NASHVILLE —
Athens native, songwriter and music publisher Roger Murrah will be honored March 6 as part of the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum’s quarterly programming series “Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters.”
The 1:30 p.m. program, which will be held in the Museum’s Ford Theater, is included with museum admission and free to museum members. The program will also be streamed live at www.countrymusichalloffame.org.
Murrah was born in 1946 and raised on a family farm in Athens. After his father traded an old pickup truck for a piano, Murrah and his five siblings, among whom is local singer and songwriter Tina Swindell, taught themselves to play by ear, and he was composing songs by age 13.
Although Murrah initially eyed a singing career, his songwriting began to flourish. In 1968, while still in the Army, he became a staff writer for music publisher and FAME Studios owner Rick Hall in Muscle Shoals.
After getting out of the service, Murrah opened his own recording studio in Huntsville, where he met songwriter and recording artist Bobby Bare. In 1972, Murrah relocated to Nashville to work for Bare’s publishing company, Return Music, earning just $50 a week. Murrah wrote his first nationally charted song, Wynn Stewart’s “It’s Raining in Seattle,” in 1973.
However, Murrah’s steady stream of songwriting success didn’t begin to flow until 1980, when he scored his first No. 1 Billboard country hit with Mel Tillis’ “Southern Rains.” The following year, Murrah co-wrote Jarreau’s international hit “We’re in This Love Together,” which cracked Billboard’s Top-20 pop and R&B charts and went on to earn a BMI award for 3 million performances.
A multitude of hits followed, as top country artists including Lee Greenwood, Patty Loveless, Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap, Kenny Rogers and Clay Walker, among others, began cutting Murrah’s songs.
Additionally, Murrah’s close collaboration with Waylon Jennings on his 1987 autobiographical album, “A Man Called Hoss,” produced one of Jennings’ last Top-10 hits, “Rough and Rowdy Days.”
In addition to his successful music-publishing career, Roger Murrah ranks among country music’s most prolific songwriters, with hit songs spanning more than four decades. In 1990, Murrah started his own publishing company, Murrah Music Corporation, placing emphasis on nurturing songwriters and helping them develop their talents. The company’s roster of songwriters, including Murrah, has delivered a number of hits for contemporary country artists Luke Bryan, Tracy Byrd, Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington, Reba McEntire, and more. In 2009, Bug Music acquired a portion of Murrah Music Corporation and named Murrah its senior vice president, Nashville.
Murrah was elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005. He also served two consecutive terms as president of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and is currently serving his fifth term as chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation.
The Poets and Prophets series honors songwriters who have made significant contributions to country music history. The program is sponsored by Ford Motor Company Fund, and, in part, by grants from the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and by an agreement between the Tennessee Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts.
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