On April 27, 2026, The New York Times published a list titled, “The 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters.” Polling a pool of more than 200 artists and critics, the unranked list spans multiple generations and genres and, as such things typically go, it walks a tightrope between being good discussion fodder and rage bait.
Country music was rather well represented on the list, which includes Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Taylor Swift, and a shared entry for Brandy Clark / Shane McAnally / Josh Osborne. Still, taking an all-genre approach to this exercise leaves a lot of folks worthy of recognition on the outside in favor of big names.
So consider this our country-specific “Supplemental Reading” list.
Following the same parameters as the NYT, we’ve compiled our picks for the:
30 (… with a few honorable mentions…)
Greatest (… quality over quantity, Ashley Gorley…)
Living (… how dare you up and die right before we could give you your flowers, Don Schlitz…)
American (… no Kasey Chambers or Fred Eaglesmith…)
Songwriters (… vocal talent incidental this time…)
Sound off in the comments with who we got right and who we missed.
The 30* Greatest Living American Country Songwriters
Tony Arata
(“The Dance,” “Here I Am”)
Matraca Berg
(“The Dreaming Fields,” “Strawberry Wine”)
Bobby Braddock
(“Golden Ring,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today”)
Neko Case
(“Deep Red Bells,” “Star Witness”)
Rosanne Cash
(“Black Cadillac,” “Seven Year Ache”)
Brandy Clark
(“Pray to Jesus,” “Who You Thought I Was”)
Rodney Crowell
(“I Walk the Line Revisited,” “Please Remember Me”)
Iris DeMent
(“Mama’s Opry,” “Our Town”)
Dean Dillon
(“The Chair,” “Tennessee Whiskey”)
Bobbie Gentry
(“Casket Vignette,” “Fancy”)
Patty Griffin
(“Don’t Let Me Die in Florida,” “Let Him Fly”)
Ray Wylie Hubbard
(“Down Home Country Blues,” “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother”)
Jason Isbell
(“Cover Me Up,” “If We Were Vampires”)
Robert Earl Keen
(“Feelin’ Good Again,” “The Road Goes On Forever”)
Amythyst Kiah
(“Black Myself,” “Polly Jean’s Hammer”)
Miranda Lambert
(“Kerosene,” “Vice”)
Jim Lauderdale
(“We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This,” “You Don’t Seem to Miss Me”)
Bob McDill*
(“If Hollywood Don’t Need You (I Still Do),” “Standing Knee Deep in a River”)
Lori McKenna
(“Girl Crush,” “Stealing Kisses”)
James McMurtry
(“Sons of the Second Sons,” “Where’d You Hide the Body”)
Rhett Miller
(“Doreen,” “Most in the Summertime”)
Willie Nelson
(“Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,” “Crazy”)
Paul Overstreet
(“On the Other Hand,” “One of Those Things”)
Dolly Parton
(“Coat of Many Colors,” “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind”)
Gretchen Peters
(“Independence Day,” “The Matador”)
Alice Randall
(“Went for a Ride,” “XXXs and OOOs”)
Kim Richey
(“Nobody Wins,” “Where Are You Now”)
Bruce Robison
(“Travelin’ Soldier,” “Wrapped”)
Darrell Scott
(“Long Time Gone,” “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive”)
Sonny Throckmorton
(“The Way I Am,” “Why Not Me”)
Lucinda Williams
(“Drunken Angel,” “Get Right with God”)
Noting for posterity that it says so much about their taste that more than half of that list could have been supported by song interpretations performed by a combination of Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, Pam Tillis, and The Chicks, with another good percentage from George Strait, Randy Travis, and Tim McGraw. The good ones know the good ones.
- A tip-of-the-hat to reader MarkMinnesota, who noted in the comments below that Bob McDill is, in fact, still very much alive. His absurd catalog of hits makes him an easy first ballot choice for inclusion, and we regret accidentally killing off the genius behind “Gone Country” and a slew of Don Williams’ and Crystal Gayle’s biggest and best hits.
… Additional Considerations:
Adeem The Artist
Jessi Alexander
(Whisperin’) Bill Anderson
Tyler Childers
Steve Earle
Alejandro Escovedo
Evan Felker
Radney Foster
Rhiannon Giddens
Patterson Hood / Mike Cooley
Lyle Lovett
Shane McAnally
Ashley McBryde
Ashley Monroe
Allison Moorer
Kacey Musgraves
Josh Osborne
Allison Russell
Chris Stapleton
Dwight Yoakam
Pretty solid list. I think Alan Jackson probably deserved inclusion but most of the top tier was accounted for. Hard for me to even narrow it down to a favorite or even trio of favorite because there are so many essential songwriters on the list who penned so many on my list of all-time classics. Agreed that Don Schlitz’s passing was a last-minute curveball. I’m guessing a “greatest deceased songwriters list” might be forthcoming to correct the record.
Lists of Dead People are always a weird exercise, but it’s definitely worth noting that so many of the iconic songwriters of country’s “golden era” have passed, to say nothing of some of the more recent deaths like Schlitz and Todd Snider. But for those who’ve died, it might be even easier to come up with something like the 30 greatest songs written by Harlan Howard or Cindy Walker or Schlitz or (… choose from 100+ others…).
Jackson’s a strong choice, too. “Drive (For Daddy Gene)” and “The Older I Get” would be my highlight picks for him, but he for sure has the catalog.
Whoa…Bob McDill is still alive??! I could have sworn he had passed. He definitely would make my list of best living country songwriters.
I didn’t even look up McDill when I was doing my fact-checking for this post because I would have sworn under oath that he died at least a decade ago. But what a delightful surprise to find out otherwise: His catalog is otherworldly, to such an extent that I’ve updated the full post above to place him where he surely belongs.
Great catch, Mark.
If memory serves, a very much alive McDill was inducted into the CMHoF the same year as Patty and Tanya.
…not that it would be needed to support your claim re. bob mcdill – dead or alive – mark, but applying “everything that glitters (is not gold)” as a quick reality check of your point – what more confirmation could there be.
@Chris
I was so out of my skull elated for Tanya and Patty that I didn’t even pause to check my (bad!) assumption that Bob was being inducted posthumously!
@Tom
The thing with McDill is that picking one or two songs to highlight is a choice with no wrong answers!
Indeed. Either “Everything That Glitters is Not Gold” or “Good Ol’ Boys Like Me” is my favorite all-time McDill song.
Great list. I think Bill Anderson has to be somewhere in the top group, but it’s hard to argue with any combination of these writers.
Recency bias on my part, most likely, but I couldn’t think of an Anderson song that I would’ve bumped someone out of the top group for. But the Honorable Mentions are there for just that reason: No judgment here for anyone making a one-for-one swap!
I think the problem with Anderson is that because he wrote so many songs, themes and topics that have been well worn out in the genre were first done by him. So I think it’s easy to discount a song like Once a Day (writing quality wise; the historical significance is still booming) for a reason like that. But City Lights, The Lord Knows I’m Drinking, and Whiskey Lullaby all still feel fresh and strikingly good, at least to me.
“Once A Day” is tremendous, for sure, though I’ll admit I’m such a Connie Smith fanboy that I rarely focus on anything beyond her force-of-nature performance. Fine choices among his other compositions, too. Like I said upthread, no judgment whatsoever in making a one-for-one swap between the “31” and the “Additional Considerations” lists!
An impossible exercise it is, narrowing the list to 30. I’m glad you started this discussion Jonathan!
Solid list. My main complaint with the NYT version is that it leaned too much on name recognition and didn’t seem to give much consideration to writers like Braddock who crank out great songs for others without being particularly notable as performers themselves.
Agreed. There is definitely a skew toward performers who also happen to write their own songs instead of folks who are more in that “professional songwriter” bucket. I tried to highlight more of that latter group here; sure, I’ve gone to bat many times for the likes of Berg, Lauderdale, Hubbard, and Peters as recording artists, but they’re among many others I picked who are likely best known for the quality of their writing.
Honestly, I’m shocked that the NYT list didn’t include Adele and Beyonce as “big name” artists who write their own songs.
I probably would’ve had Beth Nielsen Chapman somewhere on there.
BNC isn’t someone I even considered, honestly, if only because I consider her primary focus as a songwriter to be more in the pop / AC vein, though she’s had some successes on the country charts.
“Sand and Water” is an absolutely stunning and devastating song, for instance, but I don’t think any country artists ever covered it outside of a collaborative album Olivia Newton-John did with Chapman and Amy Sky. But she’s certainly a gifted songwriter, and I’ve always liked her singing voice, too.
Yes, Sand and Water is heartbreaking. She also co-wrote one of my favorite Tanya singles (“Strong Enough to Bend”) and wrote what I consider one of Trisha’s all-timers (“Down On My Knees”).
Really solid list, can’t complain with any of the inclusions. I think Alan Jackson and Bill Anderson would have to make my list, and if I could be a bit selfish I’d also have Shawn Camp in mine. But there’s lots of worthy candidates that small differences are worth discussing but not quibbling over.
Ooh, Shawn Camp’s another good pick, too. Have been such a fan since his 90s run all the way through that killer Sis Draper album last year.
I am honored to be included..I believe Hayes Carll has pleased the muses.
This man right here, y’all: “I believe that Muddy Waters is as deep as William Blake.” There’s only ever been one like RWH.
Carll’s a modern giant, too. Definitely a worthy addition to the conversation.
… for good measure (or a little friendly controversy with kevin) i have to throw brad paisley’s name into the ring here. probably the best and consistent popular chronist of the middle american rural to urban life and condition this century in the country music realm. and arguably the best on this subject matter since haggard. pity he didn’t really follow through into today’s.
Paisley’s an interesting case, and I’ve always been much more “pro” when it comes to him than Kevin is. I think what you’ve described here reflects Paisley at his best, but, even as someone who jibes with Paisley pretty often, he’s been so wildly inconsistent that it cuts against him. For every “Letter to Me,” there’s a “Water,” and for every “Southern Comfort Zone,” there’s an “Accidental Racist.”
Okay, maybe there’s really only the one “Accidental Racist.” But the broader point stands.
Personally, I’d put him in the next tier down from the folks I’ve listed in both of the sections here, and I’ll be happy to see his eventual CMHoF induction.
I’d have Vince Gill in this list (at least in the second list).
The never-ending series of EPs that we are somewhere in the middle of has me in the throes of some very real, very powerful Vince Fatigue. But yes, he’s another great pick for the conversation.
Amazing. A whole article and 20-plus comments and nobody has mentioned a person who’s one of the greatest songwriters of all time, who wrote some of the most iconic songs of the 1960s and ’70s, and who wrote them all solo, so there’s no wondering how much he really contributed.
Just think Glen Campbell (or the guy who wrote almost every great song that Campbell ever did. His initials are J.W.)
Oh, and why has Clint Black been completely deplatformed. No Country Music H-o-F? Fine. He did flame out kind of early.
But Black isn’t even in the Nashville Songwriters’ H-o=F. Every other artist who wrote hit songs in in the Nashville Songwriters H-o=F. And he’s not mentioned here, either.
Despite the Campbell hits– and I’m admittedly and on record as never being much of a Campbell fan– Webb’s another songwriter who I considered as operating far more significantly in the pop space than in country. He’s an icon who has written more *standards* than perhaps any living songwriter, but the majority of the best-known versions of those standards are by pop artists. That’s why I didn’t include him here: I think it’s a hard argument to make that he is primarily a *country songwriter*, which was the intention here. I think it’s actually far more egregious that he was left off the NYT list.
Black should be in the CMHoF; would never argue otherwise. In terms of *great* songs he’s written? After his debut album, I’d count a small handful, at best. He never hit a second peak the way Alan Jackson or Brooks & Dunn or even Toby Keith did, and the perception that he’s a “one album wonder” (though I think he released some *good* work after that) in terms of greatness is the reason he’s often overlooked.
And despite having a well-regarded podcast, he also doesn’t do a ton of self-promotion the way some of his contemporaries do, and he’s only released 3 albums in the last 20 years. The low profile is at least somewhat a self-inflicted wound.
Fair enough, if the reason you left out Webb is that you’re keeping your list to people who are more exclusively country.
Funny, I actually find Black’s podcast kind of lame.
It’s done in front of a studio audience who appear to be visiting as tourists and are not in any way engaged. And it’s heavily structured and stilted, to the point of asking everyone whom they’d like to sing with in heaven (and never eliciting and interesting response).
I think that ’90s contemporary who’s like persona non grata–speaking of Tracy Lawrence–is much more natural and freewheeling and interesting on the Internet. If Tracy ever gets nominated for anything, it will probably be the first time since he was named for the Horizon Award.
But the Nashville Songwriters Hall’s snub of Clint black is inexplicable, based on all the artist-writers who has gotten in, including many who are not as accomplished as Clint, in terms of songwriting. (John Anderson, Vern Gosdin, David Lee Murphy)
Yeah, I bucketed Webb in with Randy Newman as being a pretty indefensible omission from the NYT’s list, but I didn’t consider bringing either of them up here, since I wanted this to focus on songwriters who work primarily or exclusively in a country space. Tom Waits and Tracy Chapman were the other two that I’d have in that same bucket, and the mention of Beth Neilsen Chapman upthread is another good example.
Honestly, it’s why I didn’t include Taylor Swift, either: Her greatest songs– and she has a lot of them– are her pop compositions.
I agree that the Nashville Songwriters HoF exclusion for Black does seem like a more purposeful snub. John Anderson is a hill I’ll always die on, but no way has he written more high-caliber songs than Black.
Agree, too, that Lawrence is a more natural and affable host, as such things go. He did get a couple of awards (CMA and ACM Vocal Event trophies) for “Find Out Who Your Friends Are,” which I was about to say was just a couple of years ago… but which was all the way back in 2008.
Tracy Lawrence, as I recall, had a couple of bad personal incidents that threatened his career. (Superstar artists can get away with almost anything, but mid-level stars like Lawrence can be “cancelled” for a misstep.) Hence the song “Find Out Who Your Friends Are,” seemed autobiographical when he released it and the issuance of a second version, with Tim McGraw’s and Kenny Chesney’s vocals added in made it just perfect and gave Tracy a final # 1.
BTW, Clint Black and Tracy Lawrence each guested on the other’s podcast. It was Tracy’s interview of Clint that persuaeded me that Black should be in the H-o-F, despite his career fizzling out earlier than expected. They really “talk shop” in that interview and Tracy talks about how he came to Nashville around 1991 and how “Killing Time” was a huge influence on his attempts at songwriting and also recording (He managed to get Black’s producer James Stroud, to produce him). Gave me more appreciation for Tracy, as well.
It occurred to me this morning that Tim DuBois is also still alive and probably deserves at least an honorable mention with “She Got The Goldmine”, “The Bluest Eyes In Texas”, “Love In The First Degree” and “When I Call Your Name”, among others.
Honorable Mention feels about right for DuBois, I’d say. His work as a producer was actually always more interesting to me than (most) of his songwriting his credits.
Also I really need to stop killing off all of these people I just assumed were dead.
After reading the original New York Times list and Jonathan’s country counterpoint, the three names that came to mind were Jamey Johnson, Kent Blazy, and Odie Blackmon. Kieran Kane then quickly showed up.
It was unexpectedly upsetting to think of so many great writers who are gone.
Does being cancelled count as being dead?