Shane McAnally Reflects on His Record-Breaking 11 CMA Song of the Year Nominations: ‘For a Songwriter, There’s No Bigger Acknowledgement’

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.)

• “Merry Go ‘Round” (Co-written with Kacey Musgraves and Josh Osborne; Recorded by Kacey Musgraves; 2013 CMA song of the year nominee) 

  We wrote it in Texas. We went by my mother’s house before we went to a ranch to write. My mom’s a real character, and there were a bunch of cars in the yard at the neighbor’s house — and Josh [Osborne] asked her about them. My mom said, “‘I don’t know. They’re selling Mary Kay or Mary Jane or something.” Our little [songwriting] antennas went up and we told Kacey what she said. A lot of songs we wrote with Kacey are funny, but she went, “It doesn’t seem like a funny song to me. It seems like it’s a sad song about a town.” There again, I trust her instinct and what a write. That song, it did so much for me. We wrote it in 45 minutes, once we all had the idea of what we were going to do.
  

• “Mama’s Broken Heart” (Co-written With Kacey Musgraves and Brandy Clark; Recorded by Miranda Lambert; 2013 CMA Song of the year nominee)

  Probably the process of how it ended up with Miranda was one of the most interesting stories, because we were a sort of collective, Josh Osborne, Brandy Clark, Luke Laird, myself and Natalie Hemby. We were all writing for that first Kacey record. We wrote “Mama’s Broken Heart,” and Kacey stayed up all night making a GarageBand demo of it. It had this crazy handclap pattern and it felt really interesting, musically. That was the first time I heard it as like, ”Oh, this is a hit,” as opposed to when we wrote it and it was just more of a sort of diatribe of something my sister and my mom were going through, that’s where it started. We recorded the song for Kacey’s record and then someone played it for Miranda.

  Miranda said she loved the song and wanted to record it. I think Kacey was surprised she had heard it. But in honor of Brandy and I — who at the time, we had a couple of hits, but we weren’t on the roll that happened later — everyone was telling Kacey, “You don’t want to deny these writers a song on [a Miranda Lambert album].” Because at the time, nothing had happened for Kacey yet. Her record hadn’t come out yet.

  Ultimately, the beauty of it was that Miranda did record it, and she let Kacey sing [background vocals] on it. Then, we needed another song [for Kacey’s record], and that was when we went to Texas and wrote “Merry ‘Go Round.” So, you do have to look at the whole story of, we maybe wouldn’t have “Merry Go ‘Round” if Miranda hadn’t recorded “Mama’s Broken Heart.”
  

• “Follow Your Arrow” (Co-written With Brandy Clark and Kacey Musgraves; Recorded by Kacey Musgraves; 2014 CMA Song of the year winner)

  We had no idea it would get nominated. That was such a shock. We did not think we were going to win. And It didn’t even go top 40 [on country radio]. I still feel shocked by that — it felt very validating for a song that had not gotten any commercial attention and actually was banned from many radio stations. 

  The beginning of it, that was Kacey’s idea. Katy [Perry] and Kacey did a [CMT] Crossroads together and she took the idea to Katy, like, “Kiss lots of boys, kiss lots of girls, make lots of noise.” Katy was like, “I think this is a country song, and I don’t quite know what to do with it.” It was the last song written for [Musgraves’ debut album] Same Trailer, Different Park. Brandy and Kacey and I just have a magic; Brandy’s an incredible guitar player, so the rhythm of it, it has its own identity.

  The label didn’t want to put it out as a single and Kacey really advocated for it, and then it seemed like nothing happened. Now that song has grown through the years, and that’s what’s really special about it — and I think that attention started with it winning the CMA song of the year, where people were like, “Wait a minute, did we miss this?”
  

• “American Kids” (Co-written With Rodney Clawson and Luke Laird; Recorded by Kenny Chesney; 2015 CMA Song of the year nominee)

  I wrote that with Luke Laird and Rodney Clawson. Those two guys were having such an enormous moment when we wrote that. I remember feeling a lot of pressure, thinking, “If I can’t write a hit song in this room, I should quit.”

  Ultimately, Little Big Town had that on hold, and was working it up for a record. I had sent it to Kenny [Chesney], and at first, he hadn’t listened to it. Then I sent it to Little Big Town. They started working on it, and then Kenny pulled the old email up in front of me, because he was like, “Oh, here’s an old song I didn’t listen to.” I didn’t have the nerve to tell him that it wasn’t available anymore, and by the first chorus, he was like, “This is it. This is the song.” I had to go to Little Big Town and say, “Is this a real thing or is it just something you guys are kind of working on?”

  They were so generous and said, “Well, we do have a song that we’re really excited about,” and it was called “Girl Crush.” And so they generously let us have “American Kids,” and we were all nominated against each other at every award show and “Girl Crush” won them all. But I feel like [“American Kids”] is such a gift. I feel like people love that song even more now.
  

• “Take Your Time” (Co-written With Sam Hunt and Josh Osborne; Recorded by Sam Hunt; 2015 CMA song of the year nominee)

  Josh [Osborne] and Sam [Hunt] brought it to me, and I thought, “I’ve never heard anything like this.” And [Hunt] has a way of being able to talk that sounds musical, so I thought it was so interesting. I was in a place where I was really thinking about how Sam could be an artist and he wanted to be an artist, but at that point we didn’t have any specific sound. We were trying all these different things. “Take Your Time” happened, it was like, “You’re an artist. You now have an identity.” 

  He also fought for it to be the second single. The first single [“Leave the Night On”] was a much safer choice, and then they were going to pick a similar song to that for the second single. And he was like, “It has to be ‘Take Your Time.’ If I don’t start identifying myself right now, and not just falling in line…”  That was a very smart move, a risky move.
  

• “Body Like a Back Road” (Co-written With Sam Hunt, Josh Osborne and Zach Crowell; Recorded by Sam Hunt; 2017 and 2018 CMA song of the year nominee) 

  I think it gets overlooked from an artful perspective, because it was such a commercial success. It was a hard song to write, because it could have gone into such a trite place with that title, and Sam was just so adamant about making it have language that was playful and not objectifying. It took nine months, and we rewrote the verses and rewrote the verses, and he didn’t want it to be overly punned.

  That song has stood the test of time because of those things. I think it would have been a hit either way — because of the title and because it was Sam and everyone was waiting to see what he was going to do next — but it wouldn’t have had the longevity. People are able to now look at it and go, “Wow, this is intricate.” 
  

• “Rainbow” (Co-written with Kacey Musgraves and Natalie Hemby; Recorded by Kacey Musgraves; 2019 CMA Song of the year nominee)

  We had written that song before or during making the first record [Same Trailer, Different Park]. [Musgraves] added it on Golden Hour, because it was her grandmother’s favorite song, so that’s why she recorded it. And it became a family anthem for us, for a friend that we lost. We definitely did not know the day we wrote it, the way it was going to live. Kacey just sang it [to remember and honor] Dolly [Parton] at her Madison Square Garden concert. So it just has a big life. 
  

• “One Night Standards” (Co-Written with Ashley McBryde and Nicolette Hayford; Recorded by Ashley McBryde; 2021 CMA Song of the year nominee)

  The first day I ever wrote with Ashley, she and Nicolette [Hayford] walked in with this song called “Airport Hotel,” and were convinced something was broken. I didn’t think anything was. I just thought we should get more honest. Then Ashley made this throwaway joke about hotel rooms only having one nightstand, and I about came out of my chair: “Did you say standards?” That’s the whole job, honestly. Somebody in the room says the title out loud and doesn’t know it yet.
  

• “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” (Co-written With Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde; Recorded by Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde; 2022 CMA Song of the year nominee)

  That was a real shift for Carly and Ashley, and that song was written in this room [at the SMACK offices in Nashville]. I don’t remember who had the idea, but I know the work was to make both choruses fit each of their stories — which is sort of the “Does He Love You” move — and that was sort of what we were heading for. Two of the best singers in town, great writers and I love them both.

  I remember we were making Carly’s record, and one challenge that came from it was that the way the song was written, it required Ashley singing first. And I remember that being a bit of, “Well, it’s Carly’s record. Can you do a duet on Carly’s record where she’s not even featured until the second verse?” And eventually we decided it was fine.

  I remember the moment when we came up with [the line] “Being the other one, when there’s another one” — that was the moment. I was like, “God, that is such a perfect line.” [Note: McAnally also won a CMA Award for co-producing “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” when it was named musical event of the year].
  

• “Dry Spell” (Co-written With Kacey Musgraves, Luke Laird and Josh Osborne; Recorded by Kacey Musgraves; 2026 CMA Song of the year nominee)

  It was kind of kitschy… In the very beginning, I didn’t think of that as the focus track, I thought that was a really fun song we wrote. And then as the record was being made and as songs were getting played for the label, I got a copy of what they were working on [in the studio] and I was like, “Boy, this song has really risen, it really stands out.”

  And what I think is great is that it’s not what anyone expected from her. The last time we had a song together, that did win a Grammy [best country song, 2025] but was not nominated at the CMAs, was “The Architect.” That’s the kind of song you usually see in these categories, so I think people acknowledge that even a song like “Dry Spell” or “Body Like a Back Road,” in structure, are difficult to write and to keep people interested in something so light.

  I know in “Dry Spell,” that moment was [the lyric] “I’ve been sitting on the washing machine.” I was like, “This is the best thing ever,” the randomness of it. I was like, “Oh my god, if you will say that, that’s a home run.” And she made that incredible video. If we write a song for Kacey and it makes it all the way, she is going to put a thousand percent into it. Any song with her is going to have a moment.