Carrie Underwood emerged from the promise of her 2005 American Idol win to become a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, and film. A seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner, she has sold 64 million records worldwide and recorded 26 #1 singles,13 of which she co-wrote.
Columbia Nashville singer/songwriter Maren Morris has quickly established herself with vocal styling’s that reflect her country, folk and pop influences. Armed with sheer talent, honest lyrics and a completely magnetic presence, Morris’ label-debut album, the GOLD-certified HERO, released via Columbia Nashville on June 3, 2016. One week after it was available, HERO entered the Billboard Country Albums chart at No. 1 and No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, which spans across all genres. With this, the Arlington, Texas native became the first artist in the history of Columbia Nashville to open at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Charts with a debut album in the Soundscan era. Morris’ debut single from HERO, “My Church,” set a record at Country radio by having the most chart reporting stations to play a debut single by a country artist with 107 stations the week it hit the airwaves in addition to being certified DOUBLE PLATINUM by the RIAA.
Zac Brown is the founder, front man, and lead vocalist for the multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning, southern rock group Zac Brown Band. In addition to being the founding member of Zac Brown Band and leading it through its overwhelming success, Brown is also credited as an impactful songwriter, producer, record label head, business man, and philanthropist – making him one of the sharpest minds among today’s generation of artists focused on shifting the paradigm of the music business.
She’s had five #1 singles, sold millions of records, won the Academy of Country Music’s Top Female Vocalist Award and claimed a Country Music Association trophy for her signature song, “Born To Fly.” It’s tough to imagine many accomplishments Sara Evans hasn’t already checked off her bucket list. And yet, with the release of her eighth studio album, Words demonstrates that she’s still willing to leap into the unknown, taking greater control of her career and calling the shots in a way that’s unusual in country music – particularly unusual for a woman in the genre. Words is the first project on Evans’ own label: Born To Fly Records, appropriately named after that CMA-winning signature song, which celebrated risk and adventure. Much is familiar about Words. Evans’ voice is warm and strong, the songs are authentic and memorable, and the actual words themselves resonate with the realities of everyday life.
Luke is a two-time Academy of Country Music and a two-time Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year, a five-time host of the ACM Awards, a NSAI Artist/Songwriter of the Year and was named a CMT Artist of the Year six consecutive years. Luke has more certified digital singles than any other country artist with 46 million tracks and 12 million albums with four Billion music streams. Luke has placed 21 singles at #1, 11 of which he co-wrote. In each of the last several years, Luke’s headline tours have performed for 1.5 million fans or more and in 2018 he headlined the most stadium shows in one year of his career, now totaling 34 stadium concerts to date. Also in 2018 Luke opened Nashville’s only six-floor entertainment facility in the heart of Music City, LUKE’S 32 BRIDGE FOOD + DRINK.
No one knows the Dan + Shay sound better than they know themselves, so whether it’s a heartfelt ballad like “From the Ground Up,” their first No. 1 “Nothin’ Like You” or their latest offering, off their forthcoming 2018 release, “Tequila,” their career has largely been built on the two of them in the studio working all night on one song after another. Whether it’s another late night with their acoustics jamming for close friends or on stage for thousands of fans on tour, Dan + Shay enjoy what they’ve been able to create together. Their layered voices – Shay brings a gospel and R&B flavor, while Dan is influenced by the harmonies of Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles – give each of their songs, especially a song like “Obsessed,” a dynamic feel that stretches the boundaries and creates its own unique place the soundscape that is contemporary country music.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted Toby Keith two years ago and the
Academy of Country Music gave him the Poet's Award this year –
exceedingly high songwriting honors
amidst a career chock full of them. And with good reason. The list of
writer-artists in any genre who have achieved or exceeded the collective
airplay Keith has amassed is quite short. Artistic and commercial
achievements aren't the reasons he writes, however. Neither are awards.
No, songwriting isn't something Toby Keith does. Songwriting is who he
is.
Dierks Bentley burst onto the country music scene in
2003 when his self-titled debut album’s toe-tapping first single, “What
Was I Thinkin’,” climbed to the top of the Billboard country
charts. Since then, he’s had 20 country No. 1s – and counting – from
nine studio albums, seven of which have reached the top spot on the U.S.
country LP charts, and nearly all of which have been certified gold or
platinum. Singer / songwriter / guitarist Bentley’s success might seem
understandable, when hearing his note-perfect delivery of classic Music
Row songs and seeing his blonde, square-jawed good looks, but it begins
to feel a little less likely when considering some of the unpredictable
and gutsy choices he’s made.
McGraw has sold more than 50 million records worldwide and dominated the singles charts with a stunning 43 #1 singles. His most recent and first ever joint album with wife Faith Hill – The Rest Of Our Life – was released November 2017 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. He is the most played country artist since his debut in 1992, with two singles spending over ten weeks at #1 (“Live Like You Were Dying” and the genre-breaking “Over and Over”). His multi-week #1 single “Humble and Kind” from 2015’s Damn Country Music won the Grammy for Best Country song, spawned a New York Times Best Seller book and won a coveted Clio Award for Best Integrated Campaign.
Although born in New Zealand and raised in nearby Australia, Keith Urban made his biggest splash in Nashville, where he helped rewrite the rules of contemporary country music. By embracing drum loops and elements of Top 40 pop, Urban wrote songs that appealed to a wide audience, effectively satisfying his Nashville fans without alienating those more accustomed to pop music. He also became a genuine celebrity, known for his good looks, his marriage to Nicole Kidman, and his outspoken battle with alcoholism. Even so, it was the music that maintained Urban's career, from his work with the Ranch during the late '90s to the acclaimed solo albums that followed.
Since their musical debut in 2000, the band has sold over 22.5 million albums, 28 million digital downloads and delivered 16 #1 singles to the top of the charts. Rascal Flatts is the most awarded Country group of the past decade, earning over 40 trophies from the ACAs, ACMs, AMAs, CMAs, People's Choice Awards and more. As one of the hottest-selling acts on tour in any genre, they’ve sold over 7 million concert tickets, and counting.
To hear Jennifer Nettles tell it, it’s a brand new day in Sugarland. Despite winning multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM awards—and selling more than 8 million records—the country-music duo of Nettles and Kristian Bush is embracing a creative rebirth, a musical awakening that permeates their adventurous fourth album, The Incredible Machine. “We are in a place of discovery,” Jennifer says. “It is the essence of who we are as people in this band. There is never a moment where we think, ‘This is good enough.’ There’s always a place for growth.”
Over the course of their decade-long career, Lady Antebellum has become one of the 21st century's premier vocal groups, blending deeply felt emotions with classic country sounds. They are back on the radio airwaves and at digital partners with “What If I Never Get Over You” serving as the first single under BMLG Records. Representing a new chapter as well as a return to the beginning for Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood, the plush mid-tempo ballad features Scott and Kelley trading anxiety and shared despair over an ending relationship. As a Country-radio staple, the trio has amassed record-breaking success with nine No. One hits while ushering in more than 18 million album units and 34 million tracks sold, with over 4 billion digital streams. Known for their 9X PLATINUM hit “Need You Now” which is the highest certified song by a Country group, they have earned ACM and CMA "Vocal Group of the Year” trophies three years in a row and countless other honors including seven GRAMMY awards, Billboard Music Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Teen Choice Awards and a Tony Award nod.
Brantley, along with a few other artists, is known for reviving country music, a genre that was on the verge of losing its prominence. He began his career by performing at the local venues, before making it big in the music industry with the help of his debut album, ‘Modern Day Prodigal Son’. His first album was released by ‘Average Joes Entertainment’, an independent record company that mostly releases the albums of independent artists. Later on, ‘Big Machine Records’ helped him by re-releasing his second album, ‘Halfway to Heaven’. When the album was first released, it failed to reach far and wide, but the re-release helped Brantley to achieve fame as the album became available to a host of listeners. This turned out to be the breakthrough that Brantley was looking for. A couple of songs from the album topped the Hot Country Songs Chart, soon after it was re-released. In 2013, he was honored with the ACM New Male Artist Award for the album. Brantley subsequently released two more country albums that gained critical and commercial success. Two of his albums, ‘Halfway to Heaven’ and ‘Just as I Am’, are certified platinum records.
CMA and ACM Award-winner Luke Combs is a multi-platinum, No. 1 Country singer-songwriter from Asheville, NC. With brazen songwriting talent and grizzled, soul-infused vocals, Combs stormed onto the music landscape as one of country’s brightest stars with the release of his critically-acclaimed, RIAA double Platinum, No. 1 debut album, This One’s For You on River House Artists/Columbia Nashville. Since its release, the album has spent a total of 37 non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, including 16 weeks in 2018—the most of any album in a calendar year. The album's first five singles all reached #1 making Combs the first artist ever to score five consecutive career-opening #1’s on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
Born and raised in Kentucky, Chris Stapleton is an American musician who spent years in Nashville as a sought-after songwriter, furnishing songs for numerous artists. Easy to spot due to his signature long hair and prodigious beard, he became a major star in the autumn of 2015 when his debut solo album, Traveller, practically swept the CMAs. Traveller subsequently went platinum and Stapleton followed it up by drawing on his own vast repertoire of songs. In May 2017, he released From a Room: Volume 1, which won the CMA award for Album of the Year. In November 2017, he released From a Room: Volume 2.
Multiple Grammy® nominee Martina McBride has sold over 18 million albums to date, which includes 20 Top 10 singles and six #1 hits. McBride has released 13 studio albums and most recently announced a new Christmas album scheduled for the 2018 Holiday season. McBride has earned more than 15 major music awards, including four wins for Female Vocalist of the Year from the Country Music Association and won three Academy of Country Music for Top Female Vocalist. Martina has been awarded 14 Gold Records, nine Platinum honors, three Double Platinum Records, and two Triple Platinum Awards.
LeAnn Rimes has sold more than 44 million albums, won two Grammy® Awards, three Academy of Country Music Awards and 12 Billboard Music Awards. Rimes is the youngest recipient of a Grammy® Award, and was also the first country recording artist to win in the “Best New Artist” category. Rimes has placed 42 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 13 of which are top-10 hits, and has scored numerous hit singles in her career, including “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” which went #1 in 11 countries, and “How Do I Live,” which is the second longest charting song ever on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
As one half of the Judds, Wynonna Judd became one of the most popular and respected female country stars of her time. On her own since the early '90s, Judd demonstrated an eclecticism that increasingly confounded hardcore country fans and radio programmers but also helped her retain a core of admiring followers. Her solo records might stick with Judds-style country-pop or delve into roots rock, blues, gospel, adult contemporary pop, folk, or Southern R&B.
Lee Brice gave his first number one single after the age of 30, and he has not received a reputed country music award till date. Brice started singing and performing at the age of eight, and broke a 62 years old record of longest running single on the country chart with ‘Love Like Crazy’. Lee believes in quality rather than quantity, and has released only three albums so far, in addition to eleven singles.
With a voice that negotiates down-to-earth twang and melismatic pop, country-pop singer Gabby Barrett had her big break in 2018 when she reached the finals of the 16th season of American Idol. Her first country hit, "I Hope," followed in 2019. A native of Munhall, Pennsylvania, Barrett spent time writing and recording in Nashville as a high school student. Before auditioning for American Idol in Music City as a 17-year-old, she had also performed the national anthem at NFL and MLB games and opened tour stops for Toby Keith and Cole Swindell. Performing songs made famous by artists including Carrie Underwood, Maren Morris, and Miranda Lambert, Barrett eventually made it to the finals of the 2018 season of Idol, placing third. In mid-January 2019, she released the three- track EP Fireflies, following it a week later with the vengeful breakup single "I Hope." The song marked her debut on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Over the next year and half, Barrett delivered a handful of follow-up singles including "The Good Ones," "Hall of Fame," and the Shane & Shane collaboration "Got Me," which was touted as the first official single from her debut album, Goldmine.
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