Country is a music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is primarily focused on singing stories about working-class and blue-collar American life.
Clannad were an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal, by siblings Ciarán, Pól and Moya Ui Bhraonáin and their twin uncles Noel and Pádraig Ó Dúgáin (Duggan). They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history. Beginning as an acoustic folk group mainly performing rearranged traditional Irish songs in Irish, they expanded their sound with original songs in English, vocal harmonies, electronic keyboards, and elements of rock, Celtic, new age, smooth jazz, and Gregorian chant.
Nanci Caroline Griffith was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She appeared many times on the PBS music program Austin City Limits starting in 1985. In 1994 she won a Grammy Award for the album Other Voices, Other Rooms.
Leftover Salmon is an American jam band from Boulder, Colorado, formed in 1989. The band's music is a blend of bluegrass, rock, country, and Cajun/Zydeco(Polyethnic Slamgrass.) Over their thirty years as a band Salmon have released seven studio albums and three live albums. The band celebrated their continuing thirty-year career with the release of the biographical book, Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival! and a vinyl box-set re-release of all of their studio albums.
Jonathan Stevens Jackson is an American actor, musician, and author. He is best known for his role as Lucky Spencer in the television soap opera General Hospital, which won him five Daytime Emmy Awards. He is also known for his roles in the films The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), Tuck Everlasting (2002), Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), and Riding the Bullet (2004), as well as the television series Nashville (2012–2018), for which he received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination.
Clyde Julian "Red" Foley was an American musician who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II.
Maura O'Connell is an Irish singer. She is known for her contemporary interpretations of Irish folk songs, strongly influenced by American country music.
The Fray is an American rock band from Denver, Colorado, formed in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King. Their debut studio album, How to Save a Life (2005) was released by Epic Records and received quadruple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as platinum certification in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Its release was supported by their first hit single, "Over My Head ", which peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. The band saw their furthest success with its follow-up, "How to Save a Life", which peaked at number three on the chart and was also a hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Both songs received Grammy Award nominations: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group, respectively.
The song "Ring of Fire" was made popular by Johnny Cash after it appeared on his 1963 compilation album Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash. Written by Cash's eventual second wife, June Carter Cash, and songwriter Merle Kilgore, "(Love's) Ring of Fire" was originally recorded by June's sister, Anita Carter, on her 1962 album, Folk Songs Old and New.
Jayson Thompson, who goes by the stage name Jay Munly or Munly, is an American singer, songwriter and musician based in Denver, Colorado. He is known for his role in the development of the Denver Sound, which is music that mixes elements of country, gothic, folk and gospel native to that city. He is a member of Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Munly and the Lupercalians, and The Denver Broncos UK (DBUK). He was a founding member of Munly and the Lee Lewis Harlots, active from 2000 to 2007. He was also a member of The Road Home in 2015.
Gregory Alan Isakov is a South African-born American singer and songwriter currently based in Boulder, Colorado. Isakov and his family immigrated to the United States in 1986 and he was raised in Philadelphia.
Free is the fifth studio album from the Filipino rock band Rivermaya. It has 10 tracks and was released on August 30, 2000 by the band independently, literally given away for free which was a first for any Filipino artist previously signed to a major label. Free was named Album of the Year at the NU Rock Awards 2000. This was the last album to feature Nathan Azarcon who left the band in 2001; he eventually returned in 2016.
Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors is an Americana band from Memphis and East Nashville in Tennessee, United States. The band was formed in 2005 by Drew Holcomb. The other band members are Nathan Dugger and Rich Brinsfield (bass). Holcomb's wife, Ellie Holcomb, who had been a member of the band since 2005, eventually stopped touring with the band to take care of their first child EmmyLou in 2012 and then later began pursuing a solo artist career.
Edens Edge was an American country music band founded by Hannah Blaylock, Dean Berner, and Cherrill Green. The band was signed to Big Machine Records, which released their self-titled debut album. It included the singles "Amen" and "Too Good to Be True". The group disbanded in 2013 when Blaylock departed.
Ruby Amanfu is an American recording artist based in Nashville. Amanfu has released seven studio albums and multiple singles. She is known for being one half of the duo Sam & Ruby, whose album was named Associated Press Album of the Year in 2009. Amanfu is also known for her collaborations with Jack White in his all-female band, The Peacocks, and has widely appeared on his critically acclaimed solo albums, Blunderbuss and Lazaretto. In 2020 and 2022, Amanfu was nominated for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for co-writing "Hard Place" by H.E.R. and "A Beautiful Noise" by Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile, and was nominated for a Soul Train Music Award for The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter's Award.
Shelly Warren Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Her song 'Holding Steady' was featured in the 2008 Feature Film, The Lucky Ones with Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams. Her debut album, "Up the Hickory Down the Pine" will be released in May 2012.
Dan + Shay is an American country pop music duo composed of vocalists and songwriters Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney. They are signed to Warner Records Nashville and have released five albums, Where It All Began, Obsessed, Dan + Shay, Good Things and Bigger Houses. Of their nine singles, five have topped the Country Airplay chart and three have topped the Hot Country Songs chart. The duo have collaborated with Justin Bieber, Charlie Puth, Rascal Flatts, Lindsey Stirling, RaeLynn, and Kelly Clarkson. From 2019 to 2021, the duo won three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for the songs "Tequila", "Speechless", and "10,000 Hours".
Judah & the Lion are an American folk band from Nashville, Tennessee, formed in 2011. They have released four studio albums and five EPs. Currently the band consists of Judah Akers and Brian Macdonald.
Kevin Dailey is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and mixer based in Nashville, Tennessee. As a producer, engineer, musician, composer or mixer, he has worked with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Mikky Ekko, Rome Fortune, Myzica, Skyway Man, SHEL, and Abigail Washburn. He is a member of the band Civil Twilight. He recently composed original score for Travis Rice's recent film, Depth Perception and season one of Queen America starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.
The 502s are an American indie folk band from Maitland, Florida formed by Eddie Isola. Their sound has been described as a "folk orchestra", and as a blend of roots, rock and bluegrass. The 502s' sound is often compared to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, The Avett Brothers, and Old Crow Medicine Show, and the band is noted for their eclectic instrumental arrangements involving banjo, piano, and horns. Their live show received praise for “rambunctious energy, stomping sounds... and charismatic personalities” by Cowboys & Indians.
Initially consisting of Eddie Isola and his cousins with a rotating cast of musicians, the band's longest standing consistent lineup includes Matthew Tonner, Joe Capati (saxophone), Sean Froehlich and Nicholas Melashenko with their newest member Graci Phillips joining the band in 2023.
