Photo of Rick Carnes playing guitar on a PBS special. Rick Carnes is a double-diamond hit songwriter and has been president of the Songwriters Guild of America since 2004.

RICK CARNES

President, Songwriters Guild of America

Two double-diamond hits. Forty platinum-selling songs. Songs cut by Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Alabama, Dean Martin, and a who's-who of country and Americana legends — yeah, Rick Carnes has had a pretty good run. 

"Can't Even Get the Blues" gave Reba her very first #1. "Long Neck Bottle" and "Burnin' the Roadhouse Down" — both Garth Brooks smashes — racked up Billboard records that , literally, set records (sales records). 

Rick and his wife Janis aren't just life partners, they're a legit songwriting duo, with major-label cuts on RCA, Elektra Asylum, Warner Bros., and MCA. Together they've landed three top-ten hits with bluegrass royalty the Whites, written the jazz gem "Irresistible" (you might recognize it from the Sony Pictures Classics film Saving Face), and penned "I'm Hangin' Around" for the one and only Dean Martin.

Since 2004, Rick's been at the helm of the Songwriters Guild of America — and when he's not on Capitol Hill fighting for songwriters' rights, he's probably hustling a chess game in a park somewhere between Nashville and Santa Fe.