Songwriters Hall of Fame Debuts New Traveling Exhibit

Songwriters Hall of Fame Exhibit timeline display

Songwriters Hall of Fame Debuts New Traveling Exhibit

The Songwriters Hall of Fame has launched a new traveling exhibit, the “Songwriters Hall of Fame Songwriting Experience,” currently on display at New York’s CUNY Graduate Center James Gallery through July 24. The new exhibit will also travel to other cities around the country to be announced later this year.

Curated by the Grammy Museum, the Songwriters Hall of Fame Songwriting Experience digs deep into the great compositional works that make up the treasure trove of American music. Through graphic panels, artifact displays, and interactive experiences, it examines the creative process and works of some of the world’s most prolific songwriters.

Artifacts on display represent the work of renowned writers including Sammy Cahn, Desmond Child, Steve Dorff, Woody Guthrie, John Mellencamp, Alan Menken, and Carole Bayer Sager, among others.

Visitors can watch highlights from Songwriters Hall of Fame galas and interviews with inductees including Jimmy Jam, Toby Keith, Carole King, Smokey Robinson, Carole Bayer Sager, and Diane Warren, as well as Hal David Starlight Award honorees John Legend, Taylor Swift and Nick Jonas. A songwriting interactive also features Toby Keith, Carole King, Smokey Robinson, and Don Schlitz dissecting their hits.

Established in 1969, the Songwriters Hall of Fame honors a spectrum of the most beloved songs from the world’s popular music songbook. The non-profit’s ongoing mission is to celebrate and honor the contributions and legacies of songwriters of all genres while developing and nurturing the next generation of songwriters through Master Sessions, songwriting craft forums, scholarships, and digital initiatives.

By: Lorie Hollabaugh at Music Row Magazine

The piano of legendary Tin Pan Alley- era songwriter Victor Herbert, who composed “Babes in Toyland”

WHO KNEW The Smartest People In The Room

WHO KNEW The Smartest People In The Room

Steve Dorff and Bobby Tomberlin

We might call this one two hall of fame level songwriters walk into a bar...Seriously, these two have penned more hits for more A-listers than you can imagine. And they just might be two of the nicest guys you've ever met.

Steve Dorff has written dozens & dozens of career making hits for the likes of Barbra Streisand, George Strait, Whitney Houston, The Carpenters, Dolly Parton, Celine Dion, just to name a few. He has delivered number 1 songs across four decades. When we say he's a decorated songwriter, we really mean it.

Bobby Tomberlin is also a prolific hit songwriter himself. He landed his first gig at 11 years old and has worked in entertainment ever since. Along the way, he has written top hits for every single Nashville A-lister you can name- Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Blake Shelton, Faith Hill, Diamond Rio, Willie Nelson and many others including even Barbra Streisand herself. He is also a very popular TV and movie actor to boot.

These two songwriting legends are our special guests on the next Smartest People In The Room. Watch now!

COUNTRY NEWCOMER LIV CHARETTE IS 'THE RIGHT VOICE' FOR A BALLAD PRODUCED BY STEVE DORFF 10 YEARS IN THE MAKING

Good things come to those who wait, right? 

That sounds like the case for Nashville producer Steve Dorff, who waited about a decade before finding "the right voice” for a song co-written by his late son Andrew Dorff and “Pontoon” penman Barry Dean. 

The tune — a thundering ballad called “That Kind of Song" — demanded an impassioned and vocally empowering performance, which Dorff found in country music newcomer Liv Charette.

“That Kind of Song” enters wide release Friday. Spin an exclusive first listen, paired with a music video filmed at the Franklin Theatre via The Tennessean in the player above 

“It’s a very special song, both musically and lyrically,” said Dorff, a Songwriters Hall of Fame member whose credits include George Strait and Dolly Parton. “It’s relentless in its drive. It just drives. From the opening moment of the song, it never stops.” 

He added: “The minute I heard her sing it, I knew it was the right voice for the right song.”

LIV CHARETTE

LIV CHARETTE

And, as the song’s “drive” requires both feet pushing pedal to the floor, Charette can be heard cruising smoothly at full speed with both hands confidently gripping the wheel. For a Canadian-raised singer working to climb the ranks in Nashville, cutting “That Kind of Song” was a “meant-to-be moment,” Charette said. 

“The essence of song and message and dynamics,” Charette said, “honestly I don’t know if we could capture that again. That is a take that everybody dreams to have.” 

Each line of the song “brings you somewhere,” Charette said. 

In the first verse, she sings: “I love Jesus, but this ain’t a song about Jesus/ No, this ain’t about a broken heart, or picking up all those little pieces/ No, this ain’t that kinda song/ It’s all looking back at the questions you ask or losing people way too soon …” 

The chorus belts, “This is a song about my life/ This is a song about you …” 

“Everybody’s interpretation could be different,” Charette said. “(It could be about) a loved one, a friend. A person that matters most to you in your life. I loved how many pictures it had in the lyrics.” 

Steve Dorff arrives during the 49th annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards gala at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel on June 14, 2018 in New York. 

Steve Dorff arrives during the 49th annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards gala at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel on June 14, 2018 in New York.

Charette and Dorff cut “This Kind of Song” in December, the last in seven songs they tracked together. On the song, Dorff used an instrumental track captured when he first started working on it.

He had intentions to re-cut the music, but after dusting the track off, Dorff said all it needed was a “great mix and great vocal.” 

Safe to say, he found both. 

“It was the right place, the right time for the song,” Dorff said.

RASCAL FLATTS RELEASES TOUCHING RENDITION OF KENNY ROGERS’ “THROUGH THE YEARS” TO ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS

RASCAL FLATTS RELEASES TOUCHING RENDITION OF KENNY ROGERS’ “THROUGH THE YEARS” TO ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS

RASCAL FLATTS RELEASES TOUCHING RENDITION OF KENNY ROGERS’ “THROUGH THE YEARS” TO ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS

“'Through The Years’, written by Steve Dorff and Marty Panzer, is a perfect love song, and it only felt right that this was the song we chose to pay tribute to Kenny,” shared Gary LeVox. “We’re honored to be able to keep shining Kenny’s light on the world in this small way. Music is healing and I think it’s important for us to keep embracing the power of music right now. Kenny would have wanted it that way.”