LORI McKENNA
From her home base in Boston, Lori McKenna has carved out an enviable niche for herself as one of Nashville's most in-demand songwriters, all while maintaining a prolific and remarkably consistent career as a solo artist. The release of her anticipated album, 1988, adds to a series of landmark years for McKenna and follows three widely acclaimed albums: 2016’s The Bird & The Rifle, 2018’s The Tree and 2020’s The Balladeer, of which the Associated Press praised, “McKenna has by now long established herself as one of the best songwriters working in any genre. And she does it again and again,” while The Tennessean asserted, “one of the sharpest pens in modern country and folk songwriting.”
In addition to her career as a solo artist, McKenna continues to enjoy success as one of the music industry’s most in-demand songwriters. In 2017, McKenna became the first woman to win the ACMs Songwriter of the Year award, and the first woman to win the CMA Song of the Year award two years in a row. She also won back-to-back Grammys for Best Country Song with “Girl Crush” (Little Big Town) in 2016 and “Humble and Kind” (Tim McGraw) in 2017.
2019 saw the beginning of a five-year run for McKenna headed back to the Grammys. She was nominated for Best Country Song for “When Someone Stops Loving You” (Little Big Town) in 2019, as well as Best Country Song for “It All Comes Out In The Wash” (Miranda Lambert) and Song of the Year for “Always Remember Us This Way” (Lady Gaga) in 2020. She won her third Best Country Song for co-writing “Crowded Table” (The Highwomen) in 2021, and was nominated for overall Song of the Year for co-writing “A Beautiful Noise” (Alicia Keys) in 2022, and nominated for Best Country Song for co-writing “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” (Taylor Swift) in 2023.
Most recently, she was nominated for the CMA Song of the Year with Parker McCollum’s “Burn It Down.” In addition to writing songs for a multitude of award-winning artists — including Hunter Hayes, Faith Hill, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood — McKenna also co-wrote “Always Remember Us This Way,” which was featured in the Oscar-winning 2018 film “A Star Is Born.”