Garth Brooks to Receive Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award at Nashville Songwriter Awards
Garth Brooks will be honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association International with the Kris Kristofferson lifetime achievement award during the upcoming fifth annual Nashville Songwriter Awards.
The ceremony is set for Sept. 20, 2022, at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
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The honor is given to an individual whose works have made a significant contribution to the American songbook, an individual who has inspired the careers of others. The Kris Kristofferson lifetime achievement award has only been given to three other individuals since its inception, with those recipients including Willie Nelson (2013), Bill Anderson (2018) and Loretta Lynn (2019). The award recipient is personally chosen by Kristofferson.
“It’s pretty damn embarrassing to give a man of Garth’s stature an award with my name on it,” Kristofferson said via a statement. “When Willie got one he said he could take care of that. Congratulations Garth, I am truly humbled and honored that you have accepted this! You belong on Mount Rushmore. See you there.”
“When they name awards after artists, that award takes on an even greater meaning. Kristofferson is known as the songwriter’s songwriter…and he should be,” Brooks added via a statement. “The honor is the name on the award and the names who have received it. My hope is that through time, the Garth Brooks name is worthy of such an honor. This is going to be a cool night.”
Kristofferson wrote or co-wrote two of the five Grammy nominees for song of the year in 1971: “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and received that organization’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 2006. Brooks was inducted into the SHOF in 2011. He received the Gershwin Prize from the Library of Congress in 2020.
The annual Nashville Songwriter Awards is both awards ceremony and celebration of songs and songwriters, with many of the awards recipients determined by the community of peer professional writers, which honor their most-admired songs of the past year with the song of the year honor, as well as the ’10 songs I wish I’d written’ awards.
Ticket pricing and on-sale information for the Nashville Songwriter Awards will be available in coming weeks.
