Austin, TX, May 15, 2023 –(CarryOnHarry.com)– The Texas Heritage Songwriters Association (TxHSA) is pleased to announce its 2024 Hall of Fame class of inductees: Eric Johnson, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall, Ruthie Foster, and Terry McBride.
The 2024 TxHSA Hall of Fame Weekend will return to Austin on February 23-24, 2024, celebrating the songwriting achievements of its latest class of inductees.
A VIP sponsor-only DKR Pickin’ Party will kick off the weekend on Friday, February 23, 2024. Saturday’s public Hall of Fame Awards Show at ACL Live will both honor and celebrate these new honorees, bringing them into the spotlight and inducting them into the TxHSA Hall of Fame. Sponsors and patrons can expect a weekend celebration packed with performances and appearances from past inductees, Grammy Award winners, renowned songwriters, and recording artists.
One of the most outstanding instrumentalists in rock over the past 40 years, Texas guitarist Eric Johnson was already a legend before he recorded his first album. By the early ‘80s, many celebrated guitarists were singing the praises of this skinny kid from Austin with mind-melting chops. Comparisons were made to such guitar heroes as Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix. With the release of his highly-anticipated 1986 solo debut, Tones, the underground guitar legend finally emerged onto the scene fully formed. It landed him on the cover of Guitar Player magazine, which hailed the album as a “majestic debut,” and earned him his first Grammy nomination for the song “Zap.” With the release of his follow-up album, 1990’s platinum-selling Ah Via Musicom, which contained the Grammy Award-winning song “Cliffs of Dover,” Johnson became a bona fide international guitar phenomenon.
Born in The Woodlands, Texas, Jack Ingram has maintained a reputation for uncompromising, personally charged song craft and energetic, charismatic performances for over 20 years, earning him prominent stature in a prestigious tradition of iconoclastic singer-songwriters. As a veteran of the Texas music scene, Jack is known as an exhilarating live performer. Jack has been honored by the Academy of Country Music with Awards for both Top New Male Artist and Song of the Year, and has landed GRAMMY and CMA nominations. Jack Ingram is also the new host of Texas Music Scene, the syndicated tv show featuring Texas-based artists in over 80 markets. In 2013, Jack teamed up with actor Matthew McConaughey and University of Texas at Austin football coach Mack Brown to create a fundraiser for their favorite children’s charities, dubbed Mack, Jack & McConaughey. Jack is also a supporter of Texas Songwriters U, Texas Songwriter U (TxSU), an annual songwriting development program consisting of a songwriting competition, educational workshop, and showcase event, along with Broadcast Music, Inc (BMI), and The Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association.
A GRAMMY, CMA, and ACM Award-winner, Jon Randall has seemingly done it all over his three-plus decades in the music business, working as a songwriter, guitarist, and critically acclaimed producer with some of the biggest names in country, bluegrass, and Americana. Born and raised in Dallas, Randall caught his first big break after moving to Nashville, where he was invited to join Emmylou Harris’s Nash Ramblers. In the years to come, he would go on to release a series of widely lauded solo records, produce for Dierks Bentley, Dwight Yoakam, Jack Ingram, Pat Green, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, among others, take home ACM and CMA Song of the Year honors, and write with and for the likes of Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Blake Shelton, Little Big Town, Guy Clark, Kenney Chesney, Reba McEntire, and countless more. Jon Randall has seemingly done it all over his three-plus decades in the music business, working as a songwriter, guitarist, and critically acclaimed producer with some of the biggest names in country, bluegrass, and Americana.
Ruthie Foster is from Gause, Texas, and comes from a family of gospel singers. At the age of fourteen, Foster was a soloist in her hometown choir and was certain that her future would revolve around music. After high school, she moved to Waco, Texas, to attend community college, where her studies concentrated in music and audio engineering. She began fronting a blues band, learning how to command a stage in the bars of Texas. Hoping to travel and gain a wider world perspective, Foster joined the Navy and soon began singing in the naval band Pride, which played pop and funk hits at recruitment drives in the southeastern United States. Ruthie has been nominated four times for a Best Blues Album Grammy, as well as being a winner of ten Blues Music Awards, three Austin Music Awards, the Grand Prix du Disque award from the Académie Charles-Cros in France, a Living Blues Critics’ Award for Female Blues Artist of the Year, and received the title of an “Inspiring American Artist” as a United States Artists 2018 Fellow.
Born and raised in Texas, Terry McBride grew up in Lampasas, Texas, a small ranching community about seventy miles northwest of Austin. After receiving a guitar for his ninth birthday from his father it wasn’t long before Terry was playing in local bands and spending summers on the road with his dad, the late Dale McBride, who was a recording artist with several Billboard charted singles in the late 70’s. After high school, Terry traveled and toured as part of his father’s band for three years before moving to Austin. Terry became a sought after bass player in the local music scene and spent the next few years playing with Texas artists Lee Roy Parnell, Bill Carter and the Blame, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Johnny Duncan, Rosie Flores and a two year stint with Delbert McClinton. Terry’s group, McBride & The Ride, recorded four albums for MCA, racking up several top five singles over the next few years, including “Sacred Ground” a #1 Single in 1992. McBride also received two million airplay awards for his writing credits for “Just One Night” and “Going Out of My Mind.” McBride & The Ride received CMA and ACM Nominations for Vocal Group of the Year before eventually disbanding in 1995. After McBride & the Ride disbanded, Terry began to focus most of his attention on songwriting, and through the years since has had songs cut by other artists such as Garth Brooks, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Hank Williams Jr., Ronnie Dunn, Kix Brooks, Alan Jackson, Trace Adkins, Easton Corbin, Lost Frequencies, Kenny Rogers, John Anderson, and more. In 2004, Terry co-wrote American Idol finalist Josh Gracin’s top five single “Stay With Me/Brass Bed.” He followed that up by co-writing “Play Something Country” with Ronnie Dunn, the fastest-rising single of Brooks and Dunn’s career and the final #1 song for the award-winning duo. Terry has had over 25 songs recorded by Brooks & Dunn, which led to 13 singles and 12 BMI million air awards.
Last year’s inductees included Alejandro Escovedo, Gary P. Nunn, Radney Foster, Rodney Clawson, and W.C. Clark. Other past inductees include Texas Songwriting legends Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Gibbons, Cindy Walker, Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, K.T. Oslin, and Townes Van Zandt, to name a few.
A limited number of seats for the 2024 Hall of Fame Awards Show will be made available in November.
About the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association
The mission of the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association, in the interest of Texas cultural preservation, is to honor and celebrate Texas songwriters who have played an essential role in defining and interpreting Texas’ distinctive culture.
Durham, NC, September 14, 2025 –(CarryOnHarry.com)– Award-winning Southern writer, poet, and performing artist Dasan Ahanu announces the release of his new spoken word album, (STAW) + (REE) + (TEL) + (UH), Vol. 3, now available on all streaming platforms.
The third installment in Ahanu’s celebrated spoken word musical series, (STAW) + (REE) + (TEL) + (UH) continues his exploration of narrative as a vehicle for truth, reflection, and transformation. Produced by North Carolina based producer Mike Blayz, this latest project fuses dynamic lyricism with lush musical backdrops, weaving stories that hold up a mirror to our lives, our communities, and the challenges and triumphs we face.
“Stories have impact,” Ahanu explains. “They center truths. They are mirrors to the soul. They remind us of everything that we are, everything we go through, and everything we have overcome.”
(STAW) + (REE) + (TEL) + (UH), Vol. 3 showcases Ahanu’s commanding voice alongside guest appearances from a stellar lineup of collaborators, including Illpo, J. Melodik, Tamisha Waden, Osc Kelly, Shamika Chantae, Genesis Harris, and Shikeish. The result is a project that is as intimate as it is expansive, affirming Ahanu’s reputation as one of the most compelling storytellers in contemporary spoken word.
With this release, Ahanu once again demonstrates the power of storytelling as a cultural force—one rooted in southern traditions yet resonant across borders, fitting in with the current trend of spoken word albums gaining popularity. The album has been submitted for consideration in the Best Spoken Word Album category at the GRAMMY Awards®. More information on the submission process and the category can be found at https://www.recordingacademy.com/.
Los Angeles, CA, October 16, 2025 –(CarryOnHarry.com)– Prolific vocalist and lyricist Mark Winkler has released his 22nd album, Hold On, a collection of mostly original tunes with, according to Winkler, “a few tasty standards for good measure.”
An acclaimed artist on the Los Angeles jazz scene, Winkler’s original songs have been sung and recorded by a cadre of top singers like Dianne Reeves, Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, and Dee Dee Bridgewater.
Over his long recording career, Winkler has invited other top jazz vocalists to join him in the studio. He has recorded with Jackie Ryan, Steve Tyrell, Claire Martin, and Sara Gazarek, among others. He shared top billing on two albums with Cheryl Bentyne from the iconic group The Manhattan Transfer, and collaborated with David Benoit on their album Old Friends, about which Jersey Jazz said, “Winkler is one of the best male vocalists on the jazz scene.”
Big Noise has worked with Winkler since 2013.
Despite his long tenure at the microphone, Winkler does not just sit on his laurels. Each new album builds on the previous one. According to JW Vibe, “Winkler is one of those rare artists who not only never misses, but keeps getting better with time.”
Winkler continues to seek new and interesting ways of expressing himself through the creative energy he draws from working with other like-minded artists. For Hold On, he worked with six stellar pianists, including Grammy Award Winner John Beasley, Rich Eames, Tamir Hendelman, Eric Reed, Greg Gordon Smith, and Jamieson Trotter. Each brings his own style to the project, creating a rich tapestry of sounds.
Also joining Winkler are some top Los Angeles players including Gabe Davis (bass), Christian Euman (drums), Kendall Kay (drums), Bob Sheppard (sax), Brian Swartz (trumpet), Lemar Guillary (trombone), Joey De Leon (percussion), George Doering (guitar), Emmy Award Nominee Grant Geissmann (guitar), and The GGS Singers (background vocals).
The album was produced by Barbara Brighton, who also produced eight of Winkler’s previous albums.
Over the years, Winkler mainly wrote lyrics with four major collaborator composers. For Hold On, Winkler co-wrote four of the eleven songs with Greg Gordon Smith, whose production company specializes in cinematic original music and sonic branding for major brands like Hulu and Dolby. Winkler says, “Greg is a fantastic composer. We’re really in sync with each other. I feel like I found my very own Bacharach.”
Winkler opens the album with the title track, his original co-written with Smith, “Hold On,” which Smith also arranged. “A Little Taste” is an iconic Dave Frishberg song. Winkler was attracted to its witty, literate lyrics. As a lyricist, Winkler is particularly drawn to great writers and considers Frank Loesser one of the best. Most versions of Loesser’s “If I Were a Bell” have been sung by women, but Winkler could not resist singing it.
Winkler is a film buff and loves noir and campy sci-fi moves. “Cat Women on the Moon” is his homage to the goofy sci-fi flicks of the fifties. After Frank Sinatra put his imprimatur on “It Was a Very Good Year,” relatively few people dared to record it. But Winkler finds his own way with the song after he was inspired by a bossa nova version he heard.
Another collaboration with Smith, Winkler co-wrote the swinger “My Future’s Just a Memory.” Written from the perspective of an older person, the song is about consciously savoring the good moments of your life. Billy Joel’s “Vienna,” a song suggested by Brighton, features Beasley’s spare and elegant arrangement, which allows the lyrics to shine.
Winkler was inspired to write “Train in the Desert” after visiting an exhibit of Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings. When Winkler started dating again after his husband passed away, he met some “interesting” people. “The Devil Don’t Want a Saint,” arranged by Eames, was inspired by one guy in particular who wound up being quite different than he pretended to be.
Composed by Smith, “My Electric Car” is Winkler’s homage to clean energy. Winkler closes the album with “I Dream of You Each Night.” It was inspired by the TV series Fellow Travelers, a show about two gay men in the 1950s who had to hide their decades-long relationship. Coming of age in the 60s and 70s, Winkler well understands the oppression that gay men endured.
Mark Winkler has accrued a legion of fans because he has shown time and again his ability to engage hearts and minds as a performer, recording artist, and lyricist. Hold On brings us into Winkler’s world where swing, humor, and even elegance conspire to create a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience.
Hold On was released on Café Pacific Records and is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and all streaming platforms.
