Shane McAnally

On a brisk Friday evening in Nashville, Shane McAnally, guitar case in hand, walks unnoticed into downtown singer-songwriter haunt The Listening Room as an aspiring performer sings his heart out for a modest, early-show crowd. An hour later, a sold-out crowd waits outside to see McAnally sing country hits of the day, and maybe even tomorrow.

An A-list songwriter, McAnally has written or co-written chart-toppers for the likes of Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum and Sam Hunt. At the 2014 CMA Awards, McAnally, Brandy Clark and Kacey Musgraves shocked the country world when they took home Song of the Year for Musgraves' crack-and-marijuana-referencing, alternative-lifestyle-accepting song "Follow Your Arrow," the lowest-charting song to ever be nominated in the category.

Success didn't come overnight for the 40-year-old Texas native and former Star Search contestant, who left Nashville and a failed career as an aspiring country star behind in 2001. After a seven-year stint in L.A. spent bartending and futilely plugging away at writers' nights, he returned to Music City in 2008 for a writing trip. He stayed when "Last Call," a tune he penned with Erin Enderlin, became a modest hit for Lee Ann Womack.

Soon cuts by Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes and a still-budding Luke Bryan followed. But while "Last Call" sparked a now-stratospheric life-after-death songwriting career, McAnally, who is openly gay, credits his decision to come out for giving him the clarity to write his hits.

He explains, "When I was no longer afraid of people finding out, when I shifted into, 'If that question comes up, I'm gay' ... when I made that shift internally, everything started to work.

"I was giving everyone permission, prior to that, to judge it, because I was judging myself," he continues, going on to say that the country music industry is not a hostile environment for him. "It's still a little outrageous to people that a gay person is writing country music right in the thick of it, but it's not a story among my songwriter friends. ... [Some people] also try to villainize Nashville. Everybody who does any sort of story on me outside of Nashville, they really want that story. They want that outcast. 'How was I persecuted for being gay?' I try to keep that story at bay, because it's just not true."

Back in the green room, McAnally sips on a vodka tonic before tuning up for a short pre-show rehearsal. He knows it's only a matter of time until he could end up back at The Listening Room singing for his supper. "It took me so long to have success," he says. "But sounds change, and the natural rhythm of the way I write, and the natural cadence and what I'm drawn to lyrically is just, luckily, what people are doing [right now], and it won't always be that way. ... [That's why] I do try to write what I think is going to be next."

More From the 2015 People Issue

The Textile Designer: Andra Eggleston / The Transformer: Bill Schleicher / The Chief: Steve Anderson / The Bookseller: Yusef Harris / The Producer: Dave Cobb / The Rookie: Filip Forsberg / The Pedal Steel-Playing Pilot: Joshua Motohashi / The Weathermen: David Drobny & Will Minkoff / The Punk Neuroscientist: Kale Edmiston / The Kitchen Artist: Karla Ruiz / The Metalhead: Kayla Phillips / The Image Master: kogonada / The Bartender: Lee Parrish / The Professor: Lisa Guenther / The Advocate: Marisa Richmond / The Captains: Kellie Hurst & Regina Durkan / The Painter: Michael Shane Neal / The Tunesmith: Shane McAnally