Dreamlined Entertainment Group’s Keith Stegall Helps Raise Thousands for Friends of Franklin Parks
On Oct. 19, 2023, four hit songwriters took the stage for a Friends of Franklin Parks fundraiser and dazzled the crowd. The performers included multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM award-winning producer Keith Stegall (Zac Brown Band, Alan Jackson, Randy Travis), Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame members Roger Murrah (Steve Wariner, Alan Jackson, Tanya Tucker), Rafe Van Hoy (George Jones, Patty Loveless, Tanya Tucker), and David Lee Murphy (Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Hank Williams Jr.).
The intimate gathering was hosted by Murrah and was unique as each songwriter performed and shared the stories behind some of their hit songs. During this intimate experience for audience members, the four songwriters performed 16 total songs for the enthralled crowd, making this a one-of-a-kind event. The crowd laughed and cried as the group regaled them with the inside hijinks and tribulations behind many of music’s greatest hits.
The showcase was a silent auction event as part of the Friends of Franklin Parks “Raise the Roof” fundraiser. Proceeds from the event will help fund many of the organization’s projects, including the restoration of The Historic Hayes House, fundraising for Franklin’s first inclusive playground (Ellie G’s Dream World) and The Fund for The Preservation of Open Spaces.
While reflecting on the fundraiser, Friends of Franklin Parks’ Executive Director, Torrey Barnhill, said: “What a special evening to remember! We are so grateful that these gracious, award-winning writers would share their time and talent to raise much needed funds for our numerous Franklin park projects.”
About Keith Stegall
For multiple Grammy, CMA, ACM Award-winning producer Keith Stegall, music has always been his life, strongly influenced by his dad, 1950s Abbott Records recording artist, Bob Stegall. The elder Stegall also played steel guitar for the legendary country singer Johnny Horton.
Born in the central Texas town of Wichita Falls and raised in Shreveport (the home of the Louisiana Hayride, a stage his father often graced) the Stegalls were constantly playing and writing songs on guitars and the piano. It was by chance he met another famous Texan, Kris Kristofferson, who inspired Keith to move to Music City. “Show me what you’ve got!” Kris told Keith backstage at a Kristofferson show. Keith played a couple songs, which prompted Kristofferson to remark, “Son, you need to get your ass to Nashville and hang out with other writers. They will break you down and make you the best you can be.”
Keith took the advice to heart and three months after his arrival in 1978, Keith co-wrote his first hit, Dr. Hooks’ 1980 smash Sexy Eyes. Soon after, Helen Reddy, The Commodores, Johnny Mathis, and many others rushed to record Keith’s songs. Most notable was Al Jarreau’s career hit We’re In This Love Together. Eventually Keith signed a record deal with Capitol Records and later Epic Records. He released a pair of albums in the early 1980s with minor chart success. “Because I grew up in the studio,” Keith recalls, “the mistake I made was that they told me to produce myself.” The upside, he says, was he learned how to produce other artists by producing himself.
In the midst of trying to get his own artist career off the ground, a struggling nightclub singer named Randy Ray asked Keith to produce an independent album to sell at his local gigs. The project led to Keith producing the standout songs On The Other Hand and Reasons I Cheat on the singer’s epochal debut, “Storms of Life,” under the singer’s new moniker… Randy Travis.
The success of “Storms of Life” convinced Keith that a life behind the scenes was more suited for him. “I wasn’t able to accomplish what I wanted to do until I became a producer,” Keith says. “When I did, I told myself, ‘this is where I belong.’”
Meanwhile, a friend and songwriting partner asked Keith to produce a tape to play for record companies in hopes of getting a record deal. That friend, Alan Jackson, would go on to sell over 50 million records and have 35 number one hits with Keith in the producer’s chair. Keith continued collaborating with Jackson, co-writing such hits as Don’t Rock The Jukebox and Dallas.
In 1992, Keith received an offer to head Mercury Nashville’s A&R department and a chance to release another album as an artist. “I thought, ‘this is not my gig,’ I’ve spent half my life fighting with record labels,” recalled Keith. “Alan (Jackson) himself had told me, ‘Half the reason I wanted to work with you is that you are an artist and you understand.” So reminiscent of Chet Atkins years earlier at RCA, Keith became an artist and executive at Mercury Records. His subsequent 1996 Mercury debut “Passages” was critically acclaimed.
In 1997, Keith teamed up with legendary songwriter Dan Hill (Sometimes When We Touch). The collaboration quickly yielded two number one records: Sammy Kershaw’s Love Of My Life and Mark Wills’ I Do (Cherish You). Shortly after Wills recorded I Do, the platinum selling pop act 98 Degrees heard the song and included it on their sophomore album “98 Degrees And Rising,” as well as on the soundtrack to the 1999 Julia Roberts film “Notting Hill.” The song became one of the group’s biggest hits reaching the top 5 in the CHR and AC charts.
The year 1999 saw Stegall working with country music legend George Jones. The album, “Cold Hard Truth” went Gold and included the Grammy Award-winning track, Choices. Three more albums with Jones followed including an album featuring another country music legend, Merle Haggard.
In late 2006, Keith was invited to a show by an unsigned band out of Georgia called the Zac Brown Band. According to Stegall, “Zac had been passed around Nashville a little bit. He had been Nashville’d to death.” Just as he’d been for Alan Jackson, Stegall was the absolutely ideal producer and mentor for the Zac Brown Band. Seemingly countering all the 2008 Music Row rules and conventional wisdom, the first nine singles went to No. 1 on the country charts. Three platinum albums and millions of single downloads quickly followed. The group’s third album, “Uncaged,” earned Keith and the group a Grammy Award for Country Album of the Year.
In 2015, Stegall launched Dreamlined Entertainment, a company specializing in artist development and record label services. Currently, he is working on a new project with Alan Jackson, as well as up and coming talented artists including William Michael Morgan, Bradley Gaskin, and Makayla Lynn. Keith Stegall has the exact same passion as he always has, and keeps painting outside the lines to bring country fans, radio, and artists some of the greatest music they’ve ever experienced.
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