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BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE! DAYTIME HIT SONGWRITERS SHOWfeaturing Mark D. Sanders, Marv Green, Ray Stephenson& SJ McDonald+ Belle Frantzwith Gloria Anderson
Sat, 21 Mar, 12:30 PM CDT
Doors open
11:00 AM CDT
3rd and Lindsley
818 3rd Ave. S, Nashville, TN 37210
TICKET SALES TERMINATED
Tickets are currently unavailable on TicketWeb
Description
Hear country music’s biggest songs and the stories behind them at DAYTIME hit songwriters show - BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE!
Featuring:
Mark D. Sanders
- “I Hope You Dance” (Lee Ann Womack)
- "Heads Carolina, Tails California" (Jo Dee Messina)
- "She Had Me At Heads Carolina" (Cole Swindell)
- "Mirror, Mirror" (Diamond Rio)
- “Blue Clear Sky" (George Strait)
- "It Matters To Me" (Faith Hill)
- "Runnin' Behind" (Tracy Lawrence)
- "Daddy's Money" (Lonestar)
- "Whatcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy" (Chris LeDoux)
- "There You Are" (Martina McBride)
- "(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing" (Trace Adkins)
- "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" (Reba McEntire)
- "Money In The Bank" (John Anderson)
- "That'd Be Alright" (Alan Jackson)
- "Vidalia" (Sammy Kershaw)
- "They're Playin' Our Song" (Neal McCoy)
- "I'd Rather Ride Around With You" (Reba McEntire)
- "Don't Get Me Started" (Rhett Akins)
Marv Green
- "Amazed" (Lonestar)
- "It Just Comes Natural" (George Strait)
- "Proud of the House We Built" (Brooks & Dunn)
- "Let's Make Love" (Tim McGraw and Faith Hill)
- "True" (George Strait)
- "Creepin'" (Eric Church)
- "Wasted" (Carrie Underwood)
- "I Called Mama" (Tim McGraw)
- "Who I Am With You" (Chris Young)
- "Love Done Gone" (Billy Currington)
- "Farmer's Daughter" (Rodney Atkins)
- "Consider Me Gone" (Reba)
RAY STEPHENSON
- “Hemingway’s Whiskey” (Kenny Chesney, Kris Kristofferson & Guy Clark)
- “Red River Blue” (Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert)
- “Willie’s Guitar” (Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & John Anderson)
- “Honkytonk Road” (Wade Bowen, Randy Rogers, Cody Canada, Sean McConnell & Walt Wilkins)
- “Magdalene” (Guy Clark, Joe Ely and Kevin Welch)
- “Heroes” (Guy Clark)
- “Leanin’ On A Lonesome Song” (Gord Bamford)
BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE DISCOVERY ARTIST: SJ MCDONALD
BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE PRE-SHOW FEATURING: GLORIA ANDERSON (beginning at 12:15 PM)
SPECIAL GUEST HOST: PEYTON KENNEDY
Event Information
Age Limit
All Ages

Country
BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE! DAYTIME HIT SONGWRITERS SHOW
BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE! DAYTIME HIT SONGWRITERS SHOW
Country

Country
Mark D. Sanders
Mark D. Sanders
Country
California native Mark Daniel Sanders was a literature major, a basketball player and a surfer who, at the age of twenty- nine, came to Nashville to try for the title of Songwriter. After ten years of “paying his dues” his career skyrocketed in the early 1990s.
With almost three decades in the music business Mark Sanders has forged a resplendent career from his innumerable successes and accomplishments as a songwriter.
As one of the most respected and honored songwriters in Nashville, Sanders has compiled an extensively impressive list of hits that have yielded a career that is nothing short of amazing. Since his beginnings on Music Row, Sanders has accumulated a multitude of awards from respected publications including Nashville Songwriter’s Association International, Billboard Magazine, Music Row Magazine and American Songwriter Magazine. In addition to these awards, Sanders has also received numerous industry honors including four Country Music Association Triple Play Awards (three No. 1’s in a twelve month period), ASCAP’s 1997 Song of the Year, “No News” and Writer of the Year awards, the 2000 CMA Song of the Year for “I Hope You Dance” and the 2001 Grammy for Country Song of the Year, also for “I Hope You Dance.”
“Mark is the kind of writer who deserves to be worked for--through his unassuming ways, he pushes his team to work with him,” says Cox. “He has a distinctive way of motivating and guiding people…deliberately, yet subtly, challenging himself and those around him.”
Since joining Larga Vista, Sanders has been enjoying success with numerous cuts by major label artists including Josh Turner (“Loretta Lynn’s Lincoln”),
Joe Nichols (“That’s What Love Will Get You”), Jeff Bates (“Hands On Man”), Shawn Camp (“Waitin’ For The Day To Break,” “Hotwired” and “Tulsa Sounds Like Trouble To Me”), Kathy Mattea (“Hurt Some”) and Lori McKenna (“Leaving This Life” and “Drinkin’ Problem”).
Sanders has been able to expand upon his brilliance as a songwriter and allow it to translate, quite lucratively, to other mediums. The astounding success of “I Hope You Dance” inspired a book by the same name, penned by Sanders and fellow songwriter Tia Sillers. Sanders has since authored three more books, one of which is a children’s book, all focusing on themes of inspiration, hope and joy.
As one of ASCAP’s and Nashville’s most celebrated songwriters and creative forces, Sanders is continuing to plug away as if the golden career he’s already achieved is something that is still looming on the horizon in front of him. He’s pushing on toward greatness while the title is already upon him.
“Mark is absolutely one of the most extraordinary songwriters I’ve ever had the privilege to work with,” Cox says. “I’ve had some great teachers and mentors, but he’s been the greatest.
Country
Marv Green
Marv Green
Country

Country
Ray Stephenson
Ray Stephenson
Country
It is a rare creative soul who can work at the highest artistic levels in two distinct disciplines. Ray Stephenson has just this kind of soul.
Wildly literate, utterly artistic, impossibly ambitious, absolutely a slave to his art, the South Georgian is completely committed to the truth. He is a world class songwriter, recording artist, an intensely captivating live singer, guitar player, record producer & virtuoso painter. Add in the ability to express the uniquely personal in a universal way, and you have a true artist.
Ray Stephenson does exactly that in his paintings, his songwriting & his performances.
As a musician, Ray Stephenson is a Grammy Award winning, Platinum selling singer/songwriter from Nashville, TN. His successes include winning CCMA Songwriter of the Year in 2013, writing the title track of Kenny Chesney’s album Hemingway’s Whiskey, and writing the Blake Shelton/Miranda Lambert duo and album title track, Red River Blue. Both reached #1 on the Billboard Album Charts and were certified Platinum. Some of the most revered and iconic legends in Country Music have recorded his music, including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Merle Haggard. He’s been a part of 4 Grammy nominated projects and 1 Grammy winning project (Guy Clark’s final recording, My Favorite Picture Of You, which brought home the Grammy “Best Folk Album” in 2015).
As a painter, Ray's paintings are hanging in the homes of collectors like Willie Nelson and Oprah Winfrey. In 2012, Ray became the Official Painter of the Monsters of Rock Tour. He’s been featured at the Bluebird Cafe, Ascend Amphitheater, Nashville Airport, the Country Music Hall of Fame ,Gaylord Hotels, Aloft Hotel, 3rd and Lyndsley, CMT and Two Old Hippies. He's had feature articles in Nashville Arts & Southwest Georgia Living magazines.
His paintings explore his love of color, texture, music & nature. Ray’s artistic influences are found in the paintings of Odd Nerdrum, Gustav Klimpt, Rembrandt and Andrew Wyeth. His fine art is highly sought after by art collectors & is a part of several prestigious private collections. He has exhibited his work in Nashville, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Atlanta, & the US Virgin islands.

Country
SJ McDonald
SJ McDonald
Country

Country
Gloria Anderson
Gloria Anderson
Country
Gloria Anderson is an Americana and Country singer-songwriter from Luling, a small Texas town. As a military brat with parents who would quiz her on rock bands like Fleetwood Mac or play classic Country like Dolly Parton, she wrote songs about her window observations during six family moves before seventh grade. She began playing her music at open mics and paid gigs around the San Antonio area, including New Braunfels, Spring Branch, and Luckenbach at age seventeen. Gloria’s talents have been on full display in the Lone Star State, as she became the first rising Texas songwriter to completely sell out the Hill Top Cafe in Fredericksburg, played original music twice on 92.3 The Ranch FM, and toured across Texas with Cole Ritter and the Night Owls this past summer. Her sphere of musical influence even spans to the Midwest, as that tour reached Ohio and she performed at the 2022 Illinois State Fair Grand Central Stage. Gloria’s newest hometown, however, is Nashville, Tennessee, where she studied the craft of songwriting at Belmont University on her way to receiving Warner Chappell's 2022-2023 Songwriting Internship and winning Belmont’s 2022 ASCAP Songwriters Showcase. Gloria’s debut single, “Yours,” has reached over 185,000 cumulative streams across all platforms. Her songs have been featured on an assortment of playlists: Spotify’s New Music Nashville and Fresh Finds: Country, Apple Music’s Don’t Mess With Texas, and BMI’s Texas Ten. Gloria’s music combines her humble Texas roots with a bit of Nashville country flair to create a genuine, yet unique, Americana sound, and her relatable lyrics and sweet persona work together to create her image as an empowering girl-next-door who always has a story to tell.
