Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with Midwest hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in the year 2000, with his debut album Country Grammar, of which the featured title track and the single "Ride wit Me" were top ten hits. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and went on to peak at number one. Country Grammar is Nelly's best-selling album to date, selling over 8.4 million copies in the United States. His following album, Nellyville, produced the number-one hits "Hot in Herre" and "Dilemma". Other singles included "Work It", "Air Force Ones", "Pimp Juice" and "#1".
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.
Howard Earl Bailey Jr., known professionally as Chingy, is an American rapper and actor. Chingy grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and began rapping in his late teens. He toured as an opening act with Nelly in the summer of 2002 and then became a protégé of Ludacris, who signed him to his newly formed Disturbing Tha Peace (DTP) record label. The rapper's 2003 summer debut single, "Right Thurr", put him on the musical map as a good-time rapper who specialized in catchy, club-friendly beats and simplistic lyrics delivered in a sing-song, nursery rhyme style.
"Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Take Me Home" or "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver about West Virginia. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two on Billboard's US Hot 100 singles for the week ending August 28, 1971. The song was a success on its initial release and was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 18, 1971, and Platinum on April 10, 2017. The song became one of John Denver's most popular and beloved songs. It has continued to sell, with over 1.6 million digital copies sold in the United States.
Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, Remedy, released in 2014, won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The group's music has been called old-time, folk, and alternative country. Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs.
Joshua Hayes Carll, known professionally as Hayes Carll, is a singer-songwriter. A native of The Woodlands, Texas, his style of roots-oriented songwriting has been noted for its plainspoken poetry and sarcastic humor.
Brandi Marie Carlile is an American multiple Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter and producer whose music spans many genres. As of 2020, Carlile has released six studio albums and earned eleven Grammy Award nominations, including one for The Firewatcher's Daughter, six for By the Way, I Forgive You, and three for her work as producer and songwriter on Tanya Tucker's 2019 album While I’m Livin’. She was the most nominated woman at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards (six) including nominations for Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. In 2019, Carlile formed an all-female quartet with Amanda Shires, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby called the Highwomen. They released their debut album The Highwomen in 2019 to critical and commercial acclaim.
Lorraine "Lori" McKenna is an American folk, Americana, and country music singer, songwriter, and performer. In 2016, she was nominated for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and won Best Country Song for co-writing the hit single "Girl Crush" performed by Little Big Town. In 2017, she again won Best Country Song at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards for writing "Humble and Kind" performed by Tim McGraw. McKenna along with Lady Gaga, Natalie Hemby and Hillary Lindsey wrote the second single off the soundtrack to the 2018 film A Star Is Born called "Always Remember Us This Way.” McKenna performed backing vocals along with Lindsey and Hemby, and the song received a nomination for Song of the Year at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.
Americana is an amalgam of American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States, specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, gospel, and other external influences. Americana, as defined by the Americana Music Association (AMA), is "contemporary music that incorporates elements of various mostly acoustic American roots music styles, including country, roots rock, folk, gospel and bluegrass resulting in a distinctive roots-oriented sound that lives in a world apart from the pure forms of the genres upon which it may draw. While acoustic instruments are often present and vital, Americana also often uses a full electric band." Some songs of the 19th century are, for example, "Oh! Susanna", "John Henry" and "Camptown Races", some 20th Century songs are "Casey Jones" and "You Are My Sunshine".
Michael Jason Isbell is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is known for his solo career, his work with the band The 400 Unit, and as a former member of Drive-By Truckers for six years, from 2001 to 2007. Isbell has won four Grammy Awards.
Ryan Bingham is an American singer-songwriter and actor, whose music spans multiple genres. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California.
Courtney Marie Andrews is an American singer-songwriter originally from Phoenix, Arizona, United States. She released her first widely distributed and breakthrough album, Honest Life, in 2016. From 2010 to 2011, Andrews was an auxiliary member of Jimmy Eat World, appearing on their 2010 album Invented and acting as their keyboardist and backing vocalist on the subsequent tour.
Hayley Claire Oliver is a British country music singer. She has released two solo albums and one band project. She has received favourable reviews in UK country music publications and airplay around the world on local country radio, and nationally on BBC Radio 2.
Douglas Martin Adkins is an Americana/country music musician and songwriter who grew up in Montana, U.S.A. In 2020 Adkins chose Samu Haber and Rea Garvey, the coaches from Team Samu Rea for the Anniversary The Voice of Germany. For the blind audition, Adkins sang the classic country hit "Achy Breaky Heart" from Billy Ray Cyrus. Coach Mark Forster also turned around for Adkins, but in the end Adkins chose Haber and Garvey due to the country music elements they have in their songwriting.
Rebecca Ann Loebe is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. She has performed and toured with such recording artists as Shawn Colvin, The Civil Wars, Gregory Alan Isakov, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Ellis Paul amongst others. In 2011 she made her international broadcast television debut on The Voice . In addition to being a solo singer she is a founding member of Austin based band Nobody's Girl.
Block B is a South Korean boy band created by Cho PD in 2011. The group debuted with seven members: Taeil, B-Bomb, Jaehyo, U-Kwon, Park Kyung, Zico, and P.O. Block B are currently managed by KQ Entertainment.
The Steel Wheels are an American roots music, Americana group of folk musicians, based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, sometimes referred to as POTR, is an American country rock group based in California. The band consists of Lukas Nelson, Anthony LoGerfo, Corey McCormick, Logan Metz, and Tato Melgar (percussion). Lukas is the son of Willie Nelson. Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real has released 6 studio albums and 4 EP's.
Steve Moakler is an American country musician and songwriter from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, now based in Nashville, Tennessee. He has released five studio albums and has written songs for Nashville recording artists including Dierks Bentley's single "Riser."
Luanne Hunt is a country music and American folk music singer-songwriter. In December 2015, her track "Christmas Without You" was named as one of the "Best 25 Christmas songs of all-time" by the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
