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Veteran songwriter and virtuoso picker Verlon Thompson sits down with the most inspiring and talented writer/performers in the world for memorable music and meaningful conversation in a breathtaking setting we call Barnegie Hall. You’re invited to the weekly pickin’ party with some of the most talented and influential musicians in the world. Hear the stories that inspired the words, and the learn more about the process of making enduring music.
These guests are the cream of the Nashville crop, collectively representing 47 number one hits. Verlon reconnects with them from 35 years on and off Music Row. There’s a saying in Nashville, that it all begins with a song. At Barnegie Hall, you’ll hear the songs you love, by the people who created them.
Host Verlon Thompson started playing at the age of four with his mothers musical family on front porches and picnic blankets in the Oklahoma hills. Apart from a few chords mama demonstrated, Verlon is entirely self taught. As a young Marine, he was featured on the CBS evening news with Dan Rather, for writing a song that became a local radio hit in South Florida. He couldn’t afford drums on that homemade track, so Verlon kept the beat on Tupperware. After fronting a rock band in Colorado for a few years. Thompson moved to Nashville, and was quickly signed as a songwriter by Loretta Lynn’s Coal Miners Music.
Verlon Thompson and writer Mark Sanders picking in the great outdoors.
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Songwriter Tony Arata (right) visits Barnegie Hall to talk about his successes and his beginnings in Savannah, Ga.
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Host Verlon Thompson (left) and Billy Dean (right) played for years together as struggling new artists. They still know how to harmonize and laugh.
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Rivers Rutherford visits Barnegie Hall for some great guitar picking and inspirational conversation.
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Shawn Camp visits Barnegie Hall.
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Husband and wife writers, Suzy Bogguss and Doug Crider arrive at the Barn, to catch up with Verlon, who has co-written with Doug and provided a hit for Suzy.
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Mary Gauthier
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Jon Randall and Jessi Alexander sing "Whiskey Lullaby" with Verlon Thompson.
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Hall of Fame songwriter Wayland Holyfield (right), gave Verlon Thompson his first big break.
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Grammy award winning Songwriter Richard Leigh ("Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," "I’ll Get Over You") with Verlon Thompson (left) at Barnegie Hall.
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