Artists That Begin With F

The Farm

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 19:43:00 GMT

Three musicians and a songwriting friend were toying with a fiddle riff, just to see where it might lead. It became the hook for a song, and once they launched into the “Home Sweet Home” chorus, the three voices fell into place with an unexpected, other-worldly sound.

Instant harmony. Almost-instant band.

THE FARM is in many ways a hybrid act – a trio deeply rooted in Country Music, that folds in sonic elements from a variety of popular-music genres – but the core is built around a solid, identifiable vocal harmony.

Interlocking voices have been an important thread in country’s history, from the Sons of the Pioneers through Alabama through Restless Heart through Lady Antebellum. THE FARM – Nick Hoffman, Damien Horne and Krista Marie – puts its own distinct spin on the sound, a tightly woven mesh that relies on the synthesis of three musicians who found their way to Nashville from different parts of the U.S. with different sets of musical influences.

THE FARM’s unified blend is an aural representation of the melting-pot mentality at the heart of America.

“There are a lot of bands out there that you could take a member out and not know the difference,” Nick, the fiddle-playing singer, notes. “This is not one of those bands.”

“It’s really three elements that you bring together,” Krista adds. “Like earth, wind, fire – and there we are.”

THE FARM’s first album demonstrates the various musical sources at work. The crunchy chords in “Fresh Off the Farm” pull from classic rock. “Be Grateful” relies on pop melodicism. And “Farm Party” builds on a hip-hop counter-hook and a rhythmic center that’s old-school R&B at its heart.

Despite the outside influences, THE FARM is clearly a country project, built from heartland values, Nick’s snarling fiddle, and those intense harmonies created by three distinct solo voices.

“People are so eclectic in the way that they listen to music and the way they receive music,” Damien observes. “You can keep it country, and still incorporate all the things we are each capable of doing.”

It’s a bold, edgy mix that dares to be different and for THE FARM, that daring sound is a fundamental part of the trio’s makeup. Nick was a country traditionalist, Krista was a former solo vocalist with a background in opera and standards, and Damien had first moved to Nashville with an alternative-rock band and ended up opening concerts for R&B artist John Legend. Manager Marc Oswald was the first to suggest the three write together. Nick brought along songwriter-producer Danny Myrick, a co-writer of Jason Aldean’s genre-busting “She’s Country,” and the four sat down to write, just to see if anything might come of it.

In that unpressured setting, sitting at the pool on a typical Tennessee spring day, all four musicians were free to bring their separate visions to the table, and it began with Nick introducing a riff he’d created on his fiddle.

Find The Farm on the web:

Florida Georgia Line

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:12:00 GMT

The full-throttle excitement that Florida Georgia Line has carried to packed houses throughout the Southeast is now going nationwide.

The duo—Monroe, Georgia’s Tyler Hubbard and Ormond Beach, Florida’s Brian Kelley—have turned their highly engaging brand of showmanship into opening slots for artists like Blake Shelton, Jake Owen, Brantley Gilbert and Colt Ford, and into a coveted spot on the 2012 Country Throwdown Tour with the likes of Gary Allan, Rodney Atkins, and Justin Moore.

Now they have captured all the fire and energy of that stage show in a new single, “Cruise,” an infectious anthem to love in its first magic moments. The first offering from their upcoming EP, it brings their trademark harmonies and rocking sound to bear on a tale of youthful attraction, music and Georgia back roads. Produced by Joey Moi, whose credits range from Jake Owen to Nickelback, “Cruise” is sure to thrill their old and new fans alike.

Florida Georgia Line has combined electrifying, hard-driving rock with honest, expressive lyrics into one of the most exciting sounds in all of country music. They’ve come a long way since their days as students at Nashville’s Belmont University, where they played local clubs and wrote songs between classes. They drew on an eclectic mix of influences, from country to hip-hop, with one common element: "All of our idols create great music that's real and that everyone can relate to,” says Brian. “That's the same kind of music we want to make.”

It’s music they enjoy making as much as their fans enjoy hearing—and they are appreciative for the rapidly growing fan base supporting them. "It's such a blessing that we get to do this for a living," says Tyler.

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Kevin Fowler

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:45:00 GMT

Ask Kevin Fowler how’d he’d describe his own music and he doesn’t think twice before responding: “It’s country with a bad attitude. It’s country with an edge. It’s just beer-drinkin’, hell-raisin’, good-time music.”

And anyone who’s ever been to a Kevin Fowler show knows he does far more than just talk the talk—the man delivers one of the most entertaining, high-energy performances you’re likely to see in country or any other genre, with a hard-ticket base that rivals many gold-selling artists. A blend of in-your-face rockin’ intensity, tongue-in-cheek humor and captivating country storytelling, Kevin’s music has his standing-room-only audiences hanging on every word . . . and singing right along with him. Whether it’s “Beer, Bait and Ammo,” “Cheaper to Keep Her,” “The Best Mistake I Ever Made,” “Don’t Touch My Willie” or any of the other unforgettable tunes that have seen him regularly perched atop the Texas music charts, Kevin’s music is the product of years spent perfecting his craft.

And he’s not the only beneficiary. Other artists, like Montgomery Gentry (“Long Line of Losers”), Mark Chesnutt (“The Lord Loves a Drinkin’ Man”) and George Jones (dueting with Kevin on “Me and the Boys”), are among those who have recorded classic versions of Fowler songs.

With his career track record, it would be easy to assume Kevin must’ve always known music would be his life’s passion. After all, how can you be this good at something and not have worked at it for a lifetime? But he admits coming to his career path later in the game than most.

“There was a day in life that changed me,” Kevin recalls of the transformative epiphany he experienced at the Texas Jam in the Cotton Bowl back when he was about 20 years old. “I had been dabblin’ in music and played everything a little, but nothing well. Aerosmith was there. White Snake. All these bands were playing at a day-long festival. They were hosing down the crowd with big fire hoses. And it was just mayhem. I had never seen 100,000 people in one place. I remember that day going, ‘Well, that’s what I’m supposed to be doin’.’”

While Amarillo boy Kevin may not have had a clear vision of his life’s path prior to that momentous day, he shouldn’t have been surprised when he finally realized he was put on this earth to write songs and entertain people. After all, he’d been entertaining in one way or another since his attention-seeking days as a self-described “band geek,” playing drums in junior high and high school.

But Kevin’s musical training had begun earlier when his mom, Shirley, insisted he take piano lessons, in spite of his hatred of it and his desire to play football instead. Looking back, he thinks his folks made the right call. “They were probably thinkin’ to themselves, ‘We’ve seen you play football—that’s no good!’” he laughs.

While Kevin recalls knee-knocking piano recitals as his first experience with live performing, his first taste of country music came through the records his dad played—Johnny Horton, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens and Roy Clark. Kevin, of course, rebelled and gravitated more toward rockers AC/DC, Kiss, The Cars, Metallica, and other decidedly non-country bands. “It wasn’t ‘til later on in life that I thought, ‘that (country) stuff was really cool.’”

Kevin recalls Amarillo as a good place to grow up, but entertainment options were, let’s say, limited. That meant 16-year-old Kevin and some buddies might sneak a 6-pack of beer on a Friday night, head down the road a few miles to tiny Vega—a town of under 1,000 people—find an old dirt road and “hide out.” Let the good times roll!

So, was there a little culture shock when Kevin moved to California a few years later? “It was like fallin’ right off the turnip wagon,” he laughs. “I was in shock.”

The move to L.A. came after Kevin, then a junior at West Texas A&M in Canyon, saw that life-changing show at the Cotton Bowl. With 100 credits toward a business degree, he quit school and went to the coast to study at the G.I.T guitar institute. While there, he learned how incredibly competitive the music world really is. So, was he intimidated?

“No. It was just an eye opener. My mama always persisted in telling me, ‘Whatever you’re gonna do, don’t be a quitter.’ That’s why she never would let me quit piano music. Somebody told me one time, ‘You’ve gotta stay in the game long enough to get lucky.’”

After finishing school in L.A., Kevin—a road warrior at heart—realized that paying gigs were few and far between in Los Angeles. “That’s the only reason I got into music . . . to play live,” says Kevin, who’ll do about 150 shows this year . . . slightly fewer than usual because of time spent writing and recording. So he left L.A. and tested the waters elsewhere. “A friend lived in Austin. I was gonna go there, then I was gonna check out Nashville and figure out where I needed to be. When I got to Austin, that 5-day visit turned into a permanent stay. Been there ever since.”

Not long after his move to Austin, Kevin joined a band that became Rumble Train, but soon discovered he was the only with any motivation. Then he fell in with long-haired rockers Dangerous Toys (yep, short-haired, cowboy hat-wearing Kevin was in a hard rock band—there’s a rumor photos exist!). And, not surprisingly, they had a problem with Kevin’s tunes. “‘Man, these are redneck songs! We can’t play any of these.’” So, in a move that was more necessity than intention, Kevin began singing them himself.

And Kevin, the rocker who also wore out two cassettes of George Strait’s Right or Wrong album, found a way to combine the best of both worlds. “I’ve always liked rock, for the attitude and the energy. But I’ve always liked the country lyric. It just tells a story. And I try to combine those elements . . . make it rockin’ and fun with a good lyric in there, a good turn of a phrase.”

That ability has given Kevin more than a decade of success in his Texas stomping grounds where he is embraced with a vengeance by audiences who love him and his music. But he wants more.

“At first, my whole thing was to make a livin’ playin.’ ‘Course, once you get that, you do want more. Right now, we’re just tryin’ to spread the gospel of Hank Williams and honky tonks to the rest of the world.” But Kevin admits he’s intent on doing that without alienating his strong, loyal fan base by changing his music or who he is. “You gotta remember to dance with who brung ya.”

Ultimately, Kevin knows he only has control over one thing in his career. “What you do onstage . . . nobody can make you sound crappy but you. That’s Kevin Fowler Music 101 in a nutshell. Make it about the fans, the live show and the music. And hopefully everything else will come from there.”

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Rascal Flatts

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:20:00 GMT

In just ten years, Rascal Flatts has become one of the most honored acts in country music history, reaching heights and achieving milestones reserved for the genre's elite.

They have set more venue attendance records than any country act en route to ticket sales of six million and counting. They have sold 20 million albums, 25 million digital downloads and earned 13 #1 singles. With the #1 debut on the Country Albums sales chart of Nothing Like This, Rascal Flatts becomes one of only four country acts to debut six consecutive studio albums at #1. They have won nearly 40 awards from the ACM, CMA, AMA and People's Choice, among others, and they have received that ultimate honor for those who have impacted the culture—a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"We have had an unreal ten years," says lead singer Gary Levox with an appreciative smile. "We've done things we couldn't have been able to dream."

Behind those statistics is an accomplishment more basic than numbers, more important than any trophy—for the past decade, the music of Rascal Flatts has been the soundtrack to countless lives. Songs like "These Days," "Mayberry," "What Hurts The Most," "My Wish," "Stand," "Here," "Here Comes Goodbye" and "Summer Nights" have soothed and uplifted, fired up, mellowed out and otherwise impacted millions.

"I'm humbled to think that the music we've been able to make has touched so many lives and moved so many people," says bass player/harmony vocalist Jay Demarcus. "The stories are just incredible and I think I'm most grateful for that."

"To this day," adds guitarist/harmony vocalist Joe Don Rooney, "we receive letters and e-mails about how a song like 'I'm Moving On' has impacted someone's life in some way or how 'Bless The Broken Road' was played at their wedding or how 'Stand' gave them the courage to stand up and fight the cancer out of their body and mind! That's powerful stuff, and that's the reason we're in the business, without question."

Their place in country music history may be assured, but Gary, Jay and Joe Don retain a newcomer's passion about capturing magic with each new project. Now, with the release of their latest, Nothing Like This, they have done it once again, taking their career and their legacy another long step forward.

"We've reached back a little to what brought us here while moving forward at the same time," says Jay. "We concentrated more on our vocals and chemistry again and not so much on big production."

The album is a microcosm of all the things the band does well—Jay calls it "Rascal Flatts in a nutshell"—which is to say it touches on many of the best aspects of 21st-century country music. It is first and foremost uplifting, with songs like "Why Wait" and "Play" kicking off the proceedings with the call to enjoy life no matter what our circumstances. It features both the throwback groove of "They Try" and the fresh sparkle of "All Night To Get There." "Summer Young" is an uptempo celebration of the season of warmth and romance and "I Won't Let Go" is "You've Got A Friend" for the new millennium, a song steeped in the strength of love and friendship in times of trouble. The title cut finds a way to bring freshness to the subject of love and sees Gary bringing a disarming desperation to his vocal.

"One of the more special songs on this album for me is 'I Won't Let Go,'" says Joe Don. "Being a parent now and listening to that song really hits home and truly hits me in the heart."

Evident throughout is the group's ability to recognize the best in Nashville songwriting.

"It's always been about the songs first," says Jay, "and boy did we get our hands on some gems!!"

"We think we've got a good balance," says Joe Don, "between the really deep, sweet, meaningful ballads and the 'right at ya' up tempos that keep the party going."

"I think there's something for everybody on this project," adds Gary, "and it's a full-length example of what makes us who we are."

Guesting on the project is Natasha Beddingfield, who joins the trio on “Easy.”

"We had a blast recording with Natasha," says Gary. "I've always been addicted to great singers and she is certainly one of the best. It was an honor to sing with her."

Fans got their initial listen to the project with the debut single, the group's first release on Big Machine Records, their new label home. "'Why Wait' is one of the coolest tunes I've heard in a long while," says Joe Don. "I'll never forget sitting in that little studio in Santa Barbara and hearing it for the first time. Instantly we new it was a Rascal Flatts song and by the day's end we had ourselves an extremely magical track going. I love it!"

The laid-back California outpost was chosen as a creative counterpoint to Music City. "We cut half the album in Nashville and half in Santa Barbara," says Gary. "We just wanted to change it up some and enjoy the beautiful weather in California. It gave us a new spark for sure."

"It as a nice departure from the norm for us," adds Joe Don. "We recorded in a funky little studio with some amazing L.A. musicians and created some great magic together. I really think you can feel some of the energy on a lot of these tracks."

“Overall,” says Jay, "this is an album about fun, growth and change. We have been at a very important crossroads this year with our ten-year mark, so I think we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could still grow and surprise ourselves and stretch."

The fact that they were able to do so reflects the magic they have always found in their approach to music and the respect with which they view their mission and each other. Their sound took root in the late 1990s, when Jay and Joe Don were band mates working with Chely Wright and Jay and Gary were playing a separate gig in downtown Nashville. When their guitar player was unable to make it one night, Jay asked Joe Don to sit in.

“We knew right away we had something special,” says Jay, “even if we were the only ones who ever got to hear it!”

“I truly feel like every time the three of us lock into a chorus,” adds Gary, “God’s hand is in it. I feel blessed to share the stage with Jay and Joe Don and their crazy talent. They both inspire me.”

“Gary is one of the greatest and most unique singers of our time," says Joe Don, returning the compliment. "I've always felt blessed that we have a lead singer who, like a quarterback, takes charge of the stage and leads us into victory night after night!"

The three honed their sound with club work, cut some demos and by year's end had been signed to Lyric Street Records, where they flourished and took off on that magical decade of hits and sold-out shows. Along the way, their “Bless The Broken Road” was Grammy nominated for Country Song of the Year and Vocal Performance, they became 2006's top-selling physical and digital artist in all genres, scored four #1 country albums and three #1’s overall, and hit the Top 10 Billboard pop singles chart twice, among many other milestones.

"There's never been a method to our madness," says Joe Don. "We just cut the best songs we can, and through the years we get better at what we do."

When Lyric Street closed its doors, they chose Big Machine as their new label home.

“We have found an amazing business partner with [label head] Scott Borchetta and the entire Big Machine family,” says Gary. “They get us and we get them on every level. It feels like the right place at the right time.”

Committed to giving back, they are known for their charitable work, which includes raising three million dollars for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville. “That,” says Jay, “is definitely the thing I’m most proud of.”

This summer sees them back on the road with a new tour Flatts Fest.

"As a kid,” says Gary, “you stand in front of your mirror and only dream about being able to sell out arenas and stadiums. And to be able to play a place like Wrigley Field and sell it out, you can't even dream that big. The feeling is awesome."

“Without a doubt we've been blessed to have received our fair share of awards and recognitions in this business,” adds Joe Don. “But above all, getting to make music that matters, that affects people emotionally and spiritually, is the greatest thing we could ever accomplish.”

Never content to rest on their laurels, they are eagerly looking forward.

“The goal,” adds Gary,” is to continue to make amazing music together for at least the next ten years, because we honestly feel like we’re just getting started.”

“And as long as we stay true to the music and each other,” adds Jay, “everything else will fall into place.”

Find Rascal Flatts on the web:

Radney Foster

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:42:00 GMT

The position that Foster enjoys in the country music landscape is remarkable. Mainstream country music and independent Americana tend to occupy separate orbits. Yet for 24 years Foster has thrived in both as a songwriter, recording artist, live performer and producer. His songs--solo, with Foster and Lloyd and recorded by other artists--have topped the country, Texas, Americana, and AAA charts alike. At the same time, he's earned the respect of his peers and a devoted audience as intent on listening as they are eager to dance.

Foster's latest release, Revival emerged when the Texas native plunged into the rolling waters of change--his father's death and the end of his twelve-year, 5,000-mile separation from his son--and came up with renewed conviction.

Arriving a full decade after the intensely personal See What You Want To See and recorded with the same trusted studio team (Darrell Brown and Niko Bolas), the twelve songs on Revival are a solid bookend to the watershed record.

Most of the songs on the album are what Foster calls "close to the bone," so personal that he either wrote them on his own or with trusted friends, like Brown and Jay Clementi. "I Know You Can Hear Me," is a wrenching goodbye to Foster's father. "I Made Peace With God That Day" and "Until It's Gone"--both written with Brown--respectively capture the anguished fear of losing a child and vow to live with abandon (and crank up the volume) from here on out.

Foster has always had the ability to make the personal feel universal, and every song on this set brings the listener closer. There is a piercing honesty to songs like "Forgiveness" and "Life Is Hard (Love Is Easy)."

He also found a way to bridge seduction--something he's sung about plenty and playfully over the years--and spiritual confession. The stylish, shuffling R&B of "Trouble Tonight" runs seamlessly into the choir-backed gospel boogie of "Shed a Little Light." Foster calls it a "Saturday night/Sunday morning combo," the sort of thing his wife used to put on the opposite sides of mixtapes back when they were dating.

With so much at stake in getting the spirit of these songs across, Foster relied on his longtime road band, now appropriately dubbed the Confessions. Thanks to them--and to Foster's own contributions on electric guitar--the album has a big guitar sound and a raw energy. The band adds a relentlessness to "Second Chances" which perfectly matches the lyrics, and a beautiful, stirring soundscape to "Suitcase."

Foster also enlisted the help of some friends. Dierks Bentley (who recorded Foster's "Sweet and Wild") came in to join the party on "Until It's Gone," and Darius Rucker lends his distinctive harmony on "Angel Flight," a moving tribute to the pilots who fly their fallen brethen home to their final resting places. Foster's co-writer, Darden Smith, started writing the song after talking to a pilot of the Texas Air National Guard who mentioned he flew the "angel flight." Smith asked Radney to finish the song with him, and the pair are donating proceeds from the song to a charity that provides assistance to military families beset by tragedy.

The set closes with a bluegrass reprise of the title track. Radney, Tammy Rogers and Jon Randall gathered around a microphone and in one take captured the spirit of Revival--joy and hope in the midst of uncertainty.

True to its title, Revival is the boldest and most spiritual thing Foster has done to date. But it would be a mistake to pigeonhole it strictly as a gospel release; what Foster is preaching here is the gospel of truth, and having the guts to choose love over fear. And like any good revival, this one will have you dancing, crying, laughing and ready to testify. Like he sings in the opening and closing track, Amen to love.
_________________________________________

When Radney first told me he was doing an album called “Revival,” I thought that maybe he meant a revival for the greater world; a world that is war weary and suffering. What I didn't realize was that this amazing collection was about to be a revival for my own spirit.
With Revival, Radney takes us on a spiritual journey with a voice so honest and pure it can't help but open our ears to new truth. He speaks of the most powerful kind of love, one that is non-judgmental, universal, and doesn't seek change so much as it seeks to love more. Through his own journey of revival, Radney wrote this record for you and me. He knew that the world is only revived when our individual hearts are rekindled for love.
I am grateful Radney's not a preacher, just a rock and roller with a deep spirit. I am also grateful that Radney loves the world and us enough to send forgiveness through sound waves, to move past our walls of defense and free us to listen. My hope for anyone picking up this CD is that you can join me in singing amen to love. It is an honor to add my name to the host of others that will no doubt go out and love the world again, with this music dancing in our hearts.
---Becca
The Rev. Becca Stevens, Founder of Magdalene House, Nashville,TN

Singer/songwriter/producer Foster has always been revered in the music community as a lyricist and a dry West Texas poet. One look at the folks who have covered his songs--everyone from Hootie and the Blowfish and the Pistoleros to the Dixie Chicks and Guy Clark--and you realize this guy is not easily categorized.
As one half of the duo Foster and Lloyd, he recorded three groundbreaking albums for RCA, becoming one of the first acts to be played simultaneously on Country and College radio. The duo broke through in the late 80’s, a rare time in Nashville’s history when Country radio welcomed other innovative acts like Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam. Foster and Lloyd’s “Crazy Over You,” went straight to number one, making them the first duo in history to top the charts with their debut single. Meanwhile, their albums were appearing in the Top Ten on the College chart, sharing common musical ground and press accolades with Rank and File, Lone Justice and the Blasters.
When the duo split up, Foster recorded two solo albums that yielded a handful of hits and a reputation as one of Nashville’s best kept secrets. His songs, like “Nobody Wins” and “A Fine Line” had a lyrical edge and pop sensibilities that often challenged mainstream Country conventions. Throughout his solo career, folks like Emmylou Harris, Hootie and the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker and Dierks Bentey have jumped at the chance to work with him and lend vocal support to his projects--a further testament to Foster’s influence.
Foster has served as host for the critically acclaimed CMT Crossroads, and has produced projects by Jack Ingram, The Randy Rogers Band, Brandon Rhyder and others. His upcoming release, Revival, will be released September 1, 2009.

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Tyler Farr

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:24:00 GMT

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Rachel Farley

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:57:00 GMT

Rachel Farley

Expectations for aspiring teenage singers are fairly well defined thanks to a pop culture that seems to be saturated with them. The list starts with a charming vocal ability, some stage presence and a bit of charisma. Seventeen year-old Rachel Farley definitely possesses all of these characteristics, but where the young Georgia native stands out from the rest is that she also exudes an undeniable air of strong, yet humble confidence, tenacious independence and songwriting that radiates wisdom beyond her years.

When stacking attributes in an attempt to define RED BOW Records Rachel Farley and her music, many qualities quickly step to the fore: Strength. Purpose. Conviction. The rest is almost baseline, a foundation upon which rests her single most unexpected characteristic: Artistry.

Rachel’s cohesive sense of self, message and mission casts everything else in sharper relief. Her powerful voice becomes an oak-cured alto equally adept at gut-punch emotion and fire-breathing raucousness. Years spent performing with and learning from Brantley Gilbert, Colt Ford, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and more seem to be the apprenticeship of a craftsman. And a fearless honesty amplified by personal tragedy render all but truth inconsequential in the songs she writes. For Rachel Farley, life and music are much too real and much too raw to be forced into a box.

After all, it's not often a 17-year-old breaks onto the scene with a fully formed worldview. "You can be tough and a strong person without being a bad girl or mean," she explains. "You don't have to be a pushover to be a good girl, and you don't have to be fake. And that's what I hope comes across in my music. Obviously I'm young, and with people my age there’s a lot of insecurity and trying to fit in, but that’s too much pressure. Be who you are and let people respect you for that instead of trying to fit their mold. You can’t be extraordinary if you’re trying be like everybody else."

And if anything is certain, it's that Rachel Farley won't be following the crowd. "Music is all I ever wanted to do," she says. "When I was four or five I was playing concerts in my bedroom for millions of people and writing songs. When I started playing guitar at 12 and got my first gig, there was no question in my mind."

That first show wasn't exactly a dream come true. "The show was two hours long and, about two weeks before the show, I realized my eight songs weren't going to go very far," she laughs. "So I had my elementary school music teacher come out and play a few songs with me. That made it last about an hour, I took a 15-minute break and did the exact same set again. I had the place packed with friends and most of them never came out to see me again. And I don’t blame them at all."

Rachel's learning curve was steep and lightning fast, however. The following year she played 100 shows. At 13, she met then-rising local performer Brantley Gilbert and started opening shows for him. "Of course now he's got radio hits and is blowing up everywhere, but even back then he was huge in Georgia," she recalls. "He was such an inspiration in showing what could be built and the kind of show that could be put on at that level. You don't have to have expensive lights and videos to reach people."

The commitment was already intense. "I went to my first two days of seventh grade and that was it," she laughs. "I had to start homeschooling. You can only have so many fake doctor's appointments before somebody gets suspicious. We were playing so many gigs and driving to Nashville so much that it just didn't make sense anymore."

And there was another kind of education going on anyway. "My mom was really smart," Rachel says. "She read every book she could find on the music industry and did everything she could to help me without being overbearing with my artistic development." Farley met her manager and producer Michael Knox (Jason Aldean) about this time and went on to sign her first recording and publishing deal at 15. It was a bittersweet period for the Farley family.

"That was the year my dad was diagnosed with a very rare cancer," she says. He passed away in August 2011. "You learn so much and it's not all negative," she continues. "There's a side of me that's very blessed to have been through it and have the perspective I have. He was so proud of me – the kind of dad who made sure his co-workers all had my demo CD from when I was 11.

"I don't know that it's affected my music; maybe it's too early to know. You do realize that a lot of things aren't important and some things matter more than people know. Carrying that with me in life is going to make me stronger. At the end of the day what matters is how you and God view yourself. If you know that you can come before God with what you've done in life and he can be proud of you, you’ve done things right."

Now Rachel's opening for Jason Aldean's sold-out tour with Luke Bryan, and she can be heard on Brantley Gilbert's latest single "Kick It In The Sticks." "'Hey, trouble, whassup?' Yeah, that's me," she laughs. "I'm in the video for a millisecond. And with the tour, Jason heard my music about a year ago and apparently liked it. For him to pick me without a radio hit or anything is amazing." Meanwhile, she's finishing work on her debut album for Broken Bow Records – home to Aldean, Dustin Lynch and more.

One song is particularly dear. "I just call it 'My Daddy’s Song,'" she explains. "One of the last things he asked was for me to write him a song, and I actually wrote it the night he passed away." Brantley Gilbert and songwriter Mike Dekle were among the first to reach out to Farley after her father's passing, and she joined them that evening at a benefit show for a fallen police officer. "Getting ready for the show, the chorus just hit me. I remember telling Brantley that if I finished it, I'd sing it at the funeral. I woke up that morning and the rest just fell out in no time at all. I thought, 'Okay, I'm doing this today.' It's everything I was feeling; very honest, very raw."

That kind of depth might not be expected from some precocious kid singer with a big voice, but it's exactly what can be expected from an artist like Rachel Farley.

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Morgan Frazier

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:40:00 GMT

Blessed with girl-next-door good looks—tall, slender with long, blonde locks and emotive doe-eyes—you’ll want to hug her immediately, and she’ll want to hug you, too. Yes, she’s that girl. After a brief chat with her, you realize the incredible work ethic that not only carried her on this long and complex journey, but continues to drive her to grow better with each song she writes. Yes, she writes her own songs. And you haven’t yet heard her sing.

At a time when country music is experiencing a virtual drought when it comes to women’s voices on the radio, Morgan Frazier has arrived. It’s a confident statement, but the Breckenridge, Texas native is truly a breath of fresh air for the format. While other female newcomers are positioning themselves as the next Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood or Taylor Swift, Morgan is simply being Morgan.

Success, even the drive to succeed, wasn’t immediate though. Her first public appearance came at the tender age of five and it was, to put it mildly, a disaster. She explains, "I sang ‘When You Say Nothing At All,’ at a local talent show, but I grew up Church of Christ, which was no music. It’s all a cappella singing. So that’s where I learned to sing. But at this talent show I had to sing to tracks, which I had never done before. I got up there and I got off the beat of the music, because I didn’t know how to sing with tracks, so I performed with my head down the whole time. When I got off stage, I told my mom, ‘I’m never, ever singing again.’" The tot still managed to score a People’s Choice award, and that alone was enough to ignite a fire in her to continue performing. And her parents, recognizing their daughter’s talent and supportive of her dream, were delighted to chauffeur Morgan to those Texas jamborees where she eventually met the man she fondly refers to as her grandpa. Grandpa Art saw the immense talent in the aspiring country star and not only taught her to play guitar, making tracks a thing of the past, he also instilled in her a love of traditional country music.

But it isn’t just straight up country that has influenced the young songbird. Thanks to her family and her grandpa, Morgan has been exposed to a variety of musical styles. But she does have her own tastes. "I love Randy Rogers Band, Johnny Cooper, but my mom was into Motown funk music -- Earth, Wind and Fire type thing," she says. "My dad was into Led Zeppelin and Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and that type of thing. And then my grandpa, he taught me everything from Hank Snow to Patsy Montana to Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline. So I got three completely different genres of music. And I’ve always said I love a song, a good song. I’m a song person. I doesn’t matter what kind of music it is. I love it all."

In the process of performing at jamborees, talent shows and rodeos, the aspiring artist wasn’t just honing her performing skills, she was also becoming a burgeoning entrepreneur. On the advice of concert go-ers who heard her sing and wanted to take that voice home, the nine-year-old’s parents paid $2,000 for their daughter to make a CD to sell at shows. But that wasn’t quite enough for the go-getter. "I was doing the rodeo queen circuit around the same time and you had to go door-to-door and sell rodeo tickets. That’s how you get into that whole thing. Whoever sells the most tickets wins," she explains. "So, I thought, ‘I can get rid of these CDs by selling them and instead of going house-to-house, I’ll go store-to-store." It worked. Whether the business-owners were taken by the young executive’s initiative or blown away by her impromptu by-request live performance, she sold a whopping 30,000 CDs at $10 a pop.

The success came as a surprise to the entire Frazier family. "There was no plan," Morgan says. "We didn’t know what we were doing." But they packed up the entire clan in a travel trailer and began taking Morgan and her music across the country, eventually and inevitably landing in Nashville. And that’s when the whirlwind began. She says, "We had been in Nashville six months selling CDs and my mom found a contest in the paper at the Preston Hotel here in Nashville. So we went and I just happened to get in front of the right people." Morgan ended up winning the contest, beating out older, more seasoned writers. The prize was to have one of her original songs recorded by a Category Five Records artist, but instead of following through with that promise, they instead offered the then 13-year-old her own record deal. That was a little too fast for the Fraziers though, and young Morgan ultimately passed on the offer from the now shuttered indie label. However she did meet with the person who would become her manager, but not before returning to Texas to reconsider her dreams of making music.

Eventually the desire to share her passion was too great and, with the encouragement of her manager, Morgan came back to Nashville with hopes of refining her songwriting chops and giving it another go.

This time, it stuck.

It is said in Nashville that "it all starts with a song" and regardless of appearance, personality or talent, if the songs aren’t there, nothing is there. The songs are there. When Morgan’s manager, John Northrup, encouraged her to return to Music City, he also offered to pair her with a songwriting friend of his, but it wasn’t just any Nashville songwriter. The man who has written most of George Strait’s biggest hits—Dean Dillon—was her first co-write. She lights up when she talks about it. "People dream about writing with him and it just happened that my manager was good friends with him and asked him a favor. And so I go into write with him and we hit it off. And we’ve written many songs since and I got to learn how to write from those guys—Dean Dillon, Paul Overstreet, John Scott Sherrill."

She’s come a long way from that first performance at five-years-old, to writing her first song at seven-years-old ("In the Gates of Heaven"—a gospel song she sang at Show and Tell) to writing and signing with Curb Records’ sister label, Sidewalk Records, at 16. And the evolution has been gradual and subtle because the talent was always there—the innate talent of a natural born performer whose destiny was inevitably under the spotlight.

Effortless, pure, rich, sweet without being saccharin and even owning a little feminine swagger, Morgan is poised to be a voice on the radio that is easily and instantly identifiable. From the sweet waltz of "Part Of My Show," to the edgy push of "Cowboys Ride," to her the insanely infectious "Yellow Brick Road," you’ll know it’s undoubtedly Morgan. And it’s undeniably good.

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