The other landmark composition was the theme song on a TV show that debuted in 1970 and ran seven groundbreaking seasons. Curtis received a four-page synopsis of a show about a 30-year-old woman out on her own in Minneapolis after an engagement breakup, and two hours later came up with “Love Is All Around,” aka the theme to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

The garage rock holy grail and a beloved TV song that came to represent feminism with a thrown hat in the air. Two songs that had nothing in common except they came from the creative mind of Sonny Curtis, born in a dugout his daddy built on a farm outside Lubbock during the Great Depression.

Curtis, who will be inducted Sunday into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame, along with Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn and the late Roger Miller, also had hits with “Walk Right Back” for the Everly Brothers (which he wrote in Army basic training in 1960), “The Straight Life” for Bobby Goldsboro and “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” for Keith Whitley.

But even if he had not written a single song, Curtis would be a notable figure in rock ’n’ roll history for his close association with Buddy Holly, less than a year older, with whom Curtis played guitar and fiddle before Buddy formed the Crickets. Curtis was in the band — along with Jerry Allison on drums and Don Guess on bass — when Buddy Holly opened for Elvis Presley at Lubbock’s Fair Park Coliseum in 1956.

Read the full article from the Austin American-Statesman here.

Roger Miller’s career spanned many musical genres and many milieus. He was a songwriter, a singer, an entertainer, an actor and a family man. If you have ever sung along to “King of the Road,” watched Disney’sRobin Hood or seen the Broadway musical Big River, you’ve been touched by the creative brilliance that was Roger Miller.

Miller is one of three Texas songwriters being inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association Hall of Fame on March 3. Mary Miller, his wife, will accept the honor on her late husband’s behalf.

“You know he first and foremost was a songwriter. He loved songwriting and he loved songwriters so this in particular would have been one that he would have been very proud of, and that it’s in Texas would have delighted him,” she explains.

Read the full article on CultureMap Austin, here.

But, like any good-hearted Texan, Curtis (who now resides in Tennessee) tells this tale with charm and light laughter, showing that even a legendary career of six decades can’t water down a poetic West Texas soul…

Click here to read the full article on CultureMap Austin.

“I really look at the world, I feel like, through Texas eyes,” he tells me. “Now, if I’m pinned down and asked to have to define that, I’m not sure I can.”

This March, Ronnie Dunn will return to the heart of Texas as a 2013 inductee of the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. Dunn will be inducted alongside West Texan Sonny Curtis and the late Roger Miller, completing a trifecta that represents the very wide, often romanticized, Texas music landscape…

Click here to read the full article on CultureMap Austin.

Each year, the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association (TxHSA) honors songwriters during a live Awards Show and induction ceremony—the Hall of Fame inductees are those who embody and celebrate the unique history and culture of Texas through their songwriting. This year’s roster includes legendary artists Ronnie Dunn, Sonny Curtis and Roger Miller.

“My music journey started in Texas, and I’m proud that Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association is bringing me back home to accept this award,” said Ronnie Dunn. “It’s a privilege to join the hall of fame with other talented artists I consider friends and mentors.”

“Starting out in West Texas, my songwriting career was profoundly influenced by those musical beginnings,” Sonny Curtis said of his time as lead guitarist with Buddy Holly and the Crickets. “I, like so many other writers and artists, owe a large part of my inspiration to Texas and its musicians.

Honorees Dunn and Curtis will offer a featured performance after accepting their awards. Plus, Jack Ingram will open the show; TxHSA Hall of Famer Larry Gatlin will perform; and country music superstar Toby Keith will deliver a special performance in honor of one of his most loved songwriters of all time, Roger Miller.

“Roger Miller was so intelligent that many of the greats would follow him around just for inspiration, just to hear him talk. He said some of the most famous quotes ever,” said Toby Keith. “If you want to hear cleverness, you want to hear wit, and you want to hear charm—you want to hear a ‘Class A’ songwriter, it’s Roger Miller.”

This event brings together past Hall of Fame inductees and honors those whose contributions allow Texas songwriters to continue doing what they do best.  Every year at the Hall of Fame Awards show, one person is recognized for their support of the songwriting community with The Darrell K Royal Patron Award.  This year’s recipient is the late Robin Ratliff Shivers, Founder of HAAM, longtime philanthropist and enduring supporter of the music community in Austin.

“This year marks our biggest show yet,” says Joe Ables, Executive Producer of the show and owner of The Saxon Pub, a renowned live music venue in Austin. “Some of the biggest names in country music are coming together in celebration of the Lone Star state’s extraordinary music, unique history, and distinct heritage.”

Sunday’s Hall of Fame Awards Show will close out TxHSA’s weekend-long Homecoming celebration, which takes place March 2-3, 2013, and is packed with performances from past inductees, Grammy award nominees and recipients, and renowned songwriters and recording artists.

On Saturday evening, TxHSA will host the Darrell K Royal Songwriters’ Homecoming—a VIP/sponsor party at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum—where Chris Stapleton, Scotty Emerick and Mac McAnally will take the stage for an intimate acoustic performance.

Sponsors of this year’s TxHSA Homecoming Weekend include Walmart, Stratus Properties, AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, The Saxon Pub, Texas Monthly Magazine, KOKE-FM, BMI, ASCAP, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Beam Global, CultureMap, Country Line Magazine, BE Music and Entertainment, London Broadcasting, Osborne Advisors, The Salt Lick, Jack and Amy Ingram, Red Fan Communications, the GKW Co. and Strait Music.To learn more about becoming a sponsor, contact Michelle Johnson at info@texasheritagesongwriters.com.

About Texas Heritage Songwriters Association:

Founded in 2005 by 6^th-generation Texan Terry Boothe, the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association (TxHSA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and celebrating Texas songwriters who have played an important role in defining and interpreting Texas’ distinctive culture.  Since 2006, TxHSA has been producing an annual public event, the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards Show, which serves as an induction ceremony for that year’s honorees. In addition, TxHSA is involved with both the Center for Texas Music History and the Southwestern Writer’s Collection at Texas State University in supporting young songwriters and further protecting the State’s musical heritage.  TxHSA regularly donates a portion of its proceeds to organizations that support Texas musicians and songwriters, including the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM).  For more information, visit www.TexasHeritageSongwriters.com.

Media Contact:

Red Fan Communications

Bristel Bowen

Office: 512.551.9253

Cell: 512.917.4319

Bristel@redfancommunications.com

The program recognizes outstanding student songwriters at participating university campuses.

This year, six university campuses participated.

The winners from each school performed at the Kerrville Folk Festival in May, judged by a blue ribbon panel of industry representatives.

Stevens, a Midway High School graduate has been writing songs since the age of five and has performed around the Waco area since age eight, a spokesperson for the program said.

Stevens will receive an all-expense paid trip to Nashville to attend the NSAI Hall of Fame Award Show, an evening at the Bluebird Café hosted by a TXHSA Hall of Fame member, professional demo session at a studio in Nashville, Dallas or Austin, provided by London Broadcasting and will also receive an invitation to appear on at least one episode of the television show “Troubadour, TX.”