Songwriter's Spotlight: Nashville Unplugged

Name: Songwriter's Spotlight: Nashville Unplugged
Start: 2025-11-21T20:00:00-05:00
Location: 410 S Main St, Elkhart, IN, United States, Indiana 46516

Schedule

Fri, 21 Nov, 2025 at 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

410 S Main St, Elkhart, IN, United States, Indiana 46516 | Elkhart, IN

Step inside the stories behind country music’s biggest hits at a close-up evening in the Crystal Ballroom, presented in partnership with Friends of The Lerner. This special event features three of Nashville’s most acclaimed songwriters—Kelly Archer, whose chart-topping hits have been recorded by Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, and Cody Johnson; Gordie Sampson, Grammy-winning writer of “Jesus, Take The Wheel” and a creative force behind countless country favorites; and Lee Thomas Miller, a three-time Grammy nominee with #1 songs for Brad Paisley, Trace Adkins, Tim McGraw, and more. Together, they will share the music, stories, and inspirations that shaped today’s country classics.
Kelly Archer:
https://www.redcreativegroup.com/kellyarcher.
Originally from Vancouver, B.C., Kelly has been a signed writer in Nashville for the past 20+ years and her songs have been recorded by Jason Aldean, Reba, Brett Young, Trisha Yearwood, Eli Young Band, Bailey Zimmerman, Dustin Lynch, Corey Kent, Cody Johnson, Carrie Underwood, Justin Moore and many more. Kelly has had several songs placed in the series “Nashville” as well as success in her native land of Canada. In the past few years, Kelly has celebrated 5 #1 songs with Brett Young’s “Sleep Without You,” Justin Moore’s “Somebody Else Will”, Travis Denning’s “After A Few” and Corey Kent’s “Wild As Her”. Most recently Kelly celebrated a two week #1 with her song “I’m gonna love you” recorded by Cody Johnson ft. Carrie Underwood.
Gordie Sampson
https://gordiesampson.com/.
A brilliant writer, an innovative producer, a dynamic on-stage presence, and a mentor to emerging writers, Gordie’s musical genius and generosity is applauded by audiences and industry players alike.
Raised in the community of Big Pond (pop. 47), near the rugged, edge-of-the-world coastlines of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Sampson’s songwriting has taken him across the globe. But besides the island he hails from, there might be no place in his story more important than Nashville, Tennessee, where he lives now with his family. He moved to Music City in 2005, and in less than a year Carrie Underwood had recorded his own “Jesus, Take The Wheel,” which wound up at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for six weeks in a row and earned Gordie a Grammy for Best Country Song of the Year. Since then, Sampson’s songs have been cut by a long list of established artists that includes Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan, Rascal Flatts, Dan + Shay, Hunter Hayes and Caitlyn Smith and by young up-and-comers like Carly Pearce, Caylee Hammack and Tenille Townes.
It was a winding road to get here. He tore up the stage in high school and afterwards with his early bands, did time playing and producing for fiddlin’ phenom Ashley MacIsaac, toured with The Rankin Family, and was part of Canadian folk music icon Rita MacNeil’s group on her weekly CBC show Rita and Friends. Sampson’s straight-to-the-heart tunes benefit from the weight of his expressive voice on his own records, – his 1999 album Stones garnered a Juno Award nomination for Best Roots & Traditional Album and he has won numerous East Coast Music Awards. Although he doesn’t often take on outside projects, he has appeared as a producer for records by The East Pointers and Port Cities.
Gordie heads back home to Canada every summer to spend time with family and friends in his beloved Cape Breton and to perform in the Maritimes, where enthusiastic audiences welcome him, year after year. From 2010-2019 he ran The Gordie Sampson Songcamp, a retreat that gives young songwriters the opportunity to develop their skills and build relationships with their peers, and promotes learning in pursuit of artistic excellence. Numerous Songcampers, including Mo Kenney, the members of roots/pop group Port Cities, Dave Sampson and Kyle Mischiek (Sunsetto) have gone on to build their own successful musical careers.
Lee Thomas Miller:
http://www.leethomasmiller.com.
Hometown: Nicholasville, Kentucky
Bachelor degree in Music Theory/Composition
(Eastern Kentucky University 1990)
FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE NASHVILLE SONGWRITER’S ASSOCIATION (NSAI)
3 Time Grammy Award Nominee:
2003 Grammy nomination :
“The Impossible” (Joe Nichols) Country Song of the Year:
2009 Double Grammy nomination :
“You’re Gonna Miss This”(Trace Adkins)- Country Song of the Year
“In Color” (Jamey Johnson)- Country Song of the Year
Music Row Magazine: Breakthrough Songwriter of the year 2003
Awarded one of NSAI’s ‘Ten Songs I Wish I Had Written’ 2003: “The Impossible”
Awarded one of NSAI’s ‘Ten Songs I Wish I Had Written’ 2008: “You’re Gonna Miss This”
Won Song of the Year at the 2008 NSAI awards for “You’re Gonna Miss This”
Nominated for Song of the Year at 2008 CMA awards for “You’re Gonna Miss This”
2009 Double ACM Nominee: “You’re Gonna Miss This” and “In Color” for Song of the Year
Won Song of the Year at the 2009 ACM awards for “In Color”
Won Music Row Magazine’s 2009 Song of the Year for “In Color”
Awarded one of NSAI’s ‘Ten Songs I Wish I Had Written’ 2009: “In Color”
Won Song of the Year at the 2009 CMA awards for “In Color”
Awarded BMI’s inaugural “Champion’s Award” 2015
Nominated for Song of the Year at the 2018 ACM awards for “Whiskey and You”
#1 Country Singles:
“The Impossible” (Joe Nichols)**
“I Just Wanna Be Mad” (Terri Clark)**
“The World” (Brad Paisley)**
“You’re Gonna Miss This” (Trace Adkins)*
“I’m Still A Guy” (Brad Paisley)
“Southern Girl” (Tim McGraw)
“Perfect Storm” (Brad Paisley)
(*received BMI Million Play Award)
(**received BMI 2 Million Play Award)
·
Other top 10 singles:
“It Matters To Her” (Scotty McCreery) #2
“It Aint My Fault” (Brothers Osborne) #9
“Crushin’ It” (Brad Paisley) #7
“In Color” (Jamey Johnson) #7
“Nothing To Die For” (Tim McGraw) #5
“Jesus In Disguise” (Brandon Heath) #8
“Just A Girl” (Brandon Heath) #8
· Other top 20 singles:
“Without A Fight” (Brad Paisley/Demi Lovato) #14
“People Loving People” (Garth Brooks) #19
“Something To Do With My Hands” (Thomas Rhett) #15
“Crying On A Suitcase” (Casey James) #14
“Leaving Eden” (Brandon Heath) #17
“Thought About You” (Tim McGraw) #1
Cuts include: Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, Chris Stapleton, Rascal Flatts, George Strait, Jamey Johnson, Trace Adkins, Garth Brooks, Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley, Brothers Osborne, Thomas Rhett, Joe Nichols, Josh Turner, Terri Clark, John Michael Montgomery, Montgomery Gentry, Sammy Kershaw, Andy Griggs, Tracy Byrd, Tracy Lawrence, Randy Travis, Billy Currington, Chris Young, Rodney Adkins, Craig Morgan
Production credits include Curb recording artist Steve Holy including the 2006 #1 single: “Brand New Girlfriend” and 2010 top 20 single “Love Don’t Run”