On Tuesday, November 11, three more names were added to Music City's iconic Walk of Fame Park: prolific songwriter Liz Rose, the legendary Charley Pride (posthumously), and country music's sensational band and songwriting gurus, Old Dominion.
The ceremony recognized the 110th, 111th, and 112th stars on the Music City Walk of Fame, which are honored for their significant work of preserving Nashville's musical heritage and for their contributions to the world through song.
Deana Ivy, President and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Center, introduced each recipient.
Liz Rose
Liz Rose co-wrote 16 songs with Taylor Swift, including the 2023 GRAMMY-nominated Song of the Year "All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version)," the GRAMMY's 2010 Best Country Song "White Horse," and No. 1 crossover hits "Teardrops On My Guitar," "You Belong With Me," and "Tim McGraw." In 2015, she won CMA Song of the Year and the GRAMMY's Best Country Song for the Little Big Town smash "Girl Crush."
Early in her career, Rose was introduced to a young, aspiring artist, a teenage girl with notebooks full of song ideas about high school friendships, crushes, heartbreaks, and all the emotions that come with growing up. She agreed to meet with her weekly to write and explore some of the topics, and together they made history. The young artist was Taylor Swift.
Some of the songs they wrote together are "You Belong With Me," "Fearless," and "All Too Well." The 10-minute version remained among Taylor's biggest hits today. As streaming grew in popularity in the music industry, Rose became a powerful advocate for songwriters. Working with NSAI, she provided critical testimony in a major trial that led to the most significant digital royalty increase for songwriters in history. That alone, she deserves to be in the office.
Rose's incredible talent has earned her multiple Grammy Awards and a place in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York, the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Today, she owns her own publishing company where she develops emerging writers, helping them find their voice and hopefully their first number one hit.
Among her many songs is one of Rose's biggest hits, "Girl Crush," which she co-wrote and which Little Big Town recorded. The song won a CMA for Song of the Year and two Grammys, one for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and one for Best Country Song. Karen Fairchild introduced Rose and awarded the star.
Fairchild stated, "I like to laugh and say that she's the writer in the room that will absolutely devastate you with some beautiful poetic line that just comes out of nowhere. It's like a gift from heaven. I call it a 'Liz Zinger.'
Liz, congratulations on your Music City Walk of Fame star. And I hope you know forever you will be our girl crush."
Rose responded, "I'm really honored to represent Nashville and the country music community. Thank you again for recognizing and supporting what I will always fight for. This is truly a special award to me, and I treasure this moment of recognition."
Charley Pride
Charley Pride was a Grand Ole Opry member, three-time GRAMMY winner, and Recording Academy "Lifetime Achievement Award" winner, who topped the country charts 36 times, including "Kiss An Angel Good Morning," a massive No. 1 crossover hit that sold over a million singles. It helped Pride land the Country Music Association's "Entertainer of the Year" award in 1971, as well as the "Top Male Vocalist" awards of 1971 and 1972.
Pride grew up the son of a sharecropper on a cotton farm in Mississippi, where his love for country music began listening to the Grand Ole Opry on WSM on the family radio. Before music, though, his dream was baseball. He played for several teams in the Negro American League in the 1950s, including the Memphis Red Sox, and even made the All-Star team, sharing the field with greats like Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
His baseball career was interrupted briefly when he was drafted into the Army for a couple of years. When he came home on Christmas leave, he made one of the best decisions of his life: Marion Rosine, the love of his life. After being released from service, Pride started singing wherever he could at honky tonks, churches, and many national anthems at baseball games.
Then fate stepped in, and a few chance encounters with prominent individuals over the next few years opened doors that changed his career and the course of country music forever. First came country singers Red Sovine and Red Foley, who invited him to sing at one of their shows. That connection led him to Nashville, where he met prominent manager Jack Johnson, who introduced him to the renowned producer, Cowboy Jack Clements, who eventually connected him with the legendary Chet Atkins, who recognized his talent and signed Pride to RCA Records.
Soon after, Atkins helped Pride release "Just Between You and Me," which caught fire, landing in the top 10 and earning him his first Grammy nomination. From there, Pride blazed the trail as country music's first black superstar, scoring over 36 chart-topping hits over his career, including his timeless crossover classic, "Kiss an Angel: Good Morning."
Neal McCoy, who Charley Pride mentored, introduced him via his wife, Rozene.
"He took me under his wing, and I'll never forget it."
Rozene Pride stated, "Thank you for coming. And thank you guys for recognizing him. And on behalf of the Pride family, hold his children, grandchildren, and we also have great-grandchildren. We want to thank you so much for honoring him."
On December 12, 2020, Pride died at the age of 86 from complications due to COVID-19. His work and legacy continue to be honored posthumously. The Ryman Auditorium added a statue of Pride to its Icon Walk in 2023, and now, in 2025, he has earned his star on Music City's Walk of Fame.
Old Dominion
Old Dominion has had nine No. 1 songs and is nominated for CMA's "Group of the Year" in 2025. The band is the reigning eight-time Academy of Country Music and seven-time Country Music Association "Group of the Year." Their sixth studio album, Barbara, was released on August 22, and they are performing in stadiums and arenas on the "How Good Is That - World Tour" through the first half of 2026.
The band consists of Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, Whit Sellers, Geoff Sprung, and Brad Tursi, whose friendship dates back many years, with some of them going back to middle school. They officially came together as Old Dominion almost 20 years ago.
Before becoming Old Dominion, they were each chasing their own songwriting dreams here in Nashville. They wrote hits for artists such as Kenny Chesney, The Band Perry, Craig Morgan, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, and Sam Hunt, among others. They shared a deep friendship and respected each other as talented songwriters and musicians. Whenever one of them wrote something new, they'd get together to play it out. While together, they'd often play a few side gigs under the name Old Dominion, just for fun, or to make a little extra cash.
But each song they wrote was always for someone else, until the day they wrote "Break Up With Him" and collectively decided to hold it back. That song and the decision to keep it as their own changed everything. "Break Up With Him" became the first big hit off Old Dominion's debut studio album, Meat and Candy.
That year, 2014, also included other major hits, such as "Snapback" and "Song for Another Time." Since then, Old Dominion has racked up nine number one singles, over 5 billion on-demand streams, earned a dozen RIAA Platinum and Gold Single certifications, and headlined arenas around the world.
They've been named Group of the Year a record-breaking number of times by both the ACMs and CMAs. They are nominated for the title yet again in next week's CMA Awards Show, which will take place right across the street at Bridgestone Arena. Earlier this year, they played a seven-show sold-out residency at the historic Ryman Auditorium here in Nashville, raising more than $1.25 million for several charities near and dear to the band.
And just a few months ago, they released their sixth studio album, Barbara, which features a heartfelt love letter to Nashville in the song "Goodnight Music City."
Vince Gill introduced the band. He said, "I haven't known these guys for very long. I've enjoyed their music for a long time, and we finally had the opportunity to write a song together not too long ago, and that's a great thrill. And you find a lot about a lot about people when you sit in a room with them and try to come up with something creative."
Lead singer Matthew Ramsey shared, "It's such a humbling experience, especially for a bunch of guys that consider themselves underdogs. At times, that was very true, and other times not so true. But still, we have that spirit about us.
Even now, as we receive this, there's a nagging voice in our heads that tells us we're still underdogs. And in that underdog spirit, you know we bled for this in a lot of ways, not for recognition or awards, but for songs and for the music and for each other. We had to believe when it felt like no one else did.
And the thing about chasing this crazy kind of dream is that the voice that is telling you to believe in yourself can very quickly turn on you and convince you that you were crazy for ever believing in the first place. And in those moments, if you don't have people who believe in you, you'll never make it."
In conclusion, the Walk of Fame Park is purposefully designed as a special place to honor these individuals, telling their incredible stories, showcasing their immense talent, and sharing how they've contributed to keeping Nashville known as Music City around the world. Inductees in the walk include a wide array of talented artists, including singers, songwriters, musicians, producers, publishers, composers, managers, and music business executives. The list is lengthy and impressive.
Their collective stories are what make Nashville such an incredibly unique and creative place to live in and visit.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her on her blog, Facebook, Instagram, and X.
