Taylor Swift photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

Taylor Swift is walking through yet another door, becoming the first country songwriter to win the Hal David Starlight Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony in June.

Introduced in 2004 to recognize young composers already working at a substantial creative peak, the award’s previous honorees include pop, rock and R&B singer-songwriters Rob Thomas, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, John Legend, John Rzeznik and Jason Mraz. The Starlight Award is named for Songwriters Hall of Fame chief Hal David, who’s a substantial writer himself, known for such titles as Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson’s “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before,” Ronnie Milsap’s “It Was Almost Like A Song,” B.J. Thomas’ “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” and Dusty Springfield’s “The Look Of Love.”

“Taylor Swift is one of the brightest musical talents to emerge in recent years, and represents the true epitome of the Starlight Award,” Hal says. “She possesses an undeniable talent as a songwriter, expressive singer and performer, and we are proud to present her with this well-deserved honor.”

Slated for June 17 at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel, the ceremony will also see the Hall of Fame inductions of Leonard Cohen, Jackie DeShannon, David Foster, Johnny Mandel and five members of Earth, Wind & Fire. All of those writers work primarily outside of country music, though a couple have had some impressive results within the genre. Jackie, best known for her recording of “What The World Needs Now,” earned a country hit in 1994 when Pam Tillis covered “When You Walk In The Room.” David Foster wrote Anne Murray’s 1986 single “Now And Forever (You And Me)” and produced several Kenny Rogers hits, including his 1983 duet with Sheena Easton, “We’ve Got Tonight.”

The all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame has inducted such substantial authors as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Stevie Wonder. Its membership also includes a number of country figures — Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn, among them.

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Shania Twain in her hometown of Timmins, ON with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch. Photo courtesy of shaniatwain.com.

If you watched the opening ceremonies for the Winter Games last Friday, you saw Canadians Anne Murray, k.d. lang and Bryan Adams among a host of celebrities helping to make the Vancouver Olympics a spectacle. What you didn’t see was the New Year’s Day run made by Shania Twain in bitter-cold temperatures when the traditional torch relay wound its way through her hometown of Timmins, Ontario.

In fact, the people who did see it were mostly Canadian and all willing to brave some ridiculous cold. The wind chill was 30 degrees below zero — so bad that when when a dozen red beach balls were released, they froze and snapped into small pieces, according to the Associated Press.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Shania got a negative review for her role in that day’s ceremony — from her own son!

“It turned out we were ahead of schedule,” she writes in a letter to fans on her website, “and I was asked to take my time and even stop periodically so I didn’t get to the cauldron too early. When Eja saw me after the run, he said, ‘Mom, it is called an Olympic torch run because you are supposed to run, not walk!’”

Shania would have loved to run.

“The temperatures were pretty low so running the whole way would probably have, ironically, kept me warmer,” she notes. “In any case, it was an awesome 300 meters and I will cherish the honor forever.”

She’s out of the chill now. Shania wrote her letter from the Caribbean, where she’s been working on new songs — presumably for a future album.

In the meantime, she’s looking back fondly on the holidays. The post includes a couple videos from her trip to Canada. One finds her with her cousin, playing bits and pieces from some classic, mostly country songs in front of a well-lit fire while a restless Eja flops around on the couch behind her. In the other, she’s caught on camera at a hockey game, where she ends up with a puck that ricocheted into the crowd. She also hits the ice to take a few shots. How’d she do? Well, there’s a reason Shania’s not part of the women’s Olympic hockey team…

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Clint Black with wife, Lisa Hartman Black.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, causing single people to gnash their teeth, men to pony up for flowers and women to get positively squishy about romance.

For kicks, we’ve endeavored to come up with the Top 20 country love songs of all-time, and only two people — Clint Black and John Michael Montgomery — are two-timers on that list. Clint’s “Something That We Do” and “When I Said I Do,” the latter recorded with his wife, Lisa Hartman Black, are well thought-out expressions of the work involved in making a relationship last. John Michael’s “I Swear” and “I Can Love You Like That” lean toward the age-old pop approach of giving love a fairytale stamp. “I Can Love You Like That,” in fact, makes a Cinderella reference; and it’s no coincidence that both songs were simultaneously pop hits at the time John Michael had them on the charts.

The following list is partially subjective but not entirely. It’s mostly a reflection of success on the charts and at awards shows — and in a title’s ability to wear well over time.

Since there are only 20 places here, there were plenty of songs that were considered but didn’t quite make it. And songs about unrequited love or relationships that are essentially over — Willie Nelson’s “Always On My Mind,” Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” to cite a handle of major examples — were tossed.

Feel free to debate it — tell us what you think we missed in the comments section below!

• Alan Jackson, “Remember When”
• Anne Murray, “Could I Have This Dance”
• Brad Paisley, “Then”
• Clint Black, “Something That We Do”
• Clint Black & Lisa Hartman Black, “When I Said I Do”
• Collin Raye, “Love, Me”
• Dierks Bentley, “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes”
• Faith Hill, “Breathe”
• Garth Brooks, “To Make You Feel My Love”
• George Strait, “I Cross My Heart”
• John Michael Montgomery, “I Can Love You Like That”
• John Michael Montgomery, “I Swear”
• Keith Whitley, “When You Say Nothing At All”
• Lady Antebellum, “I Run To You”
• LeAnn Rimes, “I Need You”
• Lonestar, “Amazed”
• Martina McBride, “Valentine”
• Randy Travis, “Forever And Ever, Amen”
• Rascal Flatts, “Bless The Broken Road”
• Tracy Byrd, “Keeper Of The Stars”

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The 43rd Annual CMA Awards show hosted by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley airs on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.   Check out GAC’s CMA Awards Show section for complete coverage, photos, videos, trivia and a downloadable ballot.

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Anne Murray's 2009 book, All of Me.

Canadian vocalist Anne Murray is putting the final touches on All Of Me, an overdue autobiography that recalls the public and personal turmoils of one of country’s biggest hitmakers during the 1970s and ‘80s.

Anne’s smooth performances made her a constant presence on both country and pop radio for more than a decade with such hits as “Snowbird,” “Shadows In The Moonlight,” “You Needed Me” and “Could I Have This Dance.”

Life in the public eye wasn’t easy. She married her first husband on her 30th birthday amid less-than-ideal circumstances, she was stalked for 20 years by a rabid fan, she suffered from stage fright and her daughter underwent a harrowing battle with anorexia nervosa.

“I was swept up like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and catapulted into a strange new universe,” Anne writes. “I was lonely and tired. My privacy was constantly being invaded. I was in love with a married man whom I seldom saw. I was touring with a group of musicians who at any moment were at risk of being arrested. What I wanted most was to stop and go home, but it wasn’t possible. I had commitments and obligations as far as the eye could see.”

Published by Knopf Canada, All Of Me is due Oct. 27.

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