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<title>Top Traditional Country Artists on Rhapsody Online</title>
<dateCreated>Sat Dec 26 20:20:29 PST 2009</dateCreated>
<dateModified>Sat Dec 26 20:20:29 PST 2009</dateModified>
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<outline type="include" text="George Strait" description="George Strait is less an elder statesman of country than a pure force of nature. The Texas-born traditionalist continues to enjoy an unbelievable run of success that spans two decades of country music. Strait grew up on a ranch, so his cowboy hat is no affectation. He gravitated to music early on, playing rock in high school and switching to country during a stint in the military. He and his band Ace in the Hole played honky tonks and dancehalls throughout Texas in the 1970s, releasing two independent albums and honing a sound that combined lean Honky-Tonk and hard-hitting Western Swing. Strait scored a major Nashville deal in the early '80s and immediately appeared on the country charts. Amazingly, he has stayed at the top of the charts through the turn of the century, with shelves of gold and platinum records to his credit. Although he records some of his own material, he has relied on top-notch songwriters such as Sonny Throckmorton and Jim Lauderdale throughout his career. Strait has done what few artists have: he's remained wildly successful through a number of sweeping changes that have beset country music, playing primarily in a traditional style.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/george-strait/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kenny Chesney" description="If Kenny Chesney's new traditional tinged country style leans toward hard rocking pop, blame it on the '70s FM radio and the country rock music coming out of the radio stations in his hometown of Luttrell, TN, a small place just outside Knoxville (also Chet Atkins' hometown). Chesney wasn't one of those kids who grew up with stage parents in Stetsons. He actually stumbled into the realm of country music by accident while studying marketing at East Tennessee State University. He found a guitar under the Christmas tree and was soon playing country and bluegrass with some college buddies. He's one of those rare musicians who got to where he is without the help of any contacts, hook-ups or any &lt;I&gt;Star Search&lt;/I&gt; copycat television shows. Chesney climbed his way to the top in the traditional grass roots fashion of constant playing, demo recording, touring and self-promotion. While Chesney's songs maintain the gritty twang of yesteryear's honky-tonk, he has clearly found a balance that suits his songs well -- the scales are tipped toward high-end radio production and polished song hooks. And he has been known to mix in a little beach-twang here and there, a-la Jimmy Buffett.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kenny-chesney/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Brad Paisley" description="Brad Paisley has a bit more going for him than your average Nashville molded hunk-in-a-hat. Before moving to Music City, he was a teenage phenomenon in his native West Virginia. Leading a country band, Paisley sang in a mature voice and played a wicked Bakersfield honky-tonk-influenced lead guitar. When he got to Nashville, he quickly nailed a publishing deal, which in turn led to a recording contract. Paisley wrote or co-wrote every song and played lead guitar on his 1999 debut &lt;i&gt;Who Needs Pictures&lt;/i&gt;. In 2003, he released chart-topper &lt;I&gt;Mud on the Tires&lt;/I&gt;. &lt;I&gt;Time Well Wasted&lt;/I&gt; came at the end of 2005, and earned him both the CMA and ACM award for Album of the Year, as well as four Grammy nominations. A few months after Paisley's son William Huckleberry was born in 2007, his sixth album, &lt;I&gt;5th Gear&lt;/I&gt;, was released. The album succeeded with a handful of hit singles and a Grammy for the instrumental track, &quot;Throttleneck.&quot; Perhaps the award was inspiration for his next album, the largely instrumental effort, &lt;I&gt;Play&lt;/I&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/brad-paisley/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Johnny Cash" description="You might consider Johnny Cash the original gangster. He sang a song about killing a man &quot;just to watch him die&quot; long before young men began to wear big pants and cap their teeth in gold. His trademark baritone growl and disdainful sneer were the crown and scepter he bore as the king of outlaw country music. Cash's unique sound wasn't complex by any means. His Southern Gothic-tinged narratives and lighthearted country songs contained similar elements to Woody Guthrie's simple ditties. However, nobody but Cash could sing those songs with the burning, heartfelt fever that has made him one of the most influential people in country music. Originally, he wanted to make gospel music after finishing up a Korean War tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force. But after releasing his first single on Sun Records (&quot;Cry Cry Cry&quot; backed with &quot;Hey Porter&quot;), it was perfectly clear that he was a country singer. Cash's music has never strayed from what he knew best: rock 'n' roll's rebellion, folk's painfully autobiographical sensibility, and country music's lovelorn longing. The Man In Black passed away in Nashville, Tenn., on September 12, 2003, due to complications brought on by diabetes. He survived his beloved wife, June Carter Cash, by four months.
- Eric Shea" category="Outlaw Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/johnny-cash/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Keith Urban" description="Australia-by-way-of-New Zealand-born Keith Urban grew up loving the sounds of '60s Nashville, but don't expect to hear too much Jim Reeves in his young-hearted country love songs. Urban's sound may be rooted in the past, but his music is all about the present, replete with semi-programmed beats and dramatic, sweeping crescendos. When he was a small child, Urban took guitar lessons from a woman who placed a guitar instruction ad in his father's shop window. Not only did he show a seemingly innate talent for the instrument, but also for acting and singing in grade school plays and musicals. He was winning talent shows before he was even ten years old. Urban's father shared his love for old country songs with the boy, so the early influences of his father's record collection seeped in and set the tone for who he is today. But long before Urban became one of America's hot country stars, he played with the Ranch, a twangy Australian trio enamored with traditional tones and catchy songs. (Capitol Nashville has actually re-released their long out-of-print debut and added two bonus tracks.) Urban married actress Nicole Kidman on June 25th, 2006 before checking into the Betty Ford Center on October 19th of the same year. He successfully completed rehabilitation on January 18th, 2007 just in time to tour his album &lt;i&gt;Love, Pain And The Whole Crazy Thing&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;I&gt;Defying Gravity&lt;/I&gt; followed in March, 2009.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/keith-urban/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Tim McGraw" description="For a while there in the early 1990s, Tim McGraw and Garth Brooks were running neck and neck up the country music charts and it looked like Brooks was in the lead, but a slew of multi-platinum albums and undeniable good looks don't lie. Rather, they solidified McGraw as the most popular male country star of the '90s (especially with the lady fans who made him into somewhat of a heartthrob). Of course, it also helped that McGraw was a relentless touring machine, and his marriage to mega-star country diva Faith Hill didn't hurt. And baseball fans favored McGraw on account of his being the son of famous major league southpaw pitcher Tug McGraw (former player for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies). Tim McGraw's polished new traditional sound is rooted in old school, boot-scootin' honky-tonk and some of the catchier sides of southern rock from the '80s that, when mixed with the former, would help innovate the new traditional sound altogether. And if his early ballads sound influenced by the late, great Keith Whitley, it's because McGraw idolized him while growing up. McGraw found his own sound (and first real chart topper) with 1994's playfully twangy &quot;Indian Outlaw,&quot; but not without some controversy surrounding the allegedly politically incorrect depiction of Native American stereotypes in the lyrics. But as they say, no press is bad press and &quot;Indian Outlaw&quot; crossed over to the pop charts, setting the tone for McGraw's snowballing success. In 1996, he toured his third album&lt;i&gt;All I Want&lt;/i&gt; with opener Faith Hill and by the end of the jaunt, the two were hitched and fetching all kinds of Johnny and June Carter Cash comparisons. McGraw and Hill's first duet, the romantic, heart-string pulling &quot;It's Your Love,&quot; came out in 1997 with the kind of affectionate aplomb that propelled McGraw (and Hill) to red carpeted, crossover superstardom.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/tim-mcgraw/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Toby Keith" description="Toby Keith first gained national recognition in 1993 with his tongue-in-cheek No. 1 hit &quot;Should've Been a Cowboy.&quot; Along with a slew of like-minded country artists, he was a part of the neo-traditionalist movement that was intent on wresting the radio waves from the slick pop product pushers of the time. In the late-1990s he released a string of country hits that showcased his deep vocals and decidedly uptown yet tasteful arrangements. Then shortly after the turn of the century, Keith reinvented himself as a controversial crooner of sorts after recording 2002's &quot;Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),&quot; one of the first songs to cash in on the 9-11 tragedy with its vengeful lyrics promising that America would put a &quot;boot in the ass&quot; of the terrorists. The song was an instant hit with red state country music fans and compelled &lt;i&gt;ABC News&lt;/i&gt; anchor Peter Jennings to protest Keith's appearance on a network Fourth of July special. Of course tons of media hoopla followed, giving Keith the kind of priceless promotion that propelled &quot;Courtesy&quot; into legendary crossover hit status. Since then, Keith has continued to crank out the kind of roadhouse honky-tonk country songs that he began his career with, but he also stuck with what made him the most money -- riling up angry right wing Americans. His 2003 album &lt;i&gt;Shock'n Y'all&lt;/i&gt; (it sounds like &quot;Shock And Awe&quot; when you say it out loud) featured &quot;The Taliban Song,&quot; which referred to Middle Eastern men as camel herders. In interviews, Keith dismisses these kinds of songs as &quot;bus songs,&quot; tunes that he pens for fun, and were never meant to be released until his fans insisted. But not all of his &quot;bus songs&quot; are politically charged. Keith's &quot;Weed With Willie&quot; (also from &lt;i&gt;Shock'n Y'all&lt;/i&gt;) makes light of Willie Nelson's love for incredibly strong marijuana and &quot;Grain of Salt&quot; from 2006's &lt;i&gt;White Trash With Money&lt;/i&gt; serves as a tourist's tequila anthem.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/toby-keith/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Alan Jackson" description="Alan Jackson's quiet country voice packs a heavy, passionate punch with its heartfelt inflections and Honky-Tonk soul. Since the 1980s, this New Traditionalist has been blending spiritual and studio alchemy to create new ways of filling beers with tears. From chart toppers like &quot;Love's Got a Hold On You&quot; to his rocking rendition of &quot;Summertime Blues,&quot; it is evident that Jackson has an expansive vocal and musical range. Even his more compromised, Nashville-sounding songs manage to incorporate a strong sense of soul that seems piped in directly on his textured vocals.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/alan-jackson/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Willie Nelson" description="Willie Nelson was one of the original outlaws of country music, and one of its most influential songwriters. He began playing in the 1960s, writing &quot;Crazy&quot; for Patsy Cline and &quot;Hello Walls&quot; for Faron Young. Nelson's career as a performer flourished in the mid-1970s when he joined up with Waylon Jennings and released the crossover, chart-topping &lt;I&gt;Red Headed Stranger&lt;/I&gt;. It was the hit &quot;Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain&quot; that perpetuated the then-popular image of the longhaired country boy. Willie Nelson had arrived as a country superstar. His folky, nasal inflections carried his voice through many different genres of music, including Western Swing, traditional pop, jazz, Traditional Country, Cowboy country songs, Honky-Tonk, rock 'n' roll, folk music and of course, the blues. Nelson's success lasted until the late 1980s, when some trouble with the IRS landed him in a number of stuffed-crust pizza commercials and a cameo role in the film &lt;i&gt;Half Baked&lt;/i&gt; smoking his beloved joints. When the day is done, Nelson can easily be considered a bona fide legend.
- Eric Shea" category="Outlaw Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/willie-nelson/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Brooks &amp; Dunn" description="Brooks and Dunn are like a &lt;i&gt;Star Search&lt;/i&gt; dream come true. Kix Brooks was on the Capitol Records roster with a solo album before spending time writing songs for a handful of country artists. Through an introduction from Arista Nashville guru Tim DuBois, Brooks befriended Ronnie Dunn who had won a national country talent competition. The uncanny chemistry between the two quickly made them the most popular country duo of the 1990s. Their slick sound and warm tones traverse from heavy, knee slapping, honky-tonk inspired boogie rock to radio-friendly ballads worthy of womanly tears in beers. Brooks and Dunn's songs tend to lure fans of new country music with their sharp ears for barbed melody as well as their hypnotizing close-harmonies. After 20 successful years, Brooks and Dunn announced that after a farewell tour in 2010, the two would retire as a duo. To commemorate, they released &lt;I&gt;#1s and Then Some&lt;/I&gt; in October 2009. The 30-song double album includes 23 No. 1 hits plus two new songs: &quot;Indian Summer&quot; and &quot;Honky Tonk Stomp.&quot; An expansive collection, &lt;I&gt;#1s and Then Some&lt;/I&gt; is a brilliant bookend to a distinguished career.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/brooks-dunn/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Dierks Bentley" description="Unlike many other young men with hyped debut albums spilling out of Nashville, Dierks Bentley wasn't bred to be a country star. He didn't grow up with a preacher father or a gospel-singing mom and nobody dragged him to the Grand Ole Opry when he was a kid. Bentley had to pick it all up on his own. He collected country records as a child and when he was old enough to drink, he found himself pounding the pavement and hitting up live show after live show in Music City. His wide-eyed, heartfelt songs sound like this: If &lt;I&gt;Dawson's Creek&lt;/I&gt; wasn't just about white American middle class kids, but white American middle class kids growing up in suburban Tennessee, Bentley would be all over those soundtracks.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/dierks-bentley/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Martina McBride" description="Martina McBride knew that she wanted to be a country music singer long before she married Charlie Daniels' soundman. Before she finished high school, McBride used to play keyboards for her father's band, the Schifters. After her husband became the production manager for Garth Brooks in the early 1990s, McBride landed a sweet gig as the opening act for the hugely successful Brooks on one of his early tours. Critics may have jumped on the conflict of interest, but there was no denying that the lady could sing. Since then, McBride has proven herself by landing numerous hits on the country charts and developing her voice even further. Today, many critics consider McBride one of the most underrated singers in Nashville, and with good reason: her inflections somehow manage to sound both dainty and powerful at once. Whether she's singing soft and romantic ballads or more uptempo country rockers, her dynamic voice can go anywhere she wants to drive it.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/martina-mcbride/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Trace Adkins" description="Louisiana born singer-songwriter Adkins is a former college football player and oil rig roughneck. After slogging away at the fringes of the music industry for a number of years, he got a record deal and his 1996 debut record took him straight into the country charts. Adkins connected with his listeners with the combination of his smoky baritone vocals and his smart, slightly dark, Honky-Tonk sensibility. The single &quot;Thinking Thing,&quot; also off of his debut, reached No. 1 in 1997.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/trace-adkins/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Gary Allan" description="Having grown up digging the music of Merle Haggard and George Strait, it's no surprise that Gary Allan went the route of the New Traditionalist. His county is dressed up with old school Honky-Tonk tips of the hat, and the songs are fueled by his strong and toneful tenor.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/gary-allan/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Randy Travis" description="Travis burst onto the country scene in the mid-1980s, around the same time as a few other seemingly like-minded new traditionalists. He combines a smoothly expressive baritone with self-penned material that features lyrical depth as well as great honky tonk-style instrumental work. Starting in 1985 with the single &quot;On the Other Hand,&quot; Travis has gone into the charts and sold a huge number of records. He virtually kicked open the door for the &quot;country hunk&quot; phenomenon, although by the time the '90s rolled around, the &quot;hat pack&quot; (Garth Brooks, Clint Black, etc.) steamrolled past him. He was still a country radio favorite and strong seller throughout the decade. In 2000, Travis released the hugely successful &lt;I&gt;Inspirational Journey&lt;/I&gt;, which combined aspects of traditional country and contemporary worship music. The album was a hit on country radio as well as contemporary Christian outlets. Many of the songs were also featured on &lt;I&gt;Touched by an Angel&lt;/I&gt;, in which Travis also guest-starred. Travis has since released country/Christian albums in rapid succession: &lt;I&gt;Worship and Faith&lt;/I&gt; (2003), &lt;I&gt;Passing Through&lt;/I&gt; (2004) and &lt;I&gt;Glory Train&lt;/I&gt; (2005). In 2008, he released the CD/DVD &lt;I&gt;Around the Bend&lt;/I&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/randy-travis/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Blake Shelton" description="Oklahoma born and bred Blake Shelton was just out of his teens when he landed his solo debut on Warner Brothers. He's a young man with an old soul, playing New Traditional country music like he's lived each song he sings. Shelton's voice is warm and passionate and his appreciation for country music is evident in his charming vocal tone.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/blake-shelton/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Dwight Yoakam" description="For folks who think country music has nothing to offer anymore besides Garth's ten gallon Billy Joel songs and Shania's Nashville AOR, Dwight Yoakam will provide an oasis of authentic Bakersfield honk. His unorthodox approach to Bud-swilling Honky Tonk has been a favorite among Nashville outsiders for years. Occasional chart success has proven Yoakam's ability to write pop country, but the majority of his material is an uncompromising blend of old and new, with a pointed disregard for strict country tradition. With a voice echoing primary influences Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, Yoakam injects his neo-traditional music with a rock 'n' roll punch that doesn't sacrifice anything as far as pure country credibility is concerned. Expect to hear sad 'n' lonely drinkers, fast car epics and desolate cowboy songs that begin in traditional country territory but exhibit an uncommonly accurate familiarity with the rock vocabulary.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/dwight-yoakam/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Miranda Lambert" description="While most country starlets grow up in a musical family, Miranda Lambert was raised by the prerequisite musical father (he played country guitar) and a mother who ran a detective agency, which may be one of the reasons why her own songs are loaded with rich narrative intrigue. At the ripe age of 16, Lambert entered country music singing contests in Arlington, Texas and a year later she was playing guitar and writing her own songs. Further talent show contests garnered her a spot in a potato chip commercial and led her to form her first band, The Texas Pride Band. While most aspiring bands cut demo recordings in hopes that local venue promoters will add them to a bill, Lambert's father-funded demo actually landed her two songs on the Texas music charts. Of course that meant she had to stop everything and move to Nashville, which she gladly did in 2003, appearing (and taking third place) on &lt;I&gt;Nashville Star&lt;/I&gt;. It wasn't long before Sony snatched her up, which isn't as impressive as the fact that they let her pen 10 of the 11 songs on her debut album, &lt;I&gt;Kerosene.&lt;/I&gt;
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/miranda-lambert/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Montgomery Gentry" description="Montgomery Gentry is not the name of one person, but two (that is to say that they are a duo). Their New Country sound started off with the duo tipping their hat to Honky-Tonk inspired New Traditionalists, but they have also tried their hand at more uptempo Southern Rock styles. Their songs, harmonies, and instrumentation all come together to form a chemistry that is not only believable, but also enjoyable.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/montgomery-gentry/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Merle Haggard" description="Merle Haggard is one of the most influential country music Singer-Songwriters since Hank Williams. His career began when he snuck backstage to meet country legend Lefty Frizzell as a teen. Impressed by his songs, Frizzell refused to go back on stage until Haggard went up and sang a song -- to a warm audience response. Along with Buck Owens and Wynn Stewart, he was a pioneer of the Bakersfield country music scene in the 1960s, a working-class legend who sang torn and frayed narratives. Haggard's deep and throaty vocal style was influenced by Stewart's phrasing, his music touched by a subtle mix of blues, jazz, folk and Western Swing. Haggard's quality of songwriting has remained consistently ahead of the rest; country music wouldn't be the same without him.
- Eric Shea" category="Bakersfield Sound" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/merle-haggard/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="George Jones" description="Known by his fans as the King of the Broken Hearts, George Glenn Jones has been blessed with one of the most distinctive, influential and golden voices in the history of country music. Infatuated with the music of Hank Williams, Jones spent the better part of his youth playing in smoky honky-tonks until he developed a songwriting style that spawned nearly as many chart-toppers as Eddy Arnold. Jones puts his life into his songs, telling tales of debauchery and oppression, reflecting his personal battles with alcoholism and divorce. He hit the charts with the platinum-selling widow's anthem &quot;He Stopped Loving Her Today&quot; in 1980, but by the '90s, country radio had begun exchanging their heritage artists for younger, fresher faces. Although Jones didn't have much in the way of chart success, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992 and continued to record and tour throughout the decade. In 1996, Jones authored the book, &lt;I&gt;I Lived to Tell It All&lt;/I&gt;, which hit the &lt;I&gt;New York Times&lt;/I&gt;' Best Seller list and television specials shined a spotlight on the legend, feeding the public's insatiable hunger for George Jones. Surprisingly, George's second Grammy came in 1999, some 20 years after his first, for the acclaimed album, &lt;I&gt;Cold Hard Truth&lt;/I&gt;. In 2008, Jones released a duets album called &lt;I&gt;Burn Your Playhouse Down&lt;/I&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="Honky-Tonk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/george-jones/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Lee Ann Womack" description="Born and raised in Texas, Lee Ann Womack grew up with country music. While in the music business program at Belmont University in Nashville, Womack married songwriter Jason Sellers. After Lee Ann had her first child in 1991, she stayed home and concentrated on her songwriting. She signed with Tree Hill publishing in 1995 and to Decca as a recording artist a year later. Womack's first single only got a lukewarm response, but subsequent singles rose to No. 2 in the charts. While her career got on track, her marriage derailed, ending in 1996. In 1999, Womack gave birth to her second daughter and married producer Frank Liddel. The following year, Womack released her third album, &lt;I&gt;I Hope You Dance&lt;/I&gt;, her biggest hit. The title track spent five weeks atop the country charts, crossing over to the pop and adult contemporary charts. Trying to recapture the crossover momentum,Womack released the glossy &lt;I&gt;Something Worth Leaving Behind&lt;/I&gt; in 2002. It took three years to produce &lt;I&gt;There's More Where That Came From&lt;/I&gt;, a return to her traditional roots. The album won CMA's Album of the Year, and &quot;I May Hate Myself in the Morning&quot; won single of the year. In 2008, Womack released album seven, &lt;I&gt;Call Me Crazy&lt;/I&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/lee-ann-womack/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Patsy Cline" description="Patsy Cline was one of the greatest country singers of all time. She helped inspire and influence women musicians everywhere to stand up and be counted in the country and western music world above and beyond Nashville. Although her deeply romantic recordings and haunting voice can induce a chill up the spine, it was Cline's untimely death on March 5th, 1963 that helped create the kind of myth that can immortalize any country singer (see Hank Williams or Gram Parsons). Between 1955 and 1960, Cline recorded almost twenty singles. Out of these songs, only &quot;Walkin' After Midnight&quot; became a hit. After 1960 she stopped experimenting with Rockabilly and stiff ballads that better suited Kitty Wells and Brenda Lee. The fact that this time also marked a break with a binding publishing contract seemed to affect her singing greatly. Free of legal and artistic strife, Cline's vocals seemed to loosen up with confidence on songs she had longed to sing, such as &quot;Crazy&quot; and &quot;I Fall to Pieces.&quot; The latter peaked at number one on the country charts and crossed over to fall in at number twelve on the pop charts. Cline was in line to continue recording Country Pop chart crossovers, until her untimely death in a plane crash at thirty-years-old: two years into the birth of her superstardom. The emotional playing and singing on her recordings has been emulated by and inspirational to everyone from Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson to the Screaming Sirens and k.d. lang.
- Eric Shea" category="Nashville Sound" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/patsy-cline/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Dolly Parton" description="Dolly Parton is almost more famous for her impossibly curvaceous figure and huge hair than for her music -- which is somewhat of a shame. She is, after all, a distinctive and important part of country music, representing a link from the music of her Appalachian birth place to country's crossover to pop. Parton is a multifaceted artist whose first success came as a songwriter in the mid-1960s, with hit songs recorded by Bill Phillips. After she became Porter Wagoner's singing partner, her career took off and she became a solo artist by 1971. She consistently charted throughout the '70s and crossed over to the Pop charts with &quot; Here You Come Again&quot; in 1977. Along the way Parton became a genuine pop culture icon. Despite the glitzy, glamorous aura that surrounds her, on her recordings Parton always manages to include some element that seems like pure country. As Nashville in the '90s has continued to show its disdain for veteran performers -- and for that matter any artist who doesn't seem genetically engineered -- Parton seems to be backing away from her own image. Her latest releases have been straight bluegrass and countrified folk-pop albums that she's recorded with members of Nashville's elite community of virtuoso bluegrass pickers.
- Eric Shea" category="Country Pop/Cosmopolitan" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/dolly-parton/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Travis Tritt" description="Unlike most new traditional hat-acts of the '90s, Travis Tritt refused to hide his long hair under a big, stupid Stetson. He also set himself aside from all the Garth Brooks and Clint Black wannabes by throwing down bluesy Southern Rock for his post-outlaw sound. Tritt's voice is gritty enough to match his ragged image, and disciplined enough to land him more hits than a drunk buckle bunny on payday.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/travis-tritt/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jamey Johnson" description="Jamey Johnson grew up in a strict religious household, so it came as a surprise to his parents when he started playing music at an early age. By junior high, Johnson was adept at playing a variety of instruments and had music theory down pat. After an eight-year stint in the U.S. Marine Reserves, Johnson moved to Nashville to concentrate on music. Although he had a variety of day jobs, Johnson played music at night and eventually made contact with a circle of friends who got him &quot;regular&quot; work singing on their demos. Eventually Johnson signed to BNA and in early 2006 released his debut, &lt;I&gt;The Book&lt;/I&gt;. With a hit single (&quot;The Dollar&quot;) under his belt, Johnson hit the road -- and partied hard. Things started to unravel, first when his wife divorced him and then further when his record label dropped him. Lost and in shock, Johnson cut himself off from friends and family and became a recluse, writing smash hits for George Strait (&quot;Give It Away&quot;) and Trace Adkins (&quot;Honky Tonk Badonkadonk&quot;) to pass the time. In 2008, Johnson returned to the spotlight with the release of his sophomore effort, &lt;I&gt;That Lonesome Song&lt;/I&gt;, a battered collection of songs dealing with loss, growing pains and regret.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jamey-johnson/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Eric Church" description="He believes the Bible is cold hard fact. And he believes the tax man and the devil share the same address. Eric Church is a country singer with a straightforward message. Anyone who doubts this need only listen to his debut album. Raised in North Carolina, Church started singing &quot;Elvira&quot; to anyone who would listen when he was just four years old. At 13, he started writing music and soon learned how to play the guitar. While pursuing his marketing degree from Appalachian State University, Church formed his first band, the aptly named Mountain Boys. Performing five nights a week at local bars around the Carolinas, Church honed his musical skills and started getting the Nashville bug. With two years left until graduation, Church decided he was ready to drop out and head to the country music capital. But, his father intervened with an offer Church couldn't refuse: Stay and finish college, and he would pay his son's living expenses for six months. His father stayed true to his word and, after graduating, the marketing major headed to Nashville with guitar in hand. It wasn't long before he caught the attention of Capitol Records, who signed Church after a live performance. In 2006, Church released his debut, &lt;I&gt;Sinners Like Me&lt;/I&gt;. His traditional sound instantly found a place in the hearts of fans and critics, many of whom were getting fed up with the commercialization of modern country. Three years and countless tours later, Church released his sophomore effort, &lt;I&gt;Carolina&lt;/I&gt;.
- Jamie Sanchez" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/eric-church/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Josh Turner" description="When you first hear the barrel-chested, bass-heavy baritone voice of Josh Turner, it's quite difficult to believe that such a deep and mature-sounding voice can come from the mouth of such a young and boyish face. Were Don Williams dead, you'd think Turner was channeling his spirit every time he sang. He grew up in South Carolina, and always seemed to have his tender ears attuned to the low notes sung in his church quartet. As a young boy, he would walk around attempting to sing as low as possible -- and it obviously paid off. Obsessed with country music for years, Turner found his way to Nashville, where he was signed to MCA records after they had listened to only two of his songs. Even more impressive is that a major label signed him knowing that his material is far from the expendable country pop churned out every day in Music City. Rather than rocking a headset microphone and running around onstage in rhinestones, Turner puts forth songs that are old-timey and gospel-influenced.
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/josh-turner/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Hank Williams" description="When Hank Williams died at the age of 29, he was already a legendary figure whose legacy would only get larger as his place in the canon of American popular song and popular culture became cemented. Williams grew up in Alabama where he first performed with The Drifting Cowboys as a teenager. The band's regional popularity led his working as a songwriter for Nashville publisher Fred Rose. His first release on MGM Records, &quot;Move It on Over,&quot; was a hit. From there Williams meteorically ascended to the top of the Country music heap. He is best known for his nakedly emotional, blues-drenched singing, and stripped down version of proto-Honky Tonk featuring kinetic interplay between the steel guitar and fiddle. A versatile writer, Williams penned Gospel songs like &quot;I Saw the Light,&quot; dance numbers (&quot;Jambalaya,&quot; &quot;Hey Good Lookin'&quot;), as well as those that evoked loneliness, despair, and betrayal (&quot;Cold Cold Heart,&quot; &quot;I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry&quot;). His direct, stark lyrics made even up-tempo, seemingly lightweight songs take on an undercurrent of foreboding. Towards the end of his young life, Williams sank deeper and deeper into drug and alcohol abuse. Many who idolized him would emulate this aspect of his life. His &quot;live fast, die young&quot; mythology leaves almost as wide a wake as his music -- he died in the back of a limousine on the way to a gig in 1953.
- Eric Shea" category="Honky-Tonk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/hank-williams/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Charlie Daniels" description="People have a hard time believing that the man who wrote &quot;The Devil Went Down to Georgia&quot; also played on such Bob Dylan albums as &lt;i&gt;Nashville Skyline&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Self Portrait&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;New Morning&lt;/i&gt;, and &lt;i&gt;Dylan&lt;/i&gt;. Charlie Daniels was known as the long haired country boy with adroit musical skills that were a true gift from the gods of music. In his heyday, Daniels surrounded himself with an ever changing team of exquisitely talented musicians that contributed to his trademark sound: strict country music with an edgy injection of Southern Rock, blues shuffles and Boogie Rock overtones. Aside from making music that would soon pump from the speakers of Bo and Luke's General Lee, Daniels wrote songs that Elvis Presley covered; he played with Leonard Cohen's touring band in the 1960s, and even produced the Youngbloods' album &lt;i&gt;Elephant Memory&lt;/i&gt;. Daniels managed to install a set of ethics for his fan-base-turned-subculture when he penned its anthem, &quot;Long Haired Country Boy&quot; with: &quot;People say I'm no good and crazy as a loon / Cause I get stoned in the morning, get drunk in the afternoon. / Kinda like my old blue tick hound I like to lay around in the shade / I ain't got no money but I've damn sure got it made.../ I don't want much of nothing at all but I will take another toke.&quot;
- Eric Shea" category="Southern Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/charlie-daniels/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Sara Evans" description="Once a Nashville traditionalist, Evans seems to have abandoned that approach for a more glitzy style a la Shania Twain. Her sound still rings true, though: rich, honest vocals are set to cheerful accompaniment led by good ol' Fender twang. During that more commercial part of the mid to late '90s, when Nashville artists were releasing watered-down &quot;country&quot; songs, Sara Evans dared to rock a New Traditional style by covering Harlan Howard's &quot;I've Got a Tiger by the Tail.&quot; The recording was so powerful that Howard himself came out of the woodwork to help her career. Having been serious about singing since the age of four, Evans moved from Oregon to Nashville to ink a deal with RCA. Her first album, &lt;I&gt;Three Chords &amp; the Truth&lt;/I&gt;, debuted in 1997, landing her some radio play and a touring support slot for the great George Jones. Since then she's released albums at a prolific rate: 1998's &lt;I&gt;No Place That Far&lt;/I&gt; was met with praise from critics; 1999's &lt;I&gt;Girl's Night Out&lt;/I&gt; garnered her even more fans and positive press; 2000's &lt;I&gt;Born to Fly&lt;/I&gt; did well enough, but she really hit her stride in 2003 with &lt;I&gt;Restless&lt;/I&gt;. With less traditional instrumentation and more commercial-sounding songs and production, &lt;I&gt;Restless&lt;/I&gt;indicated that Evans had swapped twang for a more mainstream rock orientation, but she never lost her voice's impassioned force. In 2005, the singer earned &lt;I&gt;Billboard&lt;/I&gt;'s &quot;country's next female superstar&quot; status when &lt;I&gt;Real Fine Place&lt;/I&gt; debuted at the top spot on the magazine's country album chart and at No. 3 on the Top 200 Album Chart. Veering closer to the pop flame than at anytime before, the winsome singer covered a Sheryl Crow song and hired John Mayer's drummer and bass player for the record. But she didn't entirely turn her back on her country roots; on songs like &quot;Coalminer,&quot; and the &quot;Cheatin',&quot; she sounds as down home as someone in a pair of Daisy Dukes. She's also appeared on albums by leading country lights like Keith Urban, Faith Hill and Carolyn Dawn Johnson, and doesn't plan to stop there: Evans, who lives outside of Nashville with her husband and two children, son Avery and daughter Audrey, says the next thing she wants is a career on the silver screen. And who would ever doubt her -- by her own admission she can switch gears at the drop of aÃÂdiaper: &quot;I can separate things so easily in my mind. I can literally change a diaper or discipline Avery and then walk on stage. I'm such a multitasker you would not even believe. If I just had a few more arms, there's no telling what I could do. I think that's the trademark of a true woman,&quot; says Evans on her website.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/sara-evans/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Conway Twitty" description="Conway Twitty cut his musician's teeth in the 1950s as a rock 'n' roll singer, but eventually found home in the rootsy, yet accessible, country music that gave him celebrity in the 1970s and 1980s. His deep, rural vocal inflections gave Nashville some of the most amazingly sung ballads of the country pop era. Lyrically ladened with double entendre, Twitty's sensual songs made him the Tom Jones of country music (rhinestone panties, anyone?). Of greater importance was his courageous risk-taking in a city that hardly tolerates experimenting with musical crosses. Twitty's personalized country is a slick hybrid of R&amp;B shuffles and steady rock 'n' roll backbeats soaked in note-bending twang and cascading melodies--all engineered to make women swoon.
- Eric Shea" category="Country Pop/Cosmopolitan" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/conway-twitty/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Clint Black" description="Clint Black was one of the first new traditional country singers to revive the old soul of country. Many credit him with fusing traditional country songwriting and hook-laden, radio-rock sensibilities to birth more airwave-friendly country music. Black's barbed hooks, Stetson hat, and manly vocals inspired everyone from Garth Brooks to Brother Johnson -- not bad for a high school dropout. Black was signed in 1989 and, starting with his first single, &quot;A Better Man,&quot; scored four consecutive No. 1 country singles. Fittingly, he won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award (best new artist). In 1991, Black joined the Grand Ole Opry and married actress Lisa Hartman. He stayed at (or near) the top of the country music charts throughout the '90s and even tried his hand at acting, but when the decade waned, so did his label's commitment. So Black and RCA parted ways, and he started up his own label, Equity Records. In between producing for &lt;/I&gt;Nashville Star&lt;/I&gt; winner Buddy Jewell, Black saw to his own music, releasing &lt;I&gt;Spend My Time&lt;/I&gt; (2004), &lt;I&gt;Drinkin' Songs and Other Logic&lt;/I&gt; (2005) and &lt;I&gt;Love Songs&lt;/I&gt; (2007). In early 2008, Black released a cover of the Hollies' classic &quot;Long Cool Woman.&quot;
- Linda Ryan" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/clint-black/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Vince Gill" description="A former singer for the Country Rock band Pure Prairie League, Vince Gill found success as a solo artist with his 1983 solo debut &lt;I&gt;Turn Me Loose&lt;/I&gt;. From this album, Gill's first single &quot;Victim of Life's Circumstances&quot; broke Top-40 and he's been on an uphill hayride ever since. Gill's Country Rock upbringing sometimes makes its way into his traditional-tinged Country Pop, and his latest recordings are saturated with the kind of passion you just can't fake. Gill's buttery vocals bring his sweeping ballads to life in a way that lets you know he's a man in love.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/vince-gill/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Lonestar" description="When Lonestar began, they were mostly influenced by new traditional and honky-tonk country music. But by the time of their second album, they began flirting with over-produced country rock that sounded like digitally enhanced Eagles outtakes. Their latter albums fall in between those cracks.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/lonestar/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Gretchen Wilson" description="Gretchen Wilson's story is not unlike &lt;i&gt;The Simpsons&lt;/i&gt; episode where Homer befriends the aspiring country singer Lurlene Lumpkin. Like Lumpkin, Wilson grew up in a poor, rural part of the country. Born to a 16-year-old mother and to a father who left the home when she was only a toddler, Wilson grew up in Pocahontas, Ill., and moved nomadically from trailer park to trailer park. While only 14 and with just an eighth grade education, she worked as a bartender and a cook in the same tavern as her mom. Wilson began her career in her early 20s by singing in bar bands and soon she relocated to Nashville where she joined up with the Muzik Mafia songwriting club. Her debut single, &quot;Redneck Woman,&quot; (which she co-wrote with John Rich of Big &amp; Rich and Lonestar) set sales records on the &lt;i&gt;Billboard&lt;/i&gt; charts, making her an overnight sensation. She has been credited with saving country music in a time when Nashville is leaning toward the pop production of Faith Hill and Shania Twain -- artists who sound like they're desperately trying to cross over into the Adult Contemporary market. In contrast, Wilson celebrates her redneck roots in her compositions (by name checking Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock, for example).
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/gretchen-wilson/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Diamond Rio" description="Diamond Rio were a bluegrass-inspired country band featuring members of the Young Ambassadors, the Osborne Brothers and the Nitty Gritty Dirt band. For over a decade, Diamond Rio consistently developed a unique country sound that included amazing gospel-influenced vocal harmonies.
- Tom Heyman" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/diamond-rio/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jo Dee Messina" description="It's a strange day when the biggest star in Nashville is from the unlikely locale of Framingham, Mass, a town where the shopping malls outnumber the people, not to mention the cattle. But that's what happened in 1996 with the release of Messina's self-titled smash-hit debut and her ensuing CMA Award in 1999. Listening to the pure Country Pop material, however, offers no evidence of a New England upbringing. With studio help from buddy Tim McGraw, one-two-punch arrangements that spare nothing in the hook department, and a singing voice that sets her a cut above the rest, Jo Dee Messina offers an admittedly commercial but substantial product that's more than young country fast food.
- Eric Shea" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jo-dee-messina/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Loretta Lynn" description="For the uninitiated, Loretta Lynn is one of the very biggest names in the history of Country Pop; before Reba McEntire, there was Loretta. From the start of her career in 1962 she's maintained a familiar Top-10 face, but it was the Oscar-winning film &lt;I&gt;Coal Miner's Daughter&lt;/i&gt; (1980) that made her a brand name in non-(Ford)truck-driving households across the nation. One of the first female country singers to address feminist issues, Lynn was considered a maverick during the '70s by the Grand Ole Opry's stuffed-shirt elite. With songs like &quot;Don't Come Home a Drinkin'&quot; and &quot;The Pill&quot; she stood in stark contrast to the stand-by-your-abuser sentiment of the time. This outspoken quality and her bedrock vocal style has been her legacy, influencing countless artists and earning her the utmost respect of the Nashville nation. The album-per-year pace Lynn had kept up for almost thirty years began to slacken during the '90s as she went into a sort of semiretirement, releasing fewer records, but choosing her material more carefully. As a duet partner, she teamed up with nearly every big-name country artist, ushering that peculiarly country tradition into contemporary times. &lt;i&gt;Still Country&lt;/i&gt; (2000) finds her in fine form; the hard Honky-Tonk rocker &quot;Country in My Genes&quot; serves as a showcase for her pure country vitality and confirms her icon status.
- Mike McGuirk" category="Honky-Tonk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/loretta-lynn/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="James Otto" description="James Otto grew up in Ft. Louis, a U.S. Army base in rural Washington State. Although he messed around with the saxophone and fiddle at a young age, he really wanted to play guitar. When he moved in with his father at the age of 13, his wish was granted. After his father showed him a few chords, Otto couldn't put his guitar down and like many American boys with guitars, he began to play the instrument in his bedroom along with his Van Halen records. But unlike most young rockers, Otto was also drawn to country music. After exhausting all his rock albums, he learned how to strum with a more graceful finesse by playing along with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings records. In high school he gave up playing football when the rocking twang of the Kentucky Headhunters and Travis Tritt inspired him to devote his life to music. After a two-year stint in the Navy and paying some dues by playing in a few cover bands, Otto realized that he had to move to Nashville if he wanted to play country music &lt;I&gt;his&lt;/I&gt; way. He surrounded himself with the best writers' circles that Music City had to offer. He soon recorded an album that fell into the hands of Shania Twain, and it wasn't long before Otto was signed to Mercury Nashville and opening for Twain on her 2003 tour. In 2008, Otto released his sophomore effort, &lt;I&gt;Sunset Man&lt;/I&gt;, which housed the No. 1 single &quot;Just Got Started Lovin' You.&quot;
- Eric Shea" category="New Traditional" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/james-otto/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="k.d. lang" description="It's hard to think of another modern singer as naturally gifted as k.d. lang. She's as subtle and sensitive as many of today's vocalists are brassy and bombastic, so it's a mystery why she's released so little music of lasting quality. Her early retro/cowbilly and country records were a breath of fresh air in the newly rock-oriented Nashville of the late 1980s. Riding a serious Patsy Cline jones to stardom with &lt;i&gt;Shadowlands&lt;/i&gt; (1988), the Canadian crooner crossed over with the '50s Pop stylings of &lt;i&gt;Ingenue&lt;/i&gt;. She experimented with that approach on the daring misfire &lt;i&gt;All You Can Eat&lt;/i&gt; before getting dark and loungey on &lt;i&gt;Drag&lt;/i&gt;. While her voice can handle all these stylistic changes, her songwriting can't. That may be why her finest moments often have her interpreting standards such as Cole Porter's &quot;So in Love.&quot; But lang doesn't want to sit still: sun-and-sea drenched '60s pop album &lt;i&gt;Invincible Summer&lt;/i&gt; recalls every Golden State act from the Mommas and the Poppas to the Association. While the Burt Bacharach style ballad &quot;Suddenly&quot; is a standout, most of these songs still sound like prefabrications rather than the real thing. Which is odd, because Lang's talent is as real as you can get. Her fans are waiting for her to realize it.
- Nick Dedina" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kd-lang/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Joe Nichols" description="Joe Nichols' life seems like a country song in and of itself. He grew up in Rogers, Ark., where his introduction to music came from watching his father play bass in a local band. In high school Nichols cut his teeth in a rock 'n' roll band, but he soon became infatuated with country music. While working a night job as a DJ, he made connections that helped land him a deal with Intersound, the label that released his self-titled 1996 debut. He eventually signed with Universal and unleashed &lt;I&gt;Man With a Memory&lt;/I&gt; in 2002, which finally got him onto the country charts. Soon after, Nichols was awarded the Top New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music and was nominated for three Grammys. He struck again with 2004's &lt;I&gt;Revelation&lt;/I&gt;, before cranking out &lt;I&gt;III&lt;/I&gt; the next year and the critically acclaimed &lt;I&gt;Real Things&lt;/I&gt; in 2007. In September of that year, Nichols married longtime sweetheart Heather Singleton. The following month, he checked himself into rehab. Sober and eager to get back on track, Nichols got the lead role in the Broadway play &lt;I&gt;Pure Country&lt;/I&gt;, and in 2009 he released &lt;I&gt;Old Things New&lt;/I&gt;.
- Linda Ryan" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/joe-nichols/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Hank Williams III" description="It can't be too easy being Hank Williams III and having people expect you to fill two pairs of boots. Luckily, the grandson to the Honky-Tonk legend and son of one of Southern Rock's biggest outlaws has found his own sound and style. Depending on who he's sharing a bill with, Hank III can be seen effortlessly walking a musical tightrope between Old-Time Revival/Honky-Tonk songs and more snot-nosed, bratty Cowpunk songs. In the former, his voice hauntingly croons and cries in a style slightly similar to his late grandfather, but it more closely resembles that of Hank III's contemporary and friend, Wayne Hancock. Hank III also has a side project named Assjack, which Williams describes as &quot;hellbilly danger with and old school punk feel.&quot;
- Eric Shea" category="Cowpunk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/hank-williams-iii/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Everly Brothers" description="The Everly Brothers represent a lot of different things musically. They are the spiritual and literal forefathers of Country Rock, the epitome of Close Harmony singing, the antecedent to the boy band hysteria of today, and the embodiment of every troubled sibling relationship in pop music, from the Louvin Brothers to the Gallagher brothers (Oasis). Phil and Don Everly started out as part of a family act singing on the radio in Iowa, and eventually recorded straight country material that went nowhere. When they hooked up with the husband and wife songwriting team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, they went straight to the top of the charts with &quot;Bye Bye Love&quot; and a slew of other songs including &quot;All I Have to Do is Dream&quot; and &quot;Wake Up Little Susie.&quot; The brothers' career at the top of the charts was over by the early 1960s -- at least in the United States. The strain of a life together took its toll on them and they split up in 1973. They reformed in the 1980s and remain an extremely popular concert attraction at home and abroad. The group was enormously influential on groups including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Hollies.
- Tom Heyman" category="'50s Rock 'n' Roll" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-everly-brothers/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Gillian Welch" description="Gillian Welch never grew up in Appalachia. She grew up in California. Although she spent a little bit of time in Nashville, her southern drawl is feigned. But the funny thing is that nobody seems to care about any of this because her music sounds so pastoral and authentic. When she and David Rawlings are playing live, time stands still, and then begins to reverse a little. Welch's songs are haunting and romantic musings that seem to use the tempo of a dying heartbeat for a metronome. Her study and deliverance (no pun intended) of old timey Americana and Bluegrass music are a large influence in her sound, but she maintains her own subtly soulful (and sometimes sultry) voice to birth new ideas and phrasings within her appreciation of America's musical history.
- Eric Shea" category="Americana" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/gillian-welch/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Randy Houser" description="" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/randy-houser/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Marty Robbins" description="Although he's best known for his old-timey cowboy anthems, Marty Robbins was not that much different from Roger Miller in that there was so much more to his musical style than what was commercially successful. Sure, he was known for his classic gunfighter ballads but he also played and recorded some rootsy rock 'n' roll songs as well as some lush, string-laden pop. Robbins' youth was peppered with many exciting and rich Americana experiences; his grandfather was a medicine show man who spun wild tales of the Wild West, so it shouldn't have been a big surprise that he worked at a dude ranch, before quitting school and living his life as a freewheelin' hobo. After a stint in the military, he started playing cowboy songs under the pseudonym of &quot;Jack Robinson.&quot; It wasn't long before success found him and he decided to play under the name Marty Robbins.
- Eric Shea" category="Cowboy" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/marty-robbins/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jake Owen" description="A self-taught country rocker, Jake Owen started dreaming of becoming a golf pro when he was 12. He was on his way to realizing his dreams -- even playing on the Florida State University golf team -- when a water-skiing accident and subsequent reconstructive surgery forced him to shovel his game and, instead, pick up a guitar. With his good looks and ambitious personality, Owen began performing country covers in local bars around Florida State, but he soon got bored playing other people's music. He began penning his own songs and was further encouraged by the positive response. Only nine credits short of graduating from Florida State, Owen packed up his guitar and headed to Nashville with a new found dream of becoming a country superstar. His rich, resonant baritone voice has the sound of fine-tuned country stars twice his age. Mixing down-home ballads with hard-rockin' country anthems, Owen's influences include classic artists such as Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and Keith Whitley. However, where these artists represented the classic country of their time, Owen is bringing a youthful image to contemporary country music.
- Jamie Sanchez" category="New Country" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jake-owen/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jerry Lee Lewis" description="The Killer still sounds much the same as he did in the late 1950s. His trademark pumping piano and wild mix of country with R&amp;B sounds just as fresh and vital as it did forty years ago. Lewis' crazy stage antics masked his innate shyness. While it was his image that helped propel him to national attention, it was his songs that kept him there: ÂWhole Lotta Shakin' Going On,Â ÂGreat Balls of Fire,Â and ÂBreathlessÂ have defined rock Ân' roll. Lewis' personal life turned out to be as wild as his stage persona and helped to ruin the first phase of his career Â his drinking, incest, gun violence, and drug addiction had the press vilifying him as a walking southern stereotype. He made a comeback in country music in the late Â60s and had a long period of success there. Since the Â80s he has continued to stun live audiences by performing his classic material. To this day, Jerry Lee Lewis gives off more energy than a nuclear reactor, and he's just as volatile.
- Nick Dedina" category="'50s Rock 'n' Roll" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jerry-lee-lewis/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Don Williams" description="Born May 27, 1939 in Floydada, Texas, Williams was one of the biggest country music stars of the 1970s. He was a leading proponent of the countrypolitan sound, which was a conscious attempt to crossover to the Pop charts; he made it seem like an absolutely natural progression. Possessed of a resonant, unaffected voice, his singing seemed as natural as mellow conversation. Although he started recording in the mid-'60s, his career took off in '74 with his first number one hit &quot;I Wouldn't Want to Live If You Didn't Love Me,&quot; which was only the beginning of a hit-recording streak that would last the next sixteen years. Although he slowed down considerably during the '90s, the quality of his work has not diminished. Throughout his career, Williams has been a friend and champion of songwriters, unafraid to tackle material that was offbeat or outside mainstream country. It didn't matter to him if a song was written by cult favorite John Prine or the legendary rock team Mick Jagger and Keith Richards; if Williams liked a tune, he recorded it.
- Tom Heyman" category="Nashville Sound" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/don-williams/data.opml?rws=%2Fcountry%2Ftraditional-country%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
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