NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Taylor Swift signed her first publishing deal in Nashville at the age of 14. About 22 years and 14 Grammys later, she joined the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame along with Lyle Lovett, Shawn Camp, Lee Thomas Miller, Bruce Channel and J.I. Allison.

Swift added another honor to her trophy wall with her second hall of fame induction this year and was celebrated at the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala on Monday in a crowded ballroom full of artists, writers and country music elite.

“I knew from the time I wrote my first song that even if it couldn’t be my career, it would be my passion,” Swift said.

She described soaking up the lessons from other writers like a sponge, learning how to push through writer’s block and write about the human condition, even when her writing partner was hungover or going through a divorce.

Swift recalled her mom would regularly pick her up from high school and drop her off at a publishing house on Nashville’s Music Row, where she poured out her emotions to one of her first co-writers, Liz Rose. She later would meet Nathan Chapman, who produced her self-titled debut album in 2006, released 20 years ago this month.

Swift, who took her talents to a much wider audience beyond country music, said her ability to “genre hop” was because she had learned the fundamentals of songwriting in Nashville.

“I’m so incredibly honored to be inducted into this sacred club,” Swift said.

Brad Paisley, one of the first major artists to take her on tour after her debut album, introduced her as “the voice of a generation.”

He joked that Swift “went to Brad Paisley High School” as a 17-year-old traveling the country while on tour with him. Swift later recounted that Paisley took a prank too far in 2007 when he filled her bus with thousands of crickets.

“For months I couldn’t sleep. Just chirp, chirp, chirp,” she said.

Lainey Wilson performed a bluegrass version of “Love Story” with fiddle and stand-up bass from Swift’s second album, “Fearless.”

Swift wasn’t the only big star to be celebrated, as George Strait, the lauded “King of Country Music,” was given the Career Maker Award from the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Strait, a Country Music Hall of Famer, is known for picking great songs from other songwriters and sending them to the top of country charts for five decades.

Surrounded by songwriters on stage, Strait was predictably succinct in his speech as he sent out his thanks for all the writers who sent songs to him over the years.

“They made my career,” Strait said. “I didn’t make theirs.”

Lovett spent his speech naming mentors and artists and writers who took a chance on him.

“I am humbled just to be in the room with these amazing Hall of Fame songwriters and amazing recording artists,” Lovett said. “It is such a privilege to be able to go through your life and do what you want to do.”

Allison, who died in 2022, was a member of Buddy Holly’s band The Crickets and co-wrote hits like “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue.” Camp, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, fiddle and more, co-wrote songs like “Two Pina Coladas” for Garth Brooks and “How Long Gone” by Brooks & Dunn, as well as hits for Blake Shelton and George Strait and many bluegrass songs.

Channel co-wrote “Hey! Baby!” a song that would become part of the movie “Dirty Dancing” but also a country hit for Anne Murray and many others. Miller co-wrote award-winning songs like “You’re Gonna Miss This,” performed by Trace Adkins and “In Color,” performed by Jamey Johnson.

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LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court on Tuesday upheld actor Danny Masterson’s convictions and long prison sentence for raping two women at his home in 2003.

In an 89-page ruling, the three-judge panel unanimously found that the “That ‘70s Show” actor had failed to demonstrate that the lower court made errors that would warrant granting him a new trial. The panel also rejected a petition filed by Masterson that claimed ineffective assistance of counsel.

Masterson’s first trial ended with a deadlocked jury in 2022, but at his retrial the following year, he was convicted of raping two women. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.

His attorneys said in an emailed statement Tuesday that they would seek review at the California Supreme Court.

Among the claims that the court rejected were that Masterson’s convictions violated the 10-year statute of limitations for forcible rape, as the statute does not apply where there are multiple victims; that the trial court excluded evidence in his favor; and that the trial court exhibited bias against his religion.

Masterson is a prominent member of the Church of Scientology, and his accusers are former members who said they grew disillusioned with the institution after they were assaulted. They said church officials told them what had happened to them was not rape, and that its policies prevented them from going to police. The church vehemently denied having any such policy.

Masterson, 50, has been serving his sentence at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo. He will not be eligible for parole for more than 20 years.

Masterson starred with Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace in “That ’70s Show” from 1998 until 2006. He had reunited with Kutcher on the 2016 Netflix comedy “The Ranch,” but he was written off the show after the allegations surfaced.

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NEW YORK — Documentary maker Ken Burns has won a $250,000 prize for his “significant contributions to promoting knowledge and understanding of American history.”

Burns is the inaugural winner of the David M. Rubenstein Prize for the Advancement of American History, presented by The New York Historical museum. A prize jury that includes the Pulitzer Prize winners Annette Gordon-Reed and Jon Meacham cited Burns for work that “reflects our highest aspirations.” Burns’ many subjects have included the American Revolution, the Civil War and the Vietnam War.

“Always asking the question, ‘Who are we as Americans?’ Ken’s films have brought the history of the nation to more people in our time than perhaps any other body of work by one person, shedding light on our virtues and our vices,” the jury’s statement reads in part.

The award was established earlier this year by Rubenstein, the financier, philanthropist and Baltimore Orioles owner.

In a statement issued Wednesday through New York Historical, the 73-year-old Burns said he was “hugely appreciative and humbled.”

“Our films rely on the work of generations of historians and archivists and what amounts to a collective conversation about who we are as a people,” he said. “I am very fortunate to be part of this conversation about a country I love.”