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Don Schlitz
Don Schlitz was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina. He briefly attended Duke University before moving to Nashville in 1973.
His first recorded song, "The Gambler," won a Grammy Award and the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Song of the Year.
Don's songs have played major roles in the careers of Kenny Rogers, Randy Travis, The Judds, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Alison Krauss, and many other singers. His fifty Top Ten hits have included twenty-four Number Ones.
A few of these hits include "On the Other Hand," "Forever and Ever, Amen," "I Feel Lucky," "Heroes and Friends," "When You Say Nothing At All," and "Strong Enough to Bend." Schlitz also wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Schlitz was the ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year for four consecutive years from 1988-91. He has won three CMA Song of the Year awards, two ACM Song of the Year awards, two Grammy Awards, and many more nominations. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Association Hall of Fame in 1993 and the North Carolina Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 1999.
Schlitz lives, writes, and performs in Nashville.
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|  J. Fred Knobloch
J. Fred Knobloch, a Jackson, Mississippi native, has been performing since the age of thirteen when he and some friends formed a band to play at school "sock hops."
In 1973, Knobloch left school to play music full-time; he began performing solo at night clubs across the South and landed a few dates as a session guitarist at MALACO Studios in Jackson. While working for such R&B notables as Dorothy Moore, Eddie Floyd and Anita Ward, he met drummer James Stroud and pianist Carson Whitsett; it was Whitsett who encouraged his writing and performing and in 1980 it all paid off with "Why Not Me." Co-written with Whitsett and produced by James Stroud, Knobloch reached #1 on the Billboard AC chart and # 18 on the HOT 100.
On the heels of that success, Fred moved to Los Angeles and over the next two years had two Top Ten country singles with "Killin' Time," a duet with Susan Anton, and a re-make of the Chuck Berry classic, "Memphis." But it wasn't long before the South started calling him home and he relocated to Nashville in January of 1983.
Since moving to Nashville, Music Row has allowed him to make lots of "noise with the boys" as an artist, session musician and songwriter. With his good friends Thom Schuyler and Craig Bickhardt, who formed the group SKB, he recorded two albums for MTM including the hits "No Easy Horses" and yet another #1 country record with "Baby's Got A New Baby," co-written by J. Fred with fellow Mississippian Dan Tyler.
His list of cuts include artists such as Faith Hill, George Strait, Delbert McClinton, Etta James, Ray Charles, The Wilkinsons, Lorrie Morgan, John Anderson, Trisha Yearwood, Larry Stewart, Neal McCoy, Confederate Railroad, Sawyer Brown, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Kenny Rogers. Knobloch has also composed for TV and movies with songs appearing on Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210, as well as the feature films "Next of Kin" and "In Country."
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 Kirk "Jelly Roll" Johnson
Kirk "Jelly Roll" Johnson's distinctive, soulful style of harmonica has earned him a place as one of Nashville's top session musicians. A native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Jelly Roll's career has spanned 30 years. Since moving to Nashville in 1984, he has recorded with Trisha Yearwood, Kenny Rogers, Etta James, Guy Clark, Lee Ann Womack, Randy Travis, The Judds, Alan Jackson, and many others. His unique sound has been heard on over 50 gold and platinum albums.
Jelly Roll has made numerous television appearances with various artists, including Faith Hill on "Late Show with David Letterman," Alan Jackson and Jamie O'Neal on "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," and Trisha Yearwood on the "Country Music Association Awards Show."
In 1998 Jelly Roll won the Nashville Music Award for Best Wind Instrumentalist. After receiving nominations for 1998 and 2000, he won the best Specialty Instrument Award for 2003 from the Academy of Country Music.
Jelly regularly performs at Nashville's world famous Bluebird Cafe with Fred Knobloch, Tom Schuyler and Don Schlitz.
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 Thom Schuyler
Thom Schuyler has worn many hats during his Nashville career. The Pennsylvania native has been an A&R executive at RCA, an industry leader on boards of both NARAS and CMA, a solo recording artist for Capitol Records and a member of the MTM Records trios S-K-O (Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet) and SKB (Schuyler, Knobloch & Bickhardt). He is often credited as a founder of Nashville's popular "in the round" style of songwriter showcases. Schuyler's "Love Will Turn You Around" (Rogers, Stevens, Malloy) was ASCAP Country Song of the Year in 1982, American Music Awards Song of the year in 1983 and garnered a BMI 2 Million-Airplay Award. Schuyler also received an ASCAP Most Performed Award for his song "Hurricane" (Harris, Steagall) in 1980.
Other chart-toppers include: "I Fell In Love Again Last Night" (The Forester Sisters), "Years After You" (John Conlee), "Long Line Of Love" (Michael Martin Murphey), "Love Out Loud" (Earl Thomas Conley) "Are the Roses Not Blooming?" (The Judds) and "Child Support" (Barbara Mandrell). His song "Point of Light" was the theme song of President George H.W. Bush's volunteerism campaign, and "16th Avenue" is the unofficial anthem of Music Row's songwriting community.
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