Nicolle Galyon ACM Songwriter of the Year
Song of The Year with Miranda Lambert’s “Automatic” in 2015 and Dan + Shay’s “Tequila” in 2019
Award-winning songwriter Nicolle Galyon receives her second consecutive nomination for Academy of Country Music (ACM) Songwriter of the Year at the 58th ACM Awards taking place in Frisco, Texas on May 11. Nominated alongside fellow hit-writers Ashley Gorley, Chase McGill, Josh Osborne and Hunter Phelps, Galyon represents the only female in the category. The recent nomination adds to the trailblazer’s growing list of recognition from the ACM, which includes a 2022 Songwriter of the Year nomination as well as two ACM wins for Song of The Year with Miranda Lambert’s “Automatic” in 2015 and Dan + Shay’s “Tequila” in 2019.
The nomination follows a momentous April for Galyon, which included the announcement of GRAMMY Award-winning songwriter Kimberly Perry’s joint publishing deal at Galyon’s female-focused publishing house Songs & Daughters in partnership with Warner Chappell Music. Most recently, Songs & Daughters writer Lauren Watkins announced her label deal with Big Loud Records and Songs & Daughters earlier this week on April 11.
This year, Galyon notched her 10th career No. 1 and was honored with her second CMA Triple Play Award for writing the hit songs “Thought You Should Know” (Morgan Wallen), “Gone” (Dierks Bentley) and “half of my hometown” (Kelsea Ballerini). Over her two decade-long career, Galyon has earned a 2019 BMI Songwriter of the Year win, nods from The Recording Academy, ASCAP, NSAI and many more. Songs written by “the creative force to watch on Music Row” (The Tennessean) have amassed over 2B+ streams with hits like “Consequences” (Camila Cabello), “Gone” (Dierks Bentley), “We Were Us” (Keith Urban) and “I Quit Drinking” (Kelsea Ballerini, LANY).
Last summer, Galyon put her life story into a collection of songs with her strikingly personal debut album as an artist with firstborn. The deeply personal album reveals her humble beginnings that led her to a life of striving for excellence, the struggle of only knowing half of her family tree, balancing motherhood with her career and everything in between. Combining her life experiences with her songwriting talent, firstborn serves as a musical memoir and fully realized artistic statement from one of Nashville’s most successful songwriters. Released in July 2022 to critical acclaim, Forbes tapped it as “candid and vulnerable,” while People praised it as a “musical masterpiece,” and The Tennessean noted it was “a star-making statement all her own.” Galyon went on to be named SiriusXM’s “Highway Find” before going on to make her NBC TODAY show debut with “self care.”
Galyon will join longtime friend and collaborator Walker Hayes as a special guest on his Duck Buck Tour on May 4 in her home state of Kansas at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita and on May 5 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo.