George Harvey Strait Sr. is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is known as the "King of Country" and is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was a prominent and pioneering figure in the neotraditional country movement, famed for his simple cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts.
Outlaw country is a subgenre of American country music created by a small group of iconoclastic artists active in the 1970s and early 1980s, known collectively as the outlaw movement, who fought for and won their creative freedom outside of the Nashville establishment that dictated the sound of most country music of the era. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and David Allan Coe were among the movement's most commercially successful members.
Ronald Gene Dunn is an American country music singer-songwriter and record executive. Starting in 2011, Dunn has worked as a solo artist following the temporary dissolution of Brooks & Dunn. He released his self-titled debut album for Arista Nashville on June 7, 2011, reaching the Top 10 with its lead-off single "Bleed Red". In 2013, after leaving Arista Nashville in 2012, Dunn founded Little Will-E Records. On April 8, 2014, Ronnie Dunn released his second solo album, Peace, Love, and Country Music through his Little Will-E Records. On November 11, 2016, he released his third album Tattooed Heart on NASH Icon label. His fourth album Re-Dunn was released on January 10, 2020.
Henry William Thompson was an American country music singer-songwriter and musician whose career spanned seven decades.
Patrick Craven Green is an American Texas Country artist. Active since 1995, he has recorded a total of seven studio albums, including several independent works, three for Republic Records and two for BNA. Fifteen of his singles have charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, of which the highest-peaking is the No. 3 "Wave on Wave" from his gold-certified album of the same name.
Aubrey Wilson Mullican, known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with the hillbilly boogie style which influenced rockabilly. Jerry Lee Lewis cited him as a major influence on his own singing and piano playing.
Starday Records was an American record label producing traditional country music during the 1950s and 1960s.
Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nashville. UMG Nashville not only handles these imprints, but also manages the country music catalogues of record labels Universal Music and predecessor companies acquired over the years including ABC Records, Decca Records, Dot Records, DreamWorks Records, Kapp Records, MGM Records and Polydor Records.
Hubert Neal McGaughey Jr., known professionally as Neal McCoy, is an American country music singer. He has released 10 studio albums on various labels, and has released 34 singles to country radio. Although he first charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1988, he did not reach the top 40 for the first time until 1992's "Where Forever Begins", which peaked at number 40. McCoy broke through two years later with the back-to-back number one singles "No Doubt About It" and "Wink" from his platinum-certified album No Doubt About It. Although he has not topped the country charts since, his commercial success continued into the mid to late 1990s with two more platinum albums and a gold album, as well as six more top 10 hits. A ninth top 10 hit, the number 10 "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On", came in 2005 from his self-released That's Life.
Jack Owen Ingram is an American country music artist formerly signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, six live albums, and 19 singles. Although active since 1992, Ingram did not reach the U.S. Country Top 40 until the release of his single "Wherever You Are" late-2005. A number one hit on the Billboard country charts, that song was also his first release for Big Machine and that label's first Number One hit. Ingram has sent six other songs into the country Top 40 with "Love You", "Lips of an Angel", "Measure of a Man", "Maybe She'll Get Lonely", "That's a Man", and "Barefoot and Crazy".
Delbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist.
Jason Boland & The Stragglers is an American Red Dirt/Texas Country band featuring Harrah, Oklahoma, native Jason Boland, Jake Lynn (percussion), Grant Tracy (bass), Nick Gedra and AJ Slaughter.
Arista Nashville is an American record label that serves as a wholly owned division of Sony Music, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division. Founded in 1989, the label specializes in country music artists, including Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, and Carrie Underwood, Jared Johnson, Beau Davidson, Paula MacNeill. The label used to operate three sister labels: Career Records, Arista Austin, and Arista Latin. It is a subsidiary of Arista Records since Arista's relaunch in 2018, but during the dissolution, Arista Nashville was not affected and it remains a Sony Music label.
Timothy Ray Rushlow is an American recording artist. Between 1991 and 1997, Rushlow was lead vocalist of country music group Little Texas, which recorded four albums and a Greatest Hits package, in addition to charting more than fifteen singles on the Billboard country singles charts during Rushlow's tenure as lead vocalist.
Harold W. Daily, better known as "Pappy" Daily, was an American country music record producer and entrepreneur who cofounded the Texas-based record label Starday Records. Daily worked with many of the well-known artists in country music during the 1950s and 1960s, especially George Jones, who looked upon him as a father figure and as a business advisor. Other artists with whom Daily worked include Melba Montgomery, J. P. Richardson, and Roger Miller.
Sunny Michaela Sweeney is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is signed to the Thirty Tigers label. She was formerly with the Republic Nashville label and Big Machine Records. Her debut album, Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame, was independently issued in 2006 and then regionally released in 2007. It produced three regional singles in "If I Could", "Ten Years Pass" and "East Texas Pines", and these songs charted on the Texas Music Chart. In June 2010, the lead-off to her second studio album, "From a Table Away," became her first single to chart.
Robert Keith Stegall is an American country music recording artist and record producer. Active since 1980, Stegall has recorded two major-label studio albums: 1985's Keith Stegall and 1996's Passages, although he is mainly known for his production work.
Jerrod Lee Niemann is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has released one single for Category 5 Records (2006); three albums for Sea Gayle Music/Arista Nashville: Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury (2010), Free the Music (2012), and High Noon (2014); and one album, This Ride (2017), for Curb Records. These albums have produced a combined ten Top 40 entries on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, including the Platinum Number 1 singles "Lover, Lover" and "Drink to That All Night" and Gold Top 5 single "What Do You Want". He has also co-written three singles for Garth Brooks: the chart topping Chris LeDoux tribute "Good Ride Cowboy", as well as "That Girl Is a Cowboy" and "Midnight Sun". Jamey Johnson, Lee Brice, Blake Shelton, Colbie Caillat, Diamond Rio, The Cadillac Three, Mark Chesnutt, John Anderson, Neal McCoy, Christian Kane, and Julie Roberts have also recorded Niemann's songs.
The Troublemaker is the 20th studio album by country singer and songwriter Willie Nelson. When Nelson refused to sign an early extension of his contract with RCA in 1972, the label decided not to release any further recordings. Nelson hired Neil Reshen as his manager, and while Reshen negotiated with RCA, Nelson moved to Austin, Texas, where the ongoing hippie music scene at the Armadillo World Headquarters renewed his musical style. In Nashville, Nelson met producer Jerry Wexler, vice president of Atlantic Records, who was interested in his music. Reshen solved the problems with RCA and signed Nelson with Atlantic Records as their first country music artist.
Cody Daniel Johnson is an American country music singer-songwriter. He self-released six albums, including Gotta Be Me, which debuted at number two on Billboard's Country Albums chart, before releasing his first major-label album, Ain't Nothin' to It, in January 2019. He released his second major-label album, Human: The Double Album, in October 2021.
