Craig Wiseman

Craig Michael Wiseman is an American country music songwriter. Actively writing since the late 1980s, he has had his songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton, and numerous other acts. He has written twenty-six #1 songs on the Billboard Hot Country Songs music charts, and has won a number of industry awards. In 2009 he was named "Songwriter of the Decade" by the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and in 2015, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Michael Wiseman was born and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in. He began playing music while still a child, and later began playing drums professionally. In 1985, he moved to Nashville in 1985 to pursue a career in songwriting.

Early songwriting

At age 24 he had his first chart success with the track "The Only One" from Roy Orbison's Mystery Girl album. In 1990 Wiseman was signed to Almo/Irving Music, where he wrote a number of hits. In 1997 he was named "Writer of the Year" by both Music Row and the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI).

Wiseman signed to a new publishing contract with BMG Music Publishing in 2000. During his three years at BMG, he wrote or co-wrote 22 singles, among them "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" with British pop star Beverley Knight. In 2002 Billboard magazine named him a 2002 Top 2 Country Songwriter.

Big Loud Shirt

In conjunction with his focus on songwriting, Wiseman opened his own publishing company, Big Loud Shirt, in the fall of 2003 . The first hit single in their catalog was "Live Like You Were Dying" by Tim McGraw in 2005, which won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song and was named NSAI Song Of The Year, CMA Song of the Year, and ACM Song of the Year. Wiseman continues his songwriting success, sharing it with other company writers Chris Tompkins, Rodney Clason, Sarah Buxton, Matt Dragstrem and the Warren Brothers.

In 2003, 2005 & 2007, ASCAP named him Songwriter of the Year . In 2009, he was named NSAI's Songwriter of the Decade, and he won the 2014 Heritage Award from ASCAP as the most performed country songwriter of the century. Additionally, Wiseman was nominated at the 2012 Grammy Awards for his role as producer on Red River Blue by Blake Shelton.

Recent years

As of 2017, Wiseman has had over 300 cuts and 100 singles, and 26 #1's. In addition to his focus on writing and Big Loud Shirt, Wiseman also founded Big Loud Mountain management (where Florida Georgia Line got their start) and Big Loud Records, home to Chris Lane, whose first single (and first single to the label) went #1.

As a complement for Tim Mcgraw's Live Like You Were Dying, Wiseman co-wrote a book by the same title, which topped the top of the New York Times bestseller list in 2004. He later wrote a follow-up journal to the book, which turned into a worship campaign in American churches. Additionally, he co-wrote the book A Baby Changes Everything in 2008, in conjuction with the #1 Faith Hill single of the same name. The following year, Wiseman starred in a reality TV show The Hitmen of Music Row, on Great American Country.

For the past 12 years, Wiseman has hosted The Stars of Second Harvest Show at the Ryman, giving all proceeds to the Second Harvest Food Band Of Middle Tennessee. To date, this concert event has raised $1,000,000 for the food bank.

Wiseman has been married to his wife KK since 1994.

• 2004: Live Like You Were Dying by Wiseman and Tim Nichols (ISBN 978-1401602123)
• 2006: Live Like You Were Dying Journal by Wiseman and Nichols (ISBN 978-1401602925)
• 2008: A Baby Changes Everything by Wiseman, KK Wiseman, and Nichols (ISBN 978-1404187344)

Charting singles

Songwriting credits

• 2002: "American Child" by Phil Vassar
• 2010: "Wild Weekend" by Luke Bryan
• 2011: "Believe" by Jennifer Hudson
• 2011: "Single Again" by Frankie Ballard
• 2012: "Lullaby" by Nickelback