Two SIX PAKs in, Blake Shelton is feeling as good as he's ever felt about his career. "This has been an amazing year for me," he says. "If you would have told me when I started out that I would have two major awards, a CD in the upper reaches of the charts, a sold-out show at the Ryman Auditorium and a career that's generally on fire, I would have thought you were pulling my leg."
If ever an artist has earned the right to title an album This Is Country Music, it’s Brad Paisley. It’s not because he’s the Country Music Association’s reigning Entertainer of the Year or because his H2O Tour was 2010’s top country trek in attendance or because he’s sold more than 12 million albums and scored 18 #1 hits at country radio.
For anyone looking to brand Jason Aldean as part of a significant musical movement, good luck. There’s a lot about the singer that’s become familiar during his five years as a country hitmaker, after all, he has spent more weeks at No. one on the radio charts than any other country artist in the last 12 months.
For Keith Urban’s sixth studio album, Get Closer, the singer-songwriter dives even deeper into the explorations of love and relationships that have established him as one of the world's biggest country music stars, while also extending his rock & roll side, as his hard-charging guitar work reaches new heights. The album is the follow-up to 2009's Grammy-winning and platinum selling Defying Gravity, which entered Billboard's pop and country charts at Number One, and spun off five Top Ten hits, including the chart-toppers "Sweet Thing" and "Only You Can Love Me This Way."
On the caution-vs.-candor scale, it's not hard to figure out where Miranda Lambert comes down. "I'm really not careful at all," she says. "I probably should be. I pretty much don't have anything to hide, though. I never hid anything growing up. My parents were PIs, so I really couldn't." She may have become a songbird instead of snooper, but in her own fashion, Lambert is following in the family business, as a private investigator of the heart -- a trade she recommences with relish in her third album, Revolution. The 25-year-old star's biggest hits have tended to be her boldest songs, so she's not about to put a lid on her plain-spokenness now.
Shania Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on August 28, 1965, the second oldest of five siblings. She was raised in Timmins, Ontario, about 500 miles due north of Toronto, where her adoptive father, an Ojibway Indian named Jerry Twain, and mother, Sharon, had both been raised. It was a proud but, at times, impoverished existence. They struggled to keep enough food in the cupboards, but there was always an abundance of music and love in the household.
Hi, I'm Taylor. I've been alive for 20 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.
After an eventful year on the charts and on the road, GRAMMY-Award winning Zac Brown Band has proven that "overnight success" can be years in the making. New fans drawn by the irresistible hit singles, the awe-inspiring musicianship and dynamic live shows might have thought the Zac Brown Band emerged from nowhere. In fact, the band has paid its dues for years and put in its time for just this moment, it may have happened quickly, but it's definitely built to last.
