History
Universal South Records was started in 2001 under Universal Music Group by record producers Tony Brown and Tim DuBois. [2] The label specialized in country music artists, including Joe Nichols, Randy Houser, Phil Vassar and Marty Stuart, as well as alternative country acts Shooter Jennings and Cross Canadian Ragweed. In 2005 it partnered with the talent show Nashville Star , offering a recording contract to Season 3 winner Erika Jo. [3] George Canyon, another Nashville Star contestant, also recorded for the label.
Brown and DuBois stepped down from Universal South in 2006, with Mark Wright, also a record producer, taking their place as label president. [4]
Show Dog Nashville was formed in 2005 by Toby Keith shortly after the dissolution of DreamWorks Records, the label to which he was signed at the time. DreamWorks executive Scott Borchetta was its CEO, and his own Big Machine Records label originally shared much of its staff. [5] In March 2006, Show Dog and Big Machine split into separately staffed labels, although Keith retained his financial stake in Big Machine. [6] Acts releasing works for Show Dog included Carter's Chord, Trailer Choir, Mica Roberts, Lindsey Haun and Martin Johnson.
In December 2009, Show Dog Records and Universal South merged to form Show Dog-Universal Music. [7] One month later Trace Adkins left Capitol Records Nashville (which later became part of UMG's Nashville unit after UMG bought EMI in 2012) to become the first post-merger signee to the label, and the label's roster was announced. [8] Singer-songwriter Josh Thompson, previously with Sony Music Nashville, joined the roster in September 2012. By the summer of 2015, Toby Keith and his daughter Krystal Keith had become the only artists signed to the label, but more recently Clay Walker, Waterloo Revival, and Lance Carpenter joined the label.
Tracy Darrell Adkins is an American country music singer and actor. Adkins made his debut in 1996 with the album Dreamin' Out Loud, released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since then, he has released ten more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations. In addition, Adkins has charted more than 20 singles on the Billboard country music charts, including the Number One hits "(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing", "Ladies Love Country Boys", and "You're Gonna Miss This", which peaked in 1997, 2007, and 2008, respectively.
Nashville Star is an American reality television singing competition program that aired for six seasons, from 2003 to 2008. Its first five seasons aired on USA Network, while the last season aired on NBC. Its five seasons on USA made it the longest-running competition series on cable television at the time. In Canada, the show aired on CMT through season 5, but moved to E! beginning with season 6. CMT in the United States reaired each episode in season 6.
Toby Keith Covel, known professionally as Toby Keith, was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman. In the 1990s, he released his first four studio albums—Toby Keith (1993), Boomtown (1994), Blue Moon (1996), and Dream Walkin' (1997)—and Greatest Hits Volume One under Mercury Records. These albums all earned gold or higher certification and had several top ten singles, including his chart-topping debut "Should've Been a Cowboy".
DreamWorks Records was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label operated until 2003 when it was sold to Universal Music Group. The label itself also featured a Nashville, Tennessee-based subsidiary, DreamWorks Nashville, which specialized in country music and was shut down in 2006 then moved to MCA Nashville. The company's logo was designed by Roy Lichtenstein and was his last commission before his death in 1997.
Joseph Edward Nichols is an American country music artist. Between 1996 and 2001, he held recording contracts with the Intersound and Giant labels. In 2002, he signed with Universal South Records, now known as Show Dog-Universal Music.
Broken Bridges is a 2006 American drama film starring Toby Keith in his film debut, Lindsey Haun, Burt Reynolds and Kelly Preston. The film, a music-drama, is centered on a fading country singer's return to his hometown near a military base in Tennessee where several young men who were killed in a training exercise on the base were from. He is reunited with his former sweetheart and estranged daughter, who returns to the town as well.
Carter's Chord was an American country music group composed of sisters Becky Scott, Emily Fortney, and Joanna Ott, all of whom are singer-songwriters and vocalists. They are also the three daughters of Barny and Carter Roberston, both of whom played in Waylon Jennings' road band The Waylors in the 1970s; Emily Fortney is also married to Marc "Butter" Fortney of Trailer Choir, another country music group.
Trailer Choir was an American country music group composed of vocalists Marc "Butter" Fortney, Crystal Hoyt, and Vincent "Big Vinny" Hickerson. The trio was signed to Show Dog Nashville, a label owned by Toby Keith, in 2007. After recording the song "Off the Hillbilly Hook" for the soundtrack to Keith's film Beer for My Horses, Trailer Choir charted the singles "What Would You Say", "Rockin' the Beer Gut" and "Rollin' Through the Sunshine" on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. These singles were followed by an extended play called Off the Hillbilly Hook and an album called Tailgate. Hoyt departed the group in February 2011. The remaining members took a small hiatus in 2012, but started touring again in 2013 before ending their career again in 2016.
Michael Salomon is an American music video/film director, who has directed many music videos, including many of Toby Keith's music videos. He directed the video for Metallica's "One", which was nominated for "Best Heavy Metal Video" at the MTV awards, and was declared one of the "Top 75 Videos Of All Time" in Rolling Stone's critics' poll.
Cowboy's Back in Town is the ninth studio album by American country music artist Trace Adkins. It was released on August 17, 2010 by Show Dog-Universal Music. The first single "This Ain't No Love Song" was released to radio in May 2010 and debuted at number 54 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of May 22, 2010. Also included on the album is "Ala-Freakin-Bama," a song that charted in late 2009 and was promoted by Adkins's former label from by Capitol Records Nashville.
Krystal Ladawn Covel Sandubrae, known professionally as Krystal Keith is an American country music singer. She is the second daughter of Toby Keith and Tricia Covel. She is the sister of Stelen Keith Covel, the maternal half-sister of Shelley Covel Rowland, and the wife of Andrew Robert Sandubrae.
Mark Wright is an American record producer who works mainly in country music. He is known for having worked with Brooks & Dunn, Gary Allan, and Lee Ann Womack.
Edward Monroe Hill is an American country music songwriter. Hill has been active since the early 1970s. Hill plays piano and keyboard and has backed Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson. Hill joined the Palomino Club's house band, the Palomino Riders, in the late 1970s, and backed artists like Marty Robbins and Willie Nelson. In 1980, he joined the Gilley's Urban Cowboy Band and won a Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Orange Blossom Special/Hoedown".
Broken Bridges is the soundtrack to the 2006 film Broken Bridges, starring American musicians Toby Keith and Lindsey Haun. The album features Keith, Haun, and various other artists. It was released in 2006 via Show Dog Nashville. The album contains Haun's single "Broken" and Keith's single "Crash Here Tonight".
Shannon Forrest is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. As a session drummer, he has contributed to the work of many well-known artists, and he is also a producer and engineer. Additionally, he was the touring drummer of Toto from 2014 to 2019, and again from 2024 to the present.
Steven Jay Nathan is an American keyboardist. He is known for his session work in Muscle Shoals and Nashville studios.
Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer.
Kenneth S. Greenberg is an American guitarist, songwriter, producer, and session musician. He is known for bringing a rock-and-roll sensibility to Nashville recording sessions.
