Brandy Clark Among Honorees at Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony

The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame honored the city's most deserving songwriters on Sunday night (Oct. 5) in a special ceremony at the Music City Center. Awards included Song, Songwriter and Songwriter/Artist of the Year, as well as the always-interesting '10 Songs I Wish I'd Written' awards.

Inductees, announced in July, were John Anderson, Paul Craft, Tom Douglas and Gretchen Peters. The songwriters were honored and their musical contributions celebrated through star-studded performances of some of their biggest hits.

“John Anderson, Paul Craft, Tom Douglas and Gretchen Peters represent the best our great songwriting community has to offer," says Pat Alger, board chair of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation and a member of the Hall of Fame. "With long, fruitful careers of memorable songs, they set the highest creative standard for all of us.”

Singer-songwriter Brandy Clark nabbed her first NSAI Award for Kacey Musgraves's 'Follow Your Arrow,' one of the '10 Songs I Wish I'd Written,' which Clark co-wrote with the star and Shane McAnally.

“‘Follow Your Arrow’ is such a special song to me because of how it has affected people,” explains Clark. “I’ve had people tell me so many touching stories about the inspiration it has given them to be themselves and love themselves. Music has such power to make a difference, and I’m thankful to be a part of that for people.”

Voted on by NSAI's professional membership, the '10 Songs I Wish I'd Written' awards also included Miranda Lambert's 'All Kinds of Kinds;' Blake Shelton's 'Boys 'Round Here;' Keith Urban's 'Cop Car;' 'Drink A Beer,' recorded by Luke Bryan; 'Drunk on a Plane,' sung by Dierks Bentley; Eric Church's 'Give Me Back My Hometown;' Bentley's 'I Hold On;' Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's 'Meanwhile, Back at Mama's' and Shelton's 'Mine Would Be You.'

While some of the honored songs and songwriters were co-written by country stars, many of them were penned by songwriters alone -- and Thomas Rhett knows why it's important to honor them.

"A lot of fans might not know that artists get the majority of their material from these people being honored tonight," Rhett said at the event. "It's kind of the least we can do as artists and songwriters and people in this industry, to have this night to highlight [them]."

The big Song of the Year Award went to Lambert's 'Automatic.' The Songwriter of the Year prize went to Ashley Gorley, and Songwriter/Artist of the Year, which has gone to Taylor Swift for many years past, was awarded to Jack White. Performers for the evening included Rhett, Trisha Yearwood, McGraw, Josh Turner and several others.