Hank Williams

Hiram “Hank” Williams was born on September 27, 1923 in Mount Olive, Alabama. He is the son of Lon and Lillie Williams. His family never had much money and when Hank was just six years old, his father entered the Veterans Administration hospital. His mother moved the family to Greenville and eventually Montgomery, so for those ten years, father and son saw little of each other. Also, he had Spina Bifida, which is a birth defect in which the bones do not fully form around the spine. This caused him to be set apart from the other children his age and encouraged to turn to music for entertainment instead. By the time the family had moved to Montgomery, Williams’ music career had already begun; he had made his radio debut at the ripe old age of 13. After less than a year he was entering talent shows and formed a band, Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys.

Williams, being a fast learner, took a short time to learn folk, country and from an African-American street performer, the blues. By the early 1940’s he had caught the attention of music executives in Nashville. Even with his natural talent for singing and performing, he had an increasing dependence on alcohol, which he had turned towards to relive his back pain. This made him an unreliable performer in the eyes of his executives. In 1943, he met Audrey Mae Shepard, who he then taught to play the bass and perform in his band. They married in 1944, and by 1949 they had a son, Hank Williams Jr. Sheppard was overly eager about making her mark in the music industry even though she had obvious talent limitations and pushed her husband to let her sing.

As his fame grew, his troubles deepened. His dependence on alcohol and morphine got him fired from the Opry and in 1952 he and Sheppard were divorced. Eventually his hair started falling out and he gained a large amount of weight.  In 1952, he was leaving his mother’s home,  drunk and on morphine for Charlestown, West Virginia. He made it to Tennessee before collapsing in a hotel room. The next day he took his seat in the back of his blue Cadillac (pictured) and left for West Virginia. After several hours of not hearing from Williams for several hours, the driver pulled over and discovered that Williams’ health had taken a turn for the worse and a little after 5:30, he was pronounced dead.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Alison Swift was born December 13th, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania. She was raised mostly in Wyomissing until she reached the age of 14 when she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to attempt a career in country music. Around the age of 12 a computer repairman showed her how to play several chords on a guitar. She then wrote her first song “Lucky You.” Even after she won a national poetry contest writing a poem titled “Monster in My Closet” she chose to focus on songwriting. Only a few of the lines of the poem have been released and the full poem is close to three pages. Of the lines she has shared are "There’s a monster in my closet and I don’t know what to do / Have you ever seen him? / Has he ever pounced on you?”

She began working with music manager Dan Dymtro and with his help she started modeling for Abercrombie and Fitch in their “Rising Stars” campaign. She also began performing for major record labels and RCA awarded her an artist development deal and the eighth-grader began frequently traveling to Nashville. Taylor’s rise to fame was fairly quick, she went from stuffing radio singles into envelopes as part of her first album to her second album, “Fearless” becoming the most awarded album in country music history with one of its singles “Love Story” becoming the second best country single of all time. One of her songs, “Picture to Burn” has made the list of the top ten most censored songs of the country genre. In the original song it stated she would spread rumors about her ex being gay to an, apparently, more politically correct statement, “You won’t mind if I say.”

In 2008, she was ranked 50th on Maxim’s top 100 hottest women. Since then she has jumped to a staggering #13. Coincidentally her favorite number is also 13. Although some people may consider 13 unlucky, she credits it to many events in her life. For example, she was born on the thirteenth, turned 13 on friday the 13th and her first album went gold in 13 weeks. As she has made clear in her career, she has a tendency to “kiss and tell” using her relationships to get ideas for her new songs.

Jason Aldean

Jason Aldine Williams was born February 28th, 1977 in Macon, Georgia. His parents were divorced soon after; he mostly lived with his mom, but during one stay with his father he learned to play the guitar. His mother and father, while apart, both chose to support his musical interests. His mother attempted to get him playing at an event for the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. He proceeded to perform several songs and all ten people in the audience clapped, furthering his desire to pursue a musical career.  He and his band at the time proceeded to perform at several more small events with the help of his father. He moved to Music City Tennessee and after being dropped from several contracts and it wasn’t until 2004 when he got his chance to record his first album “Jason Aldean.” This was the start of his professional carrer. When he started officially after dropping his first album in 2005, he changed his professional name to Jason Aldean.

Aldean had a very close call with his entire career. Just two weeks before he was about to give up on music, and return home broke and dropped from  multiple contracts, he hit it big with the independent label Broken Bow and from there his career has yet to slow down. He is a huge Atlanta Braves fan and he was good at baseball himself, very good. He was awarded a college scholarship to play baseball, but turned it down when he realized he couldn’t see himself making a career out of it, when he couldn’t see going to school for another four years after working so hard to get out of high school. His first major celebrity crush was Alyssa Milano from the 1980’s sitcom “Who’s the Boss?”

Some of his hit singles include "Big Green Tractor" and "Don't You Wanna Stay?" his duet with Kelly Clarkson. His best albums include "My Kinda Party" and "Wide Open." My personal favorites include "She's Country," "My Kinda Party," and "Amarillo Sky." The first single "Take A Little Ride" from the album “Night Train” set a record for most first-week digital downloads by a solo country male artist.

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/jason_aldean/biography_2.html

http://countrymusic.about.com/od/jasonaldean/p/jasonaldeanpr.htm

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/11/5808312/12-essential-facts-about-country.html

Trace Adkins

Tracey Darrell “Trace” Adkins was born January 13, 1962 Sarepta in Webster Parish in northern Louisiana. His parents were Aaron Adkins, a mill worker, and former Peggy Caraway. His musical interest began at the age of five when his father taught him to play the guitar. Later in high school he joined a gospel music group, New Commitments, where he sang bass and says he learned more there than anywhere else in his career. In college he played defensive end for Louisiana Tech’s Bulldogs team and although he never officially graduated he began working on an oil rig. While working on an oil rig he accidently severed his left pinky finger while trying to use a knife to open a bucket. He then asked doctors to reattach the finger at an angle so he may continue to play the guitar. It is permanently bent at an angle, which makes it difficult for him to play many of his guitar chords. 

After moving on from working on the rigs and spending time playing in honkey tonks in Nashville an executive spotted him and soon signed him to Capitol Records in 1996.In 1999, he changed his management team shortly before the relase of his new album which delayed it and consequently affected his sales. This third album became his first not to become certified gold. Some of his albums include “X”, “Chrome”, and “Dangerous Man”. Of all his albums his bestselling is “Songs about me” which has been certified 2X platinum having sold 1.5 million copies. The second single of the album created controversy as it is the first person account of a fictional soldier going to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This single was followed by “Honkey Tonk Badonkadonk” which is now a highly successful crossover hit bringing him into the Billboards top 40 for the first time.

Other interesting facts about him include, among other things, his pet peeves. He despises slow drivers, just like me, and is afraid of snakes even though he comes in at over 6’6”. He has five kids, two with his ex-wife Julie (the one who shot him in the chest during a domestic dispute) and three more with his current wife Rhonda Forlow. He says the worst gig he’s ever played was at a wedding reception. “We played the song for the bride and groom to dance to, and the next song was going to be for the grandparents and the parents and all that. So, we started the second song and about half way through, grandma fell dead on the floor,” Adkins said. “And we were still playing, and finally, the father turned around and yelled, “Stop! For God’s sake, stop playing. My mother’s dead.” He also loves to play golf and said if he could play any hole in the world it be the one in the de-militarized zone between North and South Korea.

Zac Brown Band

The Zac Brown Band was created in 2002 and consists of Zac Brown, lead vocals and guitar, Jimmy De Martini, fiddle and vocals, John Driskell Hopkins, bass guitar and vocals, Coy Bowles, guitar and vocals, Chris Fryar, drums, Clay Cook, guitar, keyboards, mandolin, steel guitar and vocals, and Daniel de los Reyes, percussion. In his early years of performing he moved on to open a restaurant with his father in the Lake Oconee region of Georgia, where he got in his practice as a performer. After a developer bought the restaurant; the band bought a bus and began touring full-time. After the band was formed, they had an initial lineup of just 3, and began touring with around 200 dates a year. In 2003, Brown started a record label, before called Home Grown, but now called Southern Ground for unnamed legal reasons.  It wasn’t until 2008, that the band would reach their current lineup.

In their first year of receiving national attention the band was nominated for an impressive four awards. Since 2009 the Zac Brown Band has been nominated for over 50 GRAMMY, ACM, CMA, CMT awards. Then, in 2011 the band was nominated for nine of the more prestigious awards including, Top Vocal Group of the Year, Album of the Year, Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year. 

The band continues to maintain a series of interesting concert posters. Zac’s constant state of beanie rocking has a purpose. In an interview he stated that he couldn’t stand cold air blowing on his ears so whenever he is outside or its cold outside he will be sporting one of his beanies. Before each concert the band will sit down with several lucky fans and eat a gourmet feast prepared by the members themselves as Zac Brown said “I always thought it was sad that you couldn't get anything really good to eat at concerts, so we sit down with the fans before each show and eat a gourmet meal that we made for them.” As if he isn’t busy enough performing and running his record label, he also maintains a full-production metal shop, leather artistry shop, and will be opening a camp for children in 2014.

 http://www.last.fm/music/Zac+Brown+Band

http://www.vividseats.com/concerts/zac-brown-band-fan-facts.html

 http://www.examiner.com/article/zac-brown-band-second-album-out-september

http://www.vividseats.com/concerts/zac-brown-band-fan-facts.html

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Marie Underwood was born March 10, 1983 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She began her professional music career in 2005 when she won the fourth season of American Idol. Since then she has won five Grammy awards. Also she has recieved an immense number of billboard music awards, American music awards, a golden globe award nominee, country music association female vocalist winner and a three time academy of country music winner. She received a 7x multi-platinum award for her first album “Some Hearts”. Her total sales include more than 25 million singles and more than 15 million albums worldwide. Two years ago, she became the female country artist to have the most number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, breaking her previous Guinness Book record of eleven which she co-held with Reba McEntire. She continues to hold the record, now with fourteen.

Although we all have the little ticks and habits that make us who we are, it always seems more interesting to find out the habits of celebrities as opposed to the guy down the street. For example, during her salutatorian speech at graduation she was showing off an impressive black eye. She had been hit in the eye with a softball during an earlier game. She also found out, through a rumor, that she was pregnant with an alien baby. If she forgets to make her bed in the morning, it distracts her throughout the day knowing that it is not made.

Out of her four albums my favorite is “Some Hearts,” among those are the singles “Jesus Take the Wheel” and “Before He Cheats.”  Her most recent album came out in 2012, she released the album, “Blown Away,” which I bought and in my opinion the most likely songs to become the highest recongnized would be “Good Girl” or “Blown Away.” Since then, she has begun an acting career where she played Maria Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music: Live.”

http://www.theboot.com/25-things-we-didnt-know-about-carrie-underwood/‎

http://www.cmt.com/artists/carrie-underwood/biography/

Luke Bryan

Thomas Luther “Luke” Bryan was born in July 17, 1976 in Leesburg, Georgia. At the age of 14, he received his first guitar, and later joined several local bands playing in nearby clubs. Soon after graduating Leesburg County High School, he made plans to move to Nashville, Tennessee, but those were put on hold when his brother, Chris, died on the day he supposed to leave. He attended Georgia Southern University, and became a member of the Eta Zeta chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. After college, he went to work with his father, but eventually relocated to Nashville and received a record deal as a songwriter just two months later. On December 8^th, 2006 he married Caroline Boyer. They had their first son Thomas Boyer on March 18^th, 2008 and their second, Tatum Christopher, on August 11^th, 2010.

Among the first songs he wrote were the title track of Travis Tritt’s “My Honky Tonk History” album released in 2004. Soon after a representative of Capitol Records saw him perform and signed him to a contract. In the time that occurred he co-wrote Billy Currington's “Good Directions,” which peaked at number one on the Hot Country Songs chart in 2007. On his first album he co-wrote all of the 11 songs except for one. In that album “Country Man” was the only song to reach the top ten lists. His fourth single, “Do I,” he co-wrote with Charles Kelly and Dave Haywood, both who are members of Lady Antebellum.

On August 13th, 2013, he released his most recent album, Crash My Party, which helps retain his image as a good guy to have by your side whether crying your eyes out or consuming beverages of a nature only legal for those over 21. Overall, they represent his continuing style with no major changes, and hopefully a new addition to an already familiar age of country music. When he sang the Star Spangled Banner at the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, he sang perfectly, but controversy arose when he was criticized for having written a few key words to the song on his hand and glancing to check the words.

http://theboot.com/cmt-awards-winners-2010/

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/luke_bryan/biography.html

http://www.cmt.com/artists/luke-bryan/biography/

Lady Antebellum

Lady Antebellum is a trio of country pop musicians; the group was formed in Nashville, Tennessee. The group consists of Hilary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood. Hilary Scott was born in Nashville to country music artist and Grammy winner Linda Davis and Lang Scott, a musician and entrepreneur. One interesting fact about her is that she was home schooled on the road for kindergarten.  The second member of the band, Charles Kelley, was born in 1981 in Augusta, Georgia. His brother, Josh Kelley is also a country music artist.

In 2005, when Kelley was trying to become a successful country artist, he told his old Riverside middle school friend, when they attended University of Georgia they became co-writers, to move to Nashville with him, so they could begin writing songs together. Scott recognized Kelley from MySpace and invited her to have lunch, and by the end she had accepted to join the newly formed group. From here they began writing songs in the house of Kelley's brother, and posting them on MySpace. They received an almost immediate positive response. They then began getting gigs in local places, and moving up, opening for more and more prestigious artists. Eventually they were opening for artists like Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and Tim McGraw. They then began receiving their own shows.  The second part of their name, Antebellum, comes from the large pre- Civil War plantations, found in the South, the group was photographing in Franklin, Tennessee outside of Nashville.(as seen above).

The group’s first album, “Lady Antebellum,” has been certified platinum. The single “I Run to You” became the group’s first number one single in July 2009. The second album’s title song, “Need You Now,” was released as a single and became the trio’s second number one hit. It was followed by another number one single, “American Honey.” The final single from the album, “Our Kind of Love,” became their fourth consecutive number one hit. Since being awarded the Country Music Association Awards New Artist of the year in 2009 the group has since received seven more awards including ending Rascal Flatt’s six year reign as Vocal Group of the Year. In 2010 they received their first Grammy for Best Country Performance by Duo or Group with Vocals. 

Dooley, Sean. "Lady Antebellum - Biography." About.com Country Music. About, 2014. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://countrymusic.about.com/od/artistsofcountrymusic/a/LadyAntebellumProfile.htm>.

Lady Antebellum. "Biography : Lady Antebellum." Lady Antebellum. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://ladyantebellum.com/about>.

"Lady Antebellum Biography." LADY ANTEBELLUM BIOGRAPHY. N.p., 2002. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Lady-Antebellum-Biography/970D809B74EF3F4248257433000FF8A2>.