Singing for your nation is somehow, a form of heroism, in a sense that creating music for the land you are living is just like adapting the culture and tradition, sticking to it, and establishing legacy to your country.
Blake Shelton, one of the best country music artists, released his debut single entitled “Austin” in 2001. He remained number one in the Billboard Hot chart. The gold-certified debut album produced two more Top 20 hits, the “All Over Me” and “Ol’ Red”. In 2001, he was transferred to Warner Bros. Records Nashville.
Aside from Shelton, Carrie Underwood is also an asset in country music. She got the first place in 2005 American Idol Season 4. In 2008, she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry and in Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Underwood was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. The following are her awards:
- 11 Grammy Awards
- 17 Billboard Music Awards
- 11 Academy of Country Music Awards
- 8 American Music Awards
Chris Young is also on the list. Young won in Nashville Star aired on the USA Network in 2006. On that same year, after his success, he signed to RCA Records Nashville, and furnished his self-titled debut album.
In 2005, the singer-songwriter, Eric Church, signed to Capitol Records. He had released four studio albums, and his debut album entitled 2006’s Sinners Like Me, originated four singles on the Billboard country charts including the Top 20 hits “How ‘Bout You”, “Two Pink Lines”, and “Guys Like Me”.
One of the well-known artists, Julie Roberts, signed to Mercury Nashville in 2003. Her debut single “Break Down Here” was released in February 2004; enlisted in the top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks. In 2006, her second album Mercury, Men & Mascara produced two non-charting singles in its title track and a cover of Saving Jane’s “Girl Next Door”. Though Roberts failed to qualify in The Voice 2013 Season 4, she is still the one and only Julia Roberts.
In 2006, a group named Lady Antebellum was formed in Nashville, Tennessee. The group’s debut in 2007 performed as guest vocalists on Jim Brickman’s single “Never Alone”, before endorsing in to Capitol Records Nashville. Lady Antebellum had released six albums for Capitol:
- Lady Antebellum
- Need You Now
- Own the Night
- Golden
- 747
- On This Winter’s Night
The group members are:
- Hillary Scott – lead vocals; daughter of singer Linda Davis
- Charles Kelley – lead vocals/guitar; brother of pop singer Josh Kelley
- Dave Haywood – background vocals/guitar/piano/mandolin
Is the name Luke Bryan familiar to you? He is a singer-songwriter who began his musical career in the mid-2000s. He wrote songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington and he released his first spring break album. In 2007, after signing with Capitol Records in Nashville, Tennessee, with his cousin, Chad Christopher Boyd, his album I’ll Stay Me was released including his singles “All My Friends Say”, “We Rode in Trucks”, and “Country Man”. Follow-up albums include:
- “Doin’ My Thing”
- “Do I” – co-wrote with Kelley and of Lady Antebellum
- “Rain Is a Good Thing”
- “Someone Else Calling You Baby”
Every lady’s favorite, a singer-songwriter and an actress, Taylor Swift, started her career at the age of 14. She signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony or ATV Music publishing house. In 2006, Swift released her self-titled debut album which made her as a country music star. Her third single entitled “Our Song”, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart. She was also nominated in the Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards in 2008. Now, Taylor Swift is still the best.
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