The Songkeeper program at Schreiner University is unique in higher education.  Not restricted to music majors, or any other single academic discipline, it reflects the character of Schreiner University and the special place where it resides – in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, Kerrville, Texas.

We honor the songwriter legacy of this place we are proud to call home.  From the legendary Jimmie Rodgers, who lived in Kerrville during the latter part of his career and is widely regarded as the Father of Country Music, through nearly 50 years of the internationally acclaimed Kerrville Folk Festival, still featuring world class singer/songwriters in the longest continuously running folk music festival in the world – Kerrville and the surrounding Texas Hill Country are important parts of the myriad of genres that make up American music, past and present.

It is Schreiner University’s strategic intention to continue to preserve and grow this indigenous art form of the Texas Hill Country.  Through our close collaborative relationships with the Kerrville Folk Festival Foundation and the civic and entrepreneurial leaders of the Kerrville community, Schreiner helps preserve this area as a place where songwriters gather to develop and grow their craft, and to perform.

Schreiner’s Songkeeper Program has three major components:

• Development of the next generation to join this legacy – through the Schreiner Songkeepers Program, where instruction is provided by a dozen or more professional songwriters acting as guest faculty who will augment the classroom experience by utilizing the Schreiner campus’s multiple live performance venues and state-of-the-art recording studio, and partnership with the community-based Big Seed program;
• Expanding opportunities for the Kerrville and Hill Country community to experience performances of original music by world class songwriters – through the production of
  • Music at the Mansion
  • Music & Conversation, and
  • Sunday Afternoon Songwriters; and
• Preservation of the legacy and heritage of this art form and its part in Texas history – through educational and entertainment programs throughout the year.

Visitors from all over are invited to come and experience what the Schreiner Songkeeper program and its partners are doing on the campus of this uniquely Texan college campus in the Hill Country, where songwriting is thriving and growing!