Acclaimed songwriter Natalie Hemby shares stories from her life and career and performs some of her biggest hits as part of the Museum's Poets and Prophets series, which honors songwriters who have made notable contributions to country music. This program, moderated by the Museum’s Allison Moorer, was filmed on May 24, 2025.

Throughout the program, Hemby discusses her upbringing in a musical family, including the influence of her grandfather, George Hemby, and her parents’ work for Amy Grant. Hemby learned piano at a young age and later picked up guitar, and was brought into the country music world through work singing demos for song-publishing companies, including many for the publisher Jody Williams, who introduced Hemby to her husband, producer Mike Wrucke. Through Wrucke, Hemby met Miranda Lambert, then an emerging artist, beginning a long-standing friendship and musical partnership that has produced several chart-topping hits.

During this program, Hemby also discusses the impact of her faith on her writing, navigating motherhood as a creative person, and becoming a member of the supergroup the Highwomen with Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires. The program includes clips from her documentary Puxico and the music video from her song “Heroes,” and Hemby performs acoustic versions of “The Bees”—recorded by Lee Ann Womack—and the Lambert hit “Bluebird” before closing the program with Kacey Musgraves cut “Rainbow.”

As one of the music industry’s most sought-after songwriters, Hemby has cataloged hundreds of songs for Dierks Bentley, Lady A, Justin Moore, and many more. She has won Grammys for co-writing “I’ll Never Love Again”—from the 2018 film “A Star Is Born” starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper—and the Highwomen song “Crowded Table.” Hemby also received Academy of Country Music and Nashville Songwriters Association International Song of the Year awards for Lambert’s “Automatic.” She independently released her first studio album, “Puxico,” in 2017 and joined Fantasy Records to release her second album, “Pins and Needles,” in 2021.

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