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Ed Rode Brings Decades of Country Royalty and Industry Insiders Into Focus in New Photography Book

Ed Rode's new photography book, 'Songwriter Musician: Behind the Curtain With Nashville's Iconic Storytellers and Players' was 30 years in the making.

But inside photographer Ed Rode ‘s coffee-table book Songwriter Musician: Behind the Curtain With Nashville’s Iconic Storytellers and Players, a series of static images captures a raw sense of dozens of creators affiliated with Music City. The Chicks make goofy faces for the camera, informal Luke Bryan plays guitar with his shoe scuffing a couch, Dolly Parton gets lost in personal nostalgia, Dierks Bentley strikes a pose next to the mud-covered pickup that brought him to Nashville, and George Strait flashes a smile under a blue clear sky, though his eyes suggest a bit of sorrow or weariness. And a two-page spread of Keith Urban and Steven Tyler jamming in front of a packed house at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge captures the exuberance in the room, even if the page itself is silent.

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