Nashville Songwriters

The Stories Behind Nashville’s Greatest Hits

The songwriters who created some of country music’s greatest hits will perform live at DPAC in a Special 20th Anniversary Benefit Show on Friday, February 11, 2022. At Nashville Songwriters at DPAC, the writers behind dozens of #1 country hits bring their songs and stories to DPAC to help benefit three local organizations: Kidznotes, a youth orchestra, band and choir program that uses music to encourage children to succeed; The North Carolina Boys Academy, Christian boarding school for teenage boys; and Voyager Academy Friends of the Arts, which aims to increase support for visual and performing arts at the Academy.

This is DPAC’s fourth year hosting this annual Triangle event, which is organized by songwriter and area resident Jeff Outlaw.  These eight top country songwriters will sing their hits and share their stories, bringing fans closer to the creative process that has produced some of the biggest hits in country music: 

Jeff Outlaw is an published songwriter of twelve years and recently signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.  In addition to collaboratoring with many of the artists participating in this show, Jeff has worked with Phil Vassar, Troy Cartwright, Matt Nathanson, John Legend, Plain White T’s, Kip Moore, Drake White, and Brothers Osborne.  His hits include “She’s On Her Way” by Phil Vassar and “Still Ain’t Made It Home” by Casey Donahew. He has created numerous video treatments for music videos with Vassar and served as Creative Advisor for Vassar’s popular show, Songs from the Cellar. He lives in Bahama, NC, with his family.

Jessi Alexander has written four #1 songs, including “I Drive Your Truck,” recorded by Lee Brice and winner of Song of the Year at the 2013 CMA Awards, 2013 NSAI Awards, and 2014 ACM Awards. A few of her other hits include Blake Shelton’s “Mine Would Be You” and “Drink On It.” Alexander also co-wrote Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb,” which topped the charts and won Best Song from a Movie at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.

Wynn Varble began writing songs at age 15 and was performing locally in a few country and bluegrass bands by the time he graduated high school. He later moved to Nashville where he signed with Reba McEntire’s Starstruck Music. His songs “Waitin’ on a Woman” by Brad Paisley, “Have You Forgotten?” by Darryl Worley, and “A Little More Country Than That” by Easton Corbin were all nominated for Song of The Year by either the ACMs or the CMAs. Varble was named Songwriter of the Year in 2009 by the Nashville Songwriters Association.

The Warren Brothers are an American songwriting duo who have written hits for several chart-topping country artists and rock bands. Brad and Brett Warren started as recording artists in their hometown of Tampa, Fla., before moving to Nashville. They were CMA nominees for Duo of the Year for six straight years and had Grammy nominations for Song of the Year and a CMA Song of the Year. Among their hits are “Highway Don’t Care” by Tim McGraw, “Red Solo Cup” by Toby Keith, and “Drink to That All Night” by Jerrod Niemann.

Tim Nichols has written hit country songs for over two decades, leading to many accolades including induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, many BMI awards, as well as recognition from CMA, ACM, and NSAI. Some of his better known hits include Jo Dee Messina’s “Head’s Carolina, Tail’s California,” Dustin Lynch’s “Cowboys and Angels,” and the Grammy® Award winning “Live Like You Were Dying,” by Tim McGraw. He has also collaborated with artists like Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, Keith Whitley, and Lee Ann Womack, to name a few.

Jimmy Yeary began his music career singing in churches with his family, playing more than 200 dates a year singing Southern gospel music. In 1994 Jimmy moved to Nashville, where songwriting became his main focus. He began writing for Skyline Music Publishing and later signed with THiS Music. He co-wrote “I Drive Your Truck” with Jessi Alexander and Connie Harrington, and other top hits include “Everything is Gonna be Alright” by David Lee Murphy with Kenny Chesney, “Anywhere With You” by Jake Owen, and “Why Wait” by Rascal Flatts.

Deric Ruttan is a Grammy-nominated, Nashville-based singer/songwriter and a Canadian country music artist.  The writer of multiple #1 country songs, Deric has had over 90 songs recorded by other artists, including cuts by Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley, Darius Rucker, Justin Moore and David Nail to name a few.  Bentley’s chart-toppers “What Was I Thinkin;”, (Billboard #1), and “Lot of Leavin’ Left to Do” (Radio & Records #2) are Ruttan co-writes, as are the Eric Church hits, “Guys Like Me” and “Hell On The Heart” (Mediabase #8).  In November 2013, Deric celebrated a multi-week #1 when “Mine Would Be You,” recorded by country superstar and The Voice judge Black Shelton, was a three-week number one (Billboard) for the artist.  “Mine Would Be You” was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Song, and an ACM Award for Song of the Year.  In 2016, Deric celebrated his second Blake Shelton #1 hit with the introspective “Came Here to Forget.”  In 2017, Country music superstar, Jason Aldean took Deric’s song “Any Ol’ Barstool” to the top of the Billboard and Mediabase charts to become the songwriter’s 4^th #1 country single, and in 2020, “Die From A Broken Heart,” by Mercury Nashville duo Maddie & Tae, climbed the charts to become Deric’s 5^th #1 song.  He lives just outside Nashville, TN with his wife.

Brett Tyler is an incredible writer who co-wrote the current Jameson Rodgers single, “Cold Beer Calling My Name” featuring Luke Combs.  His songs are getting tons of action in the Nashville community, with cuts on artists including Maren Morris, Blake Shelton, Hailey Whitters, Jake Owen, Florida Georgia Line, Jameson Rodgers, HARDY and more.  Tyler’s recent cuts include “Old School” by Toby Keith, “Build Me A Daddy” from Luke Bryan, “Hell Right” from Blake Shelton ft. Trace Adkins, and “Broke Boy” from HARDY.