Taylor Austin Dye hails from Booneville, Kentucky, where she first discovered her passion for singing at age five.
She said, “My mother said I learned to sing before I even learned to talk. I just babbled along with the songs. Then, in kindergarten, I had severe anxiety, and I didn’t get better until I started taking music lessons.”
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Songstress Riley Roth has released the viral father-daughter wedding song “Give Me Away” to go along with her other heartfelt hits, “Strangers” and “When God Made You My Mama.”
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British Country-Pop Star, Twinnie, Ends Her “Sad Girl Era” with Empowering New Album ‘Something We Used to Say.’
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Rising country artist Kelli Belles, known by her stage moniker Belles, is hitting the road this fall on her highly anticipated Trust Issues Tour. The tour kicked off on October 11th in Nashville, Tennessee, at The Basement and marked the beginning of a series of performances that will span the country, including stops in Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and more.
Belles comes from a musical family. Her grandmother, Geraldine A. “Jeri” Rizzuto, was a renowned jazz singer who performed in Chicago and throughout the Midwest. She also had a stint with the well-known Paul Moorhead Orchestra.
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When independent artist Emmy Moyen contacted me, I was unfamiliar with the name, but I was intrigued when I heard her music. She had just the right balance of sweetness and sass, and I wanted to learn more.
Moyen was born in Kentucky but raised in Starkville, Mississippi. Many from her Kentucky family have a background in bluegrass music, which has always been a part of her life.
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Sarah Hardwig is not unlike many of the females I interview. She moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University and study songwriting and music business.
And she sings at local venues when she can. Her voice is strong and clear, and she credits Patsy Cline and Carrie Underwood as singing inspirations. However, the difference is that Hardwig is blind, which has been the case for her entire life.
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Paulina Jayne is one of the most joyful artists I have ever met or interviewed. While I have featured her briefly while covering CRS, I have never done a full Spotlight article on her.
I knew she was working on new music, and when I learned the song “If I Knew Me Then” was about to be released, I knew it was the perfect time to feature the singer/songwriter.
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I featured Chase Rice in 2018 when he celebrated achieving number-one status with his blockbuster hit, “Eyes On You.” Early on, Chase Rice was a fixture in the bro-country scene with other megahits like “Ready Set Roll,” “Ride,” “Lonely If You Are,” and “Gonna Wanna Tonight,” to name a few.
But something shifted in the artist recently, who splits his time between Montana and Nashville when, in 2023, he released I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell. Even by the retro picture of his hero, his dad, Daniel (Danny) Rice, on the album cover, you knew this record would be different. For anyone anticipating the usual new country vibe, boy, were they in for a surprise. With unexpected songs like “Bench Seat” and “Key West & Colorado,” Billboard Magazine called it “one of 2023’s most unexpected artistic pivots” across all genres last year.
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I have wanted to interview country singer/songwriter Kassi Ashton for over six years. When I first heard her singing “California, Missouri” on Sirius XM in 2018, her music was so unique that it made her more memorable than most rising artists. Then, when I saw her open at the Budweiser Showcase and later open for Keith Urban, I knew Ashton was one to watch.
Ashton is from the tiny town of California, Missouri. By age five, she split her time performing and doing the pageant circuit with her mother while riding dirt bikes and shooting muzzleloaders with her father.
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Since country music isn’t about a place or demographic but about a mindset, I try to portray a wide range of what country music is and encompasses.
Someone who has been on my radar for a few years is a petite singer/songwriter with powerhouse vocals and an unstoppable attitude that combines to make the complete package known as Andrea Vasquez. The Cali native has blended her love of modern country and Latin-American roots to create a refreshing sound within the genre, with her newest song, “Solo,” out this week.
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At just 17 years old, the teen country sensation has released her second EP, Cowboys, a collection of three significant songs that cements her insightful music on the country music landscape. This follows her first EP, Teenage Heartbreak which was released at age 16.
I wanted to know how one so young got into singing and songwriting at such an early age. She said, “My parents bought me this old Casio keyboard at a garage sale when I was three or four, not the nicest thing, just something to get me into a hobby.”
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In the past, I have interviewed many veterans who got into music full-time after they left the service. But I have never featured an active-duty military member.
Meet Bree Jaxson, which is a stage name, currently deployed overseas as a Captain for Cyberspace Operations in the U.S. Air National Guard. She is also an accomplished country music singer and songwriter.
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One of the conundrums that singer/songwriters face is “Do you write songs for the radio or songs that are personal and meaningful?” It is often tricky to do both simultaneously, but Thomas Rhett Akins can do it, and he is one of the best in the business. He relies on anecdotes from his personal life and family to provide heart-pumping, danceable tunes that make him a favorite on country radio.
His main muse in songwriting is naturally his beautiful wife, Lauren, along with their four precious daughters. Songs like the massive number one “Die A Happy Man,” “Star of the Show,” “Unforgettable,” and “Look What God Gave Her” are just a fraction of the hits he has written about his wife.
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When I met singer/producer Terran “T-RAN” Gilbert of 22Visionz Entertainment last year, he mentioned a remarkable artist he worked with, Taylor Sanders. It took nearly a year, but I finally had the opportunity to interview this powerful artist.
Sanders has been performing most of her life. Since age five, she has been involved in singing, piano, dance, and gymnastics. She loves anything related to the performing arts.
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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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Tiffany Woys has always wanted to be a performer. Her mother was a huge Celine Dion fan, and when she was five, her mother took her to her first concert. Even though she was so young, it had a profound impact on her. She wasn’t sure exactly what was happening, but she knew she wanted to hold a microphone and sing.
A few years later, Woys heard LeAnn Rimes sing the National Anthem at a Dallas Cowboys football game, so she started singing the National Anthem whenever she could. Her parents finally started taking her desire to sing as a career more seriously. However, they insisted that she attend college and get a degree. She could become a singer later on.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee—Zach John King is from Fayetteville, Georgia, a small town outside of Atlanta with a population of 18,000. His grandparents exposed him to country music, but his dad gave him a preloaded iPod shuffle with everything from Otis Redding to Alabama on it. King took guitar lessons for four years…
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When I met MaRynn Taylor at CMT’s Next Women of Country 2023, I knew I would love her music because I immediately loved her personality. And while I covered her at CRS and her music in my Christmas blog, I had not done a full feature on the songstress. When I learned her debut EP, Get To Know Me was being released at the end of May, I knew it was high time that I get to know her.
Taylor grew up in Rockford, Michigan, listening to country music. Although no one in her family was particularly musical, she was obsessed with artists like Hannah Montana, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Swift.
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Allie Colleen has been around music her entire life. She began writing poetry at age eight and got serious about learning guitar by age 14. Combining these two hobbies, she dove headfirst into songwriting.
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Matt Oakley grew up around all kinds of music. His dad was a DJ in the military in Germany.
He recalled, “We always had those little boomboxes going and those old CD players that were like small oval-shaped. We have our home videos. And almost everyone, whether it was on a desk or a kitchen table, or me and my sisters dancing around, we were always around music. And in car rides, when we would go on road trips, we would play music trivia or play the song. The first person to get what the song is and who it’s by gets a point.”
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Last July, when NBC The Voice alums, Katelyn Drye and Derek Drye announced their lead single “Sawdust” off their forthcoming EP, I was keen to feature them because I loved the song so much. Now, after the success of the rowdy Raisin’ Beers & Hallelujahs EP, The Dryes have chronicled a more serious side of the past four years of their lives with their newest EP, Dear Heart.
Even though they are an extremely talented, happily married couple, they still go through struggles like the rest of us. This newest body of work showcases moments of grief, honest questioning, finding relief in moments of hope, and living with a beautiful new perspective. This is especially important now as May marks the highly important Mental Health Awareness Month.
In February, the duo released the first track off of their newest EP, “A Little Longer.” The video for the song, which was played on CMT, features a breathtaking sunset. The couple pic
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In September of 2023, my brother sent me a video of a country song called “If Daddy Didn’t Have a Truck” by Cody Webb. At the time, TikTok wouldn’t play it because of “sensitive religious content.” That naturally made me want to listen and find out what about the song was so offensive.
For inexplicable reasons, the lyrics I’da never known Jesus loves me/ Fell in love with kicking up dirt/ I’da never known how forgiveness or a carburetor works/ Only the good Lord knows how a good ol’ boy like me mighta wound up/ If Mama didn’t have a Bible/ And Daddy didn’t have a truck were not permissible to the general public.
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In a historic event at Belmont’s Fisher Center, the female collective known as the Song Suffragettes celebrated its tenth anniversary to a packed-out crowd last week
Each year, they celebrate their March anniversary, and they honor a significant female singer and/or songwriter. This year’s Yellow Rose of Inspiration award fittingly went to Wynonna Judd, an acclaimed singer/songwriter and long-time promoter of women in country music. Past Yellow Rose of Inspiration award winners include Laura Veltz, Ashley McBryde, Natalie Hemby, and Kelsea Ballerini.
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When I heard the buttery twang that encapsulates Bryce Leatherwood, I knew exactly why he won Season 22 of NBC’s “The Voice.” Even before he sang a word, you knew he had it.
Leatherwood is a 23-year-old singer/songwriter who aims to carry the torch of the country music he grew up with. He was born and raised in Woodstock, Georgia, and spent every summer working on his grandpa’s farm and listening to his grandpa’s music.
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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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An artist I have been wanting to interview for years is RaeLynn. Born Racheal Lynn Woodward, the artist has a singular spunk and sass that is a huge asset in the sea of female country singers/songwriters. But her gift for storytelling through her honest lyrics endears her so fiercely to her fans.
RaeLynn grew up in a musical family and began singing in church at a young age.
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It’s hard to believe that I interviewed 13-year-old Darci Lynne six years ago. In 2018, she was the reigning winner of season 12 of America’s Got Talent proving her skills as an exceptional ventriloquist, puppeteer, and entertainer. Lynne was in town to perform at the Ryman and the Opry.
I remember thinking, “If she can sing that well with her mouth closed, how great she would be singing with her mouth open.” The answer is, “Very well.”
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I often encounter veterans while writing about country music. And while only a few veterans also become performing musicians, something about having served makes their music ring true, especially in the patriotic realm of country music.
Scotty Hasting is from the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area. Although he was in several school choirs, being a musician was never a life goal. He joined the army in October 2010, and by April 2011, he was shot and was lucky to be alive.
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Toby Keith, the country music singer-songwriter behind hits such as “Beer for My Horses,” “Red Solo Cup” and “Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue,” passed away, his family announced Tuesday. He was 62.
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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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Krystal King has had country music in her soul practically since birth. Her parents told her that when she was a toddler, they were scanning the radio stations and when it got to an Alan Jackson song, she squealed, “Oh stop, stop.” And she has been listening to country music ever since.
As she got older, the North Carolina native was visiting friends on the coast. A man was DJing at a restaurant. Her parents dared to get up there and sing a song. So, she walked up to him and asked him if I could sing “You’re Still the One” by Shania Twain.
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Music Spotlight artist Grace Leer made her acting debut in a Blake Shelton-produced new Hallmark Movie, Time For Her To Come Home For Christmas. Leer costars alongside Shenae Grimes-Beech and Chris Carmack in a holiday romance mystery that is airing during Hallmark’s annual “Miracles of Christmas” programming event.
To many, the words “Hallmark Movie” and “Blake Shelton” don’t appear to belong together, but this movie is the sixth installment of the popular movie franchise based upon the book Time for Me to Come Home by Dorothy Shackleford and Travis Thrasher and Shelton’s song of the same name. Leer performs Shelton’s hit “Time for Me to Come Home” in the movie as well.
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Not being raised in the world of country music, I missed out on knowing about a lot of key players who are part of the foundation of what Nashville has become. Radney Foster is one such person.
While writing my column for the past six years, Foster’s kept coming up, but I was unfamiliar with his work. Then I saw an interview where Darius Rucker credits Foster for the reason he is in country music.
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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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Kyle Petty is a former NASCAR driver turned racing analyst who has become one of the most popular personalities in all of sports. As a member of one of NASCAR’s pioneer families, Kyle is as much a product of racing as he is of his famous father, Richard Petty “The King,” and grandfather, Lee Petty. His son Adam Petty also raced before a tragic racing accident in 2020. While his name will forever connect him to NASCAR, Kyle Petty made significant strides outside of racing in music and philanthropy.
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After a detour that took her to Somalia, Jo Smith is back with her debut full-length album, ‘Wyoming,’ a sweet and somber record that will bring you all the feels.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Taylor Edwards has been singing since she was a toddler. Her parents remembered that at age 3 she would jump on a table in a restaurant and start singing.
Her parents thought, “Oh goodness, this one, she likes the attention.”
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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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Even though Noah Guthrie played Roderick on Season 6 of Glee in 2015, making music has always been his aspiration. As a very young child, the South Carolina native grew up going to recording studios with his dad and step-mom who were both background singers.
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I attended RomaDrama Live! last year initially because several of the artists I had featured in my column were part of the entertainment. And of course, it was fun to see and meet the popular actors of favorite romance dramas and Hallmark movies. But what I wasn’t expecting was for one of the actors to be a genuinely talented country music singer/songwriter.
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Prolific urban-country singer/songwriter Julia Cole delivers something for everyone with her innate ability to relate to her audience via her original music.
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One of the first questions I ask an artist is if they come from a musical family. Since Anthony Nix was a foster kid who got adopted at age seven, his answer to that question was “I don’t know.”
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Dr. James Robert Webb is a successful radiologist who just happens to be an accomplished country music singer/songwriter. When I interviewed him in April of 2020, he was getting ready to release a self-titled album as the nation was going into lockdown.
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