Jerrod Niemann

Jerrod Niemann is not a typical country music artist. His first album, "Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury", was released in late 2010. Of the dozen songs that are on this album, Neimann wrote or co-wrote ten of them. His hit song, "Lover, Lover", was originally written by Dan Pritzker of the rock band Sonia Dada and was originally titled "You Don't Treat Me No Good." Niemann first heard this song back in 1993 and he just couldn't get the lyrics out of his head, so he finally decided to record it on his own. He went through a terrible depression where didn't write any songs for a year after both of his record deals fell through. This experience has shaped the singer-songwriter that he is today and he says that he is ready to become a full-fledged artist after years of misfortunes.

Christian Kane

Christian Kane is probably more famous for his role in the TV series, "Leverage" than as a country singer. So far he only has one album out, "Christian Kane", but it is full of energy and songs that he either wrote or co-wrote. Awhile back when Kane met songwriter, Steve Carlson they started a band called, Kane. They became well known in Los Angeles for their high energy performances. They were first recognized as a country band by L.A. Country Radio when they won the Country Thunder Young Guns Contest. Once they were making regular trips to Nashville, they met with some of the greatest country songwriters in the world to help polish their country edge. As he continues to work on his TV shows, Kane makes sure to set aside time to make music and perform, which is something he loves to do.

Chris Cagle

Chris Cagle has lots of energy and passion during his songs and performances. Both his first two albums, "Chris Cagle" and "Play it Loud", were huge successes. Cagle has produced seven hits, four of which were Top Ten Hits. His ability to "rope the whirlwind, to capture its motion and emotion" in his songs are what make him a phenomenal songwriter and artist. Most of his songs capture both raw emotions and intensity that other artists strive to do. In Cagle's thrid album, "Anywhere but Here", his voice has matured since he took a long period off for an enforced vocal rest. He came back from this vocal rest better than ever and it shows through the songs on this album. They are passionate with all the emotions that are used, from love to pain.

Jason Michael Carroll

Jason Michael Carroll is a relatively new artist in the country music world. He had a chart topping debut album ("Waitin' in the Country") reaching almost half a million dollars in album sales and three hit singles from this album, including "Alyssa Lies" and "Living our love song". Now with the release of his most current album, "Growing Up is Getting Old", in 2009, he steps forward in his career to become a stronger artist. Carroll writes most of his own songs and brings inspriation from his own life and family to help create the hit songs he has. His music really does affect his listeners because some of them actually tell Carroll stories of how his songs impacted them and reminded them of their own lives that they lead.

Rodney Atkins

Rodney Atkins may not be a well known artist but his presence in the country music is significant. He has an amazing ability to really connect with his fans because his songs can reflect the lives of his listeners. In Atkins' songs he really keeps close to a simple minded lifestyle, mainly because that's the way that he grew up. Throughout his infancy he was adopted by two different families both of which returned him because he was ill. Finally he was adopted by the Atkins family which raised him into the healthy country star he is today. In 2003 he put out his first album, "Honesty" followed by "If You're Going Through Hell" in 2006. Also, in 2006 four of his songs from the album, "If You're Going Through Hell", became number one hits, something that had not been done since 2002.

Easton Corbin

Easton Corbin is a breakthrough artist who already has two number one hits, "A Little More Country Than That" and "Roll With It". Corbin grew up in Florida listening to country singers like Mel McDaniel.  His self titled album, "Easton Corbin", was released in March of this year. Corbin also was lucky enough to get some of the songs he actually co-wrote on his first album. Just this year alone he has had seven nominations for the American Country Awards, only Lady Antebellum had as many nominations. Most of his songs speak of relaxing and having fun throughout life but they can also speak about the trials and tough times of life. All Easton Corbin wants is to make it as a country superstar and most country fans would agree that he is already on his way to stardom.

Brooks and Dunn

 

Even though Brooks and Dunn aren't technically working together as a duo anymore, I still think that they are still worth mentioning. The duo is made up of the singers Leon Eric "Kix" Brooks and Ronnie Dunn. The two singers grew up singing seperately until 1990 when Tim DuBois put them together, leading up to their first number 1 single, "Brand New Man" in 1991. Just six years after Brooks and Dunn hit the country scene, they won CMA's entertainer of the year award. Together the two of them have 37 CMA awards; Dunn leads all the CMA award winners with 19 of his own awards and Brooks is tied for second with Vince Gill with 18 awards. The duo aren't afraid to sing songs about issues in America and tell how they really feel about the experiences they've had. Brooks and Dunn just finished their last tour this year and they will be seriously missed by country music fans.