This years Songwriters Conference is coming up quickly, and we’re excited to welcome Bethany Dillon (born Bethany Adelsberger) to the faculty as well as the stage. She brings a wealth of experience in songwriting and performance and will be sharing that with us! Are you coming to join us? We hope so. There’s still room!

Bethany was born in Ohio and started playing guitar at age 10. Her musical career began at age 13 when she recorded an independent album (Vulnerable) that ended up in the hands of EMI executive Brad O’Donnell. Audiences connected with her music almost immediately and the results included several hit singles, multiple Dove nods, critical acclaim, and an exponentially increasing grassroots fan base that propelled her career forward in great leaps.

Her first self-titled debut album released in 2004 and was the highest selling female solo debut album for the year, attracting GMA nominations for both Female Vocalist and New Artist of the Year. The radio single All I Need reached the number one position in US charts. Dillon released her second album titled Imagination in August 2005–the CD that prompted CCM Magazine to label her as the “future” of contemporary Christian music. Since then she has come out with Waking Up, an album released April 3, 2007. Dillon seems particularly excited about this project as she feels it is the most joyful record she has made, even though it revolves around themes of brokenness and a feeling of being really, really small in the presence of God.

On March 29, 2008, Bethany married Shane Barnard of Shane & Shane in Xenia, Ohio. Shane & Shane will also be on faculty at this years conference.