Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Announces 2026 Interview Series Schedule
(CMHOF) The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has scheduled its 2026 Poets and Prophets and Nashville Cats programs, which honor noteworthy contributors to country music with in-depth, one-on-one interviews. Nashville Cats showcases musicians and session singers who have played important roles in support of artists in either the recording studio or on concert tours. Poets and Prophets features songwriters who have made significant contributions to country music.
The interviews will be illustrated with photos, film and recordings. Following the programs, artists will sign commemorative Hatch Show Print posters. Museum writer-editor Allison Moorer will host the Poets and Prophets programs, and museum writer-editor Jon Freeman will host the Nashville Cats programs.
The programs are included with museum admission and free to museum members. Seating is limited, and a program ticket is required for entrance. The programs will be held at 2:30 p.m. in the museum's Ford Theater. Information about ticketing and on-sale dates can be found here.
This year's schedule is as follows:
Poets and Prophets
Josh Osborne -- Saturday, Feb. 21
Josh Osborne began writing songs as a teenager. He honed his craft for more than a decade before hitting his stride in the 2010s and earning his first #1 song with Country Music Hall of Fame member Kenny Chesney's "Come Over" in 2012. He's since scored more than 30 additional #1s, including "Leave the Night On" and "Body Like a Back Road" (Sam Hunt), "One Man Band" (Old Dominion), "Sangria" and "My Eyes" (Blake Shelton) and "Sand in My Boots" (Morgan Wallen). Osborne has won two Grammys for Best Country Song: in 2014 for "Merry Go 'Round" and in 2025 for "The Architect," both recorded by Kacey Musgraves. He was named ASCAP's Country Songwriter of the Year in 2021 and NSAI's Songwriter of the Year in 2019.
Ashley Gorley - Saturday, May 30
Ashley Gorley is the most commercially successful country songwriter of all time. One of the music industry's most sought-after songwriters, he has written more than 80 #1 songs, including "You Should Probably Leave" (Chris Stapleton), "What He Didn't Do" (Carly Pearce), "I Had Some Help" (Post Malone and Morgan Wallen), "Last Night" and "You Proof" (Morgan Wallen). In 2023, Gorley spent multiple weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 Songwriters chart as "Last Night" topped the all-genre Hot 100 chart for a record-breaking 16 weeks. He has received eight Grammy nominations and is a 10-time ASCAP Songwriter of the Year. Gorley received the NSAI Songwriter of the Decade award for 2010-2019 in 2022 and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2025.
Pat McLaughlin -Saturday, Oct. 3
Revered singer, songwriter and guitarist Pat McLaughlin arrived in Nashville in 1977. He experienced his first major songwriting success in 1987, when Steve Wariner took "Lynda" to #1. After signing with Capitol Records that same year, McLaughlin released the critically acclaimed albums Pat McLaughlin (1988) and Get Out and Stay Out (1995). His independent album releases include Tiny Town (1998), Uncle Pat (2000), Horsefly (2006) and The World-Famous Headliners (2011). McLaughlin's songs have been recorded by artists including Gary Allan, Dan Auerbach, Phoebe Bridgers, Marcus King, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Josh Turner and Lee Ann Womack. A regular collaborator of the late John Prine, McLaughlin won a Grammy for Best American Roots Song and the Americana Music Association's Song of the Year award for Prine's "I Remember Everything" in 2021.
NASHVILLE CATS
Jerry Douglas - Saturday, March 7
Jerry Douglas forever altered the way people think about the dobro with distinctive, lyrical playing that greatly expanded the instrument's presence in bluegrass and country music and beyond. The Ohio native began his career with the Country Gentlemen and played with the Whites before focusing on session work. His playing can be heard on albums by Elvis Costello, Sierra Ferrell, Country Music Hall of Fame members Marty Stuart and Randy Travis and many others. Douglas is also a longtime member of Alison Krauss & Union Station and his own group, the Earls of Leicester. He has won 16 Grammys, three Country Music Association Musician of the Year honors, 10 International Bluegrass Music Association Dobro Player of the Year awards and a National Heritage Fellowship. The Americana Music Association presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 2015, and he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2024.
Wendy Moten - Saturday, May 16
Wendy Moten's voice has been both steady support and the star of the show at different points in her career. The Memphis native sang in Overton High School's competition choir, led by Lulah Hedgeman, and was a professional singer by 16. She released her self-titled debut album via EMI in 1992 and had chart success with "Come in Out of the Rain," then found regular work as a backing vocalist, touring with Julio Iglesias for 15 years and then with country artists Faith Hill, Martina McBride and Tim McGraw. In recent years, she has appeared as a featured vocalist on Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill's tours. Moten has also sung on recordings by Buddy Guy, Thomas Rhett and Carrie Underwood, among others. In 2021, she appeared on NBC's "The Voice" and finished the season as the runner-up.
John Jorgenson - Saturday, Aug. 15
John Jorgenson's versatile guitar playing and inventive arrangements injected fresh energy into country music in the 1980s and '90s. After becoming involved with Southern California's rockabilly and country scene, he joined the Desert Rose Band with former Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers member Chris Hillman. With Jorgenson providing musical arrangements, the group released five albums between 1987 and 1993, scoring seven Top 10 hits, including the #1 songs "He's Back and I'm Blue" and "I Still Believe in You." In 1990, Jorgenson formed the Hellecasters with guitarists Will Ray and Jerry Donahue, who together released three acclaimed albums that feature a dazzling triple lead guitar attack. As a session musician, he provided guitar on albums by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Carlene Carter, Country Music Hall of Fame member Kenny Chesney, John Prine, Bonnie Raitt and many others. Jorgenson won the Academy of Country Music's Guitarist of the Year award in 1990, 1991 and 1992. He currently performs with his "gypsy jazz" group, the John Jorgenson Quintet.
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