Country singer Matt Stell’s breakout hit was the profoundly moving “Prayed For You;” the song was number one for two weeks and became the only debut single of 2019 to top the country chart. Despite the success of the obvious love song, If you go to the “About” section on Stell’s website, there’s a quote that reads “And if he’s being totally honest with himself, he’s never been one to love a love song.” To that, he states, “I mean there’s a lot of unbelievable love songs but t

Sean Stemaly hails from what he calls “Kentuckiana,” a word that he has tattooed on himself that hints at his beginnings: the southern part of Indiana that borders Western Kentucky. Stemaly is didn’t always know if pursuing music was in the cards for himself being from such a small town as he tells The Nash News, “I mean, like with anybody else, there was doubters at first and I don’t blame ‘em. Where I’m from, nobody does this. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one,”  he states.

After teasing her song “Just About Over You” on TikTok and gaining millions of views, country singer Priscilla Block was sent into an immediate whirlwind. After its official release, the song skyrocketed to the top of the all-genre iTunes chart and was named one of the best songs of 2020 by The New York Times. The rush of success also took Block to the Grand Ole Opry where she made her debut last year in 2021; she also toured with Ashely McBryde. With much of her success mate

“I grew up with country music which is kind of unheard of over here for some people,” rising country singer Sofia Claire tells us. Claire grew up in Redwood City, California, an area that sits between the major cities of San Francisco and San Jose. “I know half of the people over here love country music and the other half hates it.” Claire falls in the former category as her mom and aunt raised her on the genre with artists like George Strait and Alan Jackson. “All of my idol

Singer-songwriter Christina Taylor was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida but grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I pretty much categorize myself as a Carolina girl,” she tells us. “I listened to all types of music. Country music, rock music, a lot of hip hop and R&B stuff so I like to think that I’m able to pull from a lot of influences.” She deems herself a big fan of Eric Church as well as vocal pop divas like Beyonce and Christina Aguilera. “A lot of my bigger vocals are

In April of 2021, singer-songwriter Seth Ennis took to social media to share a note with fans explaining his absence from releasing new music since 2018. He stated, “Truth is, the past couple years played out a little different than I had in mind when I first came to town. I lost my single at radio, parted ways with my record label, and had to go through multiple other changes on my team all right before COVID happened. I went through a mentally dark patch and didn’t really k

The first time Autumn Nicholas performed in front of people was when her dad, who was in the military, coerced her in front of a crowd. “My dad put me on a stage when I was 15 years old on this military truck and said, ‘Sing those three songs that you wrote.’ And he hands me my guitar and I was like, ‘Oh my god this is gonna be horrible,’” she tells us. “And it wasn’t. It took me to that level of this is what I want to do.” Nicholas grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina nea

Amanda Kate’s influences range from Faith Hill to Carrie Underwood; she even says that Wynonna Judd was practically in the car when she was riding with her mom. Her biggest inspiration though came from inside her own house.“I would say my biggest influence was my mom. My mom was also a singer-songwriter,” Kate tells us. Kate grew up in New Mexico and listened to country music from the ‘90s which eventually turned into her own source of motivation within her own sound. “The so

Sarah Ryder knew she could sing as soon as she was able to open her mouth. From a young age, she paid close attention to lyrics at an early age exclaiming, “It was really when I was eight and nine years old that I started paying attention to Tim McGraw lyrics and thinking, ‘Wow, I love this. I want to do this.’” She recalls a visceral moment at a George Strait concert that felt deeply personal to her. “He just sat on a chair and he sang ‘Amarillo by Morning’ and the whole pla

Rising country singer Hayden Haddock is still a student. Haddock currently lives in College Sation where he attends Texas A&M; he’s in his senior year. Unlike most of his peers, Haddock is a recording artist who books his weekends with live performances. “It’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever done in my life especially as I’m getting to this last year,” he says while talking about his work-life balance. “This semester is probably the hardest in terms of juggling the music

In July of this year, rising country singer-songwriter Alexandra Kay posted a TikTok of herself covering Tim McGraw’s ‘90s hit “Don’t Take The Girl” while making her morning coffee. “Coffee covers” is something Kay has become known for on the app. About two months later, McGraw saw the video on TikTok, duetted it, and gave her his praises stating that he loved her voice. Kay saw the video while watching a set at Whiskey Jam, a frequent live music event in Nashville. “My phone

Singer-songwriter Nolan Sotillo has had a busy year. After releasing a few singles and playing numerous Country Thunder music festivals, he’s released his introductory album titled At the End of the Day. “More than anything it’s exciting. It’s been a culmination of the last couple years of hard work and dedication. I think everyone experienced a weird year in 2020,” he tells us. “I think a lot of times, as creatives, as artists, you know when we feel like we can’t express our

Singer-songwriter Britnee Kellogg has amassed more than half a million TikTok followers and over three million total likes on the platform. When the Coronavirus pandemic struck, Kellogg’s son asked if he could have a TikTok account and Kellogg allowed it but only with the circumstances that it was through her phone. She also made an account of her own to monitor and aimlessly posted videos of trending dances for fun. Encouraged by fellow singer and friend Mae Estes, Kellogg s

Rising country singer-songwriter Kären McCormick was born in Brazzaville, Congo and is raised in the eastern part of Washington state. She started singing at seven years old when her dad noticed she could hold a tune. “He asked me if I’d be interested in joining a choir at Church where some other kids sang. I gave it a shot and I really, really enjoyed it,” she tells us. “Around that same time, I had really enjoyed writing stories in journals. I never really thought of marryi

Country singer-songwriter Mike Ryan grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and listened to a variety of music growing up. His parents had season tickets to the Majestic Theatre in the city where he would watch musicals and symphonies. His grandfather was also a band director. “Music was pretty involved all throughout my life,” he tells us. As he got older, he listened to blues, classic rock, and of course, fell in love with ‘90s country. He also discovered more of the Texas music sce

Singer-songwriter Brooke Moriber’s first-ever onstage performance was as Young Cosette in the Broadway production of ​​Les Misérables. Her mom’s best friend noticed her singing at one of her birthday party’s and suggested getting a manager to book auditions. “My mom was actually an actress and a singer herself and at first, her reaction was I really don’t want her to have to go through the kind of life I had and all the disappointments and all the ups and downs. But I begged

Chelsey James didn’t know she could sing until her friends in college heard her singing along to the radio and knew she deserved to be listened to. “They decided that I needed to be heard and started driving me to karaoke bars all around town,” she tells us. Because of her promising vocal talent, she joined a cover band. “When I started performing live, I realized this is what I was meant to do and I never looked back since that very first show I did.” https://www.youtube.com

Jet Jurgensmeyer’s first taste of performing happened at the restaurant his parents owned in Nashville, Tennessee when he was only a toddler. “I started getting on stage when I was three there and just kind of fell in love with entertaining,” he tells us. His parents were friends of the Mandrell sister’s mother, Mary Mandrell who suggested acting to the family due to Jurgensmeyer’s knack for putting on a show. “When I was four, they hooked us up with a friend of theirs who’s

Johnny Gates made the move to Nashville after hearing Taylor Swift on his local radio station in Providence, Rhode Island. “I heard that song ‘Tim McGraw’ for the first time and I was like, oh this is cool. She was young and she was doing country music,” he tells us. “A lightbulb went off and I was like I should find out who she works with.” He found Nathan Chapman’s information online, sent him an email, and made up a story that his band was in Nashville meeting with labels.

“I’m on cloud nine,” rising country singer-songwriter Maggie Baugh says after spending the morning updating her numbers on Spotify and finding that she hit 476,000 streams on her single “Think About Me:” the single she released earlier this year in June. “Never in a million years did I think this would happen.” Just a few days ago, the song passed over half a million streams. When Baugh put out “Think About Me” she had 600 monthly listeners on Spotify and just this past week,