By Jim Misunas
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Sterling, Kansas native Nicolle Galyon shared the stage with country music artist Miranda Lambert in a celebration of Lambert’s hit song “Automatic.”
Downtown Nashville was transformed to a 1955 high school homecoming dance Tuesday, as the country music industry celebrated a song that pays homage to a time before email, cell phones, digital downloads and GPS devices.
Lambert released “Automatic,” in February 2014 as the lead single from her fifth studio album, “Platinum.” Lambert co-wrote the song with Galyon and Natalie Hemby. The three friends all wore 1950s-era Easter dresses when they were honored for the chart-topping song Tuesday.
“Automatic” is a mid-tempo country song that is built around lyrics of nostalgia and remembering the days “back before everything became automatic.”
The lyrics reference pocket watches, payphones, cassettes, and sending letters in the mail as examples of everyday things that have since been phased out by new technology.
Galyon, also a country singer, has appeared on NBC’s show “The Voice.” Her latest album “Child of the Country Sun,” reached No. 2 on iTunes downloads during the past month.
Hemby told the story of a chance meeting with Galyon on a flight from Key West, Fla. to Nashville. Hemby, a nervous flier, said Galyon calmed her nerves, and the two eventually became friends and co-writers.
That meeting led to “Automatic,” which is the second No. 1 song in Galyon’s catalog, following the Keith Urban-Miranda Lambert duet, “We Were Us.”
Galyon attended Lambert and Hemby’s public celebration for “White Liar,” in 2010.
“I thought, ‘Those girls have it all,’ and now I’m one of those girls,” Galyon told Rolling Stone. “It feels incredible. Someday I can show my daughter (Charlie) a picture and say, ‘You can be anything you want to be.’ ”
Hemby co-wrote Lambert’s “White Liar,” “Only Prettier” and “Baggage Claim.”
Lambert told Rolling Stone that the “Automatic” brainstorming session involved the three women sharing their upbringings.
Lambert thanked Hemby and Galyon and their parents for encouraging them “to be who they want to be.”
“Automatic” won Female Video of the Year at the 2014 CMT Music Awards, giving Lambert her fifth consecutive win in the category.
The “Automatic” music video directed by Trey Fanjoy debuted March 24, 2014.
Lambert is shown sifting through a trunk full of keepsakes, pulling out things such as old letters and photographs, jewelry and a cassette player. Lambert performs the song with her acoustic guitar on a porch and driving around the countryside in her ‘55 Chevy, taking in the rural landscape.