Better Angels Music
KEY WEST SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL
Benefiting Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation
Slated for April 29 – May 3, 2009

NASHVILLE, February 2, 2009 – The 14th Annual Key West Songwriters Festival will invade the venues of its paradisiacal namesake April 29 through May 3, 2009, offering eclectic show lineups that introduce crowds to the faces, voices and stories behind the songs. The festival features more than 100 top songwriters and revolves around five days and nights of more than 20 free concerts, staged at an array of the island’s most popular drinking holes and hot spots.

Sponsored by Better Angels Music and benefiting the Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation, the event is a favorite of Key West locals and live music aficionados from across the country. This year, songwriting titans and Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame members Paul Overstreet, Bob DiPiero and Dennis Morgan will attend the festival for the first time. Overstreet’s thick songwriting catalog features Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing at All,” Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever Amen” and “Diggin’ Up Bones,” and Kenny Chesney’s “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” while hits composed by DiPiero include George Strait’s “Clear Blue Sky,” Martina McBride’s “There You Are,” Faith Hill’s “Take Me As I Am,” Reba McEntire’s “Little Rock” and more. Morgan’s compositions include Ronnie Milsap’s “Smoky Mountain Rain” and “She Keeps the Home Fires Burning,” along with Faith Hill’s “Let Me Let Go” and hits by Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, and more.

Artist and songwriter Jamey Johnson (“In Color” and George Strait’s “Give It Away”) will throw his Grammy-nominated vintage country cool into the mix. With his band the Kent Hardly Play Boys, Johnson will headline a concert 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 2 at the Ocean Key Resort’s Sunset Pier, located at the end of famed Duvall Street. Grammy award-winner Raul Malo will join the red-letter bill, marking the second consecutive year he has brought his awe-inspiring croon and Latin-tinged retro groove to the festival.

Serial contemporary hitmakers including Bobby Pinson (Sugarland’s “Want To”), Chuck Cannon (Toby Keith’s “How Do You Like Me Now”), Scotty Emerick (Toby Keith’s “As Good As I Once Was”), Wendell Mobley (Rascal Flatts’ “Fast Cars and Freedom”), Steve Bogard (George Strait’s “Carrying Your Love with Me”), Shawn Camp (Garth Brooks’ “Two Pina Coladas”), Tim Nichols (Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying”), and many more will mingle with up-and-coming songwriters including Sunny Sweeney, Luke Laird, Alissa Moreno, Jon Mabe, and Dave Pahanish.

“Bette Davis Eyes” chanteuse Kim Carnes will push the lineup outside country music’s traditional borders, along with singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins, composer and songwriter of pop smash “Lullaby” and Chris Barron, former front man for alt-rock group the Spin Doctors (“Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” and “Two Princes”).

For a list of sponsoring hotels, local businesses, and show schedules, please visit www.keywestsongwritersfest....ival.com.

The complete roster of confirmed 2009 Key West Songwriters Festival performers includes Rhett Akins, Sherrie Austin, Chris Barron, Bonnie Bishop, Steve Bogard, Billy Burnette, Shawn Camp, Chuck Cannon, Kim Carnes, Rodney Clawson, Cliff Cody, Mary Dana, Courtney Dashe, Dallas Davidson, Bob DiPiero, Dillon Dixon, Marty Dodson, Scotty Emerick, Connie Harrington, James Dean Hicks, Megan James, Chuck Jones, Mark Jones, Luke Laird, David Lee, Marjory Lee, Jon Mabe, Raul Malo, The Massacoustics, Wendell Mobley, Kip Moore, Alissa Moreno, Dennis Morgan, Shawn Mullins, Tim Nichols, Oakleaf, Paul Overstreet, Anna Owens, Dave Pahanish, Billy Panda, Bobby Pinson, Molly Reed, The Roys, Kylie Sackley, Aaron Sherz, James Slater, Sunny Sweeney, Lisa Torres, Wynn Varble, Fred Wilhelm, D. Vincent Williams, Blake Wise, and Nicole Witt. More names will be announced soon.

About the Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation
The Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation was established in 1998 by Muzak, a leading provider of business music and other sensory branding services. Muzak believes in the power of music education to change lives, and the foundation seeks to support and redefine music education. Heart & Soul helps students turn their passion for music into real world opportunities by providing teens engaging programs focused on all aspects of the music business. To learn more about the Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation, please visit www.heart.muzak.com.

About Better Angels Music
Better Angels Music is an independent record label, production, publishing, and entertainment group headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Better Angels Music is distributed exclusively through Universal Republic’s Federal label, a division of Universal Music Group.

About BMI
Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI) is an American performing right organization that represents more than 375,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 6.5 million works. BMI’s latest financial results, $901 million for its 2008 fiscal year, are the highest performing right collections for any copyright organization in the world. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for over 65 years. The U.S. corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.