Dennis Morgan has enjoyed enormous songwriting success both in country and pop music since his emergence in the late 1970s. He was 11 years old when he saw the Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Like millions of kids across the country, Morgan soon after got his first guitar and started pursuing his musical dreams. But unlike 99 percent of those kids, Morgan's dreams came true, in platinum-selling fashion. After dropping out of high school, Dennis hit the road with his first band. They got a recording deal. The deal fell through. In the early '70s, he moved to Nashville, where he played in honky-tonk bars for a few years. Slowly, a few session gigs came his way. He wrote jingles for Opryland, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Rubbermaid. He got a staff writer deal with Charley Pride's publishing company. And then in 1978, after he and Kye Fleming co-wrote "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed," a country #1 for Barbara Mandrell, his career took off. Together Fleming and Morgan wrote a string of top country hits from the late '70s into the early '80s for pop-leaning country artists like Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap and Sylvia. By the mid-'80s, Morgan had started his own publishing company, Little Shop of Morgansongs, and was consistently scoring hits on the country and pop charts alike. In 1987, with English songwriter-artist Simon Climie, he co-wrote "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," a globally seismic, Grammy-winning #1 duet for Aretha Franklin and George Michael. During the '80s, he also accumulated a shelf-load of awards, including BMI's Country Songwriter of the Year four times, and England's prestigious Ivor Novello Award (Morgan is one of only three Americans ever to receive it). In the '90s, his success continued with cuts by Amy Grant, Neil Diamond and Faith Hill. As Morgan's publishing company expanded, he signed other writers, including future Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Tony Arata, who wrote "The Dance," the Garth Brooks smash. With over 20 #1 hits under his belt, Morgan says he would like to be remembered "as a songwriter who touched others with his music, not a specific song. If I'm lucky enough to write songs that last, beautiful. But the pure pleasure is in the doing of it. That's what a songwriter is. You have to love it, because you're going to have more rejections than acceptances."

Brett Tyler is a bonafide hitmaker. Having punched his way into the Top 15 for his work with Blake Shelton (“Hell Right” feat. Trace Adkins) and landing his first number one record for his efforts with Luke Combs and Jameson Rodgers (“Cold Beer Calling My Name”), Tyler’s resume speaks for itself. Tyler recently scored his second #1 with Corey Kent's "Wild As Her" and third #1 with Morgan Wallen & Eric Church's "Man Made A Bar". Tyler currently has Dylan Schneider's radio single, "Better Than You Left Me". Tyler has cuts on HARDY ("here lies country music" and "the mockingbird & THE CROW"), Morgan Wallen ("Man Made A Bar" featuring Eric Church) and Nate Smith's ("Bittersweet) albums. “I’m not a one-lane kinda writer,” explains the AIMP Rising Songwriter Of The Year nominee, “That’s one of the things I pride myself on.” Press opinion backs this wholeheartedly, praising his efforts as everything from “uptempo and catchy” (Digital Journal) to “rowdy [and] chest puffing” (Rolling Stone). Tyler’s introduction to the world of country came at a young age, when he was growing up in Minnesota, just outside the twin cities. “I listened to country music via my family,” he recalls, “though in middle and high school I went through a phase where I thought it wasn’t cool. As much as I love country now, I’m grateful for that time when I dug around in other genres.” Broadening his horizons made Brett a well-rounded writer, so when he started making trips to Nashville, he brought fresh perspective to his co-writes. Demand for him swiftly made a permanent move to Music City inevitable, and after two years of further honing his talents, he signed with Combustion in 2013. From Minnesota to Tennessee, this crafter of “feel-good, looking back summer jams” (Taste of Country) continues to prove his value to any songwriting team. When he’s not writing, Tyler is working as a producer, most recently taking the lead on a project with his wife, Show Dog Nashville/Thirty Tigers signee Kimberly Kelly.

Mark Irwin moved from the Northeast to Nashville to pursue his dream of songwriting in 1987. Soon after, Mark landed his first cut, the Christmas song “Meet Me Under The Mistletoe” recorded by Randy Travis, and years later, recorded again by Hailey Whitters. Mark then went on to co-write Alan Jackson’s first number one hit “Here In The Real World,” a two-time CMA Song of the Year nominee, ACM Song of the Year nominee and winner of the Music City News Award for Song of the Year 1990. Mark has co-written three other number-one country singles including “Redneck Crazy” (Tyler Farr), “Highway Don’t Care” [Tim McGraw (featuring Taylor Swift and Keith Urban)], and “Neon Light” (Blake Shelton). Other notable releases include “Looking For That Girl” (Tim McGraw), “New Friends” (Lainey Wilson), “Bama Breeze” (Jimmy Buffett), “That’s How They Do It In Dixie” (Hank Williams Jr.), “Lie A Little” (Ashland Craft), as well as cuts from Martina McBride, Faith Hill, George Jones, Timmy McKeever, Josh Weathers, and more. Additionally, as a former bartender at Nashville’s famous Bluebird Café, Mark is featured prominently in the documentary Bluebird alongside Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, and more.

With a signature style, sound, and spunk all her own, Kimberly Kelly emerged as one of the most original, compelling, and promising new artists in country music with her 2022 label debut album I’ll Tell You What’s Gonna Happen (Show Dog Nashville/Thirty Tigers). The record served as a fine and critically-favored introduction to industry heavyweights and audiences alike. But referring to her as “new” artist feels like a bit of a slight to the Lorena, Texas native. Before a crowd-funded EP got her noticed in Nashville by Thirty Tigers’ David Macias, she’d been funding her own records (two back in her home state of Texas,) knocking on doors, and driving all over the country for nearly two decades chasing down her dream of making it big. Along the way, there have been many standout moments for Kelly: a mentor in the legendary outlaw Billy Joe Shaver, an endorsement by the late Toby Keith, an Opry debut, being named one of CMT’s Next Women of Country, a radio tour, and touring with Tracy Lawrence and Clay Walker. Still, that typical, “big break” moment so many hopefuls wait for remained elusive for Kelly. Folks say that Nashville is a “ten-year town.” After 13 years, most folks would have called it quits and moved on with their lives. But not Kimberly.  “I thought by now I would’ve found a reason to give up, but I’ve just kept going!” she says, almost in shock of her own tenacity and persistence.  Call it determination, plain stubbornness or better yet, a “woman’s intuition,” Kelly kept the faith, stuck to her guns, and wrote her own playbook to “making it big,” which included listening to your heart, your gut, and above all else doing what works for you, rules be damned. “I’m a people pleaser, so it can been hard for me to choose myself. But the older you get, the more experience you have, and the more and more you just don’t give a shit and it’s a blast!” Kelly says with a cackling laugh. “Some of the things I thought would hold me back in this business have actually ended up giving me more of a relatable niche—I’ve lived some life, earned a masters degree in speech pathology, worked all kinds of jobs, and now I’m also a wife and a mom. That perspective isn’t something to hide backstage. It’s something to bring center stage and show off.” And that’s what she hopes to do with her upcoming album, Modern Day Woman, a genuinely brilliant ode to hardworking women everywhere. Produced by her hit songwriter husband Brett Tyler and featuring eight out of ten songs she co-wrote with some of Nashville’s finest, the honest, heartwarming, and sometimes hilarious album boasts gems like “Stripper for a Week,” “Modern Day Woman,” “Insignificant Other,” “40,” and “Nose to the Rhinestone.” “I’d love to give women like me in life right now a voice— make them feel seen and heard.”