, featuring Tim McGraw. Additionally, he won his sixth CMA Triple Play Award (awarded for having 3 songs reaching #1 in a one-year period) honoring “Confession” by Florida Georgia Line, “You Look Like A Need A Drink” by Justin Moore and “May We All”.

To date, Rodney has had 24 songs peak at #1, with Luke Bryan’s “Fast” being the most recent. In his downtime, Rodney likes to participate in fishing tournaments throughout the United States.