Nashville artist wins 15th annual Songwriter Serenade on Saturday

Sav Buist, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tenn., wound up the favorite of not only the crowd but the judges as well at the 15th annual Songwriter’s Serenade held Saturday, May 7, at St. John.

Following the day full of competitive performance roads by the Top 15 semifinalists from  across the country, show winner Buist joined the day’s show judges—all of them top singer-songwriters in their own rights—for one final Serenade performance given that evening at the TR Ranch in Moravia, which is owned by one of the hosts of the annual songwriter contest.

Buist joined the likes of Susan Gibson, writer of “Wide Open Spaces,” a Dixie Chicks hit; Walt Wilkins, who has churned hundreds of songs for artists like Pat Green, Cory Morrow, Ricky Skaggs, Kenny Rogers and Eric Church; and Josh Grider, whose latest album is tearing up Texas Radio charts now.

Buist wins a recording contract and brief touring schedule along with largest share if the $10,000 in cash prize paid out at the Serenade to top finalists. 

Other top finishers at Saturday’s Songwriter Serenade were, in second place, Grace Morrison, Rochester, Mass.; third, Sarah Peacock, Ashland City, Tenn.; fourth, Daniel Neihoff, Paducah, Ken.; fifth, Shawnee Kilgore, Austin; sixth, Sam Robbins, Nashville, Tenn.; and in a tie for seventh, Campbell Davis and “Shanna in a Dress,” both of Nashville, Tenn.

Other semifinalists, selected from more than 150 entries submitted from across the country, also performing that day in St. John were (alphabetically): Ryan Biter, Flagstaff, Ariz.; Jackson Grimm, Asheville, N.C.; Michell Rivers, Eureka, Mont.; Abrielle Scharff, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Erin Ash Sullivan, Harvard, Mass.; Glenn Thomas, Nashville, Tenn.; and David Tribble, Fort Worth.