I hope you enjoy yet another of my music pages. Please let me know if there's anyone you'd like to see someone else that I don't have on here and I will find them and add them.
Mark Willis Since bursting onto the country charts in 1996 with "Jacob's Ladder," Mark Wills has captured the collective hearts of music fans across America. The gifted Georgia native is no longer a newcomer. With powerful No. 1 hits like "I Do (Cherish You)," "Don't Laugh At Me," and "Wish You Were Here" (which stayed at No. 1 for an incredible three weeks), Mark has clearly established himself as a soulful song stylist and charismatic performer.
Though unassuming and down-to-earth, there's an intensity, a slow-burning energy and inner confidence that shines on Mark's third Mercury release, Permanently. "I wanted this album to show how much I've grown as an artist and as a man," the reigning ACM Top New Male Vocalist explains. "It was important to me that this album was more diverse than the first two, and I think we accomplished that. I want my fans to know who I am. I'm a sensitive guy, but I also like to have fun. My first album was a good start, I think "Jacob's Ladder" and "Places I've Never Been" gave everyone a taste of my personality. Wish You Were Here took that a bit further, and it's a tough album to follow up because we had songs that really spoke to people's hearts. But I think the songs on this album take my music to a new level."
Mary Chapin Carpenter
"Party Doll And Other Favorites is an album I've been creating in my head for a long time. In 1997, I marked ten years of being an artist on Columbia Records, and there was a request from the label for a greatest hits package. It seemed to me that the typical greatest hits package was based upon a fairly predictable formula: include whatever had done best on the charts, limit it to eight or nine titles, then add a new song or two. I thought, why not also collect all those songs out there that were part of special projects, soundtracks, live recording, different versions, benefit tapes, whatever might give this album a broader perspective than what's usually delivered�and include that new song or two. So that is what I proudly believe we have done. From the title song by Mick Jagger which has been a favorite of mine and a staple of our live shows since the day I started touring to "10,000 Miles", a much-requested song that was featured in the movie "Fly Away Home", from the COME ON COME ON album version of "Passionate Kisses" to "Grow Old With Me", from the tribute to John Lennon released by Hollywood Records a few years ago.
The Oakridge Boys
Theirs is one of the most distinctive and recognizable sounds in the music industry. The four-part harmonies and upbeat songs of The Oak Ridge Boys have spawned dozens of country hits and a #1 pop smash, earned them Grammy, Dove, CMA and ACM awards and garnered a host of other industry and fan accolades. Every time they step before an audience, the Oaks bring 15 years of hits and 50 years of tradition to bear on a stage show widely acknowledged as among the most exciting anywhere. And, each remains as enthusiastic about the process as they have ever been.
"When I go on stage, I get the same feeling I had the first time I sang with The Oak Ridge Boys," says lead singer Duane Allen. "This is the only job I�ve ever wanted to have."
Ricochet
Winners of the Academy of Country Music's and Country Weekly Magazine's Top New Vocal Group of the Year Awards , Ricochet is, above all else, a band. And now, more convincingly than ever, the soaring harmonies and ensemble focus of Blink of an Eye prove this sextet's soulful unity. Successor to last year's Ricochet, a smashing debut that garnered the newcomers "Group of the Year" raves in the Radio & Records Reader's Poll, and found them registered by SoundScan as the #1-selling group in country music for 19 straight weeks, the new album's heartfelt ballads and uptempo dance fare deliver again the sizzling goods - music with depth, power and pizzazz.
Lead vocalist and guitar gunslinger Heath Wright affirms: "It's a more confident performance, the songs are real strong, and the band's matured a lot." Of course 261 days on the road (Ricochet's 1996 tour schedule) will do that: there's nothing like the heat of constant performance to refine the player's fire. Bassist (and, with a degree in biology and chemistry, the resident brain) Greg Cook concurs: "This record felt like it was a long time coming. We'd made the first one 18 months ago. A first record is intimidating; it's like being held under a microscope. For the second, we'd had more than a year of getting to know our producers, and we felt free this time to make more suggestions, to try out newer things." Powerhouse drummer Jeff Bryant emphatically agrees: "Yeah, this record has a little more meat to it!"
Rick Trevino
Merging the best of his Hispanic heritage with the legacy of traditional country music and the potentiality of modern country sounds, Rick Trevino is blazing a swift and powerful path to country music stardom.
Only 24 years old, this handsome performer has the focus and centered vision of wise men much older. With his singles, albums, and videos gaining wide airplay, chart position and sales, Rick is having an undeniable impact in the world of country music.
Tracy Byrd
Tracy Byrd's new MCA album Big Love has all the elements that have made his first three records sell over three million copies and his audiences go wild. There's a sense of genuine fun when he's singing a good dance tune. There's a heartfelt sincerity in his romantic ballads. There's an obvious love for traditional country music. And, of course, there's a voice that can "own" virtually any type of song.
The key to Byrd's appeal lies underneath his innate talent and good musical taste, in the feeling of naturalness and ealness he brings to a performance. He never sounds like a star trying to impress an audience with a vocal exhibition, but rather like a regular guy who wants to please the crowd with good music. It's the kind of thing that makes a talented singer a great singer. And with Tracy Byrd, the realness is no gimmick. He still lives in his home state of Texas, he's devoted to his wife Michelle and young daughter Evee, he hangs out with his old high school friends, and he goes fishing and hunting every chance he gets. On Big Love Tony Brown's production follows Byrd's lead, letting the songs stand on their own strength. The listener becomes immersed in the music as Byrd moves through a variety of country styles. "Big Love," the first cut on the album and also the first single, introduces a new side of Tracy Byrd with a production as big and strong as the title suggests. He shows his love of traditional Western music with the swing beat and catchy lyric of "Cowgirl," the dancehall walking bass sound of "Driving Me Out Of Your Mind" and the mariachi flavor of "I Don't Believe That's How You Feel."
Ty Herndon
"It was time for me to make the album I always wanted to make. If that's walking out on a limb and picking the songs myself, then so be it. If you know the music is right and it feels good, you have to go with it."
That's Ty Herndon talking about Steam, the fourth album of his celebrated hit-laden career and a landmark effort that brings together the Ty we know from tender ballads such as "What Mattered Most" and "Living in a Moment" with the energetic stage performer who routinely rocks the house with his fiery stage presence and muscular musical attack.
And you surely won't sit still when you're listening to "Steam."
Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw" - released June 1992 The odds of anyone actually making it in Nashville are not good. After a series of singles from his self-titled album failed to break through at country radio, the odds looked even worse for Tim McGraw. "I was told by one producer to pack up and go home. I would never make it," McGraw says, laughing. "The first record didn�t work- but some of the songs we were playing live were getting incredible reactions from the fans. My record company didn�t want me to record one song in particular- until they saw me do it live."
"Not A Moment Too Soon" - released June 1994 That very song, Indian Outlaw, was the break Tim McGraw had been looking for and before he knew it, Not A Moment Too Soon, the album that soon followed, would become the biggest selling album of the year. Following the hit single (Indian Outlaw) was McGraw�s first Number One record, Don�t Take The Girl - and the hits continued with Not A Moment Too Soon, Refried Dreams and Down On The Farm. McGraw went from playing clubs and honky tonks to a headline touring act literally overnight. "It was a crazy time," says McGraw. "We just wanted to play. I think we played over 250 shows that first year."
Toby Keith
Mainstream or maverick? That's one of the choices facing country music historians as they try to catalogue the artists who debuted during the 1990s. In most cases, they'll have no problem deciding which category to use; when they get to Toby Keith, however, they may discover a dilemma. Looking at the title of his latest album, How Do You Like Me Now?!, might make them lean toward the maverick designation, but once the DreamWorks CD hits stores on Nov. 2, 1999, they may be leaning toward mainstream. Fitting Toby Keith into either presents a challenge - he's both, yet neither.
Since his 1993 debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy," the Oklahoma native has racked up his share of mainstream success, both on radio and in record stores. He's scored six #1 Country hits (including "Cowboy") and earned nominations for Grammy, ACM and CMA awards. Still, Keith has always taken a maverick approach to his career and his music, never yielding to the "do it the Nashville way" philosophy of some Music City execs. Instead, Keith has steadfastly set his own pace, following his own artistic vision and finding his own place in the country music echelon. "Just gut feeling, I don't know any other way to do things," he says of his career outlook. The result of heeding these instincts? "My music life is perfect right now," the singer-songwriter declares.
Trace Adkins
"I grew up in the oilfield, and that's who I am and what I am, I'm a Southern gentleman - polite, hospitable, and respectful - but I'm not going to try to be squeaky clean. I'm not that kind of person. I'm a roughneck, and I won't try to hide it."
Whether you've seen 6-foot-6, 250-pound Trace Adkins performing onstage or signing autographs or debating fellow articulate celebrities on television, you know he could hardly hide his ruggedness if he wanted to. An attentive observer also will notice that Adkins' essence is nowhere near as one-dimensional as his self-description.
Trisha Yearwood
"I have never been this busy in my life. Never. Ever," says Trisha Yearwood. "I�m just happy that this whirlwind is coming at a time in my life when I know how to handle it and how to enjoy it."
Trisha has had a miraculous string of successes over the expanse of one year. Her 1997 MCA Nashville greatest hits album, Songbook: A Collection of Hits, debuted at number one, yielded three consecutive number one singles (How Do I Live, In Another�s Eyes and Perfect Love) and has sold three million copies worldwide to date. Trisha achieved country music�s "Triple Crown" by winning the 1997 CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, the 1998 ACM Top Female Vocalist of the Year and the 1998 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance Female for How Do I Live, from the movie Con Air. She picked up a second Grammy for her vocal collaboration with Garth Brooks, In Another�s Eyes. Trisha has toured extensively with Brooks, and now her new album, Where Your Road Leads, which she co-produced with MCA Nashville President, Tony Brown, is being released at the same time the first single, There Goes My Baby, is flying up the charts.
Tanya Tucker
Complicated
"Tanya was trying to sing as a child, " her father, Beau Tucker, said. "I never even thought about her singing till one day she walked up and said, 'Daddy, you wanta hear me sing a song? 'I said, 'Sweetheart you couldn't sing your way out of a paper sack. 'She backed up about ten foot and showed me she could sing. She let me have it."
That's how it began, and for the next thirty some-odd years, Tanya Tucker built one of the most successful careers in music through unflagging determination and undeniable talent. Her incredible success when she was just entering her teen years continued into adulthood, and she is among the all time best-selling female vocalists in country music. She was one of the first singers to bring rock and roll bravado to country music; she constantly takes chances musically and she's weathered all the vagaries of fame. If anyone can look back at their career with satisfaction, it's Tanya Tucker. She could easily lie back in a hammock and just enjoy the results of her success, knowing that she's proved herself.
Vince Gill
"This one is country from top to bottom." That's how Vince Gill describes The Key, his latest MCA Nashville collection. At a time when "country" is used to describe just about any style recorded in Nashville, leave it to Vince to remind us that this music does have authentic roots and branches.
"There are a lot of left-field country records out there," he observes. "And I've certainly made my share of them. But lately I've found myself just missing real, true country music. Searching the radio, you don't hear very much of it. And I just miss singing those kinds of songs. "This time, I had a very definite idea of how I wanted the album to sound. In the past, I'd get with my fellow songwriters and just go with whatever came out. But I knew I wanted to write a very traditional record. I knew the kinds of songs that needed to be written. So I just decided to buckle down and do it."
Wynonna
"I'm drawn to the people who waltz to a different beat," says Wynonna. "I've always felt like I didn't belong in the majority, so I have a tendency to go the minority in spirit because I sense their feeling of not belonging."
Wynonna waltzes to a different beat -- and she's joined by millions of energized partners who share the dance floor of life with her, swinging low, swaying high. She communicates with her music, as bluesy, playful, direct and meaningful as she is.
Honesty. Reality. Connecting. Wynonna is about all of this -- in her heart, soul, philosophy and, vitally important, in her music. She'll offer up her faults quicker than she'll cite her successes. She's forged her own persona, staked out her own dreams, chased them and, only recently, caught them. She has escaped from a life of spotlights and shadows to a brave new world that she describes as The Other Side.
I really hope you enjoyed yourself. And thanks for visiting. Come back soon.
