Independents' Day: Jordan Davis, Russell Dickerson, Hardy, Walker Hayes, Carly Pearce and Zach Top are the Artist Writer of the Year nominees for the Association for Independent Music Publishers' 2026 AIMP Nashville Awards. John Byron, Jessie Jo Dillon, Ben Johnson, Josh Miller, Blake Pendergrass and Taylor Phillips are the Songwriter of the Year nomineees, while the Top Independent Music Publishers are Back Blocks Music, Big Loud Publishing, Big Machine Music, Concord Music Publishing, Reservoir Media and Tape Room Music. Winners will be revealed April 14 during the 11th annual awards show at Analog at the Hutton Hotel in Nashville. See the full list of nominees in all eight categories here.