Artists That Begin With S

Steel Magnolia

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:54:00 GMT

There is a cool moment, preserved for posterity in TV syndication, when Joshua Scott Jones and Meghan Linsey, the duo known as Steel Magnolia, make the connection that changes their lives. It’s cattle call audition day for season two of CMT’s Can You Duet? Josh and Meghan are secretly ambivalent about the whole thing, skeptical that the judges (especially that big-time record executive on the left) are going to get their very unique sound.

But a few bars into the first verse of their song “Ooh La La” we see that record executive have his first ‘Ah Ha’ moment. A blank face cracks into a grin. Then comes the chorus, with its rising swell of surprise and passion. Naomi Judd points at her own goose bumps. And by that point, the record executive is wearing a 100-watt smile.

His name is Scott Borchetta, and his YES vote that day began the journey that would put Steel Magnolia in the winner’s circle of Can You Duet? and on his label, the feisty and independent Big Machine Records. The eagerly awaited debut album you have here also makes its first impression with “Ooh La La,” and if you have a musical bone in your body, you too will be smiling halfway through. Spirited, romantic and elusively different, it’s the perfect three-minute distillation of Josh and Meghan’s fresh, soul-leaning approach to country music. They do not sound like twins in close harmony; rather they’re a study in contrasts that shows how two bold and identifiable voices can mesh together, making something bigger and better.

In the year since winning the show, Steel Magnolia has gone on to win over many more influential fans and supporters. Their bracing take of “Keep On Lovin’ You” by country soul powerhouse Chris Stapleton broke through as the highest charting debut single by a co-ed duo in Billboard history. The song has been downloaded more than a million times and landed in a major motion picture. Josh and Meghan spent the summer of 2010 touring alongside Brad Paisley on his massively popular H20 Tour. And even before the release of their debut album, Steel Magnolia snagged nine major industry award nominations, including Vocal Duo of the Year at the CMA Awards. No wonder then, that you’re seeing Josh and Meghan on every “Whom To Watch” list in country music.

Josh and Meghan’s path to newly hatched stardom was paved with surprises for both. “I’ve got to be honest,” says Josh. “I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be in a duo with my girlfriend. But it was an undeniable thing, and people connected to it.” And as for Meghan, she says “we both had to swallow some pride and get on the wagon, because there was definitely something special there. Other people could see that. In fact everyone around us could see it but us.”

But before these two strong-willed, powerful personalities could meet, they had to arrive in Music City, and they did so from very different places.

Meghan spent her childhood in New Orleans. Then her family moved to nearby Ponchatoula, just north of Lake Pontchartrain, when she was 12. Even then, her plans to become a professional singer – sparked by the gift of a karaoke machine – were already in place, aided by a very supportive mother.

“When I got to be about 14 my mom helped me put a band together, and most of the guys in this band were like in their fifties and had been playing in the Quarter for 20, 30 years,” Meghan says. “So it was an age when you soak things like that up and I think I learned a lot playing with guys like that. It definitely influenced the way I sing and what I was singing.” That included soul classics, up to date blues tunes by the likes of Susan Tedeschi and hard-core country, especially the expansive and explosive music of Tanya Tucker.

“There’s definitely an element of soul in country music” Meghan says when asked about the defining aspect of Steel Magnolia’s sound. “Country is all my mom listened to. That was definitely in my blood. My dad was very 70s rock and roll. The combination of my dad and my mom’s influences along with living in New Orleans in such a musical environment, it definitely all influenced the way I sing.”

Josh figured out his musical identity in a very different environment. Born in Houston but raised by an adoptive family in rural Illinois, his father was a factory worker on weekdays and a minister on Sundays. At home Josh heard his folks’ classic country music and his older brother’s rock and roll explorations. He loved Waylon Jennings and the Beatles. The rest came at church. “The music in our little country churches with 10-12 people was pretty traditional,” he says. “But we ended up going to an all black church called Second Baptist when I was 13. We went there for two years, so I got immersed in the stomp.”

So immersed in fact that, in his early teens, Josh wrote a song about racism in the wake of the Rodney King riots and basically made his songwriting debut in front of his congregation. It went over well, but not without overcoming an epic case of nerves and, in some ways a career was born that day.

Josh came to Nashville as the leader of a rock trio and earned some notice on local radio. Meghan had her sights on a singing career and moved to Nashville as a new student at Belmont University. After about a year, she focused on singing and her job at a downtown karaoke bar. If you’ve heard one biographical detail about Steel Magnolia you know that they met at karaoke, where they got to hear each other sing for the first time. (The now famous meeting became the slightly fictionalized storyline for their debut music video, “Keep On Lovin’ You.”)

Their on-stage/off-stage chemistry also started giving rise to original songs. The very first one they wrote together, “Edge of Goodbye,” became a calling card and made their debut album. As they worked and wrote, the dynamics of their duet style worked itself out.

“Well I’m not a very good follower so I always seem to take the lead and Meg’s just really got a good ear,” Josh says with a mix of self-deprecation and admiration of his partner. “I think we both have a knack for melodies. I don’t think there’s a lot of thinking that goes on behind who’s going to sing this or that line. It’s more of a tonal quality that kind of comes together and just works, almost like a sibling thing.”

“And that’s why I feel like we were meant to sing together,” says Meghan. “From that first song when we started working on ‘Edge of Goodbye,’ the only thing that’s ever really worked is what happens naturally when he sings and I start singing too.”

That’s not to say a ton of work and creativity doesn’t go into the Steel Magnolia sound. Case in point was the strikingly new arrangement they offered of Hank Williams’ “I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry” during Can You Duet? Worked out in the middle of the night in a ladies’ room of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, where the show was being filmed, Josh and Meghan took a classic and honored it with the reworking of some of its melody and some creative tempo shifts. Meghan remembers, “We both thought ‘we’ve got to come up with something that’s going to make this song different.’ We knew it was a risk.”

Obviously the risk paid off, and the pair und themselves at Big Machine planning their debut album. The news that Big Machine had lined up super-producer and guitar star Dann Huff to produce the album was both inspiring and intimidating. At an early meeting, Josh went so far as to blurt out: “I want to make sure we make a Steel Magnolia record, not a Dann Huff record.” It’s an assertion he looks back on as audacious but necessary.

“I was so scared. We’d worked so hard. I just had to say it. I didn’t want to get swallowed by a beast. I didn’t want something bigger than us coming in and taking us over and making us sound like something we weren’t. You have to stand up for what you believe in.”

Meghan fully supports the slightly impolitic move. But she’s also quick to note that Huff was amazing to work with. “He is the most humble guy you ever met. And of course he’s very good at what he does and he definitely challenged both of us.”

The resulting album takes a real journey, from the sparkling, genre-less opening tracks to songs toward the back that pay perhaps more homage to country music tradition and more complex subject matter. Josh and Meghan penned seven of the 12 tracks, including “Last Night Again” a budding romance song that was on the bubble for making the CD but which turned out to be a band favorite. And then there’s the funky, sexy “Eggs Over Easy,” driven by harmonica and acoustic guitars, leaving tons of sonic space for the locked-in harmonies of Josh and Meghan to really shine. Then, after a swampy blues written by Keith Urban called “Homespun Love,” we hear Josh really step forward as a hard core country songwriter on “Glass Houses,” a powerful song about addiction and the darkness than sometimes has to come before the dawn.

When this powerful collection arrives, it will be merely the capstone of a year that’s seen Josh and Meghan come into their own. They’ve shined at the Grand Ole Opry and gotten their stage legs in arena atmospheres. They’ve reached back to their fans over the internet and shared some of the love and affection that’s clear when they sing together.

But then Steel Magnolia is a partnership at so many levels. They confess that working together and shaping their music is a lot more challenging than just being together as people. But they say the creative tension have always produced great results. “We’ve learned a lot from each other,” says Josh. “About everything. When we got together, I was more the writer it seemed, and she was more the singer. And we’ve met each other in the middle.” Adds Meghan: “When I first started hearing his stuff, it was real raw and emotional and I felt it when he would sing. I learned a lot just by singing with him. I feel like Josh has become a better singer and I’ve just let go a little more.”

It’s rare to be a witness to this kind of evolution and artistic growth in such a short span of time. But very often chemical reactions happen faster when heat and pressure is applied. The experiment is still underway, but with the evidence in so far, Steel Magnolia’s fertile minds and voices should be spinning off light and energy for quite some time.

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Sunny Sweeney

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 16:56:00 GMT

I'm Sunny Sweeney. I'm from East Texas, and if you talk to me, you'll probably be able to tell that. If I get around my friends or family from home, my accent gets thicker for some reason and you will most likely need a translator. I sing country music in a country band, and I play acoustic guitar. I'm a pretty low key boring person when I'm off the road, and my idea of fun is to sit my ass on the couch with all three of my dogs sitting right beside me with a cold beer in my hand and watching trash TV. I know pretty much all the commercials on TV and I sing along. I talk during movies.

That's mostly b/c I can't hear that good b/c I stand in front of the drums too often. I have a dirty mouth and I should get my mouth washed out with soap more often. I am blunt and I say what I mean but I also mean what I say. I love the Grand Ole Opry and I am country music history buff. I LOVE the twang of TELECASTER guitars. I love watching guitar playin fools that sweat when they play even though it's 6 degrees outside. I love writing songs with bad ass guitar players. I love left handed guitar players and as it turns out, I guess I love European guitar players as well for some reason. I love music that moves me. Since you are wondering, most of what moves me is old school country, but I've been branching out believe it or not. I love players that get good tone and I mostly like male voices when it comes to singing. I'm attached at the knuckles to my phone. I text and drive. I love taking pictures...especially ones that will bring back memories months and years later. I love people that inspire me. I miss my grandma (Dotty) and my grandpa (Poppy). I love my parents. I have three sisters and a bro. I have 8 nieces and nephews. I love them all so much , but I wouldn't win aunt of the year. I give gift cards for holidays b/c I hate being in the stores right before christmas. I procrastinate. BAAAAAD. Most of my friends are hysterically funny, b/c I enjoy being around funny people. I collect pigs. I have over 2000 pig things. I also collect spoons (the kind you get in a truckstop) of places I've been or someone else gets me from where they've been. I have what I like to think of as a "healthy obsession" with Merle Haggard. I LOVEEEEEEE chips and salsa, and I can tell from one bite of salsa if I'm gonna like the food at a Mexican Restaurant. I am horrible at keeping in touch with people. I LOVE sitting in a dark living room watching Coal Miners Daughter, Tender Mercies, and Almost Famous (in that order). I drive slow...like a grandpa. I don't like driving fast. I do love rolling the windows down and turning the heat on full blast and driving in the cold winter weather. I have some seriously talented friends. Johnny Cash was soooo bad ass. I like fishin as long as someone baits the hook and I can use a BOB. I like swimming in lakes.

I like ... no i take that back... I LOVE CHEESEBURGERS, which I have started affectionately started calling Chaburgers. I love prank calling people. Yes, still. I love UNO and MRS. PACMAN and GALAGA. I think everything used to be better including video games and music. I read the thesaurus and I don't care if you think I'm a loser. I love glitter and rhinestones. I love personalized guitar straps. I have a wall in my house that is covered with crosses....guess I collect those too... I am not domestic at all.

I DO NOT COOK. I clean a little and I'm good at it, I just don't like it. I do however love doing laundry. Is that weird? I love "Footprints in the Sand." I don't read books, except Chelsea Handler's books and biorgraphies of people I look up to. I read trash mags. I hate flying, but I flew like 29 round trips last year. I am not real smart on a computer. I think my mom and my oldest sister are hilarious and they make me laugh harder than pretty much anyone on earth. My family has what we like to call horse teeth. It's like the Kennedy's but much poorer. I would wear jeans and sweatshirt to an awards ceremony if I didn't think I'd get in trouble.

I HATE dressing up. I love the smell of cigarette smoke and gasoline b/c it reminds me of my grandpa. I don't like the extreme cold or the extreme hot, which is why I love California. Plus, there was no humidity, so my hair looked really good there HAHA! Candles are my thing. Smelly ones. I love iced coffee and am a total bitch until I have my IV drip in the mornings. If it's before like 10 and I'm not carrying a Starbux, it might be in your best interest to just come back later. I paint my dogs toenails. I brush their teeth too. I eat Luden's cough drops as candy, and I wanna swim in a pool of chocolate someday. Cheese is my weakness. I love every day of the week. My favorite colors are black and blue and red. I carry a koozie with me in my purse and I drink my beer out of a bottle. I'm addicted to soft sheets and I have over 100 pairs of jeans and I have a weekness for cute boots. Anything else? Just ask...

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Joanna Smith

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:31:00 GMT

Raised in a part of the country known for farming, Georgia red clay and family values, Joanna Smith had Music City aspirations at an early age. Growing up in Arlington, GA, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it small-town in Southwest Georgia, Smith got the performance bug from an intoxicating combination childhood tape recorder and listening to strong women of country including The Judds, Reba McEntire, and Dolly Parton.

Encouraged by her family, Joanna Smith entered every performance opportunity available and was committed to perfecting her live shows. Asked at an early age what she wanted to be when she grew up she replied, “I already AM a professional country music singer but I just don’t get to get on the stage much!” Fixing that, Smith took to every stage in the Southeast!

She’d had years of practice performing for crowds when at 18 she was tapped to join Mustang Sally, an all girl country band. Smith then decided to head to Nashville and pursue her music full-time, leaving a full scholarship to Auburn University. Despite a short run with Mustang Sally, Joanna Smith had fallen in love with Tennessee and decided to remain here permanently. With no connections and in a new city, she set out writing and singing demos, and in a little over a year signed her first publishing deal with Big Borassa Music. Since then, she has had two songs cut (“Flying By” on Billy Ray Cyrus’ latest record, HOME AT LAST), and has opened for Glen Campbell at the Ryman Auditorium.

Joanna spends her evenings playing on Broadway performing at the famed Tootsie’s and her days networking around the row. Last fall, she signed a contract with Sony Music Nashville, a publishing deal with Sony/ATV-Monument and has begun work recording her first full-length studio record.

“I want to sing country songs that hard-working, real people can relate to. Songs that folks can connect with through the ups and downs of life.” she says, and, after listening to her songs you immediately know; Smith knows how to reach out and touch a universal chord, a natural ability that makes her songs great.

With her professionalism and unadulterated talent, this saucy girl with the Southern twang is destined, and determined, to realize her dream of playing on radios and for country crowds nationwide.

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Taylor Swift

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:21:00 GMT

Hi, I'm Taylor. I've been alive for 22 years now, and I finally have my own kitchen. I'm very excited about this, and generally excited by anything else that falls into the "cute" or "cozy" categories. I learned to play guitar when I was twelve from this guy named Ronnie who came over to fix my parents' computer. I like quilts. But that's probably because I'm always freezing cold. I LOVE Nashville. That's where I live, when I'm lucky enough to be there. I love the town so much, I sometimes feel like I should just roll the windows down in my car (nicknamed the Toyoat. Because it's a Toyota) and scream "I LOVE THIS TOWN" loudly out the windows. That wouldn't be weird, right? Every time I try and wink at someone, I mess it up and end up scaring people. My lucky number always has been and always will be 13. It pops up in front of me in the most obvious and undeniable ways, but only when something good is about to happen. I'm a Sagittarius. I think that means I'm always looking for something new. It also means I have a Christmas-themed birthday party every year. I love bright colors and things that make reality seem more whimsical than it is. I have a collection of ribbons and headbands, and I love them all the same. I over-think and over-plan and over-organize. I've been like this since I was a baby, before I was gigantically tall and over-talkative.

These days, I've been trying to classify my thoughts into two categories: "Things I can change," and "Things I can't." It seems to help me sort through what to really stress about. But there I go again, over-planning and over-organizing my over-thinking! I write songs about my adventures and misadventures, most of which concern love. Love is a tricky business. But if it wasn't, I wouldn't be so enthralled with it. Lately I've come to a wonderful realization that makes me even more fascinated by it: I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to love. No one does! There's no pattern to it, except that it happens to all of us, of course. I can't plan for it. I can't predict how it'll end up. Because love is unpredictable and it's frustrating and it's tragic and it's beautiful. And even though there's no way to feel like I'm an expert at it, it's worth writing songs about -- more than anything else I've ever experienced in my life.

I've apparently been the victim of growing up, which apparently happens to all of us at one point or another. It's been going on for quite some time now, without me knowing it. I've found that growing up can mean a lot of things. For me, it doesn't mean I should become somebody completely new and stop loving the things I used to love. It means I've just added more things to my list. Like for example, I'm still beyond obsessed with the winter season and I still start putting up strings of lights in September. I still love sparkles and grocery shopping and really old cats that are only nice to you half the time. I still love writing in my journal and wearing dresses all the time and staring at chandeliers. But some new things I've fallen in love with -- mismatched everything. Mismatched chairs, mismatched colors, mismatched personalities. I love spraying perfumes I used to wear when I was in high school. It brings me back to the days of trying to get a close parking spot at school, trying to get noticed by soccer players, and trying to figure out how to avoid doing or saying anything uncool, and wishing every minute of every day that one day maybe I'd get a chance to win a Grammy. Or something crazy and out of reach like that. ;) I love old buildings with the paint chipping off the walls and my dad's stories about college. I love the freedom of living alone, but I also love things that make me feel seven again. Back then naivety was the norm and skepticism was a foreign language, and I just think every once in a while you need fries and a chocolate milkshake and your mom. I love picking up a cookbook and closing my eyes and opening it to a random page, then attempting to make that recipe. I've loved my fans from the very first day, but they've said things and done things recently that make me feel like they're my friends -- more now than ever before. I'll never go a day without thinking about our memories together.

For the last two years, I've been writing and recording an album called Speak Now. I only have the option of writing about things that happen in my life, so thankfully a LOT has happened in my life in the last two years. I know I don't always say the right thing at the right time or speak up when I should, but I write it all down. I get my guitar and a pen and all of a sudden, I have a chance to say exactly what I meant to say in real life. Some of the things I wrote about are things everyone saw me go through. Some of the things I wrote about are things nobody ever knew about. I'm beyond excited for you to hear these stories and confessions.

I think it's important that you know that I will never change. But I'll never stay the same either. Must be a Sagittarius thing.

I'm pretty stoked that you read this whole thing. I commend you for that. This was ridiculously long, and you probably have other stuff you could've done in the last four minutes. So to you, or anyone else who has spent four minutes on me in some way-- listening to just one song, or watching one of my videos….Thank you. I love you like I love sparkles and having the last word. And that's real love.

-Taylor

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Sugarland

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:20:00 GMT

To hear Jennifer Nettles tell it, it’s a brand new day in Sugarland. Despite winning multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM awards—and selling more than 8 million records—the country-music duo of Nettles and Kristian Bush is embracing a creative rebirth, a musical awakening that permeates their adventurous fourth album, The Incredible Machine.

“We are in a place of discovery,” Jennifer says. “It is the essence of who we are as people in this band. There is never a moment where we think, ‘This is good enough.’ There’s always a place for growth.”

A growth that Kristian says has been encouraged by their fans, their record label, and, most importantly, by the genre-bending, all-are-welcome country-music industry. “It’s as if the industry and the culture have singled out the biggest risks we’ve taken on a record, a song like ‘Stay’ for example, and celebrated those,” he says gratefully. “They’ve embraced us at those times. We’ve tried to learn from that and this is what we’ve made.”

And what they’ve created is a dynamic masterwork. Co-written and co-produced in full by Jennifer and Kristian, The Incredible Machine is a soaring album elevated by sky-high choruses, ringing guitars, and pulsing drums that recall the beating of the album’s titular engine, the human heart.

Kristian describes it as a collection of anthems—and there may be no greater understatement. If the duo was searching for the grander side of country on their last record, the double platinum Love on the Inside, they’ve obviously found it on The Incredible Machine. From the fanfare of the album’s opener “All We Are” to Jennifer’s sublime piano-ballad closer “Shine the Light,” this is an album built for stadiums.

“This record is designed to play in very large places and to communicate with a large group of people,” Kristian confirms. “When you have an instrument as powerful and as graceful as Jennifer’s voice, you don’t want to tip-toe in. You really go for it! And those types of songs are often where Jennifer and I intersect musically.”

In fact, the pair found shared inspiration in the iconic music and films of the 1980s, their growing-up years. “We allowed ourselves to play with our influences,” Jennifer admits. As such, the coming-of-age movies by director John Hughes and songs by Blondie, Peter Gabriel, The Pretenders and even The Clash all helped fire up the Machine. “When we were writing, we asked what if John Hughes were making movies now.... Who would be on the soundtrack?” Kristian says, going on to connect the dots between rebellious country and rebellious rock. “If you dig far enough you’re going to see that The Clash and Johnny Cash had a lot in common. I like to live right where those guys meet.”

In a song like the joyous “Find the Beat Again,” for instance, Jennifer reminds the heavy-hearted among us that nothing lasts forever, while Kristian’s siren-like guitar sound—a technique he adapted from The Clash, he says—pushes the song toward its climax.

Or the call-to-arms “Stand Up,” in which the band exhorts listeners to “use your voice.” A tale of personal empowerment, the track is almost heroic in its message. It’s also one of two songs on the album to showcase Kristian’s voice. “I don’t know how many people have really ever heard me sing before,” he says of his lead verse. “For fans of the band, it’s like a whole new layer is peeled back.”

“All We Are” is equally triumphant. A rallying cry of sorts, it culminates in a mass of melodies folding upon one another. The result is breathtaking, a musical equation so intricate that it solidifies the duo’s ability to write complex fare as well as breezy, winking tunes like first single “Stuck like Glue.”

“We write songs for different reasons. There are some songs that we want to change your life and there are some that we just want to change your day. That’s what ‘Stuck like Glue’ is,” Jennifer laughs. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously, and that’s what fans love.”

They also flock to Jennifer’s knack for finding the voice of everywoman—or even everyman. One of Sugarland’s many gifts is their ability to write lyrics that transcend gender, like in their 2004 breakout hit “Baby Girl.” On The Incredible Machine, the proof is in the acoustic “Little Miss,” a profile of a woman who tries to handle everything, all by herself. “I saw my mom as that person. I see pieces of it in my own daughter. Jennifer is certainly one of those women,” Kristian says.

Aside from the powerhouse rocker “Wide Open,” written specifically for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, “Little Miss” is one of the record’s earliest penned tracks. “We were at a festival over a year ago and I was on the bus doing my makeup while Kristian was warming up,” recalls Jennifer. “I was wearing a checkered dress and he started playing this lick and singing, ‘Little Miss checkered dress.’ I popped my head out and sang, ‘Little Miss one big mess!’ The way that song was discovered was fun and really beautiful.”

And the band is confident that fans, old and new alike, will have a similar experience as they discover the gears and cogs of The Incredible Machine—a country record, a pop record, an anthem record, a ballad record, but above all, an authentic record.

“It’s just the two of us,” says Kristian. “In the story of who we are, this album is more us than we’ve ever been.”

Jennifer agrees and says the band’s rebirth is best summed up in the gentle, searching words of the album’s title track: Feels like I’m flying, wings made of light/brand new and shinin’, like a shot rung out through the night.

“That’s a wonderful metaphor and image for this newly emerging creature that Sugarland is right now, with these vulnerable but beautiful wings. The Incredible Machine is definitely us, but at the same time, there is something very precious and new,” she says. “And we want to show it to the world!”

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SheDaisy

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:12:00 GMT

SHeDAISY is an award winning, contemporary country music group who burst on the scene back in the days when big hats and “achy breaky” music ruled the country music roost. The band is made up of sisters Kristyn, Kassidy, and Kelsi Osborn. These three have managed to forge a unique sound that blends a powerful lead voice with complex vocal arrangements and the type of harmonies that would bring tears of unadulterated joy to the likes of Gladys Knight and the Pips or Alabama.

They originally left their home in Utah for Tennessee as an act signed to RCA. At that early phase of their career they were simply known as “The Osborn Sisters”. While the name was a charming bridge back in time to other famous sister groups (ones who were also known for beautiful harmonies), it didn’t stick. After leaving RCA they re-emerged sometime later as SHeDAISY. The word itself (shideezhí) is a Navajo term for “my little sister”. Those who thought the name somehow related to flowers or was Yiddish for “hold the pickles” are probably rather new to this band. Whether the name change was a shrewd business decision or the result of the type of sisterly band meeting that included salt and margarita mix is a bit of a gray area but the truth is that their debut as SHeDAISY was the start of something special.

Those who are familiar with SHeDAISY are well aware of the music they have created. Their songs have run the gamut from a rare sort of musical beauty to snarky tracks where it is clear that their collective tongue was firmly planted in the cheek during the writing process. Obviously this doesn’t happen by accident and each sister has a role to play in order to bring their music from the ethereal realm of ideas into the light of melodic reality.

Kristyn, Kassidy, and Kelsi obviously share some DNA but have each managed to be incredibly different from one another. Those who enjoy and appreciate their music would be understandably curious about each one of these sisters and we would be remiss if we didn’t help folks get to know them a bit better.

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Ricky Skaggs

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:09:00 GMT

A life full of music. That's the story of Ricky Skaggs. By age 21, he was already considered a "recognized master" of one of America's most demanding art forms, but his career took him in other directions, catapulting him to popularity and success in the mainstream of country music. His life's path has taken him to various musical genres, from where it all began in bluegrass music, to striking out on new musical journeys, while still leaving his musical roots intact.

2012 marks the 53rd year since Ricky struck his first chords on a mandolin, and this fourteen-time Grammy Award winner continues to do his part to lead the recent roots revival in music. With 12 consecutive Grammy-nominated classics behind him, all from his own Skaggs Family Records label (Bluegrass Rules! in 1998, Ancient Tones in 1999, History of the Future in 2001, Soldier of the Cross, Live at the Charleston Music Hall, and Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe in 2003, Brand New Strings in 2005, Instrumentals in 2007, Salt of the Earth with The Whites in 2008, Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947 in 2009 and Ricky Skaggs Solo: Songs My Dad Loved along with Mosaic in 2010), the diverse and masterful tones made by the gifted Skaggs come from a life dedicated to playing music that is both fed by the soul and felt by the heart.

Ricky was born on July 18, 1954 in Cordell, Kentucky, and received his first mandolin at the age of five after his father, Hobert, heard him harmonizing with his mother from across the house as he played with his toys. Two weeks after teaching him the G, C and D chords, Hobert returned from working out of town shocked to see his young son making chord changes and singing along. He soon earned a reputation among the locals in his community. When the legendary Bill Monroe came to Martha, Kentucky for a performance, the crowd wouldn't let up until "Little Ricky Skaggs" got up to play. The father of bluegrass called six-year-old Skaggs up and placed his own mandolin around his neck, adjusting the strap to fit his small frame. No one could have imagined what a defining moment that would be in the life of the young prodigy. By age seven, Skaggs had made his Grand Ole Opry debut and performed with bluegrass legends Flatt & Scruggs on their popular syndicated television show, for which he earned his first paycheck for a musical performance.

In 1971, he entered the world of professional music with his friend, the late country singer, Keith Whitley, when the two young musicians were invited to join the band of bluegrass patriarch Ralph Stanley. Ricky soon began to build a reputation for creativity and excitement through live appearances and recordings with acts such as J. D. Crowe & the New South. He performed on the band's 1975 debut album for Rounder Records, which is widely regarded as one of the most influential bluegrass albums ever made. A stint as a bandleader with Boone Creek followed, bringing the challenges of leadership while giving him further recording and performing experience.

In the late 1970s, Ricky turned his attention to country music. Though still in his 20s, the wealth of experience and talent he possessed served him well, first as a member of Emmylou Harris' Hot Band and later as an individual recording artist on his own. With the release of Waitin' for the Sun to Shine in 1981, Skaggs reached the top of the country charts and remained there throughout most of the 1980s, resulting in a total of 12 #1 hits. In 1982, he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, the youngest to ever be inducted at that time. As his popularity soared, he garnered eight awards from the Country Music Association (CMA), including "Entertainer of the Year" in 1985, four Grammy Awards, and dozens of other honors. These achievements also placed him front and center in the neo-traditionalist movement, bringing renewed vitality and prominence to a sound that had been somewhat subdued by the commercialization of the 'Urban Cowboy' fad. Renowned guitarist and producer, Chet Atkins, credited Skaggs with "single-handedly" saving country music.

In 1997, after Ricky's then-current recording contract was coming to an end, he decided to establish his own record label - Skaggs Family Records. Since then, Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder have released an amazing 12 consecutive Grammy-nominated classics, (8 of which went on to earn the revered award) while also opening the label to a variety of other musical artists, all the time keeping emphasis on bluegrass and other forms of roots music. Ricky and Skaggs Family Records have had the privilege of working with many musical talents including The Del McCoury Band, Jerry and Tammy Sullivan, Blue Highway, The Whites, Mountain Heart, Melonie Cannon, Ryan Holladay, Keith Sewell, Cherryholmes, and Cadillac Sky.

Ricky's first release for Skaggs Family Records, Bluegrass Rules!, set a new standard for bluegrass, breaking new sales records in the genre, winning Skaggs his sixth Grammy Award, and earning the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) Album of the Year Award. In 1999, his second all-bluegrass album, Ancient Tones, won a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album - his second consecutive Grammy in that same category. Just one year later, Ricky won his eighth Grammy Award in the Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album category for Soldier of the Cross, his first all-gospel recording project.

Ricky made further progress with the release of his fourth bluegrass album in 2000, Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe, a project which featured an all-star cast of musicians ranging from Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless and Travis Tritt to Joan Osborne, John Fogerty and Bruce Hornsby, and celebrated the music and the life of Ricky's mentor, Bill Monroe. Big Mon received much critical acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. The album was re-released by Lyric Street Records in 2002 under a new name, Ricky Skaggs and Friends Sing the Songs of Bill Monroe. His fifth bluegrass album, History of the Future (2001), a timeless collection of both traditional bluegrass standards and newly conceived acoustic gems received rave reviews and industry accolades, including a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album and an IBMA nomination for Album of the Year, once again placing Skaggs among the leading innovators in the genre.

Skaggs' first all-live album with Kentucky Thunder, Live at the Charleston Music Hall (2003), led to an IBMA Award for Instrumental Group of the Year - an award Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder has taken home 8 times in the last decade. The decision to record a live album was an obvious one for Skaggs. From a string of high-profile tour dates with the Dixie Chicks in 2000, to his position as host of the unprecedented "All*Star Bluegrass Celebration" which aired nationwide on PBS in 2002, to his participation in the wildly successful 41-city 'Down from the Mountain' tour - Ricky has become one of bluegrass' most dynamic and sought-after live performers.

He counts the current configuration of Kentucky Thunder among the best group of musicians he has ever worked with. "This group of guys meets my approval every night," Ricky says. "Each and every one of the pickers in Kentucky Thunder totally amazes me in every show...and that, to me, outweighs any award we could ever win." The all-star lineup of Kentucky Thunder includes Andy Leftwich (fiddle), Cody Kilby (lead guitar), Paul Brewster (tenor vocals, rhythm guitar), Eddie Faris (baritone vocals, rhythm guitar) and Justin Moses (banjo). Live at the Charleston Music Hall was honored in 2004 with a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group for the Harley Allen-penned track, "A Simple Life."

In 2005, Ricky earned his 10th career Grammy (Best Bluegrass Album) for Brand New Strings - a beautiful collection of music featuring four Skaggs originals as well as several tunes by some of his most admired contemporaries, including Harley Allen, Guy Clark, and Shawn Camp. In 2006, Skaggs was honored with a Grammy Award - this time in the Best Musical Album for Children category - for his contribution to Songs from the Neighborhood: the Music of Mister Rogers. Greater success followed with the release of Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder Instrumentals, an album of all-original, all-instrumental material in Fall 2006. Praised by fans and critics alike as a landmark album for Skaggs, Instrumentals debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's bluegrass album chart and earned Ricky his 12^th career Grammy Award (Best Bluegrass Album).

Cross pollination has been a mainstay throughout Ricky's career, from his weekly collaborations with various artists as host of The Nashville Network's Monday Night Concerts in the 1990's to his recent pairings with Bruce Hornsby and The Whites. Released in March of 2007, Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby (Sony/Legacy) drew from the deep roots in mountain music - adding piano and Hornsby's inimitable songwriting to the core bluegrass lineup of mandolin, guitar, bass, fiddle, and banjo. A major CMT Crossroads special coincided with the album's release.

His next recorded project, released in September of 2007 on Skaggs Family Records, was a literal family affair. After years of blending their voices from the living room to the stage, Ricky Skaggs and The Whites teamed up for their first collaborative gospel album, Salt of the Earth, which resulted in a 13th career Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album, followed by a Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Bluegrass Recorded Album of the Year and Inspirational Country Music Awards for Musician of the Year as well as Mainstream Country Artist of the Year and Inspirational Bluegrass Artist of the Year (with The Whites).

In 2008, Skaggs paid tribute to the man he has often referred to as his "musical father", Bill Monroe, and the original lineup of the Bluegrass Boys (Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, Chubby Wise and Howard Watts) with the release of Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947, earning a 14^th career Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.

A musical father in his own right, Skaggs continues on the full circle path with the addition of a ReIssue Series of his groundbreaking country music masterworks to the Skaggs Family Records catalog in 2009. Beginning with 1982's Highways & Heartaches, and followed by 1981's Waitin' for the Sun to Shine and 1983's Don't Cheat in Our Hometown, the ReIssue Series will include nine albums total and includes bonus retrospectives with each release, which feature Ricky, in his own words, sharing never-before-told stories about the making of each project.

Skaggs' first-ever solo album, Ricky Skaggs Solo: Songs My Dad Loved (2009), celebrated the man that caused him to fall in love with music - his father, Hobert Skaggs. He elaborates, "If I could've gotten my dad into the studio, this is how I would've wanted him to sound." Playing every instrument and singing every note on the album, Ricky brought raw, emotional honesty to the songs. By coming home to the music that meant so much to him as a child, Ricky tapped into a wellspring of passion that he channeled into every tune, as though he willed himself back to his family's house in Kentucky. Solo was honored in the American roots field with a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2010.

Ricky Skaggs' album, Mosaic (2010), marked a return to a full band sound that mixed elements of Country music with Beatles-esque melody and lyrics that spoke to Skaggs' faith, making "music that is in my head and in my heart," as Ricky said. Grammy winning songwriter/producer Gordon Kennedy, who co-wrote Eric Clapton's "Change the World," was instrumental as co-producer and writer. This most special album hooks the heart, as the sounds invite you in to take notice and come closer. They have blended their talents and love of music with their love for the Lord to create a distinctive collaboration of writing and talent, unparalleled in strength of genius. The song, "Return to Sender" from Mosaic was nominated for a Grammy for Best Gospel Song, and the album was a contender for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards, receiving major critical acclaim.

Marking Ricky's 50^th year in music is the release of Country Hits Bluegrass Style (2011), a compilation of many of Skaggs' #1 country hits and fan favorites, played in a bluegrass style. Combining his country and bluegrass roots along with Ricky's impeccable tenor voice, his eight time IBMA Instrumental Band of the Year, Kentucky Thunder, and some of Ricky's original award-winning country band alumni together with special friends add to the magic of this newest release.

Ricky Skaggs has often said that he is "just trying to make a living" playing the music he loves. But it's clear that his passion for it puts him in the position to bring his lively, distinctively American form of music out of isolation and into the ears and hearts of audiences across the country and around the world. Ricky Skaggs is always forging ahead with cross-cultural, genre-bending musical ideas and inspirations.

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George Strait

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:04:00 GMT

Here For A Good Time, Strait's 39th studio album, is every bit fresh & new as it is comfortable, reliable King George. Co-produced by Strait and his longtime friend and legendary producer Tony Brown, George returned to the Jimmy Buffet owned Shrimpboat Sound Studio in Key West, FL to record the album. This is the same studio he has used to record his last three award winning albums.

With a career that spans three decades, Strait has racked up the most #1 singles of any artist in

history including Elvis (57 to date inclusive of all charts). In addition to his nearly 69 million records sold, his 33 different platinum or multi-platinum albums account for the most RIAA platinum certifications in country music and is 3rd in all genres behind only The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Strait was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame
in 2006.

Almost equally as impressive, Strait has spent his entire professional career on MCA Records Nashville.

Yet even after all the years, hits and hardware Strait continues to pick up steam. The albums title track / lead single "Here For A Good Time" is not only his 89th career single, it clocked in as the second highest debut in his storied career on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

While George didn't have much of a hand in writing his songs for many years, that has drastically changed on Here For A Good Time. After writing three songs with his son Bubba and trusted songsmith Dean Dillon for his 2009 album Twang, George is credited with co-writing seven of the tracks on the new album; six as a trio with Bubba and Dean (including the title track) while George and Bubba put together "Shame On Me" on their own.

"It was mainly Bubba's influence," George recalls about his more recent delve back into songwriting. "He decided he wanted to write and he wanted to get me involved in it. I kinda reluctantly did it at first but found I really enjoyed doing it. Early in my career, I wrote a lot. I didn't record a lot of the songs I wrote but I did, nevertheless, write a lot. And then I just got lazy. I was finding what I think were great songs from great songwriters in Nashville so that's the route I went. But I'm fired up about writing again now. It's fun to write with Bubba and a lot of fun to write with Dean, so I'm probably going to continue to do it from now on."

It only takes two songs before Here For A Good Time delivers its first paralyzing punch in the form of "Drinkin' Man," a tale told through the eyes of a man who spends a lifetime desperately wanting/trying to walk away from the bottle but repeatedly falls into the drunken surrender of a life lost to liquor.

"I love that song. I had been thinking about that idea for a while and I told Dean that one night. I said, 'Hey, man. I've got a good idea for a song, I think. It's a helluva lot to ask of a drinking man.' I don't think it really sunk into him at the time, but then we got down to the ranch and started kicking around this idea. When we finished it, I was so proud of it. It came out exactly the way I had imagined it. I just love it. It takes us through the whole gamut of this guy who's pretty hung up on the bottle."

As with liquor, women have long been the pitfall of many a man and George puts forth his take on that as well with "Poison." Led along by a haunting guitar and George's floor sweeping baritone the song tells the tale that there's something in every mans life that can make you feel bulletproof. You can learn to love anything that can bring you pleasure or pain...you just have to pick your poison.

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Blake Shelton

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:42:00 GMT

WATCH BLAKE SHELTON MUSIC VIDEOS HERE

Few country artists have ever known the kind of success Blake Shelton has earned. Fewer still have done it with the openness and honesty he brings to the table.

"For the life of me," says Blake Shelton, "I'll never understand how you can be an artist but not want people to understand who you are as a person."

More than a decade into a career whose opening salvo was the chart-topping "Austin," that transparency has helped Blake become one of the best ambassadors the country music genre has ever had, in a league with Glen Campbell and Roger Miller. His wit, intelligence and, above all, his irreverent sense of fun have endeared him to his peers on NBC's megahit "The Voice" just as surely as it has to the millions of fans he is introducing to country music. He is, says wife Miranda Lambert, "the life of every party he goes to," and these days, the world is his party.

Careers have been known to founder when artists reach beyond their core strengths into uncharted territory, but Blake's has only strengthened, primarily because he has never lost focus on the basis of everything he does--the music.

"I've spent a lifetime in love with country music," he says. "I listened all the time as a kid and I was playing and singing before I was a teenager. I moved to Nashville at 17 to make music and since then I've put everything I have into doing it right."

The results of that approach speak for themselves. He is the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, three-time Male Vocalist of the Year and he and Miranda garnered Song of the Year honors for co-writing the platinum-selling chart-topper, "Over You." He has earned a host of other awards and nominations, including multiple Grammy nominations, six gold and platinum albums, and is the three-time host of the ACM Awards.

The most important statistic, though, is musical. He has had 12 No. 1 singles, including eight in a row, starting with "Hillbilly Bone." With songs like "All About Tonight," "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking," "Honey Bee," "God Gave Me You," "Drink on It" and "Over," he has proven his versatility and shown himself as one of the genre's strongest and most compelling vocalists. His live show--hit-filled, high-energy, unpredictable--has kept him among country's most popular touring acts.

Now, with the release of Based on a True Story... he takes the next big step forward. That he was able to follow so strongly an album with the success of the platinum selling, GRAMMY nominated album Red River Blue, which launched four No. 1 singles is further proof that he is still on the ascent as an artist.

"I really did believe that Red River Blue was the best that I could do and maybe someday I could tie it," he says, "but I think that just taking a simpler approach to making this album made it better because I wasn't comparing it to anything else. We put it together piece by piece, saying, 'Hey, man, I love that song. Let's cut that.' I was just recording things I loved and the next thing you know we had built something terrific. I'm really proud and excited about the songs on it."

The album relies on some of the country's top tunesmiths, including Rhett Akins, Rodney Clawson, Dallas Davidson, Dean Dillon, Michael Dulaney, Chris Tompkins and Craig Wiseman, with songs that are in general more upbeat than those on Red River Blue.

"You know, honestly, I'm in a good place in my life," he says. "I'm happy and I'm thankful and I want to sound like that in my record. I want to be that guy on my albums right now because I don't have that dark cloud I've had before and that we've all had in our lives. If you listen to this album, by the end you'll go, 'Man, this guy's pretty happy with his lot in life!' And I am."

That reality, he adds, accounts for the project's title.

"I was listening to the album and I thought, 'Man, every song on here is either "Been there, done that," or I'm doing it right now,' so It really is my true life."

Perhaps nowhere is that truer than in "Small Town Big Time," which talks about a city-dweller casting his thoughts back to the people and places back home. There is also "Doin' What She Likes" and "Lay Low," each of which, he says, deals with aspects of his relationship with Miranda, "Boys 'Round Here," a shout-out to country boys, "Country on the Radio," which touches on Blake's lifelong love of country radio, and "Granddaddy's Gun," an evocative and poignant song about the place of memory and heritage within families. The tone varies from "Do You Remember," a song that looks back on a relationship more in nostalgia than regret, to "I Still Got a Finger," perhaps this generation's "Take This Job and Shove it." The CD's first single, "Sure Be Cool If You Did," launched the project in style, heading straight to the top of the charts.

Sonically, Based On A True Story... enters new territory for Blake.

"I'm a fan of Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan and Miranda and Taylor and Carrie," he says, "and I get excited when I hear how they're pushing the boundaries with their records and I kinda felt like that's the one thing that I hadn't done, is really push it with sounds and things. And so that's one thing that I did want to do on this record. "Doing What She Likes" has a banjo intro, but the banjo's going through a wah pedal and I never heard anything like it. It just sounds so cool. And that was important to me to do things like that."

The result is a project that showcases Blake as one of the premiere artists of his generation. The journey that brought him to these heights from a childhood in Ada, Oklahoma, was a storied one. Two weeks out of high school, after encouragement from legendary songwriter ("Heartbreak Hotel") Mae Axton, he left for Nashville. He met and worked with another legend—Bobby Braddock ("He Stopped Loving Her Today")—and earned a deal on Giant Records. It would be several years before that led to a contract with Warner Bros. and "Austin," and a long journey from there to the heights he has scaled.

"I'm still learning, still reaching and growing," he says now, "and it's great to have more and more people along for the ride."

He is, this far along, looking to the future.

"I just want to do what George Strait has done and what Reba has done, to make great music year after year," he says. "I don't think there's a magic formula. I think you just go and make the best record you can make and give the best you have when you walk out on that stage."

With Based on a True Story..., Blake takes yet another long stride toward that legacy, a legacy his growing legions of fans view as already well under way.

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Ashton Shepperd

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:16:00 GMT

Ashton Shepherd knows “Where Country Grows.”

Her distinctive sound comes from her family farm in the tiny hamlet of Leroy, Alabama. More specifically, it comes from a backyard cabin called The Pickin’ Shed. That’s where this young wife and mother crafts her extraordinarily insightful country songs.

Unlike many country singers, who leave their small towns to create a new life under Nashville’s bright lights, Ashton has chosen to remain in her home state among the people whom she has always known, continuing to write songs about everyday experiences in a simple yet powerful way. She’s a Southern charmer with common sense and a quick wit who is comfortable with who she is and how she lives her life.

Critics and fans alike have been drawn to the authenticity of this small-town sage whose traditional country music strikes a chord with Americans everywhere. She captures the life of those who live very differently than the ones depicted on reality shows and in magazines. She has emerged as a feminine voice of the working class and a role model for women whose lives are defined more by their aching feet and shoulders than the color of their collars, for the women who toil all day at offices and factories, only to face more work at home to take care of their families.

Indeed, Ashton herself is a working mother – she has a son, James, who is five, and another one the way – who works on her farm when she’s not touring and sells the results of her labor from a makeshift vegetable stand out of the back of a truck. She’s also become a business woman who has learned to make the best decisions for her career and life.

Song by song, she has used these common threads to sew a musical patchwork quilt of a woman’s soul. With a blend of conviction, humor and sass, Ashton presents the image of a woman who maintains a deep loyalty to her family, but also has the strength necessary to stand up for herself and what she believes in.

Where Country Grows is her sophomore album that is the impressive musical evolution following 2008’s Sounds So Good, which produced hits including the title track and “Takin’ Off This Pain.” The Washington Post named Sounds So Good one of the best albums of 2008 of all genres, calling Ashton, “the real deal…brimming with personality.” The Wall Street Journal said she was “a potential Loretta Lynn for a new generation.” Billboard stated, “There are debut albums, and then there are debut albums that serve notice that the landscape has changed.” Entertainment Weekly said the album “is the best mainstream country debut since Taylor Swift’s,” while The Chicago Tribune, the Associated Press and dozens of other media outlets raved about the album as well.

You’ll find her deep country roots, earthy personality, feelings, humor and wisdom in every note of her new MCA Nashville album Where Country Grows. She is deeply pensive and philosophical on the ballad “While It Ain’t Raining,” while she is merry and light-hearted in the spirited “More Cows Than People” and “Trying to Go to Church.”

Songs like “Rory’s Radio” and “That’s Where Country Grows” are full of vivid imagery from her authentically rural lifestyle. She finds a fresh way to approach the classic country topic of marital discord in the lyrics of “That All Leads to One Thing.” The throbbing, moody “I’m Good” is about surviving a breakup and “I’m Just a Woman” is a 21^st century anthem for her gender.

The chorus of “I’m Just a Woman” says, “And I guess I'm just a woman and that's women do. We carry the weight of the world on our shoulders, making sure every little thing goes through. And I know you're doing all you can and I know that after all you are just a man. But you should understand that I'm just a woman.”

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