OUR SONGWRITERS

Lee Thomas Miller is a songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. He earned a BA in Music Theory/ Composition from Eastern Kentucky University where, along with classical composing and arranging, he studied classical violin, guitar, piano and voice. He was inducted into the EKU “Hall of Distinguished Alumni” in 2010. Lee moved to Nashville in 1991, signed his first publishing deal in 1996 and has been on the radio virtually ever since. To date, he has had 18 top 20 singles with 7 reaching #1 and has earned 13 BMI radio performance awards. His songs have reached radio play in excess of 20 million spins with streaming numbers reaching into the hundreds of thousands. His accomplishments include 3 Grammy nominations, a teen choice award, and 4 titles being nominated for ‘Song of the Year’ at major industry events. He won both a CMA and an ACM award for Song of the Year with “In Color” as recorded by Jamey Johnson. “You’re Gonna Miss This” won Song of the Year at both the ASCAP and NSAI awards and single of the year at the CMA awards. Miller has also been given 4 “Songs I Wish I Had Written” trophies as voted on by the professional membership of NSAI (the Nashville Songwriter’s Association). Lee served as President of NSAI for 5 years and is still currently on their Legislative committee traveling to Washington D.C. representing and lobbying for the rights of the American songwriter. He has testified before both houses of the U.S. congress as well as spending countless hours with bureaucrats reaching from the department of justice to cabinet level officials to federal judges. In 2015 he was presented with BMI’s inaugural “Champions Award” for these legislative efforts. Ultimately, all of this led to the passing of the federal Music Modernization Act changing the criteria for which songwriters are paid in the digital era. Lee was present in the West Wing with the President when he signed it into law. Miller has had success also as a record producer producing a pair of top 20 hits on recording artist Steve Holy including his #1 record “Brand New Girlfriend” On a personal note, in 2010 he was awarded the Fatherhood Award from Washington D.C.’s National Fatherhood Initiative and he and his wife Jana received the Congressional “Angels in Adoption” award on Capitol hill in 2015 having adopted 3 of their 4 children. Lee and Jana have been married 29 years and live in Brentwood, Tennessee with their 4 kids.

LEE THOMAS MILLER

Deric Ruttan is a Grammy-nominated, Nashville-based singer/songwriter and Canadian country music artist. The writer of multiple #1 country songs, Deric was raised just outside Bracebridge, Ontario, on the same land his great-grandfather made moonshine on in the 1930’s. It was the perfect backdrop for the singer/songwriter, who grew up listening to everything from CCR to Gordon Lightfoot to Van Halen. After touring with several country bar bands, Deric moved to Nashville, where his unique outlook and delivery attracted the attention and praise of songwriters Don Schlitz, Steve Earle, and Steve Bogard. Deric’s songs have been recorded by Eric Church, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Tim McGraw, and Dierks Bentley. Bentley’s chart-toppers “What Was I Thinkin’” and “Lot Of Leavin’ Left To Do” are Ruttan co-writes, as are the Eric Church hits, “Guys Like Me” and “Hell On The Heart”. In 2013, Deric celebrated a multi-week #1 song with “Mine Would Be You”, recorded by Blake Shelton. “Mine Would Be You” was nominated for a Grammy Award, for Best Country Song, and an ACM Award for Song Of The Year. A short while later, Deric celebrated his second Blake Shelton #1 hit with the introspective “Came Here To Forget”. In 2017 Country music superstar Jason Aldean took Deric’s song “Any Ol’ Barstool” to the top of the charts to become the songwriter’s 4th #1 country single, and in 2020, “Die From A Broken Heart”, by Mercury Nashville duo Maddie & Tae, climbed the charts to become Deric’s 5th #1 song. An ASCAP (10x), SOCAN (11x), CCMA (Canadian Country Music Association) (2x) award winner, and the recipient of 3 “NSAI Top 10 Songs I Wish I’d Written” Awards (for “What Was I Thinkin’”, “Mine Would Be You” and “Die From A Broken Heart”), Deric and his wife Margaret make their home just outside Nashville, Tennessee.

DERIC RUTTAN

Brad and Brett Warren started as recording artists in their hometown of Tampa, FL. They moved to Nashville in 1995 and in 1997 signed a record deal with RCA records. They made 3 albums for RCA’s sister label BNA Records; in addition, they had one independent release on 429 Records called “Well Deserved Obscurity.” During that time, they toured extensively as an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, as well as opened for many other artists. As artists, they have had 7 Billboard Top 40 hits. McGraw took an interest in their songwriting and since then has recorded over 30 of their songs. They were both celebrity judges on the 2nd season of “Nashville Star.” In 2005 and 2006, they had their own reality series on CMT called “Barely Famous, The Warren Brothers.” Their sense of humor has landed them as part time radio personalities, and they’ve even had a few film cameos. They were CMA nominees for Duo of the Year for 6 straight years and had Grammy nominations for Song of the Year (“If You’re Reading This”) and a CMA Song of the Year (“Anyway”). In 2013 the duo won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Original Song for 'Good Afternoon America,' the theme song for the ABC program 'Good Afternoon America’ which they co-wrote with Little Big Town. The Warren Brothers are a songwriting duo that have written hits for Tim McGraw (“If You’re Reading This”, “Felt Good on My Lips”, “Highway Don’t Care”, “Thought About You”), Toby Keith (“Red Solo Cup”), Keith Urban (“Little Bit of Everything”), Faith Hill (“The Lucky One”), Martina McBride (“Anyway”, “Wrong Baby Wrong”), Dierks Bentley (“Feel That Fire”), Jerrod Niemann (“Drink To That All Night”), Jason Aldean (“Lights Come On”, “We Back”), Blake Shelton (“Every Time I Hear That Song”), Chris Young (“Sober Saturday Night”) and more. They’ve had their songs recorded by Luke Bryan, Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum, Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell, Gary Allan, Tyler Farr, Billy Currington and many other A-list country artists. In addition, the brothers have also written songs for rock bands including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Nickelback, Hinder, Joss Stone and Boys Like Girls.