Shane McAnally, who has written hits for Sam Hunt, Kenny Chesney, Old Dominion, Kacey Musgraves and many more, can pinpoint the exact moment when he knows a song is a keeper, as he shifts through snippets of lyrics and melodies, piecing them together in a way that he hopes will grab listeners’ heartstrings.
“There’s always a phrase or something in a write where I go, ‘Okay, we’ve got it,’” McAnally tells Billboard. “It’s almost always indicative of whether or not a song is going to get recorded, or if anyone’s going to care. In all the songs we’ve done, I know those moments. In [Chesney’s] ‘American Kids,’ it was definitely the line, ‘A little messed up, but we’re all alright.’ Once we had that, the rest just came together.”
McAnally’s instincts have been spot-on. This year, McAnally earned his 11th CMA song of the year nomination, for Musgraves’ “Dry Spell” — and in the process, broke a tie for the record he previously held alongside Country Music Hall of Famer Alan Jackson.
It marks a full-circle moment for the Texas creative who grew up immersed in country music, and who launched his country music career as an artist before finding success as a songwriter.
“It’s such an honor,” McAnally says of roping his 11th CMA song of the year nomination. “It’s very cool, especially because I grew up obsessed with the CMAs, and so, for a songwriter, there’s not really a bigger acknowledgement than song of the year.”
“That’s where I first remember seeing songwriters,” he adds. “I remember when Cindy Walker was inducted into the [Country Music] Hall of Fame [in 1997]. That’s so emblazoned into my brain because I thought, ‘Oh, she wrote “You Don’t Know Me.” She wrote these songs.’ They did a big Hall of Fame induction for her, and she had this famous speech, and I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that’s a job, songwriting.’”
McAnally’s first major cut as a songwriter was a stone-cold country ballad recorded by Lee Ann Womack, “Last Call,” which became a top 15 hit on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 2008. By contrast, his first Billboard No. 1 on that same chart was Kenny Chesney’s brooding, pop-polished 2010 single “Somewhere With You.” He’s continued showcasing his musical range as a writer on songs for artists including OneRepublic, Aloe Blacc, Midland and Dierks Bentley.
In 2013, the first year McNally was nominated for CMA song of the year, he scored not one, but two nominations, for Musgraves’ “Merry Go ‘Round” and Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart.” This year, his 11th, record-breaking nomination is also for a song co-written with and recorded by Musgraves: “Dry Spell,” from her 2026 album Middle of Nowhere. A song with Musgraves also earned McAnally a CMA song of the year win in 2014, for “Follow Your Arrow.”
“We see the world similarly. Our senses of humor are very in line,” McAnally says of working with fellow Texan Musgraves. “She’s taught me so much about getting to the heart of it. She knows who she is. We’re writing for her, so she makes it easy for me, because she’s so decisive about what she will and won’t do. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s the best interpreter of a song I’ve ever heard — she honors the song in the best way.”
Leading up to the CMA Awards on Nov. 18, Billboard highlights each of the 10 songs that have garnered McAnally his record-setting 11 CMA song of the year nominations. (One of those 10 songs, Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road,” was nominated in both 2017 and 2018.)
