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• 
  

• 
  Anniston, Alabama
  Anniston is a city in Calhoun County in the state of Alabama. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 24,276. According to the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 23,741. The city is the county seat of Calhoun County and one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area.
  Named The Model City by Atlanta newspaperman Henry W. Grady for its careful planning in the late 19th century, the city is situated on the slope of Blue Mountain.
  Though the surrounding area was settled long before, the mineral resources in the area of Anniston weren't exploited until the Civil War. During that time, the Confederate States of America established and operated an iron furnace near present day downtown Anniston, until the furnace was destroyed by Union troops in 1865. Later, clay pipe for sewer systems became the focus of Anniston's industrial output. Clay pipe, also called soil pipe, was popular until the advent of plastic pipe in the 1960s.
  
  wn.com/Anniston,_Alabama
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  Dallas, Texas
  Dallas ( /ˈdæləs/) is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Divided between Collin, Dallas, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties, the city had a population of 1,197,816 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau.
  The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area (the DFW MSA) that according to the March 2010 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of 6,371,773. The metroplex economy is the sixth largest in the United States, with a 2010 gross metropolitan product of $374 billion.
  Dallas was founded in 1841 and was formally incorporated as a city in February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas and a major city in the American South, Dallas is the main core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea.
  
  wn.com/Dallas,_Texas
• 
  Fort Payne, Alabama
  Fort Payne is a city in DeKalb County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 12,938. The city is the county seat of DeKalb County. It bills itself as the "Official Sock Capital of the World."
  In the 19th century this was the site of Willstown, an important village of the Cherokees who relocated to Tahlequah, Oklahoma during the Cherokee Trail of Tears. For a time beginning in 1989, Fort Payne held the world record for "Largest Cake Ever Baked", for a cake of 128,238 pounds (58,168 kg) baked to commemorate the city's centennial.
  A magnitude 4.9 earthquake occurred here in 2003.
  The site of Fort Payne was originally the important village of Willstown, Cherokee Nation. For a time it was the home of Sequoyah, who invented the Cherokee syllabary, enabling reading and writing in the language. The settlement was commonly called Willstown, after its headman, a red-headed mixed-race man named Will. According to Major John Norton, a more accurate transliteration would have been Titsohili. The son of a Cherokee adoptee of the Mohawk, Norton grew up among Native Americans and traveled extensively throughout the region in the early 19th century. He stayed at Willstown several times,
  
  wn.com/Fort_Payne,_Alabama
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  Grand Ole Opry
  The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings November 28, 1925, as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM. Dedicated to honoring country music and its history, the Opry showcases a mix of legends and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, folk, gospel, and comedic performances and skits. Considered an American icon, it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and millions of radio and Internet listeners. The Opry, today part of the American landscape, is "the show that made country music famous" and has been called the "home of American music" and "country’s most famous stage."
  In the 1930s, the show began hiring professionals and expanded to four hours; and WSM-AM, broadcasting by then with 50,000 watts, made the program a Saturday night musical tradition in nearly 30 states. In 1939, it debuted nationally on NBC Radio. The Opry moved to a permanent home, the Ryman Auditorium, in 1943. As it developed in importance, so did the city of Nashville, which became America's "country music capital".
  
  wn.com/Grand_Ole_Opry
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  United States
  The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
  At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
  
  wn.com/United_States

• 
  Barbara Mandrell
  Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
  She was the first performer and is currently one of two females in country music history to win the Country Music Association's "Entertainer of the Year" award twice (the other being Taylor Swift). She also won the Country Music Association's "Female Vocalist of the Year" twice in 1979 and 1981.
  Mandrell's first No. 1 hit was 1978's "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed", immediately followed by "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right" in early 1979. In 1980, "Years" also reached No. 1. She added one more chart topper in each of the next three years. "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" (her signature song), then "'Till You're Gone" and "One of a Kind, Pair of Fools"— all hit number one between 1981 and 1983, a period during which Mandrell also received numerous industry awards and accolades.
  
  wn.com/Barbara_Mandrell
• 
  Bob Riley
  Robert Renfroe "Bob" Riley (born October 3, 1944) is an American politician in the Republican Party. He was the 52nd Governor of Alabama, first elected in 2002, and re-elected in 2006.
  Riley was born in Ashland, Alabama, a small town in Clay County where his family ranched and farmed for six generations. Riley attended the University of Alabama,where he was a brother of Phi Kappa Sigma International Fraternity and graduated with a degree in business administration.
  Riley was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, defeating his Democratic opponent, State Senator T.D. "Ted" Little (Auburn, Ala.) and Libertarian John Sophocleus. Riley served as a representative of Alabama's 3rd congressional district from 1997 to 2003.
  Riley did not run for re-election to the House in November 2002 (as a supporter of term limits, he imposed a three-term limit on himself), instead running for Governor of Alabama and defeating the Democratic incumbent by approximately 3,000 votes - the narrowest margin in the state's history for a gubernatorial race. The result was controversial, as the initial election night count showed a 2,000-plus vote victory for Riley's opponent, Don Siegelman.
  
  wn.com/Bob_Riley
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  Brad Paisley
  Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references.
  Paisley was the 2008 CMA and ACM Male Vocalist of the Year winner. Starting with the release of his 1999 album Who Needs Pictures, Paisley has recorded seven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashville label, with all of his albums certified gold or higher by the RIAA. In addition, he has charted 25 singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 16 of which have reached #1 with a record 10 consecutive singles reaching the top spot on the chart. On November 10, 2010, Paisley won the Entertainer of the Year award at the 44th annual CMA Awards.
  Paisley was born on October 28, 1972 in Glen Dale, West Virginia to Douglas Edward "Doug" Paisley, who worked for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, and Sandra Jean "Sandy" (née Jarvis) Paisley, a teacher. He was raised in Glen Dale, West Virginia. He has stated that his love of country music stems from his maternal grandfather, Warren Jarvis, who gave Paisley his first guitar, a Sears Danelectro Silvertone at 8-years-old and taught him how to play. At age 10, he performed for the first time in public by singing in his church. He later recalled that, "Pretty soon, I was performing at every Christmas party and Mother's Day event. The neat thing about a small town is that when you want to be an artist, by golly, they'll make you one". At age 12, Paisley wrote his first song, entitled, "Born on Christmas Day". He had been taking lessons with local guitarist Clarence "Hank" Goddard. By age 13, Goddard and Paisley formed a band called "Brad Paisley and the C-Notes", with the addition of two of Paisley's adult friends.
  
  wn.com/Brad_Paisley
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  Collin Raye
  Floyd Collin Wray (born August 22, 1959 or 1960, in De Queen, Arkansas) is an American country music singer, known professionally as Collin Raye. He made his debut on the American country music scene in 1991 with the release of his debut album All I Can Be, which produced his first Number One hit in "Love, Me". All I Can Be was the first of four consecutive albums released by Raye to achieve platinum certification in the United States for sales of one million copies each.
  He maintained several Top Ten hits throughout the rest of the decade and into 2000. 2001's Can't Back Down was his first album that did not produce a Top 40 country hit, and he was dropped by his record label soon afterward. He did not record another studio album until 2005's Twenty Years and Change, released on an independent label.
  Between 1991 and 2007, Raye charted 30 singles on the U.S. country charts; he has also charted twice on the Adult Contemporary format as a duet partner on two Jim Brickman songs. Four of Raye's singles have reached Number One on the Billboard country music charts: 1992's "Love, Me" and "In This Life", 1994's "My Kind of Girl", and 1998's "I Can Still Feel You". He has also recorded a total of eleven studio albums, counting a Christmas album and a compilation of lullabies, in addition to releasing a Greatest Hits compilation, a live album, and a live CD/DVD package. His most recent album, Never Going Back, was released via Saguaro Road Records on April 28, 2009.
  
  wn.com/Collin_Raye
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  Cybill Shepherd
  Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress, singer and former model. Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, as Betsy in Taxi Driver, as Madeleine Spencer in Psych, as Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan in Cybill, and as Phyllis Kroll in The L Word.
  Shepherd was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Patty (née Shobe), a homemaker, and William Jennings Shepherd, who managed a home appliance business. Named after her grandfather Cy and her father Bill, Shepherd won the 1966 "Miss Teenage Memphis" contest at age 16, and the 1968 "Model of the Year" contest at age 18, making her a fashion star of the 1960s, resulting in fashion modeling work through high school and after.
  According to Shepherd's autobiography, it was a 1970 Glamour magazine cover that caught the eye of film director Peter Bogdanovich. His then-wife Polly Platt, claimed that it was she who upon seeing the cover in a check-out line in a Ralphs grocery store in southern California, said "That's Jacy," referring to the role Bogdanovich was casting — and ultimately offered to Shepherd — in The Last Picture Show (1971).
  
  wn.com/Cybill_Shepherd
• 
  Donny Osmond
  Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long running variety program, The Andy Williams Show. Donny went solo in the early 1970s covering such hits as "Go Away Little Girl" and "Puppy Love".
  For over thirty-five years, he and younger sister Marie have gained fame as Donny & Marie, partly due to the success of their 1976–79 self-titled variety series, which aired on ABC. The duo also did a 1998–2000 talk show and have been headlining in Las Vegas since 2008. Between a highly successful teen career in the 1970s, and his rebirth in the 1990s, Osmond's career was stymied during the 1980s by what some have perceived as his "boy scout" image. Osmond stated on the May 1, 2009 Larry King Live show that longtime friend Michael Jackson suggested he change his name to boost his image. Osmond's agent even suggested that spreading false rumors about drug arrest charges might recharge his career. Osmond felt such allegations would have familial ramifications, and couldn't reconcile how lying to create a nefarious drug image could be explained to his children, nieces and nephews. In 1989, Osmond had two big-selling recordings, the first of which, "Soldier of Love", was initially credited to a "mystery artist" by some radio stations.
  
  wn.com/Donny_Osmond
• Jeff Cook
  Jeffery A. "Jeff" Cook (born August 27, 1949 in Fort Payne, Alabama) is an American musician who is best known as one of the founding members of the country music group Alabama.
  Born in Fort Payne, Alabama and of English and Native American descent, Cook is a graduate of Fort Payne High School and Jacksonville State University. He obtained a broadcast engineer license three days after his fourteenth birthday, and worked at a local radio station as a disk jockey while still in high school.
  Cook co-founded the band Wildcountry, along with his cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry, in 1972 (the name was switched to Alabama in 1977). He contributed vocals, lead guitar, keyboard, and fiddle to the group's productions. Since Alabama ceased active production and performance in 2003, Cook has formed the groups Cook & Glenn and the Allstar Goodtime Band, with which he performs.
  In addition to his performance work, Cook founded Cook Sound Studios, Inc., in his native Fort Payne, and also established radio station WQRX-AM, which he later sold, in adjacent Valley Head, Alabama. Cook is also noted for his culinary endeavors, having operated a restaurant and marketed his own sauce.
  
  wn.com/Jeff_Cook
• 
  Juice Newton
  Judy Kay "Juice" Newton (born February 18, 1952, Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States) is an American pop and country singer, songwriter and guitarist. To date, Newton has received five Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categories (winning once in 1983), as well as an ACM Award for Top New Female Artist and two Billboard Female Album Artist of the Year awards (won consecutively). She has several Gold and Platinum records to her credit, including Juice, Quiet Lies and her first Greatest Hits album. During the 1980s, Newton charted 14 Top-10 hits across the Billboard Country, AC, and Hot 100 charts, with many of the recordings achieving crossover success and six of the songs hitting the #1 position.^{[citation needed]}
  Newton graduated from First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In the early 1970s, Newton, Otha Young and Tom Kealey formed a band that would eventually be called Juice Newton and Silver Spur that was signed to RCA Records. The group released two RCA albums in 1975 and 1976, and scored only one charting country single with "Love Is a Word." The band signed with Capitol Records in 1977, but disbanded shortly after releasing one album.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Juice_Newton
• 
  Julio Iglesias
  Julio Iglesias (born Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva; September 23, 1943) is a Spanish singer and songwriter whose romantic image, magnetic stage presence, and expressive music made him one of the best-selling artists of all time. By the early 21st century he had sold hundreds of millions of albums in more than a dozen languages. He has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released 77 albums. According to Sony Music Entertainment, he is one of the top 15 best-selling music artists in history. While Iglesias rose to international prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as a performer of romantic ballads, his success has continued on as he entered new musical endeavors. He is the father of singer Enrique Iglesias.
  Iglesias was born in Madrid, the eldest son of Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga and María del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat. Iglesias' father's family was from Galicia, and Iglesias' mother an Andalusian.
  In the 1960s, he studied law in Madrid and was a goalkeeper for one of Real Madrid's football teams. On September 22, 1963, he was involved in a car crash, resulting in an injury to his spinal cord. He said, "I had a car accident; [a] very, very strange car accident...I lost control of the car and rolled it, resulting in what they call 'paraparexia,' which is not paraplegia. It's a compression in the [spinal] cord, in the sense of the neck...my spinal cord; and I was very, very ill for three years."  His doctors thought he would never walk again; indeed, his legs were left permanently weakened, and they continued to require therapy as of late October 2010. However, slowly, he began recovering his health. To develop and increase the dexterity of his hands, he began playing guitar. When he recovered from his accident, he resumed academic studies and traveled to the United Kingdom to study the English language, first in Ramsgate, then at Bell Educational Trust's Language School in Cambridge.
  
  wn.com/Julio_Iglesias
• K.T. Oslin
  Kay Toinette "K. T." Oslin (born May 15, 1942) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is known for a series of top-ten country hits during the late 1980s and early 1990s, four of which topped the chart.
  Kay Toinette Oslin was born in Crossett, Arkansas, but soon after her birth her family moved to Memphis, Tennessee and then to Houston, Texas. Oslin considers Houston her hometown. She attended Methodist-affiliated Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, relocating to New York upon graduation.
  Oslin initially performed as a folk singer with Guy Clark. She soon began doing advertising jingles, which led to appearances in a number of television commercials.
  During the late 1970s, Oslin moved to Nashville and began writing songs. Her first Top 10 hit, as a writer, came when Gail Davies produced her song, "Round The Clock Lovin'."
  Between 1981 and the present, she has released seven studio albums, and has charted more than fifteen singles on the Billboard country charts. In 1987, after a brief run with Elektra Records, she signed with RCA Records. Her first top-ten single, 1987's "80s Ladies", a self-penned song, which proved to be something of an anthem for a generation of female listeners nearing middle age, proved to be her breakthrough; the song would earn Oslin a Grammy Award, and would be named the Country Music Association's Song of the Year in 1988. Other singles included the Number One hits "Do Ya" (1987), "I'll Always Come Back", "Hold Me" (both 1988), and "Come Next Monday" (1990), as well as three additional Top Ten hits. Additional hits included "Hey Bobby", "Hold Me", "Mary and Willie", "This Woman", and "Didn't Expect it to Go Down This Way." Her song, "Younger Men" appeared on the White Palace movie soundtrack. The film starred Susan Sarandon and James Spader.
  
  wn.com/K.T._Oslin
• 
  Kenny Chesney
  Kenneth Arnold "Kenny" Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 20 of which climbed to the top of the charts.
  Over the life of his career, Chesney has been honored with numerous awards from the Academy of Country Music (ACM), Country Music Association (CMA), American Music Awards (AMA), Country Music Television (CMT), Billboard Music Awards (BMA), People's Choice Awards (PCA), and the French Country Music Awards (FCMA).
  Chesney recently produced and co-directed a film for ESPN, "The Boys Of Fall". Chesney has received six Academy of Country Music awards(including four consecutive Entertainer of the Year Awards from 2005 to 2008), as well as six Country Music Association awards. He is one of the most popular touring acts in country music, regularly selling out the venues at which he performs. His 2007 Flip-Flop Summer Tour was the highest-grossing country road trip of the year.
  
  wn.com/Kenny_Chesney
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  Louise Mandrell
  Thelma Louise Mandrell, also known as Louise Mandrell, was born July 13, 1954 and is an American country music singer. She is the younger sister of country singer Barbara Mandrell, and older sister of actress Irlene Mandrell. Louise had a successful singing career in country music with a string of hits during the 1980s.
  Mandrell was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. Although she never developed the scale of fan base or the worldwide recognition that her older sister Barbara Mandrell gained in country music, Louise Mandrell is still credited as one of country music's more successful female vocalists of the 1980s. With their parents coming from a musical background, Barbara started off working as a singer, and playing the steel guitar and other instruments, and worked for Patsy Cline in the early 1960s.^{[citation needed]} Mandrell learned to play the guitar and bass. Soon, their parents founded the Mandrell Family Band, which toured the United States and Asia.
  Barbara's professional recognition in country music in the early 1970s with hits like "Treat Him Right", "Show Me" and "The Midnight Oil" gave Mandrell opportunities at success, and she started performing in Barbara's band The Do-Rights, which toured with Merle Haggard in the early 1970s.^{[citation needed]} Her first time in the studio was on the recording "Always Wanting You", a no. 1 hit for Haggard in 1975.^{[citation needed]} In 1978, Mandrell signed with Epic Records.
  
  wn.com/Louise_Mandrell
• 
  Marvin Gaye
  Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye (he added the 'e' as a young man), was an acclaimed American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range, who achieved major success in the 1960s and 1970s as an artist for the Motown Records label. He was shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984.
  Starting his career as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late 1950s, he ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960, signing with Motown Records subsidiary, Tamla. He started off as a session drummer, but later ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the 1960s. He was crowned "The Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul". because of solo hits such as "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", "Ain't That Peculiar", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," and his duet singles with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell.
  His work in the early- and mid-1970s included the albums, What's Going On, Let's Get It On, and I Want You, which helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary, and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the early 1980s, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-Award winning hit, "Sexual Healing" and the Midnight Love album before his death.
  
  wn.com/Marvin_Gaye
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  Minnie Pearl
  Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996), known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (from 1940 to 1991) and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.
  Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Nashville. She was the youngest of the five daughters of a prosperous lumberman in Centerville. She graduated from Ward-Belmont College (now Belmont University), at the time Nashville's most prestigious school for young ladies, where her major was theater studies and dance was a particular interest. After graduation she taught dance for several years.
  Her first professional theatrical job was with the Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, a touring theater company based in Atlanta, for which she produced and directed plays and musicals for local organizations in small towns throughout the southeastern United States.
  As part of her work with the Sewell company, she made brief appearances at civic organizations to promote the group's shows. She developed her Minnie Pearl routine during this period. While producing an amateur musical comedy in Baileyton, Alabama, she met a mountain woman whose style and talk became the basis for "Cousin Minnie Pearl". Her first stage performance as Minnie Pearl was in 1939 in Aiken, South Carolina. The following year, executives from Nashville radio station WSM-AM saw her perform at a bankers' convention in Centerville and gave her an opportunity to appear on the Grand Ole Opry on November 30, 1940. The success of her debut on the show began an association with the Grand Ole Opry that continued for more than 50 years.
  
  wn.com/Minnie_Pearl
• Randy Owen
  Randy Owen (born December 13, 1949 in Fort Payne, Alabama) is an American country music artist. He is known primarily for his role as the lead singer of Alabama, a country rock band which saw considerable mainstream success throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Although Alabama only records new albums on occasion, Owen himself has maintained a career in country music as a solo performer. He released his solo debut One on One in late 2008 and charted two singles from it.
  Owen grew up on a farm near Fort Payne, Alabama, and is of English and Native American descent. Owen dropped out of high school in the ninth grade. One of his former teachers convinced him that he had a chance to make a success of himself, so, even though he was older than the other students, he rejoined the ninth grade several years later and finished high school.^{[citation needed]}
  In the late 1960s, Owen and his cousin, Teddy Gentry, began playing music together. They recruited another cousin, Jeff Cook, to form a band, which they called Wildcountry. Their first public performance was at a high school talent show, which they won.
  
  wn.com/Randy_Owen
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  Reba McEntire
  Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955) is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band, on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma City, which caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall. He brought her to Nashville, Tennessee, where she eventually signed a contract with Mercury Records in 1975. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five additional studio albums under the label until 1983.
  Signing with MCA Nashville Records, McEntire took creative control over her second MCA album, My Kind of Country (1984), which had a more traditional country sound and produced two number one singles: "How Blue" and "Somebody Should Leave". The album brought her breakthrough success, bringing her a series of successful albums and number one singles in the 1980s and 1990s. McEntire has since released 26 studio albums, acquired 35 number one singles, and 28 albums have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America.
  
  wn.com/Reba_McEntire
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  Rick James
  James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. James was a popular performer in the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four number-one hits on the U.S. R&B charts performing in the genres of funk and R&B. Among his well known songs are "Super Freak", "Mary Jane" and "You and I".
  In addition to his music, James gained notoriety for his wild lifestyle, which led to widely publicized legal problems, and which was famously satirized by Chappelle's Show in 2004.
  Rick James was born James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. in Buffalo, New York. He attended Orchard Park High School and Bennett High School before dropping out at the age of 15. One of eight children, his father, an autoworker, abandoned him and his siblings when Rick was a child. His mother, a former vaudeville dancer, later reportedly ran errands for a Mafia family to make ends meet.^{[citation needed]}
  James grew up singing on street corners with fellow neighborhood boys. James' early idols included Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and The Temptations (particularly his uncle, Melvin Franklin). After briefly being involved in street crime, James dropped out of high school at 15 to avoid a possible draft and joined the U.S. Naval Reserve. A year later, James left the Reserve after he began to miss weekend training, because it interfered with his music career.^{[not in citation given]}
  
  wn.com/Rick_James
• Teddy Gentry
  Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen (lead vocals, Rhythm Guitar) and his cousin Teddy Gentry (bass guitar, background vocals), soon joined by Jeff Cook (Lead Guitar, fiddle, keyboards). In 1973, after Owen's graduation from Jacksonville State University, they gave up their day jobs and weekend gigs. The group, formerly known as "Wildcountry", left Fort Payne and Lookout Mountain to explore the possibilities of the club scene in surrounding coastal South Carolina. The band is often credited with bringing country music groups (as opposed to solo vocalists) into the mainstream, paving the way for the success of today's top country groups. Since its change in name in 1972, Alabama has included Owen, Cook and Gentry. Mark Herndon was not the original drummer but was a member of the band throughout their period of fame and chart success.
  The band's blend of traditional country music and southern rock combined with elements of gospel music, and pop music gave it a crossover appeal that helped lead to their unprecedented success. They also toured extensively and incorporated production elements such as lighting and "sets" inspired by rock concerts into their shows. The band has over 30 number one country records on the Billboard Magazine charts to their credit and have sold over 73 million records to date.
  
  wn.com/Teddy_Gentry
• 
  Waylon Jennings
  Waylon Arnold Jennings (pronounced /welən dʒɛnɪŋz/; June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing guitar at eight and began performing at twelve on KVOW radio. He formed a band, The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI and KLLL. In 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jennings' first recording session, of "Jolie Blon" and "When Sin Stops (Love Begins)". Holly hired him to play bass. During the Winter Dance Party Tour, in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a plane to arrive to the next venue. Jennings gave up his seat in the plane to J. P. Richardson, who was suffering from a cold. The flight that carried Holly, Richardson and Ritchie Valens crashed, on the day later known as The Day the Music Died. Following the accident, Jennings worked as a D.J in Coolidge, Arizona and Phoenix. He formed a rockabilly club band, The Waylors. He recorded for independent label Trend Records, A&M Records before succeeding with RCA Victor after achieving creative control of his records.
  
  wn.com/Waylon_Jennings

• Love in the First Degree
• Mountain Music
• Pass It on Down
• Jukebox in My Mind
• Southern Star
• Down Home
• The Closer You Get
• Hats Off
• When It All Goes South
• My Home's in Alabama
• Tar Top
• Gonna Have a Party
• Say I
• Small Stuff

• Mountain Music
• Song of the South
• Love in the First Degreee
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)
• Born Country
• Feels So Right
• The Closer You Get
• She and I
• Fallin' Again
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• Jukebox in My Mind
• Down Home
• I'm in a Hurry (and Don't Know Why)
• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• Southern Star
• High Cotton

• I Am a Pilgrim
• Church in the Wildwood
• Will the Circle Be Unbroken
• If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again
• Suppertime
• Down by the Riverside
• Precious Memories
• Lonesome Valley
• The Refrain of John Dillon James
• Love Lifted Me
• When It Comes My Time
• One Life
• The Star Spangled Banner

• His Eye Is on the Sparrow
• In the Garden
• Amazing Grace
• How Great Thou Art
• I Need Thee
• Old Shep
• Jesus Loves Me
• Silent Night
• I Am the Man Thomas
• Rock of Ages
• In the Sweet by and By
• The Old Rugged Cross
• What Will I Leave Behind
• One Big Heaven
• Rain

• My Home's in Alabama (live)
• Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')
• Medley: That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine / Suppertime / Teach Your Children / Don't It Make You Want to Go Home
• High Cotton
• Mountain Music
• Dixieland Delight (live)
• Carolina Mountain Dewe
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band) (live)
• Christmas in Dixie
• I Write a Little
• Song of the South
• Pass It on Down
• Five O'Clock 500
• Tar Top (live)
• Dancin', Shaggin' on the Boulevard

• Born Country
• Jukebox in My Mind
• Reckless
• Feels So Right
• Love in the First Degree
• Mountain Music
• Song of the South
• Tennessee River
• Take Me Down
• Lady Down on Love
• She and I
• Down Home
• Why Lady Why
• I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• You've Got the Touch
• There's No Way
• Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)
• Southern Star

• When It All Goes South
• Love in the First Degree
• The Closer You Get
• High Cotton
• Sad Lookin' Moon
• Feels So Right
• Lady Down on Love
• Down Home
• Christmas in Dixie
• Give Me One More Shot
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• Song of the South
• The Fans
• I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)
• Tennessee River
• Old Flame
• Dixieland Delight
• Dancin', Shaggin' on the Boulevard
• Mountain Music
• My Home's in Alabama

• When It All Goes South
• The Woman He Loves
• Clear Across America Tonight
• Will You Marry Me (duet with Jann Arden)
• I Can't Hide My Heart
• I Can't Love You any Less
• Reinvent the Wheel
• I Write a Little (dedicated to U.S.Military personel)
• Down this Road
• Love Remains (feat. Christopher Cross)
• Start Living
• Simple as That
• You Only Paint the Picture Once
• Wonderful Waste of Time
• Right Where I Am

• Tennesse River
• Old Flame
• Take Me Down
• Love in the First Degree
• Feels So Right
• When We Make Love
• Mountain Music
• Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')
• Fallin' Again
• Lady Down on Love
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)
• She and I
• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• Song of the South
• High Cotton
• Jukebox in My Mind
• Pass It on Down
• Down Home
• I'm in a Hurry (and Don't Know Why)
• Reckless
• My Home's in Alabama

• Close Enough to Perfect
• Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')
• Song of the South
• Take a Little Trip
• We Can't Love Like This Anymore
• Born Country
• She Ain't Your Ordinary Girl
• Once Upon a Lifetime
• Here We Are
• Reckless

• Born Country
• Dixieland Delight
• Tennessee River
• Alabama Sky
• Country Side of Life
• Green River
• Louisiana Moon
• If You're Gonna to Play in Texas
• Carolina Mountain Dewe
• You Can't Take the Country Out of Me

• Old Flame
• My Home's In Alabama (Single Edit)
• Close Enough To Perfect
• Mountain Music
• Lady Down On Love
• (There's A) Fire In The Night
• Very Special Love
• Can't Keep A Good Man Down
• She And I
• As Right Now
• You've Got The Touch
• The Fans (Original Version)
• Tar Top
• I Showed Her
• High Cotton
• If I Had You

• Five O'Clock 500
• Keepin' Up
• How Do You Fall in Love
• Tennessee River
• Why Lady Why
• Old Flame
• Feels So Right
• Love in the First Degree
• Mountain Music
• Take Me Down
• Close Enough to Perfect
• Dixieland Delight
• The Closer You Get
• Lady Down on Love
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• When We Make Love
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)
• (There's A) Fire in the Night
• There's No Way
• Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')
• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• She and I

• Santa Claus (I Still Believe in You)
• Joseph and Mary's Boy
• Happy Holidays
• Christmas Memories
• Tonight Is Christmas
• Thisltlehair the Christmas Bear
• Tennessee Christmas
• A Candle in the Window
• Homecoming Christmas
• Christmas in Dixie

• Dancin', Shaggin' on the Boulevard
• Sad Lookin' Moon
• Anytime (I'm Your Man)
• She's Got That Look in Her Eyes
• My Girl
• Of Course I'm Alright
• I Just Couldn't Say No
• Is the Magic Still There
• Calling All Angels
• Hey Baby
• One More Time Around

• Sunday Drive
• She Ain't Your Ordinary Girl
• My Love Belongs to You
• I've Loved a Lot More Than I've Hurt
• Spin the Wheel
• Nothing Comes Close
• Say I
• It Works
• The Maker Said Take Her
• In Pictures
• Heartbreak Express

• Give Me One More Shot
• We Can't Love Like This Anymore
• Tennessee River
• When We Make Love
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)
• There's No Way
• Face to Face
• Jukebox in My Mind
• Forever's as Far as I'll Go
• I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)
• Angels Among Us (vocal remix version)

• My Home's in Alabama
• Green River
• You Turn Me On
• The Closer You Get
• A Very Special Love
• There's a Fire in the Sky
• What in the Name of Love
• Louisiana Moon
• When We Make Love
• Alabama Sky
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas
• Down on Longboat Key
• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• Never Be One
• Lovin' Man
• Roll on Eighteen Wheeler
• If I Had You
• Carolina Mountain Dew
• Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')
• Country Side of Life

• Still Goin' Strong
• T.L.C.A.S.A.P.
• Katy Brought My Guitar Back Today
• On This Side of the Moon
• The Cheap Seats
• Reckless
• That Feeling
• This Love's on Me
• Clear Water Blues
• A Better Word for Love
• Angels Among Us

• Take a Little Trip
• Hometown Honeymoon
• Once Upon a Lifetime
• You Can't Take the Country out of Me
• I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)
• Richard Petty Fans
• Homesick Fever
• Between the Two of Them
• American Pride
• Sometimes out of Touch
• Pictures and Memories

• Born Country
• Then Again
• Dixieland Delight
• Lady Down on Love
• The Closer You Get
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• Fallin' Again
• Song of the South
• High Cotton
• Take Me Down
• Hats Off

• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• Carolina Mountain Dewe
• The End of the Lyin'
• I'm Not That Way Anymore
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)
• (There's A) Fire in the Night
• When We Make Love
• Country Side of Life
• The Boy
• Food on the Table

• Mountain Music
• Close Enough to Perfect
• Words at Twenty Paces
• Changes Comin' On
• Green River
• Take Me Down
• You Turn Me On
• Never Be One
• Lovin' You Is Killin' Me
• Gonna Have a Party

• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• Tennessee River
• Take Me Down
• Love in the First Degree
• Red River
• Dixieland Delight
• Lady Down on Love
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas
• Fireworks
• There's No Way / When We Make Love
• Gonna Have a Party
• Can't You See
• My Home's in Alabama

• She and I
• Mountain Music
• Feels So Right
• Old Flame
• Tennessee River (live)
• Love in the First Degree
• 40 Hour Week (For a Living)
• Why Lady Why
• The Fans
• My Home's in Alabama (live)

• The Closer You Get
• Lady Down on Love
• She Put the Sad in All His Songs
• Red River
• What in the Name of Love
• Dixieland Delight
• Very Special Love
• Dixie Boy
• Alabama Sky
• Lovin' Man

• Here We Are
• Old Flame
• High Cotton
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)
• The Cheap Seats
• Pass It on Down
• The Closer You Get
• Give Me One More Shot
• Feels So Right
• Jukebox in My Mind
• Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')
• The Fans

• The Closer You Get
• Lady Down on Love
• She Put the Sad in All His Songs
• Red River
• What in the Name of Love
• Dixieland Delight
• Very Special Love
• Dixie Boy
• Alabama Sky
• Lovin' Man

• Five O'Clock 500
• Keepin' Up
• How Do You Fall in Love
• Tennessee River
• Why Lady Why
• Old Flame
• Feels So Right
• Love in the First Degree
• Mountain Music
• Take Me Down
• Close Enough to Perfect
• Dixieland Delight
• The Closer You Get
• Lady Down on Love
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• When We Make Love
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)
• (There's a) Fire in the Night
• There's No Way
• Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')
• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• She and I

• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• Tennessee River
• Take Me Down
• Love in the First Degree
• Red River
• Dixieland Delight
• Lady Down on Love
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)
• Fire Works
• Medley: There's No Way / When We Make Love
• Gonna Have a Party
• Can't You See
• My Home's in Alabama

• Mountain Music
• Down Home
• Jukebox in My Mind
• Southern Star
• Tar Top
• Pass It on Down
• My Home's in Alabama
• Say I
• Small Stuff
• We Made Love
• Gonna Have a Party
• When It All Goes South

• Feels So Right
• Love in the First Degree
• Take Me Down
• Old Flame
• Mountain Music
• Close Enough to Perfect
• Dixieland Delight
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas
• 40 Hour Week (For a Livin')
• Song of the South
• Touch Me When We're Dancing
• Lady Down on Love
• When We Make Love
• The Closer You Get

• Twentieth Century
• God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You
• I'm in That Kind of Mood
• We Made Love
• Life's Too Short to Love This Fast
• Then We Remember
• Little Things
• Mist of Desire
• Small Stuff
• Too Much Love
• Write It Down in Blue
• I Love You Enough to Let You Go
• Alabama Jam (A Medley of #1 Hits)

• Tennessee River
• Food on the Table
• I Want to Know You Before We Make Love
• (She Won't Have a Thing to do With) Nobody but Me
• You Turn Me On
• The Borderline
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• There's No Way
• Down on the River
• If I Had You
• Hangin' Up My Travelin' Shoes
• My Home's in Alabama

• Gonna Have a Party
• Red River
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• She and I
• Lady Down on Love
• Tennessee River
• Green River
• My Home's in Alabama
• Takin' Care of Business

• I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)
• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• Take Me Down
• Forever's as Far as I'll Go
• You've Got the Touch
• Face to Face
• Born Country
• Here We Are
• There's No Way
• Then Again
• Down Home
• If I Had You
• Take a Little Trip
• Once Upon a Lifetime
• Pass It on Down

• I'm in the Mood
• The Living Years
• When We Make Love
• Touch Me When We're Dancing
• Feels So Right
• How Do You Fall in Love
• Fallin' Again
• Lady Down on Love
• The Closer You Get
• If I Had You
• We Can't Love Like This Anymore
• Then Again

• My Home's in Alabama
• Feels So Right
• Love In The First Degree
• Dixieland Delight
• Roll On
• There's No Way
• The Closer You Get
• Forever's As Far As I'll Go
• Give Me One More Shot
• In Pictures

• Fantasy
• Why Lady Why
• As Right Now
• Food on the Table
• Lovin' You Is Killin' Me
• Hanging Up My Travelin' Shoes
• Can't Forget About You
• Carolina Mountain Dewe

• Tennessee River
• Why Lady Why
• Old Flame
• Feels So Right
• Love in the First Degree
• Mountain Music
• Take Me Down
• Close Enough to Perfect
• Dixieland Delight
• The Closer You Get
• Lady Down on Love
• Roll On
• When We Make Love
• If You're Gonna Play in Texas
• There's a Fire in the Night
• There's No Way
• Forty Hour Week
• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• She and I
• Touch Me When We're Dancing

• You've Got The Touch
• Vacation
• True, True Housewife
• Is This How Love Begins
• Cruisin'
• Touch Me When We're Dancing
• Let's Hear It For The Girl
• It's All Comin' Back To Me Now
• I Taught her Everything She Knows
• Pony Express

• High Cotton
• Old Flame
• The Closer You Get
• Fallin' Again
• Why Lady Why
• If I Had You
• 'You've Got' the Touch
• (There's a) Fire in the Night
• Love in the First Degree
• There's No Way
• When We Make Love

• Forty Hour Week (For a Livin')
• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• There's No Way
• Down on Longboat Key
• Louisiana Moon
• I Want to Know You Before We Make Love
• Fireworks
• (She Won't Have a Thing to Do With) Nobody but Me
• As Right Now
• If It Ain't Dixie (It Won't Do)

• My Home's in Alabama
• Hanging Up My Travelin' Shoes
• Why Lady Why
• Getting Over You
• I Wanna Come Over
• Tennessee River
• Some Other Place, Some Other Time
• Can't Forget About You
• Get It While It's Hot
• Keep On Dreamin'

• Feels So Right
• Love in the First Degree
• Burn Georgia Burn
• Ride the Train
• Fantasy
• Hollywood
• Old Flame
• Woman Back Home
• See the Embers, Feel the Flame
• I'm Stoned

• Pass It On Down
• Here We Are
• Down Home
• Forever's as Far as I'll Go
• Jukebox in My Mind
• Moonlight Lounge
• Goodbye (Kelly's Song)
• Fire on Fire
• Until It Happens to You
• Gulf of Mexico
• Starting Tonight
• I Ain't Got No Business Doin' Business Today

• Song of the South
• Down on the River
• High Cotton
• "Ole" Baugh Road
• The Borderline
• I'm Still Dreamin'
• Pete's Music City
• Southern Star
• If I Had You
• She Can
• I Showed Her
• Barefootin'
• Dixie Fire

• The Blessings
• Christmas in Your Arms
• Christmas Is Love
• When It Comes to Christmas
• I Was Young Once Too
• The Night Before Christmas
• O Little Town of Bethlehem
• Happy Birthday Jesus
• The Christmas Spirit
• Hangin' Round the Mistletoe
• Little Drummer Boy
• Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
• New Year's Eve 1999

• Tennessee River
• Why Lady Why
• Love In The First Degree
• Mountain Music
• Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)
• If You're Gonna Play In Texas
• Fire In The Night
• She And I
• Tar Top
• My Homes In Alabama
• Hanging Up My Travelling Shoes
• Getting Over You
• I Wanna Come Over
• Some Other Place, Some Other Time
• Can't Forget About You
• Get It While It's Hot
• Keep On Dreamin'
• Feels So Right

• Tar Top
• I Can't Stop
• I Saw The Time
• You're My Explanation For Living
• Face To Face
• (I Wish It Could Always Be) '55
• Old Man
• If I Could Just See You Now
• Fallin' Again