Taylor Earns Songwriter of the Year Award

Posted by amyclark on 08/18/2008

10/15/2007 Stephen L. Betts   Taylor Swift was honored last night as  Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association International at the 38th Annual Nashville Songwriters Foundation Hall of Fame dinner and awards. Taylor, the youngest artist in history to receive this award, tied with superstar Alan Jackson for the evening’s top honor. Past winners of the prestigious award include Vince Gill, Shania Twain, Clint Black, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith and Brad Paisley. The NSAI Award is Taylor’s first songwriting award, and is an award voted upon by her peers, the professional songwriter members of the NSAI. Taylor spent all day yesterday flying home to Nashville from Canada in order to attend the Songwriter’s Foundation event. Currently on tour with Brad Paisley, she played a show in Saskatoon, SK, Canada on Saturday night. "I am just freaking out,” Taylor says of her surprise win. “I’m so excited because I got a publishing deal when I was 14 and every single day was devoted to writing songs. And it was before I got a record deal, it was before any of this started. I was a songwriter in town. And the fact that this award is voted on by my songwriter peers…I don't even know how to explain how honored I feel. I mean, I was sitting at the table and they called Alan Jackson's name and I'm just like, 'Oh my God! That's awesome!' And then all of the sudden they say my name and I'm like, 'What happened?' I'm so humbled by this experience. It's just so unbelievable." Also recently announced, Taylor will be  creating a Taylor-Made Opry Radio Special to help commemorate the Grand Ole Opry’s 82nd birthday, which is being celebrated with several special events throughout the month. The CMA Horizon Award nominee hosts the America’s Grand Ole Opry Weekend special featuring the live cuts she wants to hear from the Opry stage the weekend of Oct. 27. Taylor’s friends, including Brad Paisley, Sugarland, Josh Turner, and Jack Ingram, are among the artists featured in the special, in addition to the latest from Taylor herself. America’s Grand Ole Opry Weekend presents top artists’ performances from the Opry stage each week. The show is serviced by Westwood One and airs on more than 200 Country radio stations across the country and on the American Forces Radio Network.