John Prine Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted,’ starring Swamp Dogg, Moogstar and Guitar Shorty

May 23, 2025

by Carla Hay

Swamp Dogg in “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

Directed by Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson

Culture Representation: Taking place in California’s San Fernando Valley, the documentary film “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” features an African American and white group of people cast of characters discussing the life and career of singer/songwriter Swamp Dogg.

Culture Clash: Swamp Dogg (whose real name is Jerry Williams Jr.) has had ups and downs in his career, including hit songs and being dropped by Elektra Records in the 1970s for his extreme left-wing views on the Vietnam War.

Culture Audience: “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Swamp Dogg, music from the late 20th century, and documentaries about unconventional entertainers.

Moogstar in “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

“Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” is a unique documentary reflecting underrated singer/songwriter Swamp Dogg: eccentric, rambling, creative, and unpredictable. Some viewers won’t like this nonconformist storytelling style, but others will appreciate it. The movie gets its title from the fact that the swimming pool at Swamp Dogg’s house is being painted while he tells his story during this biographical documentary, which blends archival footage with footage filmed specifically for the documentary. By the end of the movie, the artwork painting in the swimming pool is revealed.

Directed by Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson, “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” is narrated by musician/visual artist Greg Grease. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival. “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” jumps back and forth between being a retrospective and being a present-day chronicle of what Swamp Dogg was doing with his life at the time this documentary was filmed.

Swamp Dogg was born as Jerry Williams Jr. on July 12, 1942, in Portsmouth, Virginia. He’s not a household name, but he’s written about 2,000 songs and worked with 500 artists, according to Grease’s narration in the documentary. Swamp Dogg has co-written some well-known hits, including Gene Pitney’s 1969 song “She’s a Heartbreaker” and “She’s All I’ve Got,” a 1971 song originally recorded by R&B singer Freddie North and made more famous by country singer Johnny Paycheck.

Black artists who make music tend to be stereotyped as only capable of working in certain genres, such as R&B, funk, dance, hip-hop, jazz and blues. Unlike many of his peers, Swamp Dogg defied those stereotypes by also working in country music as well as R&B and funk. His unconventionality didn’t catapult him to superstar status, but he’s been a well-respected artist precisely because of being so authentic to himself.

“Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” begins by showing the pool painter arriving at the Swamp Dogg’s house in California’s San Fernando Valley. Also living at the house are Swamp Dogg’s musical partners Moogstar and Guitar Shorty, who also give their insights and commentary. The documentary shows some of the trio’s jam sessions and songwriting collaborations, which aren’t spectacular but aren’t terrible either.

Swamp Dogg and Moogstar have a relationship that’s similar to the musical partnership that George Clinton and Bootsy Collins had when they were band members in Parliament-Funkadelic. Moogstar has a persona that’s reminiscent of Collins because Moogstar dresses flamboyantly and often talks in “trippy” ways, like he’s on another planet. Guitar Shorty, a longtime venerated blues musician, is not as talkative as Moogstar. But since Guitar Shorty is in the same age group as Swamp Dogg, Guitar Shorty’s has a valuable perspective of certain eras that he lived through long before many other people in the documentary were born.

Swamp Dogg gives a brief overview of his earliest years in the music business. In 1954, when he was 12, his first recording “HTD Blues (Hardsick Troublesome Downout Blues)” was released on the Mechanic record label in 1954. Back then, he used the stage name Little Jerry Williams and continued to record under than name into his teenage years and 20s. In 1964, he had a minor hit with “I’m the Lover Man,” a song which he wrote. His breakthrough song as Little Jerry Williams was “Baby You’re My Everything,” which reached No. 32 on the R&B single chart in 1966.

Throughout the late 1960s, he continued to work as a solo artists and as a songwriter and producer for other artists, including Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles, Dee Dee Warwick and Doris Duke. It was during this period of time that he also began collaborating with Gary U.S. Bonds (real name: Gary Anderson), who’s had a prolific career as a singer/songwriter. By the end of the 1960s, Williams wanted a change and reinvented himself.

Williams changed his name to Swamp Dogg in 1970. The 1970s were a decade that also marked his transformation as an outspoke political activist. He began to experiment more with the then-emerging genres of funk and psychedelic soul. But this experimentation also included getting scathing criticism for his 1971 album of cover songs “Rat On!,” which was a sales flop.

In the documentary, Swamp Dogg speaks with fondness of joining the “Free the Army” tour, an anti-Vietnam War tour that also featured left-wing progressive Jane Fonda and Dick Gregory. The documentary makes this statement: “His radical political views got him placed on the FBI’s watch list and dropped from Elektra Records.”

Swamp Dogg candidly shares that the 1970s were a decade of his greatest commercial success and most destructive personal excesses. He spent a lot of time back then recording in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. “I became a millionaire down there,” Swamp Dogg comments. “I was eating Zoloft like you eat M&Ms.”

All the drug-taking made him paranoid that people were out to trick him and kill him, Swamp Dogg says. It was a period of time when he bought nine cars that he didn’t need. Swamp Dogg reflects on his tendency at the time to want to show off with material possessions: “I wanted to be grand, but that’s not what it’s all about.”

Swamp Dogg, who says he is accustomed to having strong women in his family, gives credit to his wife Yvonne for being a steady presence in his life and keeping him from getting too out of control. The couple got married in 1963. Yvonne became his business partner, who managed many his dealings in the volatile music industry. Yvonne died in 2003, but the documentary has some archival footage of her.

Swamp Dogg’s daughter Dr. Jeri Williams (whom he calls his “main daughter” out of his five daughters) is interviewed in the documentary. She says she “feels sort of bad” that he put some of his career to the side to help raise her and her siblings. She compares her father to being a like a CIA operative with secrets, because she says that there are many things in his life that she doesn’t know about and he won’t discuss.

“Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” shows the expected array of clippings from magazine and newspapers, as well interviews and appearances on radio and TV, for the “blast from the past” parts of the documentary. Not surprisingly, some of the footage is grainy, which fits this scrappy, low-budget documentary just fine. There are slightly amusing mentions and clips of Swamp Dogg’s 2021 appearance on “The People’s Court” (a reality TV show for small-claims court cases), when musician Lloyd Wright sued him $1,425, for non-payment of 19 musical tracks. Swamp Dogg lost his case on “The People’s Court” and didn’t seem bothered by it in the show’s post-judgment interview with him.

Aside from Swamp Dogg’s confession to having a drug problem in the 1970s, he doesn’t get too revealing in the documentary about any of his personal shortcomings or scandals. The documentary is quirky in telling some things that we really didn’t need to know about Swamp Dogg. For example, Swamp Dogg says that he got a vasectomy in 1996. He claims it was Yvonne’s idea.

The documentary shows Swamp Dogg getting some celebrity admirers as visitors while his pool is being painted. They include actor/comedian Johnny Knoxville, “SpongeBob SquarePants” creator Tom Kenny, animator Mike Judge (best known for “Beavis and Butt-Head”), visual artist Art Fein and songwriters Jenny Lewis and John Prine. Lewis and Prine collaborated on some of the songs on Swamp Dogg’s 2020 album “Sorry You Couldn’t Make It.” Toward the end of the documentary, there’s footage of a backyard barbecue party for Swamp Dogg’s house, with some of these famous guests in attendance.

Some famous entertainers have the type of personality where a “hangout” documentary is a better fit for them, compared to a “tell all” exposé. Swamp Dogg is one of those artists. A great deal of “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” is nostalgic. But the overall feeling is that Swamp Dogg isn’t stuck in the past and is still living life to the fullest in the present.

Magnolia Pictures released “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” in Los Angeles on May 2, 2025, and in New York City on May 9, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on July 1, 2025.

2019 Songwriters Hall of Fame: Missy Elliott, Cat Stevens, Dallas Austin, John Prine among inductees

June 12, 2019

The following is a press release from the Songwriters Hall of Fame:

Musical titans Dallas Austin, Missy Elliott, Tom T. Hall, John Prine, Jack Tempchin & Yusuf / Cat Stevens will become the latest inductees of the Songwriters Hall of Fame at the organization’s 50^th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner. These legendary songwriters wrote mega-hits such as, “The Boy Is Mine”, “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly),” “Angel From Montgomery,” “Ballad of Forty Dollars,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Moonshadow.” The star-studded induction event is slated for Thursday, June 13 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Additional special award honorees will be announced soon.

SHOF Chairman Nile Rodgers said, “The first thing you need to know is it’s about the song, the second thing you need to know is it’s about the song, the third thing you need to know is it’s about the song. That’s true now more than ever but It has always been about the song so I’m very proud that in my first year as Chairman of the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame that we are recognizing some of the culturally most important songwriters of all time. The 2019 slate of inductees represents diversity and unity across genres and gender, highlighting our dedicated mission to honor music creators who have enriched our lives. These are writers who in their time literally transformed music and helped make what’s happening today possible”.

Established in 1969, the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) serves as a vital bridge between music’s past and future. In the Hall, musical pioneers are enshrined and celebrated, while the organization’s outreach to the music community grooms the next generation of troubadours. To qualify for induction, a songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.

Dallas Austin

Since the late 80s, Dallas Austin has written over 50 hit singles which have debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 list with 17 songs spending numerous weeks in the Top 10 list. From the 80’s to present, he has written multiple Billboard number one hits, including “The Boy is Mine” from Brandy and Monica, and TLC’s “Creep.” Additionally, Austin’s work with TLC garnered such songs as “Ain’t too Proud to Beg,” “Hat 2 da Back,” and “Unpretty” which appeared on the group’s critically acclaimed “Fanmail” album and resulted in a Grammy for “Best R&B Album” at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1999.

Another Bad Creation’s “Playground,” “lesha,” Boys II Men’s “Motownphilly,” Monica “Don’t Take it Personal,” Pink “Just Like a Pill” and TLC “What about Your Friends” are key projects whose inaugural albums or initial hit singles were written and produced by Austin. They exemplify his role as an innovator, creator and developer of what we know as Pop and R&B music today and have broadened his own vision for the future.

Not many other artists can claim to write songs for the variety of talent or music genre that Austin has experienced. He has had the joy of working and writing songs with the legendary “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin, the P-Funk man himself George Clinton, the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson and one of the biggest selling female artists in history, Madonna “Secret”. He has also written with Santana, After 7, Erick Sermon, Johnny Gill, Bjork, Brand New Heavies, Fishbone, Grace Jones, Tricky, Usher, Shakira, Janet Jackson, Macy Gray, Gwen Stefani, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie and Natalie Cole.

Missy Elliott

One of the most significant female artists in contemporary music history, Missy Elliott is a groundbreaking solo superstar, pioneering songwriter-producer, and across-the-board cultural icon. The five-time GRAMMY® Award winner – with nominations spanning three decades – has attained unprecedented success, including U.S. sales in excess of 30 million. Missy’s six studio albums have each been RIAA platinum certified or better, marking her as the only female rapper to achieve that remarkable accomplishment.

Born in Portsmouth, VA, Missy first made waves for her inventive songwriting and production work, becoming a certified hitmaker. Elliott’s milestone solo debut, 1997’s RIAA platinum certified Supa Dupa Fly proved to be a landmark debut. Immediately acclaimed upon release as a boundary-shattering masterpiece, Supa Dupa Fly spawned a string of blockbuster Missy penned hit singles, including “Sock It 2 Me,” “Hit Em Wit Da Hee,” “Beep Me 911,” and of course groundbreaking “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).” Da Real World followed in 1999, showcasing the record-breaking #1 hit, “Hot Boyz (Remix) (Feat. Lil’ Mo, Nas, Eve & Q-Tip).”

2001’s Miss E…So Addictive was yet another platinum certified milestone, a worldwide sensation that established Elliott as hip-hop’s preeminent female artist. With its six note undeniable hook, the album’s “Get Ur Freak On” redefined contemporary pop and hip hop, earning Missy her first-ever Grammy Award (for “Best Rap Performance”).” Her album Under Construction debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 upon its 2002 release and has since been certified 2x platinum for 2.5 million sales in the U.S. alone. The iconic song “Work It,” the album’s lead single made history by spending an incredible 10 weeks at #2 on Billboard’s “Hot 100.” Missy’s sixth studio album, 2005’s The Cookbook featured the Grammy-nominated “We Run This” and the chartbusting and beloved anthem “Lose Control (featuring Ciara & Fatman Scoop).”

Missy’s massive accomplishments extended far beyond her own solo works, including innumerable guest appearances on singles and remixes by a truly diverse span of musical artists. As one of modern pop’s definitive songwriters and producers, Elliott’s star-studded list of songwriting credits continues to grow, including collaborations with Beyoncé (“Signs”), Whitney Houston (“In My Business”), Ciara (“One Two Step”), Monica (“So Gone”), Destiny’s Child (“Confessions”), SWV (“Can We”), Fantasia (“Free Yourself” and “Bump What Your Friends Say”), Mary J Blige (“I Never Been”), Aaliyah (“One In A Million,” “If Only Your Girl Knew,” and “Hot Like Fire”), Tweet (“Call Me”), Jennifer Hudson (“I’m His Only Woman”), Nicole Wray (“Make It Hot”), Mya (“My Love Is Like Whoa”), Total (“What About Us” and “Trippin”), and 702 (“Where My Girls At?” and “Stello”) among others.

Recent years have seen a series of surprise event appearances like her unforgettable performance at 2015’s Super Bowl XLIX. In 2016, Elliott united with former First Lady Michelle Obama for “This Is For My Girls,” an all-star anthem to female empowerment.

John Prine

Two-time Grammy-winner John Prine is among the English language’s premier phrase-turners. Almost 50 years into a remarkable career, Prine has drawn effusive praise from the likes of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Roger Waters, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and more. With music relevant to any age, Prine’s iconic songs like “Sam Stone,” “Angel From Montgomery,” “Paradise,” “Hello In There,” “Illegal Smile,” “That’s The Way The World Goes ‘Round,” “Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness,” “In Spite of Ourselves,” “I Just Want To Dance With You,” and many more have established him as a legendary singer, songwriter and performer.

He is a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member, a PEN New England Lyrics Award recipient, and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee. His work has been recognized as part of the Recording Academy’s Grammy Hall of Fame and his songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Norah Jones, George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band and many others.

Prine’s first album featuring new material in 13 years, The Tree Of Forgiveness, was released last year to overwhelming acclaim garnering three nominations at this year’s 61st Grammy Awards including Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song (for the album track “Summer’s End”). In addition, his inaugural music festival, All The Best, will take place Nov 11-15 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Tom T. Hall

Born May 25, 1936 in Olive Hill, KY, Tom T. Hall wrote music that elevated and enriched American culture, giving voice to the experiential intricacies of common people and exemplifying compassionate honesty.

“He’s a master of deceptive simplicity,” said new-century troubadour Jason Isbell. “The American songbook would be greatly lacking without his contributions.”

President Jimmy Carter said Country Music Hall of Fame member Hall, known as “The Storyteller,” was “As well qualified as anyone I know to tell the history of our country and love and hate and achievement and disappointment and happiness and tears among the people who have made our country, and who still exemplify its finest merits.”

Johnny Cash wrote to Hall, “You are my all-time favorite songwriter.”

Hall recorded 33 Top 20 country hits, including masterworks “Ballad of Forty Dollars,” “A Week in a Country Jail,” “The Year Clayton Delaney Died,” “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine,” and “I Love.” He also penned the Jeannie C. Riley smash “Harper Valley, P.T.A.,” the Alan Jackson chart-topper “Little Bitty,” and “That’s How I Got To Memphis,” recorded by greats including Bobby Bare, Solomon Burke, Rosanne Cash, Eric Church, Bill Haley, and Buddy Miller.

His songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Duane Eddy, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, George Jones, Gram Parsons, and many more.

“Songwriters aren’t good songwriters, people are good songwriters,” he said. “You sit down as a person and write a song. If you’ve written a song by the time you stand back up, you’re a songwriter. But the person comes first. You can’t look at the thing from somewhere up above, or from some place of supposed knowledge.”

In later life, Tom T. collaborated with his wife, Dixie Hall, in composing hundreds of bluegrass music standards. The Hall’s songs placed them in the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame.

Jack Tempchin

Jack Tempchin is a legendary California hit songwriter whose best known compositions, “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Already Gone”. Both are on ‘EAGLES Their Greatest Hits: 1971-1975’, awarded *Best-Selling U.S. Album of the 20th Century* by the RIAA. Tempchin has five Eagles contributions total, including co-writes “The Girl From Yesterday” from the Eagles ‘Hell Freezes Over’ 1994 release, plus co-writes “It’s Your World Now” and “Somebody”, from Eagles 2007 ‘Long Road Out Of Eden’ release.

In 1976, Jack Tempchin was first signed by Clive Davis to Arista Records along with Jules Shear and Richard Stekol in a band known as The Funky Kings. Classic-rocker Johnny Rivers heard the Funky Kings’ Jack Tempchin track, “Slow Dancing (Swayin’ To the Music)” recorded the song, and made it a Billboard Top 10 hit in 1977. Later that same year, country crooner Johnny Duncan took it Top 10 on the Country charts.

In 1980, the Eagles took a 14 year vacation. Tempchin then occupied the vacant writer’s seat next to Glenn Frey. Together, they co-wrote a dozen radio hits for Glenn Frey’s solo career including, “True Love”, “The One You Love”, “Party Town”, “Sexy Girl”, “I Found Somebody”, “Soul Searchin”, “Livin’ Right”, and “Part Of You, Part Of Me”… the official soundtrack song for Oscar-winning movie ‘Thelma & Louise’. Tempchin and Frey also co-composed “Smuggler’s Blues” & “You Belong to The City” specifically for the original ‘Miami Vice’ TV show soundtrack, which reached Number 1 on the Billboard 200 in both 1985 and 1986.

Jack Tempchin songs have been performed live or recorded by many artists of note, including: George Jones, Tom Waits, Buck Owens, Emmylou Harris, John Fogerty, Glen Campbell, Chris Hillman, Jackson Browne, Dwight Yoakam, Linda Ronstadt, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Tanya Tucker, Jim Lauderdale, Johnny Duncan, Richie Havens, Taj Mahal, Randy Meisner, Sammy Kershaw, Kate Wolf, Tom Rush, Little Texas, The Paladins, New Riders Of the Purple Sage, Olivia Newton-John, Wilson-Philips, Brett Dennen, Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20) and Jim James (My Morning Jacket), among other greats.

Yusuf Islam/ Cat Stevens

Yusuf Islam, also known as Cat Stevens (Photo by Danny Clinch)

Cat Stevens came of age amid the creativity and excitement of London’s West End with its many theatres, cinemas, and folk clubs. Musical success came quickly both as a performer and as a songwriter. Singles such as “I Love My Dog” and “Matthew & Son” established Cat as a pop star, however, his songs were also hits for other artists such as The Tremeloes with “Here Comes My Baby” and P.P. Arnold with “The First Cut is the Deepest” – the latter going on to be a massive hit across five decades for artists including Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, and Keith Hampshire.

In 1968 Cat emerged from a near fatal bout of Tuberculosis as a spiritual seeker with a new stripped-down style. Albums such as Tea for the Tillerman, and Teaser and the Firecat saw him ascend to the top echelons of superstardom with fans worldwide captivated by iconic songs such as “Wild World”, “Father & Son”, “Oh Very Young” and “Moonshadow”. Set to honest and intimate acoustic arrangements, the lyrics of his songs reflected aspirations of a better world using some of the most imaginative symbolism of his or any generation. Cat’s success continued through the 70s where he would also show himself to be a musical innovator. His experimental techno-pop instrumental “Was Dog A Doughnut?” has been hailed by the likes of The Roots’ Questlove and Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA as having had a profound influence on the birth of hip-hop and electro genres.

1977 saw Cat embrace Islam and a year later he changed his name to Yusuf. He spent almost three decades dedicated to charity, education, raising a family, and exploring his faith. He wasn’t completely absent from music, however, as he became a pioneer of the English Nasheed (devotional) genre in the West, releasing spoken word recordings as well as much loved albums for children including A is for Allah and I Look, I See.

In 2006, Yusuf / Cat Stevens made his full return to the music industry and he has recorded a further four albums to date including 2017’s GRAMMY nominated The Laughing Apple. The universality of his message of peace has resulted in his songs being absorbed into the public consciousness and the timelessness of his music is perhaps best summed up “Peace Train”, a seminal anthem of hope and unity which is as relevant today as it was in the 70s.

In addition to his music, Yusuf / Cat Stevens is the recipient of numerous international humanitarian awards. He has also received some of the most prestigious awards for a songwriter including ASCAP Songwriter of the Year in 2005 (also Song of the Year) and again in 2006 for “The First Cut is the Deepest,” the 2007 Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

About The Songwriters Hall of Fame:

The Songwriters Hall of Fame celebrates songwriters, educates the public with regard to their achievements, and produces a spectrum of professional programs devoted to the development of new songwriting talent through workshops, showcases, scholarships and Master Sessions at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, University of North Carolina and at Stuyvesant High School. West Coast educational activities are held at The GRAMMY Museum, which hosts the permanent Songwriters Hall of Fame Gallery, and at the University of Southern California. Out of the tens of thousands of songwriters of our era, there are approximately 400 inductees who make up the impressive roster enshrined in the Hall of Fame. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song. The list of inductees include Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier & Brian Holland, Smokey Robinson, Paul Williams, Hal David & Burt Bacharach, Billy Steinberg & Tom Kelly, Bob Dylan, Isaac Hayes & David Porter, Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora, Elton John & Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Don Schlitz, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Alan & Marilyn Bergman, Loretta Lynn, Jimmy Webb, Van Morrison, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Diane Warren, Carole Bayer Sager, Stevie Wonder, Steven Tyler & Joe Perry, Mac Davis, Leonard Cohen, Ray Davies, Cyndi Lauper, Desmond Child, Mick Jones & Lou Gramm, Elvis Costello, Marvin Gaye, Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, Neil Diamond, Jay Z, Tom Petty, Toby Keith, Max Martin, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Berry Gordy, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Robert Lamm & James Pankow, Bill Anderson, Steve Dorff, Jermaine Dupri, Alan Jackson, Kool & The Gang, John Mellencamp and Allee Willis, among many others.

Full biographies and a complete list of inductees are available on the Songwriters Hall of Fame website at https://www.songhall.org. Joining online is quick and easy: https://www.songhall.org/join.

Ticket Information:

Tickets for the Songwriters Hall of Fame event begin at $1,500 each, and are available through Buckley Hall Events, 914-579-1000. Net proceeds from the event will go toward the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs. Songwriters Hall of Fame is a 501(c)3 organization. The non-deductible portion of each ticket is $170. Contributions, for which no goods or services are received in exchange, are fully tax-deductible as provided by law.