 | | Country music singer and songwriter Dustin Lynch was born and raised in Tullahoma, Tennessee, and grew up influenced by what he calls "the class of '89," Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, and Clint Black, all of whom had their first national success in 1989. |
 | | Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Greg Bates was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, the heart, soul, and center of country music. |
 | | Actor, singer, and songwriter Jana Kramer was born December 3, 1983, and grew up with country music. |
 | | Country singer and songwriter Randy Houser was born and raised in Lake, Mississippi, where his love of music was apparent even as a young child. |
 | | Pop-country trio Love and Theft fell into place in Nashville when singers and songwriters Eric Gunderson, Stephen Barker Liles, and Brian Bandas threw in together, taking turns singing lead while the other two sang gorgeous backing harmonies. |
 | | Working to the traditional side of contemporary country, singer, songwriter, pianist and Georgia native Craig Campbell is blessed with a deep, expressive voice, an awareness of the genre’s history and a no-gimmicks approach to performance that brings out the sincerity in his songs. |
 | | Georgia-born singer/songwriter Thomas Rhett, the son of award-winning country crooner Rhett Akins, didn’t start seriously considering following in his father's footsteps until his senior year in high school. |
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 | | Born and raised in rural Gilchrist County, Florida, Easton Corbin remembered wanting to be a country singer as early as three or four years old. |
 | | Country singer and songwriter Tyler Farr was born and raised in Garden City, Missouri. He had an early exposure to country music, thanks in no small part to the fact that his father played lead guitar in country icon George Jones' touring band, and he even accompanied his father for a summer on the road at the age of 16. |
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 | | Although originally known as the guy who, upon Kara Dioguardi’s request, stripped off his shirt during his American Idol audition, Casey James quickly became one of the show’s leading contestants, celebrated for both his guitar skills and bluesy vocals. |
 | | Songwriter and country singer Kacey Musgraves was born in East Texas, and made her stage debut at eight years old. |
 | | Florida Georgia Line is the country singer and songwriter duo of Tyler Hubbard (from Monroe, Georgia) and Brian Kelley (from Ormand Beach, Florida). |
 | | A country trio that brings myriad influences, from rock to R&B, into its sound, the FARM grew out of a songwriting session in Tennessee in 2010. |
 | | Justin Moore hit Nashville in 2009 with a ready-made image. He was the good kid from a small town with a rowdy heart of gold who just happened to be able to sing about it. |
 | | Country singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Charlie Worsham was born September 1, 1985 in Jackson, Mississippi, and music became his main interest at a young age. |
 | | Country singer and songwriter Lee Brice walks a path between traditional honky tonk sounds and contemporary rock & roll; as Brice puts it, his music sounds like what would happen if Hank Williams Jr. |
 | | Although it’s tempting to call Brantley Gilbert a country artist -- he certainly embraces the outlaw country side of things -- in many ways his music is closer to the heartland sentiments of artists like John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, and perhaps most apt, Steve Earle. |
 | | The country vocal group Gloriana began taking shape in 2007, when Tom Gossin and Mike Gossin -- two guitar-playing brothers who had been working as a duo in North Carolina -- moved to Nashville and met Rachel Reinert. |
 | | Country singer and songwriter Jon Pardi, born May 20, 1985, and raised in Dixon, California, discovered his love of country music early, thanks in no small part to his grandfather's country karaoke machine. |
 | | Country singer and songwriter Jerrod Niemann has penned songs for Garth Brooks, Neal McCoy, Jamey Johnson, and Zona Jones, among others, and has built a strong fan base as a performer of his own material as well. |
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 | | Cut from the same cloth as fiery crooners Jana Kramer, Miranda Lambert, and Carrie Underwood, country singer Maggie Rose was born Margaret Rose Durante in 1988 in Potomac, Maryland. |
 | | Country artist Josh Thompson kicked off his career in 2009, when the songwriter released his first single, “Beer on the Table,” and co-authored a song for Jason Michael Carroll’s Top Ten album Growing Up Is Getting Old. |
 | | When he was four years old, Chris Cagle moved from Louisiana to the outskirts of Houston, where he grew up. |
 | | Singer/songwriter Craig Morgan was an army brat before he opted for a career in music. Born and raised in Nashville, Morgan was already a country music fan with dreams of playing guitar and making it big. |
 | | When plans for a professional golfing career were derailed by an injury, country songwriter Jake Owen picked up a guitar and never looked back. |
 | | Born and raised in Kennett, Missouri, country singer and songwriter David Nail was drawn at first to sports, particularly baseball, but found himself dreaming of a music career too, and as time went by, he put more and more of his time and energy in the direction of music. |
 | | Country music singer Brett Eldredge was born in Paris, IL and grew up listening to singers Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, and Bobby Darin. |
 | | Before he became half of Brooks & Dunn, the most popular country duo of the '90s, Kix Brooks cut an unsuccessful solo album on the basis of a much more productive songwriting career. |
 | | A husband-and-wife country duo comprised of Keifer Thompson and Shawna Thompson, Thompson Square combine classic rock, country, and singer/songwriter strands into a sharp, pleasant country-pop mix. |
 | | The grandson of onetime Louisiana Hayride performer Richard Yates, country singer/songwriter Chris Young hails from Murfreesboro, TN, and first drew the public's attention when he appeared on the Nashville Star television show in 2006. |
 | | A product of the Mississippi Delta region, Steve Azar was born April 11, 1964. After moving to Nashville to pursue a career in music, he released his debut album, Heartbreak Town, in 1996. |
 | | A country-pop-folk trio with roots in Arkansas, Edens Edge are comprised of Hannah Blaylock (lead vocals), Dean Berner (harmony vocals, guitar, Dobro), and Cherrill Green (harmony vocals, mandolin, banjo, guitar). |
 | | A country singer and songwriter with a Southern rock heart, James Otto was born into a military family at the Fort Louis Army Base in Washington and grew up all over the U. |
 | | By all Nash Vegas accounts, North Carolina singer/songwriter Jimmy Wayne comes from the wrong side of the tracks. |
 | | When he was just 19 years old, Hunter Hayes became one of the hottest new stars in country music, having signed with a major label and attracted plenty of press attention and airplay, but despite his youth, this wasn't really new for Hayes -- he was playing for paying audiences at the age of five and cut his first album when he was only nine. |
 | | Though country singer Rodney Atkins didn't get his first guitar until one Christmas in high school, he took to the instrument instantly and was soon playing anywhere he could around his Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, home. |
 | | The framework for country band the Lost Trailers has been around ever since guitarist and songwriter Stokes Nielson and a high school friend of his from Atlanta, keyboardist/vocalist Ryder Lee, released the independent CD The Story of the New Age Cowboy. |
 | | Born and raised in Dallas, TX, country vocalist Steve Holy was the youngest of eight children and entertained his grade school classmates with his imitations of Conway Twitty. |
 | | Country singer Jason Michael Carroll is a rootsy artist with a rocker's edge. Carroll was raised in a strict religious family in North Carolina and had little contact with secular country music. |
 | | Country singer/songwriter James Wesley was born and raised in Mound Valley, KS. Originally signed to Warner Bros. |
 | | Fusing a young man's take on heartland rock with the tougher side of Texas country music and the cocky enthusiasm of alt-country firebrands, the Eli Young Band have become a potent draw in the Southwest on the strength of local airplay and extensive touring. |
 | | Country singer/songwriter/guitarist Eric Church grew up in Granite Falls, North Carolina, and began singing as a child. |
 | | Women swoon every time hunky country heartthrob Keith Anderson takes the stage, but despite his good looks, Anderson's first big country music break was a behind-the-scenes job. |
 | | The runner-up on the 2011 season of Fox's American Idol, Lauren Alaina is a Southern singer with a bent toward contemporary country-pop. |
 | | Singer, mandolin player, and ace fiddler Susie Brown and singer and guitarist Danelle Leverett were each pursuing their own solo musical careers when they were introduced to each other by songwriter Kris Bergsnes after one of Brown's sets at a Nashville club. |
 | | A country singing duo who took the 21st century path of winning a television talent show (Can You Duet) to break into the public eye, Steel Magnolia consist of Meghan Linsey and Joshua Scott Jones. |
