Country music museum honors songwriter legend from Liberty

Staff report

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Yet another honor is on its way for Bob DiPiero, the songwriter who might be Youngstown’s greatest gift to country music.

DiPiero — who is already an inductee in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame — will be the next subject of Poets and Prophets: Legendary Country Songwriters on Feb. 15.

The quarterly series takes place at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Ford Theater in Nashville. It will include a 90-minute interview conducted by a museum official beginning at 1:30 p.m. and will be streamed live at countrymusichalloffame.org.

DiPiero is a 1969 graduate of Liberty High School. He moved to Music City about 35 years ago and has long been considered one of the most sought-after songwriters there.

His resume includes crafting more than a dozen No. 1 hits recorded by the likes of Reba McEntire (“Till You Love Me”), George Strait (“Clear Blue Sky”), Montgomery Gentry (“If You Ever Stop Loving Me”), Faith Hill (“Take Me As I Am”), Vince Gill (“Worlds Apart”) and more.

“I am a world-famous songwriter, which means you don’t know who in the hell I am,” said DiPiero in a 1997 interview with The Vindicator. “That’s just the truth of it, but people like Montgomery Gentry and Brooks & Dunn know who I am. They’re my fans.”

Compelling storytelling and knowledge of what country radio listeners want to hear have kept DiPiero at the top of his game for more than three decades. In that time, he also has written hits for John Anderson, Easton Corbin, Neal McCoy, Tim McGraw, the Oak Ridge Boys, Shenandoah, Pam Tillis and others.

DiPiero was born in Youngstown in 1951. He joined his first band at age 14 and later earned a music degree from Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music.

After moving to Nashville, he taught guitar lessons while honing his songwriting. He signed a publishing deal with Combine Music and soon had his first country cut, 1980’s “I Can See Forever in Your Eyes” (Reba McEntire). Three years later, he scored his first No. 1 with “American Made” (the Oak Ridge Boys).

Throughout the 1980s and early ’90s, DiPiero wrote more hits, including McEntire’s “Little Rock,” Restless Heart’s “That Rock Won’t Roll,” Shenandoah’s “The Church on Cumberland Road” and John Anderson’s “Money in the Bank.”

In 1995, DiPiero earned the Country Music Association’s Triple Play Award for writing three No. 1 hits in a 12-month period: “Wink” (Neal McCoy), “Take Me As I Am” (Faith Hill) and “Till You Love Me” (Reba McEntire). He repeated the feat the next year with “Blue Clear Sky” (George Strait), “Daddy’s Money” (Ricochet) and “Worlds Apart” (Vince Gill).

Over the past decade, DiPiero has continued penning hits. Among them are “Cowboys Like Us” (Strait), “If You Ever Stop Loving Me” (Montgomery Gentry, No. 1), “You Can’t Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl” (Brooks & Dunn) and “Southern Voice” (Tim McGraw, No. 1).