Country music gained a new face when the Garth Brooks phenomenon swept the stage in the 1990s. Such a huge marketing venture took place that his name virtually became synonymous with country music and the pop crossover style. Yet Brooks’ career had started in unspectacular style in 1989, when his Garth Brooks album shipped only 20,000 copies. Such was ...
(Singer-songwriter, b. 1962) Brooks was pivotal in bringing country music into the mainstream. His warm honky-tonk style and trademark cowboy hat ensured his early material found an audience. The aptly titled No Fences (1990) and Ropin’ The Wind (1991) crossed into the pop charts on the strength of the material and Brooks’ canny employment of theatrical rock devices on his ...
After the 1960s heyday of the cultured Nashville sound, country music was all but swept aside. It had survived the lasting effect of 1950s rock – rock’n’roll and traditional old-timey music and bluegrass, especially – but it was now the turn of a musical hybrid, country rock, to lead the way for almost a decade. Country rock ...
‘Achy Breaky Heart’, 1992 Known as much for this song as he was for his mullet hairstyle, Billy Ray Cyrus has never been able to escape – nor replicate – the success of this lightweight country pop tune. About as genuine as The Eagles and Garth Brooks combined, it spent 17 weeks at the top of the US country ...
(Vocals, guitar, songwriter, 1948–2005) Chris LeDoux lived out many people’s fantasies of being a genuine cowboy and touring rodeo shows as a musician. Garth Brooks paid tribute to him in the song ‘Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)’, and was backing vocalist on LeDoux’s Top 10 single, ‘Whatcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy’ (1992), LeDoux ...
The Lone Star State is steeped in tradition, producing both songwriters and swing bands. In the 1980s, the clean-cut George Strait And His Ace In The Hole band took the baton from such earlier legends as Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price and Hank Thompson. Born on 18 May 1952, in Poteet (south of San Antonio), ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1968) Gina Jeffreys has been recognized as Australia’s premier female country act since her first hit single, ‘Two Stars Fell’ (1993). She started playing guitar at the age of 12 and at 15 was playing with the band ONYX. CMA Female Vocalist Of The Year in 1994 – when she toured with Johnny Cash and ...
(Vocals, record producer, b. 1937) New Mexico-born Bowen enjoyed three distinctive careers, first as a rock’n’roll artist with Buddy Knox (their 1957 double A-sided single, ‘Party Doll’/’I’m Stickin’ With You’ sold a million copies); then as a West Coast record executive, working with such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin; and, finally, running several ...
(Vocals, guitar, songwriter, b. 1964) With 14 gold albums to his name, Kernaghan is the biggest-selling country artist in Australia. He first visited Nashville in 1986, played at Fan Fair, and met producer Garth Porter, resulting in his 1992 double-platinum debut album, The Outback Club. He has recorded with the late Australian legend ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1964–76) 1968’s Music From Big Pink was, like most subsequent Band albums, a true blend of electric folklore nurtured over rough nights in Canadian palais with rock’n’roller Ronnie Hawkins before Robbie Robertson (guitar), Richard Manuel (piano, vocals), Rick Danko (bass), Garth Hudson (organ, saxophone) and Levon Helm (drums) landed a job backing Bob Dylan ...
(Vocals, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, b. 1954) Tim O’Brien is a good example of the restless spirit that puts the new in new-grass. He first fell in love with bluegrass during his West Virginia childhood, and he led the 1978–90 Colorado new-grass band Hot Rize that also included Pete Wernick (banjo, b. 1946), Charlie Sawtelle (bass ...
(Vocals, b. 1968) Initially singing with her sisters as The Braxtons, she was signed as a solo artist to La Face productions (L.A. Reid and Babyface) in 1991. This production/writing team crafted her eponymous debut (1993). At ease with soul vocals and the rhythms of R&B, the attractive Braxton was soon scoring hits with emotive ballads like ...
(Vocals, b. 1964) Trisha Yearwood initially moved to Nashville in 1985 to study for a degree in music management, but she ended up working as receptionist at MTM. When the label closed down in 1988, she worked singing demos and sessions. In 1991, her first single, ‘She’s In Love With The Boy’, topped the chart, ...
Warren Haynes was born in Asheville, North Carolina in 1960. He began to play the guitar at age 12. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Johnny Winter were early influences. ‘I would read interviews with all these people and find out who they listened to,’ Haynes has said. ‘And they all listened to B.B. King and Freddie King ...
When Steve Earle (b. 1955) was released from prison on 16 November 1994, it had been four years since he had released a studio album and three years since he’d done a tour. During that time lost to heroin and crack, much had changed in the world of country music. The charismatic but mainstream-pop-oriented Garth Brooks (b. 1962) was ...
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