George Strait, Miranda Lambert to Receive Songwriting Honor in Texas

Since 2006, the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association has taken the distinct honor of cementing the legacy of some of the Lone Star State’s most revered songwriters in their Hall of Fame. In 2026, the case can be made the class has more star power than ever before.

“King” George Strait, Miranda Lambert, along with Keith Gattis and Don Cook will be this year’s Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees in a ceremony set to transpire on February 21st at the Moody Theater (ACL Live) in downtown Austin.

For pure songwriters, there’s few that are more accomplished from Texas than Don Cook, originally from Carrizo Springs. He’s written an incredible twenty #1 hits, including 13 hits with Brooks & Dunn alone—including some of the duo’s biggest songs like “Brand New Man” and “My Next Broken Heart.” Cook’s songwriting and production helped define ’90s country. He also wrote songs for fellow inductee George Strait, along with Alabama and Kenny Rogers among others.

Originally from Georgetown, TX, Keith Gattis wrote and co-wrote tracks for the likes of fellow inductee George Strait, Randy Travis, Kenny Chesney, Gary Allan, Randy Houser, Charlie Robison, Randy Rogers Band, Jack Ingram, Wade Bowen, Cory Morrow, and Sara Evans just to name a few. As a studio player, he worked with George Jones, Jon Pardi, Brandy Clark, Bruce Robison, and Sunny Sweeney among others.

Gattis wrote “El Cerrito Place,” which after becoming a signature song for Charlie Robison, was released by Kenny Chesney as a successful radio single. He also wrote the Chesney single “When I See This Bar” and George Strait’s 2013 single “I Got a Car.” Albums that Keith Gattis produced include Wade Bowen’s Solid Ground (2018), and Randy Houser’s Magnolia (2019). Gattis was one of the most prolific multi-disciplinary contributors to country music in the last 25 years. He passed away in 2023.

Though Miranda Lambert from Lindale, TX is mostly known as a performer, she’s also known as a performer who writes or co-writes many of her own songs, including some of her biggest hits such as  “Bluebird,” “Tin Man” and “Automatic,” all three of which were nominated for Grammy Awards. She’s also the most awarded artist in ACM Awards history, written songs with and for other artists such as Chris Stapleton’s “What Am I Gonna Do” and Ella Langley’s landmark “Choosin’ Texas” that’s currently #1

Just as importantly, Miranda Lambert is a massive champion of songwriters, from forming the supergroup The Pistol Annies with songwriters Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, to working with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall on The Marfa Tapes, to shouting out people like John Moreland and Tyler Childers early in their career, to recording the songs of John Prine, Patty Griffin, Waylon Payne, Brandy Clark and more.

Perhaps the most controversial pick will also be arguably the biggest name. It’s certainly true that Strait has not been very prolific as a songwriter in his career. But he has written more than what he tends to get credit for. “I Can’t See Texas From Here” is one of the best songs from his second album Strait From The Heart, and was written by Strait himself. On his 2019 record, the #1 Honky Tonk Time Machine, George co-wrote eight of the album’s tracks alone. But let’s be honest, it’s the songs of others he built his career on.

But that doesn’t mean that George Strait hasn’t contributed incredibly to songwriting. Without George Strait, critically-important songwriters to country music such as Dean Dillon and Jim Lauderdale may have never had careers, or been able to focus on the craft of songwriting like they did, penning some of the genre’s most legendary tunes. Strait’s talent was knowing a good song when he heard one, and then singing the hell out of it like only he could.

Not every year for the past 20 has the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association announced new inductees. They wait until the get a good crop of them to honor, and then they move forward. 2026 is one of those years, with the February 21st induction ceremony now sold out.

Over the years, Texas has become synonymous with some of the top songwriters in all of music. It’s due to songwriters and performers like Don Cook, Keith Gattis, Miranda Lambert, and George Strait.

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