Carrie Underwood was among the stars on hand to honor country songwriter Hillary Lindsey and more during the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Thursday (June 13).

Keith Urban and Jason Isbell were two more country artists who participated, with Isbell providing one of the night’s most unexpected moments.

• R.E.M., Steely Dan SZA, Timbaland, Hillary Lindsey, Diane Warren and the late Cindy Walker were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame during a ceremony in New York City.
• Underwood performed “Jesus, Take the Wheel” for Lindsey after calling her the “queen of modern Nashville songwriters.”
• Urban was joined by Lindsey to sing “Blue Ain’t Your Color.”

“Girl Crush,” “Fearless,” “Blessed” and “Every Storm (Runs out of Rain)” are four of the dozens of hits Lindsey has written. For years she’s been one of Underwood’s preferred songwriters.

On the red carpet, Underwood wore a metallic dress with a billowing fabric skirt and metallic sandals. She kept the same look as she introduced Lindsey and performed. A pair of bracelets and matching necklace completed her look.

Photos find her and Urban with Lindsey, as well as an assortment of other stars familiar to country audiences. Isbell walked the red carpet solo and performed to honor R.E.M. The group stunned the crowd with a performance of “Losing My Religion,” but before that, Isbell took a deep breath and ran through all the words of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.”

Billy Dukes is a Senior Editor and Executive Producer of Video Content at Taste of Country. He specializes in country music interviews, trend analysis and the Secret History of Country Music. Additionally, Billy covers Yellowstone, 1923 and related television shows through the Dutton Rules podcast. To date, he’s written more than 13,000 articles for Taste of Country and produced over 3,000 videos for the Taste of Country YouTube channel.