Jeff Cohen’s Writers Round 2026

Jeff Cohen

Jeff Cohen a multi-award-winning songwriter/producer/publisher based in Nashville and London whose songs have appeared on over 20 million albums sold, over 10 million video games and over 100 placements in TV/Film. Jeff’s songs have been recorded by Sugarland, Josh Groban, Macy Gray, Nick Lachey, Teitur, Doc Walker, Mandy Moore, Mickey Guyton, Nikhil D’Souza, MarcBroussard, Spin Doctors and many more.

His songs have been featured in movies such as Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Stuart Little 2, Aquamarine, Grandma’s Boy and TV shows such as Jack and Jill (theme), I Married A Princess (theme), The Exes (theme), Dawson’s Creek, Party of Five, One Tree Hill, The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live and many more.

He is also founder and songwriter of the critically acclaimed band Pancho's Lament. In a previous life Jeff was a music executive at BMI working with such talent as Jeff Buckley, Kara DioGuardi, Lisa Loeb, Joan Osborne, Ani DiFranco, Spin Doctors and many more.

James T Slater

James T. Slater is a two-time, Grammy nominated, piano-playing, bilingual singer-songwriter of Bolivian American descent signed to BMG Music Publishing in Nashville, Tennessee. Born in Durham, North Carolina, and raised in the tropics of the Panama Canal Zone in Central America.

Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Luke Combs, Enrique Iglesias, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, Willie Nelson, Kelly Pickler, Alabama, Reba McEntire, Gloriana, Runaway June, Martina McBride, Chris Brown, Chris Young and a host of others have all recorded his songs. His Grammy nominations include Jamey Johnson's ‘The High Cost of Living’, country song of the year, and Martina's ‘In My Daughter’s Eyes’, which has become a modern day standard.

James wrote Keith Urban’s hit single, ‘God Whispered Your Name’ and Tim McGraw’s ‘God Moves The Pen’…Kenny Chesney’s ‘Wasted’ and ‘Guys Named Captain’ as well as new songs on
Old Dominion and Hootie and the Blowfish albums as well as Shy Carter’s first single, ‘Good Love’. James calls Nashville home and also lived in Zurich Switzerland for six years, touring and recording with Belgian super group Vaya Con Dios and has travelled the world from Panama to Dublin, from Spain to Havana.

James’ ‘Key West Address’ is a love letter to the island, so much so that the mayor of Key West has awarded James the keys to the city and proclaimed the song as the island's official theme!

His latest solo album is Famous In Key West, Shrimp Boat Sessions, which is available on Spotify and ITunes….featuring new songs recorded at Jimmy Buffett’s Legendary Shrimp Boat Studios in the Conch Republic, Key West, Florida…

Laura Oakes

Two-time winner of best Female Vocalist at the British Country Music Awards, Laura Oakes has enjoyed some of the UK’s most prestigious festivals and stages including C2C, The Great Escape, The Long Road, Cornbury, Cambridge Folk Festival and Camp Bestival. As well as supporting some of the most notable talent coming out of the US and the UK including Beland, Lauren Alaina, Devin Dawson, Kane Brown, Morgan Evans, Jimmie Allen, The Shires and Ward Thomas which has taken her across the UK, Germany and Denmark.

Her 2020 EP ‘How Big Is Your World’ was released as the pandemic swept the world but nonetheless received playlisting from the UK’s largest national station, BBC Radio 2 and pick up across Chris Country Radio, Country Hits with feature pieces online across Popmatters, Maverick Magazine and Popdust. Reaching no.11 in the UK iTunes Country chart the EP also pricked the ears of Spotify and Apple on both sides of the pond securing playlists and amassing over 1.5 million streams including playlist additions on Spotify’s Very Nearly Nashville, Lazy Country Morning, New Music Friday Country and Apple’s Crossroads, Soundcheck and Country Risers.

In addition to creating and releasing her own material, Laura has launched her own, live ‘Hosts’ show on Country Line Radio, bringing the format of the increasingly popular format of ‘The Round’ to the ears of the listeners. Guests so far have included international talent Tiera Kennedy, Seaforth, Tenille Townes, The Shires, Alyssa Bonagura, Jill Andrews and Lindsay Ell.

Forever productive, Laura has also been working on new material for herself written with some of the world’s best song writers; James T Slater (Martina Mc Bride), Beth Nielson Chapman (Faith Hill) and Jason Lehning (Alison Krauss). Furthermore her writing for others has seen her attend multiple Eurovision songwriting camps as well as gain cuts for Sony’s own Wiktoria, BMG’s Twinnie and Lara Samira and UK Country stars Jade Helliwell, Deeane Dexeter amongst others.