These programs honor and showcase the careers of songwriters who have made significant contributions to country music history. Through in-depth, one-on-one interviews with the writers, museum visitors gain a better understanding of how songwriters work behind the scenes to create famous songs. Quarterly. Learn more about Poets and Prophets.
May 26, 2012
Mark D. Sanders can pinpoint the moment he evolved from an acoustic singer-songwriter focused on downcast, personal works into a Nashville hit-maker known for up-tempo toe-tappers and uplifting anthems.
On January 10 1956, two months after leaving tiny Sun Records for RCA and two days after turning 21, Elvis Presley retired to a Nashville studio for his first sessions on the new label. The first song he cut was a cover of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman," the second was "Heartbreak Hotel." The latter song, and Presley's follow-up hits, had such a commercially devastating impact on country music that for a time Nashville's famed 16th Avenue seemed to be the loneliest street in America.
