All posts in "New Artist Spotlight"

Nathan Lee Jackson photo courtesy of the CMA. Photo credit: Abigail Hadeed

By Bob Doerschuk
© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Nathan Lee Jackson nourished his talent with a regimen of piano lessons, church choirs, talent contests and opening slots at shows around Winchester, Ky. Moving to Nashville after high school graduation, he followed the well-trod path into the music business, though with two unusual advantages. The first was one of his roommates, Billy Strange’s former wife, who happily introduced the young newcomer to her industry friends. Continue Reading

Gloriana photo courtesy of Emblem Music Group. Photo credit: Kristin Barlowe.

By Bob Doerschuk

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Established through club gigs in North Carolina as a duo, brothers Mike and Tom Gossin moved to Nashville in 2007 and soon after hooked up with Rachel Reinert. Working now as a trio, they connected with Cheyenne Kimball, a member of the audience during one of their gigs at Nashville club 3rd & Lindsley; instrumentally as well as vocally, she proved the last ingredient in the sound of Gloriana.

They rehearsed for six months before sending a demo to Emblem Music Group. Matt Serletic, founder of the new record label, responded immediately, welcomed them to the roster and got to work lining up material for their debut album. Continue Reading

Justin Moore photo by Kristin Barlowe, courtesy of The Valory Music Co.

By Bob Doerschuk

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

If you can make your past come alive through music, then you’ve got a gift that will serve you well. In this department, Justin Moore is amply blessed.

Case in point: Though written by Randy Houser and Jeremy Stover, Moore’s first single, “Back That Thing Up,” conjures how life must have felt back on the Arkansas farm where he was raised. Kids grew up there hunting, fishing, milking the cows and working the land — the kind of routine that feeds the good-natured, double-entendre swagger in this tale of a country boy as he introduces a city lass to the wonders of rural recreation. Continue Reading

Matt Stillwell photo courtesy of Aristo Media.

Written by Bob Doerschuk

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Matt Stillwell has figured it out. On his debut album, Shine, produced by Mickey Jack Cones and released by Still7 Records, he walks that line where the gritty and commercial sides of life intersect. These 10 tunes, half of them co-written by Stillwell, are suited equally for radio listening and dance-club partying. And this Sylva, N.C., native sings each one with a voice that sounds both young and experienced. Continue Reading

Megan Munroe photo courtesy of Diamond Music Group. Photo credit: Aaron Gustafson.

By Bob Doerschuk

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Head in the clouds and dirt in her hair” – that’s how Megan Munroe describes herself as a child growing up in Sultan, Wash. She might have added “with a song in her heart,” as her father’s Country albums provided a soundtrack to her horseback rides with the Cascade Mountains as a backdrop. After adding Tori Amos, Jewel, Pearl Jam and Bonnie Raitt to her potpourri of influences, she headed at 17 to Los Angeles to see whether an acting career felt right.

It didn’t, and despite some professional success she was back in Washington, wiser and committed to music by 20. Continue Reading

Dean Brody photo courtesy of Broken Bow Records. Photo credit: David McClister.

By Bob Doerschuk

© CMA Close Up® New Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Raised in the shadows of the Canadian Rockies, Dean Brody grew up with an appreciation for rural life in British Columbia. After high school graduation, he continued to work at the local sawmill until the business slowdown forced him to take a new job as a miner.

Brody’s musical gifts led him back into the light and down to Nashville, where he got a publishing deal. But as he made his way into the business, the clock on his work permit kept winding down. After two years, he had no choice but to head back home to the mines. Continue Reading

Whitney Duncan photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville. Photo credit: Jeff Lipsky.

By Bob Doerschuk

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service; Country Music Association®, Inc.

When Whitney Duncan left her hometown of Scotts Hill, Tenn., she took little with her other than a soulful voice, equal parts rawhide and honey, and a determination to seek her musical fortune. It took her a while to find it in the form of Mark Bright, who was so impressed with her that he shared the news with his friend John Shanks. Just like that, the two Music Row veterans were onboard to advise, write with and produce their discovery.

Duncan was just 18 at the time, though she had begun chasing her dream years before. After singing at her kindergarten graduation, she never looked back Continue Reading

Love & Theft photo courtesy of Lyric Street Records. Photo credit: Tec Petaja

By Bob Doerschuk

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Each of the hard-rocking harmonizers in Love and Theft has a unique background: In Palm Harbor, Fla., Stephen Barker Liles grew up on contemporary Christian music, Johnny Cash, Elvis and basketball, while Brian Bandas mixed his b-ball with influences that ranged from jazz to Tim McGraw to the Goo Goo Dolls in Austin, Texas, and Eric Gunderson drew inspiration from his grandfather’s bluegrass banjo gigs around Charlotte, N.C. All went to college and then changed course when they felt the call to pursue their musical ambitions. They met in Nashville, where it became apparent almost at once that they belonged together onstage and in the studio.

For six months they rehearsed, rotated lead vocals, polished their assertive but nuanced vocal blend and wrote songs. Continue Reading

Eric Durrance photo credit: Dave Bergman

By Bob Doerschuk

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Fans of the Eagles, and especially those who gravitate toward Don Henley, will find plenty to like in the phrasing, songwriting and overall sound of Eric Durrance. This is evident from the first moments of “Someone I Can’t Live Without,” the opening cut on Angels Fly Away, one of Durrance’s three co-writes among the 10 covers and one solo-written track on his debut album for Wind-up Records Nashville.

But then, the more you listen, the more a unique talent asserts itself. He sings mostly in a mid-to-upper baritone range, yet when the melody climbs into a power chorus, he rides with it, his tone straying dusky and rich even as it nails each note with emotion and conviction. Continue Reading

Colt Ford photo credit: Sean Cokes

By Bob Doerschuk

© 2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.

Colt Ford has written with Country hit maker Jamey Johnson, Jeremy Popoff from alt-rockers Lit and Southern rap-master Attitude. He has worked with Montgomery Gentry, No Doubt’s Adrian Young and hip-hoppers Bonecrusher and Sunny Ledfurd. That may sound like this Georgia native and onetime PGA golfer is picking through wildly different types of music in hopes of finding his own direction. Nothing could be further from the truth.

On his debut album, Ride Through the Country, produced by Shannon “Fat Shan” Houchins and released on Average Joe’s Records, Ford blends disparate styles into one sound that is part urban, part Southern, all Country and totally his own. Continue Reading