Country is a genre of popular music that originated with blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, old-time, and American folk music forms including Appalachian, Cajun, Creole, and the cowboy Western music styles of New Mexico, Red Dirt, Tejano, and Texas country. Its popularized roots originate in the Southern and Southwestern United States of the early 1920s.
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actress, author, businesswoman, and humanitarian, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album debut in 1967 with Hello, I'm Dolly, which led to success during the remainder of the 1960s, before her sales and chart peak came during the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. Parton's albums in the 1990s did not sell as well, but she achieved commercial success again in the new millennium and has released albums on various independent labels since 2000, including her own label, Dolly Records. She has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
Troyal Garth Brooks is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of rock and pop elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the country music single and album charts, multi-platinum recordings and record-breaking live performances, while also crossing over into the mainstream pop arena.
Eilleen "Shania" Twain is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Her success garnered her several honorific titles including the "Queen of Country Pop". Billboard named her as the leader of the '90s country-pop crossover stars.
Emmylou Harris is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2018, she was presented the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Audrey Faith McGraw, known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and record producer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide.
Billy Ray Cyrus is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, and is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and became the first single ever to achieve triple platinum status in Australia. It was also the best-selling single in the same country in 1992. Due to the song's music video, the line dance rose in popularity.
Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor, known for his pioneering style of country music. First becoming popular in the mid-1980s, Yoakam has recorded more than 20 albums and compilations, charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and sold more than 30 million records. He has recorded five Billboard No. 1 albums, twelve gold albums, and nine platinum albums, including the triple-platinum This Time.
Reba Nell McEntire, also known mononymously as Reba, is an American country singer, songwriter, and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band, on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. While a sophomore in college at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, she performed the National Anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City and caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall who brought her to Nashville, Tennessee. She signed a contract with Mercury Records a year later in 1975. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five additional studio albums under the label until 1983, using producers who placed her within the Nashville sound.
Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Rimes rose to stardom at age 13 following the release of her version of the Bill Mack song "Blue", becoming the youngest country music star since Tanya Tucker in 1972.
Kenneth Ray Rogers was an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 420 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time. Rogers was a Country, pop, outlaw country, country rock, country pop, soft rock, easy listening and adult contemporary
Samuel Timothy McGraw is an American country singer, actor, guitarist, and record producer. McGraw has released 16 studio albums. 10 of those albums have reached number one on the Top Country Albums charts, with his 1994 breakthrough album Not a Moment Too Soon being the top country album of 1994. In total, McGraw's albums have produced 65 singles, 25 of which have reached number one on the Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts. Three of these singles – "It's Your Love", "Just to See You Smile", and "Live Like You Were Dying" – were respectively the top country songs of 1997, 1998, and 2004 according to Billboard Year-End. He has also won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards, and three People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour, which was done in partnership with his wife, Faith Hill, is one of the highest-grossing tours in country music history, and one of the top five among all genres of music. He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Kenneth Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and record producer. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, 32 of which have reached number one. Many of these have also charted within the Top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100, making him one of the most successful crossover country artists. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The now Platinum-certified debut album also produced two more top 20 entries.
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of American Idol in 2005.
Keith Lionel Urbahn is an Australian-American singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, charting four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year. He found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and charted two singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her narrative songwriting, which is often inspired by her personal experiences, has received widespread media coverage and critical praise. Swift moved to Nashville at age 14 to become a country music singer, signing a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2004 and a recording deal with Big Machine in 2005.
John R. Cash was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his career. He was known for his deep, calm bass-baritone voice, the distinctive sound of his Tennessee Three backing band characterized by train-like chugging guitar rhythms, a rebelliousness coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor, free prison concerts, and a trademark all-black stage wardrobe which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black".
Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan is an American country music singer and songwriter. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Nashville in 2007. He is one of the most successful and awarded country artists of the 2010s and 2020s.
Kacey Lee Musgraves is an American singer and songwriter. She has won six Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, and three Academy of Country Music Awards. Musgraves self-released three solo albums and one as Texas Two Bits, before appearing on the fifth season of the USA Network's singing competition Nashville Star in 2007, where she placed seventh. Musgraves also released a Christmas-themed album, A Very Kacey Christmas, in 2016.
