You will never mistake Terry Boothe for anything but a Texan. He played for Darrell Royal's Longhorns, chews on a cigar (he doesn't smoke it), spits in a cup, wears denim and... well... let's say a worn-in (not out) cowboy hat and boots. That hat's seen a lot of cattle.

Boothe is passionate about Texas culture and he sees it as his job to make sure anyone in shouting distance knows and appreciates the richness of that heritage. "I’ve dedicated my creative life to Texas cultural preservation." And he has a particular soft spot for the Capital of Texas.

"Austin became such a Mecca for what you might call 'interlopers,' people who didn’t really get it, they just didn’t know or understand the Texas heritage thing, which is so important; it's the glue, the fabric of what this place is all about."

In March, what "this place is all about" is music. And while the city prepares for the onslaught of unknown, foreign bands trying to make a name for themselves, Boothe is putting the finishing touches on his seventh annual event celebrating the very people who made Austin the home of SXSW and the "Live music capital of the world" — before there were such things — the songwriters.

"We wanted to do something meaningful for them and do something important."

The Texas Heritage Songwriters Association (THSA) hasn't been around long, but what it lacks in longevity it makes up for in passion and star power.

The Hall of Fame event, to be held Sunday, March 4 at ACL Live at the Moody Theater, will induct Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett and Townes Van Zandt into the elite circle that already includes Freddy Powers, Sonny Throckmorton, Aaron Baker, Allen Shamblin, Whitey Shafer, Bruce Channel, Cindy Walker and more.

Wait, you've never heard of most them have you? That's the point.

"I have always appreciated the songwriter," said Boothe, "and so few of them are known to the public. So I was just burning to do something to recognize and herald the importance of Texas’ songwriters — the poets of our culture."

Joining that elite group are the superstars like Kris Kristofferson, Larry Gatlin, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Michael Martin Murphy, Clint Black, Mac Davis and Delbert McClinton.

But it's not the superstar performers that stand out in this crowd, it's the songwriters, explains Boothe. "When you're trying to introduce the public to someone they don’t know, you need someone that they do know to make it viable."

The superstars of course are all accomplished, amazing songwriters in their own right, and they help shine a spotlight on people like Whitey Shafer, who wrote a little song for George Strait called "All my Exes Live in Texas"; Allen Shamblin, who wrote "I Can't Make You Love Me" which Bonnie Raitt (among others) took to a Grammy nomination; Sonny Throckmorton, who was voted BMI Songwriter of the year and wrote "When the Cowboy Rides Away" recorded by George Strait and "Tryin' to Love Two Women," recorded by the Oak Ridge Boys; Hayden Nicholas ("Killin' Time"); and Cindy Walker, who is in the Country Music Hall of Fame. The list goes on.

"Last year we had 1,500 people standing for 'Hey Baby' performed by Bruce Channel, who wrote the song. They didn’t know Bruce Channel before they came in, but they sure knew him when they left," explains THSA co-founder Joe Ables.

In 2006 Boothe managed to talk Ables, the owner of The Saxon Pub, and Bill Schneider into doing something just a little bit off the reservation. His idea, of course, was to honor songwriters.

"We had Freddy Powers and Sonny Throckmorton, who were relatively local, but we didn’t have a headliner," he explains. "Joe, through his relationship with Stephen Bruton, managed to get Kris Kristofferson. Now we can really draw some attention to it."

"Kris really put us on the map industry-wise and I don’t think we can ever thank him enough for doing it," adds Ables. For three years the show was produced at Hill's Cafe, "and then Willie put us on the map at the Paramount."

That was in 2009, the same year the group added Carlton Wade as a volunteer Executive Director. The shows at the 1,500-seat Paramount sold out, so after three years there, they're moving into ACL Live's Moody Theater for 2012.

Terry Boothe never doubted his vision would be successful. "It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever sold, you talk about the richness of it and the gratification."

Today the THSA is a non-profit (501(c)3) and is still run completely by volunteers. "Nobody's paid," says Artist Relations Director Jennifer Sutton, "but the reward is precious gold, it’s better than salary."

Despite the help of Willie and Kris and Michael and Guy, the founders unanimously hold up one man as the inspiration for all the success — Darrell Royal.

Royal may be a legendary football coach, but he is also a legendary country music fan and a close friend of Willie Nelson. Together with Ben Crenshaw they ran the "Ben, Willie and Darrell" golf tournament, "which was really an excuse to get together and play music," says Boothe.

"After the first year I went to Coach and asked him, respectfully, if he would lend his name to our cause. He said yes with two conditions: We could not leverage his name to get stars to play the event, and we could not have his private list of phone numbers.

"Coach gave us a very solid foundation," Boothe explains.

"Most of the artists come back every year for the Darrell K. Royal Homecoming, held the same weekend as the show" says Sutton. "All of these artists know Darrell Royal and come back for him."

Coach Royal will receive a special tribute at the event this year.

The THSA is now more than a Hall of Fame. The Association just began new songwriting competitions in six Texas Universities. The winners will play at the Kerrville Folk Festival and attend a three-day ASCAP songwriting seminar in Austin.

Still, it's the Hall of Fame show that gets the organizers most excited. "The show is unrehearsed and the artists play because they want to," says Ables.

"Hearing the songwriter doing their song is very special, it’s magic," says Boothe. "It's an opportunity to hear the music from those who created it."

"It's music in its purest form," adds Wade.

"Although the Texas sound is somewhat undefinable, we know it when we hear it," Boothe explains. "You can go back to the traditional ideas of friendship and courage and self-reliance, those things that are exemplified in our mythology which challenges you and me to be all that we are and more than we are. It's strength. It’s a spirit. It's an attitude. I wonder how much luck you’d have trying to do this in Kansas."

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The Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame celebration will be held at 7 p.m., March 4^th at ACL Live at the Moody Theater. A limited number of tickets are still available.