Vassar Nominated Alongside Toby Keith, Brad Paisley and Shania Twain in Songwriter/Artist Category.
Multi-platinum selling Phil Vassar, whose career has garnered 10 No. 1 singles and 26 Top 40 hits including signature self-penned hits “Just Another Day in Paradise” and “Carlene,” is a 2021 nominee for Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Nominated in the Songwriter/Artist category, Vassar has also written top-charting songs for artists Tim McGraw (“My Next Thirty Years,”” For a Little While”), Alan Jackson (“Right on the Money”), Jo Dee Messina (“Bye Bye,” “Alright”) and many more.
“It is such an honor to be a nominee for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. I am so humbled to be nominated as not only a songwriter, but also an artist alongside such great company,” shared Vassar.
Vassar is among four nominees in the Songwriter/Artists category alongside Toby Keith, Brad Paisley and Shania Twain. Nominees in the Songwriters category which includes Rhett Akins, Buddy Cannon, Larry Cordle, Carl Jackson, Mary Ann Kennedy, David Malloy, Frank J. Myers and Tia Sillers.
All nominees experienced their first Top 20 song at least 20 years ago. Two songwriters and one songwriter/artist will be elected in these categories by their professional songwriter peers and members of the Hall of Fame. In addition, two more will be named to the Class of 2021. A separate body of veteran voters will elect a veteran songwriter and a veteran songwriter/artist, both of whom experienced their first Top 20 song at least 30 years ago. As part of that process, nominees in those categories are not announced.
The new group will be among those honored at the “50/51” Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala on Monday, November 1, 2021, at the Music City Center alongside the organization’s previously named Class of 2020: Steve Earle, Bobbie Gentry, Kent Blazy, Brett James and Spooner Oldham.
“We were forced to postpone our 50th Anniversary celebration last year, so this will be our ‘50/51’ party—celebrating two years and two classes in a special double-sized event,” says NaSHOF Executive Director Mark Ford. “We congratulate all of this year’s nominees and look forward to next month, when we will announce those who will be inducted as members of the Class of 2021.”
ABOUT PHIL VASSAR:
Phil Vassar’s reign of signature songs include 10 No. 1 singles and 26 Top 40 hits, including “Carlene,” “Just Another Day in Paradise,” “Six-Pack Summer,” “When I Love You” and many more. Vassar was racking up hits on the radio long before he even began his own recording career that has seen the release of nine albums, two ASCAP Songwriter of the Year trophies, ACM’s Top New Male Vocalist and sold-out shows across the country. Vassar’s songwriting career blossomed in the mid-’90s when he landed a publishing contract with EMI and penned hits for Collin Raye (“Little Red Rodeo”), Alan Jackson (“Right on the Money”), Tim McGraw (“My Next Thirty Years,” “For a Little While”), Jo Dee Messina (“Bye Bye,” “Alright”), and Blackhawk (“Postmarked Birmingham”). He signed a record deal of his own with Arista in 1998 and was named ASCAP’s Country Songwriter of the Year in 1999 and 2001. 2020 marked an important anniversary for Vassar, 20 years since his first No. 1 single, “Just Another Day in Paradise,” was released. To celebrate, Vassar released his long-awaited 10th studio album, Stripped Down. The album’s effortless production puts the songs front and center. It features songs written over the past 20 years but never-before recorded and new music, including “This is Where The End Starts”, co- written with daughter, Haley Vassar and Vassar’s take on “Postmarked Birmingham,” a hit he wrote for Blackhawk. Vassar will release a brand new project in 2021 featuring covers from artists that have inspired him throughout his career. Additionally the hitmaker will release a new podcast on the American Songwriter Podcast Network and season 3 of Phil Vassar’s Songs from the Cellar on Circle.
