Nashville, Tenn. — Prolific songwriter Jeffrey Steele will bring his guitar and hitmaking acumen to the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum on Saturday, September 27, as the latest subject of the quarterly programming series Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters. The 1:30 p.m. program, which will be held in the Museum’s Ford Theater, is included with Museum admission and free to Museum members.

Museum Editor Michael Gray will conduct an in-depth, one-on-one interview with Steele, illustrated with audiovisual elements from the Museum’s collection, including recordings, photos and film clips. Steele will perform several original songs on guitar and piano during the program.

Jeffrey Steele has penned dozens of popular country songs, including chart-toppers for Rascal Flatts (“What Hurts the Most,” “My Wish,” “These Days”), Montgomery Gentry (“Something to Be Proud Of”), and Tim McGraw (“The Cowboy in Me”). Steele’s unique talent lies in his ability to translate life experiences or moments in time into heartfelt songs to which others can relate. Artists who have recorded Steele’s compositions include a who’s who of contemporary country music including Alabama, Trace Atkins, Billy Ray Cyrus, Faith Hill, Lonestar, Craig Morgan, Brad Paisley, LeAnn Rimes, Keith Urban and more.

Born the last of five siblings on August 27, 1961, in Burbank, California, Jeffrey Steele’s musical family included a mother who enjoyed singing and a father who was an aspiring country songwriter. Singing at a church function at age 8, Steele drew a standing ovation for his first musical performance. Shortly after, he began writing his own songs and, by age 17, was performing with local bands and playing for onlookers along Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip. After dropping out of high school, Steele also cut his teeth performing in honky-tonks around Riverside, California.

Steele rose to national prominence in the early ’90s as the charismatic frontman of country band Boy Howdy (“She’d Give Anything”). The group went its separate ways in 1996, two years after Steele moved to Nashville. After completing a solo record for Curb Records that went unreleased, Steele shifted his focus toward songwriting. He scored Top Ten hits with Kevin Sharp’s “If You Love Somebody” (1997), LeAnn Rimes’ “Big Deal” (1998) and Diamond Rio’s “Unbelievable” (1998). All three songs earned Steele BMI awards and sparked the beginning of a 10-year run in which over 450 of his songs (some 85 singles) were released. Other contemporary favorites written by Steele include Montgomery Gentry’s “My Town,” Steve Holy’s “Brand New Girlfriend,” Phil Vassar’s “Love Is a Beautiful Thing” and Van Zant’s “Help Somebody,” among many others.

Steele has released several albums of his own (Somethin’ in the Water; Gold, Platinum, Chrome and Steele; You Gotta Start Somewhere; Outlaw and Countrypolitan) and continues to tour, playing dates with artists Keith Urban, Brad Paisley and Lynyrd Skynyrd. As a producer, Steele has contributed to Montgomery Gentry’s albums My Town and Some People Change, and projects by Keith Anderson, including his current hit, “I Still Miss You.”

The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) named Steele its top writer in 2003, 2005, and 2006, and he was BMI’s country songwriter of the year in 2003 and 2007. He served as a judge and mentor in NBC’s sixth season of Nashville Star and he currently co-stars on GAC’s The Hitmen of Music Row, which is in its second season. Miley Cyrus’s latest album, Breakout, includes a cut written by Steele, “Simple Song.” He currently operates his own publishing company, 3 Ring Circus Music.

Visitors are encouraged to ask questions at the interactive Poets and Prophets programs, which are dedicated to songwriters who have made significant contributions to country music history. Previous Poets and Prophets honorees include Bobby Braddock, Hank Cochran, John D. Loudermilk, Bob McDill, Whitey Shafer and Craig Wiseman.

About the Country Music Hall of Fame^® Museum
These programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and by an agreement between the Tennessee Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts.

With the purchase of a Museum membership ($25/adults and $10/youth), visitors can attend most public programs free of charge for one year, including the Poets and Prophets series, Nashville Cats series, and all programming related to the current exhibit Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy, Co-Presented by SunTrust and Ford Motor Company. Museum memberships also include one year of unlimited admission to the Museum, discounts in the Museum Store, SoBro Grill® and Hatch Show Print, and more. Membership support helps fund research, education and public programs that make country music history available to a worldwide audience.

Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The Museum’s mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture. With the same educational mission, the Foundation also operates CMF Records, the Museum’s Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B, and Hatch Show Print.

More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum is available at www.countrymusichalloffame.com