ASCAP Songwriter of the Year

Ben Hayslip

Although Ben Hayslip (’94) has never played in a band, the former Georgia Southern baseball player has scored his biggest successes in the country music industry.

In college, Hayslip viewed songwriting as a sideline, and sports came first. The Evans, Ga., native was a member of the Eagles’ team that went to the 1990 College World Series in Omaha, but athletics was not his calling.

He’d always had the same dream since the age of 14. “I’ve always said, ‘I’m going to Nashville,’” Hayslip recalled.

After graduation, Hayslip followed his teenage dream to Nashville, signing his first publishing deal one year later. Early in his career, a number of artists recorded his songs, including Trace Adkins. Hayslip acknowledged that he’s seen his share of ebbs and flows in songwriting.

“This industry is sort of like golf. You keep having little successes at a time, and it was enough for me to keep hanging around Nashville. As a songwriter, you go through stages of asking yourself, ‘Am I doing the right thing? and ‘Am I ever going to make it?’ I was on the verge of moving back home to Georgia in 2005, and then Jeff Bates recorded my song ‘Long, Slow Kisses,’ which went to number 10,” said Hayslip.

Since that memorable event, Hayslip’s career has catapulted to the top of the charts; in 2009 alone, 26 of his songs were recorded by various artists. For several years, he has been a member of the songwriting trio known as the Peach Pickers with fellow Georgia natives Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson. Together, the group has co-written the number one songs “Gimmie That Girl,” by Joe Nichols; “All About Tonight” and “Honey Bee” by Blake Shelton; “All Over Me,” by Josh Turner; and “I Don’t Want This Night to End” by Luke Bryan.

The Peach Pickers also picked up several awards in Nashville last year – Hayslip was named ASCAP Songwriter of the Year, Davidson and Akins were named co-BMI Songwriters of the Year and the group was named to Billboard’s Top 5 Country Songwriters.

Receiving these awards comes as a result of Hayslip’s dedication to his craft. He joins his fellow songwriters every morning on Music Row to collaborate on lyrics. “When you do this for a living every day, it is so boring to sit in a room by yourself. There’s a lot of camaraderie with our songwriting – we throw around ideas for melodies. Some of our best songs have taken 45 minutes to an hour to write, while other days I am brain dead when I get home,” he admitted about the intensity of the songwriting process. “There are only 250 to 300 people who get paid in this town to write songs, and this can’t be a hobby – it’s a full-time job.”