2005 2005 Hall of Fame Inductees (l-r) Vince Gill, Roger Murrah, Gary Burr & Mike Reid. Not pictured: Jerry Reed. Vince Gill, Jerry Reed, Gary Burr, Mike Reid & Roger Murrah inducted into Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame “Bless The Broken Road” is NSAI Song of the Year; Jeffrey Steele is Songwriter of the Year; Brad Paisley is Songwriter/Artist of the Year Vince Gill, Jerry Reed, Gary Burr, Mike Reid and Roger Murrah are the newest additions to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The five men were inducted Sunday, Oct. 16, during annual ceremonies conducted by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel. In conjunction with the Hall of Fame inductions, the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) conferred a series of Songwriter Achievement Awards. “Bless The Broken Road,” by Bobby Boyd, Jeff Hanna and Marcus Hummon, was named Song of the Year. For the second time in three years, the Songwriter of the Year prize went to Jeffrey Steele, co-writer of “Gone” and “Help Somebody.” The Songwriter/Artist of the Year nod went to Brad Paisley, writer of "Alcohol" and co-writer of "Mud On The Tires." Patty Loveless, Amy Grant, John Hobbs and Al Anderson paid tribute to Gill by treating the audience to a sampling of his legendary songs, which include “When I Call Your Name,” “Never Knew Lonely,” “Pocket Full Of Gold,” “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slipping Away,” “I Still Believe In You,” “Look At Us,” “Whenever You Come Around,” “Which Bridge To Cross (Which Bridge To Burn),” “Go Rest High On That Mountain” and “High Lonesome Sound.” Longtime friend and Hall of Fame member Rodney Crowell provided the induction speech. Steve Wariner joined Jeffrey Steele, Reed band members Bobby Lovett and Mark Thornton and guitarist John Knowles to celebrate Reed, whose classics include “East Bound And Down,” “Amos Moses,” “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” “A Thing Called Love,” “Guitar Man,” “The Claw,” “Crazy Legs,” “Misery Loves Company,” “Talk About The Good Times” and “Tupelo Mississippi Flash.” Longtime friend Bobby Bare provided the induction speech. Victoria Shaw, Jim Photoglo, Mark Mirando and Sarah Buxton saluted Burr, whose hits include “What Mattered Most,” “I Try To Think About Elvis,” “A Thousand Times A Day,” “Love’s Been A Little Bit Hard On Me,” “Nothin ’Bout Love Makes Sense,” “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely,” “Make My Life With You,” “That’s My Job,” “Too Busy Being In Love” and “In A Week Or Two.” Hall of Fame member Wayland Holyfield provided the induction speech. Ronnie Milsap reprised many of his dozen Top-10 hits from the '80s that were Reid-penned compositions, such as “Stranger In My House,” “Lost In The Fifties Tonight” and “She Keeps The Home Fires Burning.” Beth Nielsen Chapman, accompanied by Ernest Chapman and Annie Roboff, honored Reid with their rendition of his "I Can't Make You Love Me." Hall of Fame member Don Schlitz provided the induction speech in tribute to Reid, whose songwriting credits also include “Walk On Faith,” “In This Life,” “Everywhere,” “I Wouldn’t Be A Man,” “Born To Be Blue” and “Forever’s As Far As I’ll Go.” Blake Shelton and Thomas Cain saluted Murrah, whose hits include "Goodbye Time," “Don't Rock The Jukebox,” “High Cotton,” “I’m In A Hurry (And Don’t Know Why),” “We're In This Love Together,” “Ozark Mountain Jubilee,” “It Takes A Litte Rain (To Make Love Grow),” “Life’s Highway,” “It’s A Little Too Late” and “National Working Woman’s Holiday.” Hall of Fame member Bobby Braddock provided the induction speech. Each Hall of Fame inductee was presented with the coveted “Manny” (short for “Manuscript”) Award. Besides honoring the Song, Songwriter and Songwriter/Artist of the Year, the writers of NSAI’s Professional Songwriters Division also singled out 13 songs and their writers for its 2005 Achievement Awards (informally dubbed “The Songs I Wish I’d Written”). Recipients were “Alcohol” (Brad Paisley), “Bless The Broken Road” (Bobby Boyd, Jeff Hanna, Marcus Hummon), “Don't Ask Me How I Know” (Bart Butler, Brett Jones, Bobby Pinson), “Goodbye Time” (James Dean Hicks, Roger Murrah), “He Gets That From Me” (Steven Dale Jones, Phillip White), “Hey, Good Lookin'” (Hank Williams Sr.), “I May Hate Myself In The Morning” (Odie Blackmon), “Monday Morning Church” (Brent Baxter, Erin Enderlin), “My Give A Damn's Busted” (Joe Diffie, Tony Martin, Tom Shapiro), “Suds In The Bucket” (Jenai, Billy Montana), “Georgia Rain” (Ed Hill, Karyn Rochelle), “Making Memories Of Us” (Rodney Crowell) and “Some Beach” (Rory Lee Feek, Paul Overstreet). “Bless The Broken Road” was the top choice of the NSAI Pro writers. Jeffrey Steele and Brad Paisley each placed the highest-charting pair of songs among the top 40 vote-getters, earning Songwriter of the Year honors for Steele and Songwriter/Artist of the Year for Paisley. mail@nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com