Lexie Hayden is a rising songstress who draws inspiration from artists like Dolly Parton, Cheryl Crow, Maren Morris, and Kacey Musgraves.
Although she wasn’t raised in a particularly musical family, her brother is an avid guitarist. While she is a gifted performer, her heart lies in songwriting, a passion she has honed since age 14.
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Nashville native Jet Jurgensmeyer has been performing all his life. At age 19, his resume is longer than that of many who are three times his age. Jurgensmeyer has been acting since he was a small child and has recently done a lot of voice-over work. He can be seen in everything from Last Man Standing to Bubble Guppies.
When I met Jurgensmeyer at the 2024 Country Radio Seminar, I discovered that his passion for singing and songwriting may almost be greater than his affinity toward acting. Growing up in Nashville, his parents are the former owners of the Nashville Palace, a long-time popular music venue across from the Opryland Hotel and Grand Ole Opry.
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When Amy Sheppard who is part of the wildly popular Australian band, Sheppard, decided to put out country music, I was intrigued. I wanted to find out more about this family and their musical roots.
Amy Sheppard is an Australian singer-songwriter. Along with her siblings George Sheppard and Emma Sheppard, she is a founding and current member of the indie pop band Sheppard. The group is 34X platinum, and their massive hit “Geronimo” has had more than 750 million streams.
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A duo that kept showing up in my Instagram feed was a couple of kids, known as Jake & Shelby. Jake Lawson and Shelby Haim are teenagers from Hendersonville, Tennessee. Known for their smooth vocals and intricate guitar arrangements, their magical mix of melody and lyrics is enticing. The pop duo has nearly 900,000 followers on Instagram. Their TikTok videos have had over 70 mllion views.
At just 18 and 19 years of age, I knew if I had any chance of featuring them, I had better contact them as soon as possible.
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When I saw the rock band NEEDTOBREATHE had new music coming, a bell went off. Weren’t they a band that my kids used to listen to? Indeed, they are.
NEEDTOBREATHE is an American rock band from Seneca, South Carolina. The band is composed of Bear Rinehart (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Seth Bolt (backing vocals, bass), Josh Lovelace (backing vocals, keys), Randall Harris (drums, percussion), and Tyler Burkum (guitar). I interviewed Lovelace to get more information on their band and their upcoming 9th album, CAVES.
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Laine Lonero is from Louisiana, where she studied opera and musical theater as a child. No one in her immediate family sings at all. The classically trained artist started lessons at age six and where she learned the basics of how to sing properly.
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Even though I am a bit older and have a certain style of music that I gravitate towards when a young artist blows up, I am smart enough to pay attention. The younger set are the biggest consumers of digital music, and what they think and like often drives what radio stations play and record labels pay attention to.
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One thing I have learned while writing my blog is that there is a lot more to Canadian country music than Shania Twain. The Canadians love their country music and have given us Tenille Arts and Tenille Towns, Lindsey Ell, Terri Clark, Brett Kissel, Manny Blu, Kimberly Dawn, Tebey, and country rocker, Cory Marks to name a few.
Therefore, When I heard Sacha sing at a writers’ round recently, I was not a bit surprised to find out that she was from Ontario, Canada. Now living in Nashville, I met up with her at CMT’s Next Women of Country and scheduled an interview.
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I met Wendy Starland at a party in Nashville celebrating an upcoming original music competition TV show that will air on MTV later this year. When we arrived, everyone was clamoring to get a picture with her. She was so beautiful that I was taken aback. However, I wondered why she was there.
It turns out that Starland is a musical maven. One of the show’s producers told me that she was a brilliant songwriter and that I needed to meet her. After we met, I asked if she wanted to be featured in my Music Spotlight column, and she gave me her phone number.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Shaylen grew up in Allen, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. It was there that she first began performing, singing in church, and acting in local children’s theater. She also sang in her school choir and took private vocal, piano, and guitar lessons.
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The Buckleys family band from Australia is a distinctive, original trio whose music brings hope back to the currently stale popular music scene with their newest EP, ‘Take It As It Comes.’
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A 90s-inspired dark-rock band, CHLSY, presents original music on their latest record, ‘Quantum Entanglement.’
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- The Beasley Brothers are a country duo formerly from North Alabama but now based out of Nashville. They are comprised of Lawson and Jackson Beasley. Being only 18 months apart, the pair grew up doing everything together.
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Bailey James’ new single “Don’t Need Ya,” was written and produced by the incredible Nolan Neal Seals of The Voice and America’s Got Talent, who recently passed away.
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Those acquainted with gospel music are sure to be familiar with the celebrated music of the Ernie Haase and Signature Sound quartet. After a young Haase completed his debut with the popular Cathedrals in the 1990s, he formed his own gospel quartet in 2003 whose familiar heartfelt sound is well known by the Gaither set and Christians worldwide.
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The incomparable pop diva, Karine Hannah, turns rock ballads on their heads with her unique twists on the songs. Her voice evokes emotion like none other as is evinced in her latest single, “Hysteria.”
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I keep writing my Music Spotlight column because of the stories. And while we all appreciate the music that these singer/songwriters bring to us, it is the stories of these tireless individuals that keep me coming back to my computer to share what I have learned with my readers.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – A lot of people, myself included, are trying to wrap their heads around Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and exactly how they work. When I got asked to interview a country artist, Sammy Arriaga, who was successfully using NFTs in promoting his music, I was interested.
Sammy Arriaga is a Miami-born Cuban American. While his father occasionally sang and played guitar, he discovered his love for music on his own. He has been writing lyrics and downloading instrumentals from the internet since his early teens. He taught himself how to play guitar by watching YouTube videos.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Ainsley Costello comes from a musical background. When her dad, James Costello, was young, he moved to Los Angeles to “do the whole music thing” in much the same way that Costello has moved to Nashville. At one point he was in a touring band and toured the world. And even though he now has a day job, he was always in revolving bands, playing shows and playing music in the house.
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When I heard that the Canadian Country Music multi-award winner, Brett Kissel was releasing a song with 98°, I was excited and curious at the same time. The group’s song, “Ain’t the Same” isn’t exactly country, pop, or R & B, but it is fantastic. Once I heard it, it went straight to my Beach playlist.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – In the more than two years since our first interview, so much has happened in Parker McKay’s life. When I saw that she was trying out for NBC’s The Voice, I knew it was time to catch up.
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Firerose is an Australian singer and songwriter who moved from Sydney to Los Angeles at age 19. Even though her music has a dance-pop vibe, with her fiercely personal lyrics, she is as good a songwriter as any country lyricist out there.
Firerose states she grew up in a musical family. She was writing songs as soon as she could speak. She was born with a gift and she knew it was hers to cultivate.
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Like me, Amanda Cooksey was not raised on country music. Cooksey started playing piano at the early age of six and began learning classical music. Later on, she took voice lessons and started singing in church in middle school. However, this “super shy” kid did not want to be in the spotlight.
Even though being in front of people wasn’t easy for her, Cooksey always loved music. As a young girl, she found a piano/vocal instructor, Ron Feldman, who changed her life.
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