Melvern Rivers Rutherford II (born June 17, 1967) is an American country music songwriter. He has written songs since at least the 1990s as a songwriter; he has written several number one country hits including " Ain't Nothing 'bout You" by

Brooks & Dunn Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1988 through the suggestion of songwriter and record producer, Tim DuBois. Before thei ...

, which was the Number One country song of 2001 according to ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. Among the other number one songs which he has composed are " If You Ever Stop Loving Me" by

Montgomery Gentry Montgomery Gentry is an American country music duo/solo act founded by singers Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry, both Kentucky natives. They began performing together in the 1990s as part of two different bands with Montgomery's brother, John ...

, " When I Get Where I'm Going" by

Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...

and

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

, " Real Good Man" by

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 17 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, five for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number one on ...

, " Living in Fast Forward" by

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country singer. With 30 million albums sold worldwide, he released his debut, '' In My Wildest Dreams'', in 1994, and has since released 19 follow-ups. His albums spawned 27 singles tha ...

, " Ladies Love Country Boys" by

Trace Adkins Tracy Darrell Adkins (born January 13, 1962) known professionally as Trace Adkins, is an American country music singer and actor. Adkins made his debut in 1996 with the album ''Dreamin' Out Loud'', released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since t ...

, and " These Are My People" by

Rodney Atkins Rodney Allan Atkins (born March 28, 1969) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Curb Records in 1996, he charted his first single on the ''Billboard'' country chart in 1997, but did not release an album until 2003's '' ...

. He has also released a solo CD called ''Just Another Coaster''. He was inducted into the

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1970 by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that i ...

in 2019

Singles

Top 40 country singles co-written by Rivers Rutherford: * The Highway Men - (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings) - "American Remains" 1990. *Trace Adkins – " Ladies Love Country Boys" * Gary Allan – " Smoke Rings in the Dark", " Man of Me" *Rodney Atkins – " These Are My People" *Brooks & Dunn – " Ain't Nothing 'bout You" *

Tracy Byrd Tracy Lynn Byrd (born December 17, 1966) is an American country music artist. Signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville Records in 1992, Byrd broke through on the country music scene that year with his 1993 single "Holdin' Heaven" ...

with

Mark Chesnutt Mark Nelson Chesnutt (born September 6, 1963) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1990 and 1999, he had his greatest chart success recording for Universal Music Group Nashville's MCA and Decca branches, with a total of ei ...

– " A Good Way to Get on My Bad Side" * Jason Michael Carroll – " I Can Sleep When I'm Dead" *Kenny Chesney – " Living in Fast Forward" *

Terri Clark Terri Lynn Sauson, known professionally as Terri Clark (born August 5, 1968) is a Canadian country music singer who has had success in both Canada and the United States. Signed to Mercury Records in 1995, she released her self-titled debut that ...

– " Dirty Girl" *

Clay Davidson Clay Davidson (born April 4, 1971) is an American country music artist. He signed to Virgin Records' Nashville division in late 1999. Davidson released his debut album ''Unconditional (Clay Davidson album), Unconditional'' on April 11, 2000. It ...

– " Unconditional" * Cole Deggs & the Lonesome – "I Got More" * Emerson Drive – " Belongs to You" *

Josh Gracin Joshua Mario Gracin (; born October 18, 1980) is an American country music singer. While serving in the US Marine Corps, he first gained public attention as the fourth-place finalist on the second season of ''American Idol''. After his elimina ...

– " I Want to Live" * Andy Griggs – " Tonight I Wanna Be Your Man" *

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American Country music, country singer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold almost 50 million albums worldwide ...

– " When the Lights Go Down" * JT Hodges – "Hunt You Down" *

Jamey Johnson Jamey Johnson (born July 14, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single "The Dollar (song), The Dollar", the title track to his 2006 album ''The Dollar (album ...

– "Heartache" *

Toby Keith Toby Keith Covel (July 8, 1961 – February 5, 2024) was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman. Keith released his chart-topping debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy", in 1993. During the 1990s ...

– " Bullets in the Gun" *

Tracy Lawrence Tracy Lee Lawrence (born January 27, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Texas, and raised in Foreman, Arkansas, Lawrence began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 19 ...

– "It's All How You Look at It" *Tim McGraw – " Real Good Man" *Montgomery Gentry – " If You Ever Stop Loving Me", " She Don't Tell Me To" *Brad Paisley (with Dolly Parton) – " When I Get Where I'm Going" *

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...

– "Heavy Liftin'" *

Clay Walker Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. (born August 19, 1969) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single " What's It to You", which reached Number One on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Son ...

– " Jesus Was a Country Boy" * Chuck Wicks – " Stealing Cinderella" *

Gretchen Wilson Gretchen Frances Wilson (born June 26, 1973, in Pocahontas, Illinois) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She made her debut in March 2004 with the Grammy Awards, Grammy Award-winning single "Redneck Woman", a number-one hit on th ...

– "

Homewrecker A homewrecker (sometimes styled as home wrecker or home-wrecker) is a person, object or activity that causes or comes close to causing the breakup of a marriage (or similar partnership). The homewrecker is said to have taken one of the spouses ...

", "One of the Boys" *

Chely Wright Chely Wright (born Richell Rene Wright; October 25, 1970) is an American Activism, activist, author, and country music artist. She initially rose to fame as a commercial country recording artist with several charting singles, including the numb ...

– " Shut Up and Drive"

References

American country songwriters American male songwriters Living people Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee 1967 births People from Germantown, Tennessee Songwriters from Tennessee {{US-songwriter-stub