Bob McDill Is Now a Country Music Hall of Fame Songwriter

Songwriters are so integral to country music, there is a dedicated Hall of Fame in Nashville just for them. But every three years, the Country Music Hall of Fame proper takes time to recognize someone who has dedicated their life to the craft, and left a lasting impact. In 2023, that person is Bob McDill.
Keith Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes,” Mel McDaniel’s “Louisiana Saturday Night” and “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On,” and Alan Jackson’s “Gone Country” are just some of the compositions Bob McDill is known for. They happen to be songs that country music is known for too. Without Bob McDill songs, what we think about country music would be something completely different. That’s how important his songs are, and how prolific of a songwriter he is.
“I am honored to join a handful of legendary songwriters who are in this Hall of Fame,” McDill said Monday morning (4-3) at the Hall of Fame press conference after being introduced by Vince Gill. “And thank you to the CMA and Hall of Fame for the voters looking beyond the spotlight, and seeing people like songwriters that are not famous.”
Born Robert Lee McDill, Bob grew up in Walden, Texas near Beaumont. He studied English at Lamar University and played in a band called The Newcomers. While serving time in the Navy, McDill became part of a troika of songwriters that also included Dickey Lee and Allen Reynolds who would would go on to amass an incredible catalog of songs, both separate and together in various combinations. They all moved to Nashville together in 1970, and began working for “Cowboy” Jack Clement.
At first McDill tried to make it as a performer and released the album Short Stories in 1972, which seeded singles later recorded by Don Williams and Johnny Russell. Don Williams would go on to record dozens of McDill songs over the years. Bobby Bare recorded a whole album of them in 1977 called Me and McDill. Crystal Gayle, Ronnie Milsap, Waylon Jennings, Earl Thomas Conley, Doug Stone, Sammy Kershaw, John Anderson, Pam Tillis, and Daryle Singletary are just some of the many other names that recorded Bob McDill songs over a three decade span.
As dedicated songwriters went in Nashville, Bob McDill kept it country, even though he dabbled in rock and pop early in his career. In 2000, McDill could see the writing on the wall, and instead of struggling through the new school realities presenting themselves in Nashville, he simply hung it up and retired. In 2017, McDill showed up to the Country Music Hall of Fame with all of his notepads of songs, his awards, recordings, and anything else he had from his songwriting career, and donated it all. Now the Country Music Hall of Fame has a reason to display it.
Some country music fans remain frustrated at how difficult it is for their favorite artists to get into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and songwriter/performers such as Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowell, etc. have an even more difficult time getting in compared to the more pure behind-the-scenes songwriters like Bob McDill.
But perusing over the resume of Bob McDill, it’s hard to argue he doesn’t deserve Hall of Fame distinction. And like McDill said in his acceptance speech, he never had the big letters and bright lights behind him. That is what the Hall of Fame is for, to make sure these important country music contributors don’t go forgotten.
Bob McDill will be inducted with Modern Era inductee Patty Loveless, and Veteran’s Era inductee Tanya Tucker, in the Medallion Ceremony later this year.
April 4, 2023 @ 8:15 am
Well deserved! McDill never fell into the trap of emulating whatever was trendy at the time. “Nobody Likes Sad Songs” didn’t sound like any other song. “Good Old Boys Like Me” is a masterpiece. McDill’s portfolio fulfills both the Quality and Quantity criteria. I’m really happy to see him get enshrined.
April 4, 2023 @ 8:19 am
“Gone Country” really speaks to his self-awareness as a songwriter.
April 4, 2023 @ 11:49 am
McDill’s a great songwriter, and is one of several who should be in the HoF (Sanger D. Shafer, Dallas Frazier, anyone?)
But whenever I’ve heard “Gone Country,” it strikes me as unfinished. He sets the table with the Vegas Lounge singer, the (Greenwich) Village folkie and the disillusioned West Coast pop singer all going country, but I’m expecting him to deliver a “verdict”: Is it good?, Is it bad?, Should they come? Should they stay away?–At least a witty line or rejoinder, a la “Don’t call him a cowboy, Until you’ve seen him ride.”
April 5, 2023 @ 5:49 am
Point taken, but he was savvy to keep the verdict between the lines. The anti-materialism folkie who expects to make a killing is a clue to his somewhat sarcastic take on anyone who thinks Nashville will be easy. He’s more direct in his song Hillbilly Hell.
April 6, 2023 @ 8:00 pm
Funny, It got me to thinking about a song I once heard by Bobby Bare about a wannabe interloper called “Don’t Think You’re Too Good for Country Music (Becasue You Can Rock & Roll)”–a song that gave a highly-opinionated “insside baseball” take on the musicians. I looked it up and it’s from Bare’s “Me and McDill” album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWWBMlHlNpI
April 7, 2023 @ 3:07 pm
Luckyoldsun, thanks for the heads up. This is my first time hearing DTYTGFCM. It really completes the picture. Mr. McDill really had a lot to say about people’s perceptions of the South, country music and his vocation.
April 4, 2023 @ 8:49 pm
What a monster song writer. He’s also credited with writing Amanda and All that Glitters is not Gold. Damn perfect country songs.
April 4, 2023 @ 8:17 am
The Bitter Southerner is usually a scalawag magazine and a complete sellout of anything traditional Southern (cultural genocide), but they have a well-written article on McDill. Yes, it has some woke mentions here and there (McAnally is quoted and they try to excuse the hip-hop influences in modern country) but it covers his career well.
The amount of hits that he wrote: “Good Old Boys Like Me,” “Amanda,” “Song of the South,” “Louisiana Saturday Night,” “Gone Country” is amazing. I know people weeps over Townes but the hit makers like McDill need to be honored first.
“Amanda” came to him in 30 minutes. Most of his other songs were composed in a week or two. Hank said no song worth writing took more than 20 minutes. McDill is the rare exception.
April 4, 2023 @ 8:20 am
“Catfish John” remains an underrated gem.
“Big Wheels in the Moonlight” captures the quiet desperation of man more than any song ever recorded. Thoreau would be proud.
“Lord Have Mercy on a Country Boy” perfectly encases the slow death of any country man stuck in the modern Sodom and Gomorrahs.
April 4, 2023 @ 8:23 am
I just did a search of my iTunes library and was surprised to learn he wrote Don Edwards’ Coyote, Don Williams’ Amanda and DAC’s Cheap Thrills. Seems to be much deserved!
April 4, 2023 @ 8:29 am
There might be better wordsmiths,
There might be people with a better sense of melody and composition
There might be more creative people
But nobody, bar none, defined country music for decades like Bob McDill
The diverse number of major country music, stars, who recorded frequently large numbers of his tunes, ranging from jerry Lee Lewis, to Don Williams, Bobby bare and Waylon
Not even Harlan Howard boasts such a broad cross-section of the greater country music consciousness
Basically, from the minute, Bob MacDill entered country, music, proper, until he retired, he was contributing legacy songs, most of which outlasted all of his contemporaries
For God sakes, the man wrote everything that glitters.
A bob McDill song has staying power, and that is one thing that even some of the best in the business simply lacked. Their songs were product of their time, fitting nicely within the greater country music style, du jour.
They might have been dependent on specific, chord, progressions, percussion, styles, modes, and melodies that were popular on the radio during the time period, and once the greater country music style shifted as time passed, a lot of those songwriters simply stopped being relevant
Bob McDill, not only kept producing material longer than most of his peers, many Bob McDill songs aren’t dependent on a specific style of country music to be relevant or even good. They could be rearranged, modernized, and adopted because the song is themselves or transcendent.
The simple fact is you can do everything that glitters in the Nashville sound of the 60s, you can do it in the more easy listening acoustic style of the 70s, you can do it in the class of 89 style that defined the best of 90s country music
It’s not just a great song, it’s a timeless song that rises above its time period
There might have been other songwriters, who excelled at specific types of songs, or thrived in specific country music, formats, but few people turned out masterpiece after masterpiece like Bob McDill
There is a commentor on here, who frequently posits that, if a song can’t just be done with a voice and an acoustic guitar, it’s not a good song
Can you imagine doing he stopped loving her today without the string section?
Can you imagine doing Rose Garden without the string section?
Can you play her name is by George Jones without that extra guitar to fill in the silent parts
Will tips of my fingers hit the same without that chorus on the chorus
Probably not.
But you can do everything that glitters with just a voice and a guitar. You can do Amanda with just a voice and a guitar.
You can do all of those great MacDill songs that Don Williams recorded with just a voice and a guitar
Nobody who loves country music, doesn’t know Bob McDill. Maybe he’s right that he doesn’t have the star power or the name recognition, but if you find any person who has ever liked country music who isn’t stuck in the 50s, they have a favorite Bob McDill song even if they don’t know it.
And I am reminded of it every time I find another song I have heard 1000 times, every time I find out a favorite song had Bob McDill behind it
April 4, 2023 @ 8:57 am
*Songs themselves are transcendent*
My old phone eight gravel in a shell station parking lot and this new one just doesn’t feel as good under my thumbs. So I use voice to text a lot more. Subsequently, there are commas everywhere. And sometimes things don’t come out clear
April 4, 2023 @ 8:48 am
I love Bob McDill. One of my favorite songwriters ever.
I wrote him a letter when I moved to TN and asked if I could take him to breakfast. His response was short and sweet. “Sure, as long as I don’t have to listen to any of your songs.”
April 4, 2023 @ 11:15 am
: D So, did you take him to breakfast?
April 4, 2023 @ 12:36 pm
Yeah. He even listened to my songs. ????
April 4, 2023 @ 12:48 pm
Oh, i love it!
April 4, 2023 @ 8:50 am
One of your best comments Fuzzman…I agree…
April 4, 2023 @ 9:11 am
I had 6 tracks on my show last night and could do so at least a couple weeks
April 4, 2023 @ 9:58 am
So happy for this, it is so deserved!! This man wrote absolutely classics that will stand the test of time, including my favorite song of all time “Good ole Boys Like me”. Congrats to an absolute songwriting legend.
April 4, 2023 @ 10:10 am
Fuzzy said it best but Everything that Glitters is one of, if not my favorite country song of all time. A tremendous song craftsman that highly deserves this honor.
April 4, 2023 @ 11:11 am
One of the truly great country songwriters. Well deserved.
April 4, 2023 @ 1:49 pm
It’s about time. About time the three inductees of this year got in. Other longtime artists and songwriters need to be acknowledged and honored.
April 4, 2023 @ 5:01 pm
Just looking through Bob McDill’s Wikipedia page, and while I had heard of him before, it’s just now that I’m realizing how many songs he’s written that I listen to all the time. It’s one thing to write songs that win tons of awards, sell millions and millions of copies, appear on “greatest of all time” lists, but to me personally it’s much more impressive when you write songs that people continually go back to time and time again. Having songs that people love is much more important as a songwriter than name recognition (which McDill got plenty of, though not near enough in my opinion).
April 4, 2023 @ 9:05 pm
First time I ever heard of Bob McDill was when Jamey Johnson paid tribute to him in “That’s Why I Write Songs” (a really cool song by the way). Way to go Bob.
April 5, 2023 @ 5:36 am
If you were asked back in the day to write a song that Johnny Cash would record, you probably wouldn’t open it with “Mad is the captain of Alpha Centauri.” You might also be wary of courting country radio with connecting the South with Thomas Wolfe, alcoholism, Uncle Remus, and drug addiction. Greats like Mr. McDill come to define genres by pushing hard at the edges in the service of being themselves. Look at them boots.
April 6, 2023 @ 4:53 am
Great songwriter well deserving. One of my fav albums is Bobby Bare sings McDill
April 6, 2023 @ 8:50 am
Bob works out at a gym I am often at. Being a songwriter myself, I asked if I could take him to lunch. He told me point blank, “I can’t help you.” What he meant was was that he felt removed from the industry and wasnt going to try to get me an “in” which is probably what most people want. I said “No favors. I just want to take you to lunch and talk and ask you some questions.” We went to Noshville (an NYC deli), a favorite of his in Green Hills, and he shared a lot of wisdom with me. He was very down to earth. What struck me most was he saw songwriting as a 9 to 5 job. He clocked in and clocked out. Never wrote a song since retiring. I asked him why and he said he just didn’t want to, he was done. Anyway, he was an encouragement to me. He told me to write my heart. He said he, of course, dabbled in the zeitgeist trends but his bread and butter was from him, his life, his observations, stuff you can’t make up. That shows in his hits. I still see him around. He works out a couple times a week. Top guy. Congratulations, Bob!
April 7, 2023 @ 8:50 am
What a beautiful story 🙂 McDill is humble to the core.
April 9, 2023 @ 9:18 pm
I was pleased to hear about McDill’s election — and, in fact, about all three of this year’s electees. Everything That Glitters Is Not Gold is my favorite McDill song — there’s a lot going on in that song — but Good Ole Boys Like Me is up there too.
McDill had a lot of chart success, but as someone else in this thread has noted, what matters less than how a song did on the charts is its longevity and its appeal to future generations of artists and audiences. Case in point: in the past few years, Joe Nichols has recorded “Good Ole Boys Like Me” and David Adam Byrnes has covered “Everything That Glitters.”