Twelve finalists have been named in the 17th annual Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, hosted by MerleFest 2009, the popular “traditional-plus” Americana music festival that takes place April 23-26 on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale chaired a volunteer panel of Nashville music industry professionals that selected the writers of the following 12 songs, from among 840 entries in four categories, for the opportunity to compete on the Austin Stage at MerleFest on Friday afternoon, April 24:

Bluegrass: “Water Falls” by Wyatt Espalin and Cobi Ferguson (Nashville, Tennessee); ”Love Gone By” by Carol Hausner and Colin McCaffrey (Montpelier, Vermont); and “The Old Coal Mine” by Brink Brinkman (Columbus, Ohio)

Country: “Maybe You’ll Start Loving Me Again” by Lloyd Wood (Spencer, Indiana); “Man of Few Words” by Dennis Duff (Kuttawa, Kentucky); and Once Upon a Time” by Tonya Lowman (Lenoir, North Carolina)

General: “Carolina Rain” by Ron Fetner (Seaford, Virginia); “I Will Fly” by Johnsmith (Trempealeau, Wisconsin); and “Unmarked Pavement” by Letha and Miles Costin (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Gospel: “I Had a Little Talk with Jesus” by Richard Henry (Houston, Texas); “Little Bitty Piece of God” by Jo Ellen Doering (Los Angeles, California); and “Beyond the Rain” by Brink Brinkman (Columbus, Ohio).

First place winners in each category will perform on the Cabin Stage during MerleFest, while second- and third-prize winners get performance slots during the Friday night Songwriters Coffeehouse.

Entries were judged based on originality, lyrics, melody and overall commercial potential. Previous winners of the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest include Gillian Welch, Tift Merritt, Michael Reno Harrell, Adrienne Young and Martha Scanlan. The contest was established to honor the memory of Chris Austin, a songwriter and former sideman for Ricky Skaggs, whose life was tragically cut short when the private plane carrying him and six other members of Reba McEntire’s band, as well as her tour manager, crashed in the mountains near San Diego, California in 1991.

An article about this year’s artist lineup for MerleFest, posted last November, is archived in the Bluegrass & Beyond section of AcousticMusicScene.com.