An Indian Lake crowd was treated to a night of the classics on Saturday for the Twelfth Annual Nashville Hitmakers Show to benefit the Indian Lake Watershed Project held at Indian Lake High School.
Indian Lake native Even Stevens brought five legendary songwriters and musicians to perform for over four hours to the captivated crowd. Stevens has written over twenty number-one Billboard hits over his career with “I Love A Rainy Night”, one of the more familiar hits penned with Eddie Rabbit. Other performers who participated were James Slator, Mike Loudermilk, Rafe Van Hoy, and Thom Schuyler. For the first time, the show invited a bassist to perform, to provide a fuller sound. Alison Prestwood, an award-winning bassist rounded out the guest list.
Two-time Grammy-nominated, James Slator opened the evening by playing songs on the piano and telling stories from his career. Slator has had his songs recorded by the likes of Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Luke Combs, Keith Urban, and many others. In 2010, Slator was nominated for a Grammy under the category of Best Country Song losing to White Horse by Taylor Swift. Slator electrified the crowd by himself for an hour with his blend of energy and humor. The highlight was Slator performing “The High Cost of Living”.
After Slator’s performance, the remaining performers all came out for a roundtable mix of performances and stories. The group played for nearly two hours before there was an intermission used to auction off two customized guitars. One guitar was signed by the performers. The guitars were auctioned off approximately for a combined $6000.
After the intermission, Slator joined the rest of the performers on stage for the final hour of the show. The final song performed was “I Love A Rainy Night” written by Even Stevens.
Performance Highlights:
Thom Schuylar:
2011 Nashville Songwriter Thom Schuylar told humorous stories about being asked to play other artists’ songs at family weddings and writing songs for his wife of over forty years as anniversary gifts. His songs have been recorded by over two hundred artists including Kenny Chesney and Martina McBride.
Rafe Van Hoy:
The 2023 Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame inductee told many stories about carelessly spending his early earnings from his first hit song “Golden Ring” performed by George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Van Hoy performed the legendary song for the crowd. The Grammy-nominated artist has penned songs for Brooks and Dunn, Reba McEntire, Leann Rimes, Diana Ross, and countless others. This was Van Hoy’s first trip to the Indian Lake Nashville Hitmakers show and he raved about the beauty of being out on Indian Lake quipping, “I don’t know how any of you get anything done living here”
Mike Loudermilk:
Loudermilk has performed at most of the Hit Maker shows at Indian Lake. He dazzled the attendees with his elite guitar playing that even amazed the other performers on stage. Loudermilk is affectionately known as “The man with the flying fingers” Loudermilk is the son of another legendary songwriter John Loudermilk. Mike told stories of writing for his mentor Chet Atkins and songs wrote that were inspired by his time living in southern Louisiana.
Alison Prestwood:
Prestwood did not speak during the show, but every performer raved about her bass-playing ability and what it added to the performances. The award-winning bassist has recorded songs with Brooks and Dunn, Little Richard, Jessica Simpson, Blake Shelton, and many others.
Even Stevens:
The Indian Lake native led the discussion throughout the night and performed several of his many hits over the decades. If you played all his “Millionaire Songs” (songs played on the radio over one million times), they would run non-stop for 187 years. Stevens’ songs have earned fifty-three BMI awards. Stevens performed “I Love A Rainy Night” with the help of the other performers to end the show.
Aside from all the jokes, stories, and performances, what was most evident from the show was the friendship and respect the artists had for each other.
The Nashville Hitmakers have raised nearly $500,000 from the eleven previous shows held at Indian Lake going to the Indian Lake Watershed Project. In turn, the Watershed Project has donated nearly $50,000 of that money to the Indian Lake High School Music and Arts Department.
