Jason Aldean, Old Dominion, Trisha Yearwood, Lukas Nelson and Jessie Jo Dillon are among those set to perform at the 2025 Nashville Songwriter Awards, which will be held at the fabled Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Sept. 23. Dillon has been nominated for the Grammy for songwriter of the year, non-classical, the last two years running.
Other artists set to perform at the event are Kelly Archer, Drew Baldridge, Marc Beeson, Johnny Clawson, Travis Denning, Josh Dorr, Aaron Eshuis, Tyler Hubbard, Lalo Guzman, Cameron Jaymes, Tony Lane, Josh Miller, Tim Nichols, Josh Phillips, Daniel Ross, Chris Stevens, Kyle Sturrock, Chris Tompkins and Jimmy Yeary.
The awards, now in their eighth year, are presented by the Nashville Songwriters Association International along with presenting partner City National Bank. Tickets will be available on the Ryman’s website beginning on Friday, July 18, at 10 a.m. CT.
In addition, Alabama will receive the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award, and Brenda Lee will be honored with the NSAI President’s Keystone Award. The event will also recognize song of the year, songwriter of the year, songwriter-artist of the year, the 10 Songs I Wish I’d Written awards, and the legendary song award.
Both songwriter and songwriter-artist of the year are contingent on chart performance, while the other award categories are peer-voted and determined by NSAI’s professional membership of songwriters.
The song of the year award is given to the song that receives the most votes in the 10 Songs I Wish I’d Written voting process.
The legendary song award, which was introduced in 2024, was developed as a way to honor a song that is deemed legendary above all others in the designated time frame. The eligibility period for this year’s award was 1968-1984. The NSAI board of directors selected 10 songs from that time frame for the pro membership to vote on to determine the top legendary song.
The NSAI is the world’s largest not-for-profit songwriters trade organization dedicated to protecting the rights of and serving aspiring and professional songwriters in all genres of music.