Contributor

Rick Carnes

President, Songwriters Guild of America

All in all, Nashville songwriter Rick Carnes has earned 40 platinum albums with songs recorded by artists Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Alabama, Steve Wariner, Pam Tillis, and Dean Martin. His song, "I Can't Even Get the Blues No More" was Reba McEntire's first number one single, and "Long Neck Bottle" recorded by Garth Brooks, set a record on the Billboard charts by entering the charts at #10.

In 1978 Rick moved from his native Memphis to Nashville in 1978 with his wife, Janis, and together they recorded for RCA, Elektra Asylum, Warner Bros. and MCA records. They also work as a co-writng team and have co-written three top ten recordings on Bluegrass icons, the Whites, as well as penning the jazz ballad, "Irresistible" which was recently featured in the Sony Pictures Classic movie "Saving Face", and the swing song, "I'm Hanging' Around", which was recorded by Dean Martin.

After serving as Vice President of the Songwriters Guild of America for 18 years, in 2003 Rick was elected President. In 2004 he was elected a Vice President of the National Music Council, and in 2005 he became Communications Chairman of the Music United Coalition. Currently, Rick is signed as an exclusive Songwriter for Peer Music and he is an advisor to Arts+Labs.