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Taylor Swift Named Songwriter/Artist of the Decade

Ashley Gorley will be honored as NSAI's Songwriter of the Decade.

Taylor Swift won't want to shake this off.

The Nashville Songwriters Association International revealed Monday that it will honor the country-star-turned-pop-icon as its 'Songwriter-Artist of the Decade.'

Swift, who writes or co-writes all of her songs, has nabbed 11 Grammy Awards and is the only female artist in history to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year three times. Her additional accolades include three '10 Songs I Wish I'd Written' awards (2020: "Lover" [written and recorded by: Taylor Swift]; 2017: "Better Man" [written by: Taylor Swift / recorded by: Little Big Town ]; 2015: "Shake It Off" [written by: Max Martin, Shellback, Taylor Swift / recorded by: Taylor Swift]).

Keith Urban can't help but sing her praises.

"A good songwriter can have you see the flowers in a song," Urban said in a statement. "A great songwriter can have you see and feel them. But, a truly gifted songwriter's songwriter will have you see, feel and smell those roses in the window. That's Taylor. When she sings 'memorized the creaks in the floor,' I'm there in a house with so many immediate details of my own - I'm hooked. In a time where a song can have a dozen writers, the above mentioned song Cornelia Street (one of my all-time fave Tay songs) is one of many with just one. Taylor Swift. She's the real … deal!!!!"

With more than 60 No. 1 songs to his credit, Ashley Gorley will be honored as NSAI's 'Songwriter of the Decade.' Gorley has been NSAI's 'Songwriter of the Year' five times in the past eight years. He earned three '10 Songs I Wish I'd Written' awards (2018: "I Lived It" [written by: Rhett Akins, Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley, Ben Hayslip / recorded by: Blake Shelton] and "Marry Me" [written by: Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley, Shane McAnally, Thomas Rhett / recorded by: Thomas Rhett]; 2017: "Dirt On My Boots" [written by: Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure, Rhett Akins / recorded by: Jon Pardi]).

"I have so much respect for Ashley Gorley," Thomas Rhett said in a statement. "His talent as a songwriter is obvious, but his work ethic combined with that talent is truly inspirational. He's one of the hardest working and most passionate people in town and truly deserves this honor."

The evening will also honor the 2022 song, songwriter, and songwriter-artist of the year, as well as Garth Brooks, who will receive the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award and Sony Music Publishing Chairman & CEO Jon Platt, who was selected for NSAI President's Keystone Award.

The 5th annual Nashville Songwriter Awards presented by City National Bank are set for Sept. 20 at Ryman Auditorium. Performers include Luke Combs, Little Big Town, Jordan Davis, Pat Alger, Tony Arata, Babyface, Kent Blazy, Jacob Davis, GAYLE, HARDY, Walker Hayes, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins, Matt McGinn, Thomas Rhett, Matt Rogers, Jenn Schott, Nathan Spicer and Matthew West.

Decade award winners are determined by their cumulative songwriting success between 2010-2019. Points are given by calculating the percentage of songwriting credit in a Nashville-associated song and tracking each song's performance on a week-to-week basis in the Top 20 of the Billboard Country Airplay Chart, Billboard Pop Songs Chart, Billboard Christian Airplay Chart or Billboard Rock Airplay Chart. For the 'Songwriter-Artist of the Decade' award, there is the additional requirement that they must be the recording artist as well as a credited songwriter of the song for points to count.

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