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Country Music

MCA BUILT McBRIDE & THE RIDE TO COMPETE WITH ALABAMA. FIVE YEARS LATER, THE LABEL REMOVED TWO OF THE THREE MEN WHO HAD MADE THE BAND WORK AND WATCHED THE SUCCESS DISAPPEAR. McBride & the Ride did not begin in a garage or honky-tonk. It began as a Nashville record-company plan. In 1989, MCA executive Tony Brown assembled three experienced musicians: Texas singer and bassist Terry McBride, guitarist Ray Herndon and drummer Billy Thomas. Herndon had worked with Lyle Lovett, Thomas with Emmylou Harris and Mac Davis, while McBride had toured with his father before playing with Delbert McClinton and Rosie Flores. The three were introduced during Fan Fair in Nashville. They had no shared history, but the combination worked. McBride became the lead voice and songwriting center, Herndon supplied guitar and harmony, and Thomas anchored the rhythm. Their 1990 debut established the sound, but Sacred Ground brought the breakthrough in 1992. “Just One Night,” “Going Out of My Mind” and “Sacred Ground” all reached the Top 5, while the album went gold. A third album, Hurry Sundown, followed in 1993 and produced another Top 5 hit, “Love on the Loose, Heart on the Run.” McBride & the Ride had become what MCA wanted: a polished country band with recognizable harmonies and growing radio success. Then the label changed the formula. In 1994, MCA shifted the focus toward Terry McBride, removed Herndon and Thomas, and renamed the act Terry McBride & the Ride. The expanded replacement lineup released an album, but none of its singles reached the Top 40. By 1995, the band was finished. McBride, however, did not leave country radio. He moved deeper into songwriting and began a long association with Brooks & Dunn, co-writing “I Am That Man,” “He’s Got You,” “I Can’t Get Over You” and the Reba McEntire duet “If You See Him/If You See Her.” He later joined Brooks & Dunn’s touring band as bassist and helped write “Play Something Country,” “Proud of the House We Built” and “Cowgirls Don’t Cry.” The other members also remained in Nashville. Billy Thomas worked with Vince Gill and the Time Jumpers. Ray Herndon co-wrote Kenny Chesney’s “Me and You.” In 2000, the original trio performed together at the Handlebar-J in Scottsdale, Arizona, and began discussing a reunion. They returned with Amarillo Sky in 2002. Its title track did not become a major hit for them, but Jason Aldean later took the song into the Top 5. The reunion was brief, yet the three original members came together again in 2021 and played their first Nashville concert in twenty years the following year. McBride & the Ride had been assembled by executives, altered by executives and dismantled by an executive decision. But the music kept escaping that decision. McBride’s songs reached No. 1 through Brooks & Dunn and Reba. Herndon helped write a Kenny Chesney standard. A song from the reunion album found a second life through Jason Aldean. The company had tried to turn a three-man band into a vehicle for one singer. The three musicians spent the next three decades proving that the original chemistry had never belonged to the label.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” MCA BUILT McBRIDE & THE RIDE TO COMPETE…

Country Music

HE LEFT GEORGIA, WORKED AT OPRYLAND, AND BECAME A COUNTRY STAR WITH “I LET HER LIE.” THEN NASHVILLE MOVED AWAY FROM HIS KIND OF MUSIC—BUT DARYLE SINGLETARY NEVER CHANGED HIS VOICE TO FOLLOW IT. By the mid-1990s, country music was changing. Polished productions, crossover sounds, and arena-sized acts were becoming the industry’s new center. At the same time, a young singer from Cairo, Georgia, arrived in Nashville carrying little more than a deep baritone and an unwavering love for George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Conway Twitty. Daryle Singletary was not interested in updating traditional country. He worked at Opryland USA after moving to Nashville, sang wherever he could, and was eventually noticed by Randy Travis. Travis believed enough in Singletary’s voice to help him secure a recording contract with Giant Records. The gamble paid off quickly. His debut album produced hits including “I Let Her Lie,” “Too Much Fun,” and “Amen Kind of Love.” Radio embraced the records, but what set Singletary apart was not the chart positions. He sounded like he belonged to an earlier generation without trying to imitate it. As country radio continued changing, that became harder to sell. Record sales slowed. Giant Records dropped him, and later label deals brought only limited commercial success. Many artists adapted their sound to fit the new market. Singletary refused. He kept recording the kind of honky-tonk songs he believed in, even if they reached fewer stations and sold fewer records. The decision cost him chart success, but it earned him something far rarer. The respect of the people who had built country music before him. George Jones became one of his strongest supporters, repeatedly praising Singletary as one of the finest traditional country singers of his generation. The two eventually recorded together, and whenever Jones spoke about artists who still understood real country music, Singletary’s name was never far away. That admiration did not restore his place on mainstream radio. It did, however, keep him busy on the road. While Nashville chased newer trends, Singletary continued playing fairs, theaters, dance halls, and festivals for audiences who wanted the sound they felt radio had left behind. On February 12, 2018, Daryle Singletary died unexpectedly at his home in Lebanon, Tennessee. He was 46. The tributes that followed came not only from fans but from many of the artists he had admired for years. They remembered him less for awards or record sales than for something increasingly difficult to find—a singer who never changed his voice simply because the market had changed around him.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” DARYLE SINGLETARY BROUGHT AN OLD-SCHOOL COUNTRY VOICE TO…

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DAVID LEE MURPHY LOST HIS PLACE ON COUNTRY RADIO—THEN WROTE NO. 1 HITS FOR OTHER STARS BEFORE RETURNING 23 YEARS LATER WITH ONE OF HIS OWN. David Lee Murphy arrived in Nashville in 1983, carrying songs and hoping to become a recording artist. Producer Tony Brown heard him performing in a club two years later. Brown recognized the talent, but no contract followed. Murphy remained in Nashville, writing, playing showcases and waiting nearly a decade for the opportunity to catch up with the first impression. MCA finally signed him, and Out with a Bang arrived in 1994. “Party Crowd” became a major hit. Then “Dust on the Bottle,” a song Murphy wrote himself, reached No. 1 in October 1995. Its story about an old bottle of homemade wine turned him into one of the most recognizable new voices of the decade. More hits followed, including “Every Time I Get Around You” and “The Road You Leave Behind.” But by the end of the 1990s, Murphy’s singles had begun disappearing from the upper reaches of country radio. His third MCA album produced no major hit, and the record deal ended. He returned with Tryin’ to Get There in 2004. “Loco” briefly carried his voice back onto the chart, but the album did not rebuild the commercial run he had known a decade earlier. Murphy then stepped away from recording under his own name. The songs did not stop. Murphy moved deeper into writing rooms, creating material for artists who were now occupying the radio space he had left behind. Kenny Chesney recorded “Living in Fast Forward,” followed by songs including “Live a Little,” “Pirate Flag,” “’Til It’s Gone” and “Here and Now.” Jason Aldean took “Big Green Tractor” and “The Only Way I Know” to No. 1. Jake Owen recorded “Anywhere with You.” Thompson Square turned “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not” into a chart-topper and a Grammy-nominated song. His writing also reached Blake Shelton, Gary Allan, Justin Moore, Kip Moore, Eli Young Band, Blackberry Smoke and other artists across several generations of country music. By then, Murphy’s voice was no longer required for one of his ideas to travel. Kenny Chesney eventually pulled him back toward the microphone. The two had spent years writing together, and Chesney encouraged Murphy to make another album. They co-produced No Zip Code, Murphy’s first studio record in fourteen years. Its lead single, “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” paired Murphy with Chesney. Released at the end of 2017, it rose to No. 1 on the country airplay chart in 2018—twenty-three years after “Dust on the Bottle” had given Murphy his first chart-topper as an artist. The song also earned them the CMA Award for Musical Event of the Year. Murphy’s return was not the usual comeback of an artist rediscovered after years of silence. He had never disappeared from Nashville. He had simply moved to the side of the recording studio where the public could not see him. By the time he stepped forward again, several of the singers who had carried his songs were standing among country music’s largest stars. Murphy no longer needed another hit to prove that he belonged there. Still, in 2018, the songwriter who had spent years watching other voices take his words to No. 1 heard his own voice coming through the radio again.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” DAVID LEE MURPHY LOST HIS PLACE ON COUNTRY…

Country Music

THE FIRST VIDEO CMT EVER PLAYED WAS FARON YOUNG SINGING “IT’S FOUR IN THE MORNING.” THIRTEEN YEARS LATER, HE DIED BELIEVING COUNTRY MUSIC HAD MOVED ON WITHOUT HIM. Faron Young had never been a quiet country star. He came out of Shreveport, hit the Louisiana Hayride, wore the “Young Sheriff” image, and made honky-tonk sound sharp, fast, and dangerous. “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young” went to No. 1 in 1955. “Hello Walls” carried a young Willie Nelson’s writing into the national spotlight in 1961. “It’s Four in the Morning” put him back at No. 1 in 1971. For a long time, Faron was not a memory. He was part of the machinery. He co-founded Music City News. He helped younger writers. He had songs, movies, television, publishing, business deals, and enough swagger to make Nashville either laugh with him or brace for him when he walked into the room. Then the years started taking pieces away. The hits slowed. The business changed. His marriage to Hilda ended after more than three decades. His health got worse. The voice that had once filled jukeboxes was no longer what radio was chasing. By the 1990s, the man who had helped make modern country feel louder and brighter was watching a younger Nashville build its own room without him in it. On December 9, 1996, Faron Young died by suicide in Nashville. He was sixty-four. Four years later, the Country Music Hall of Fame inducted him. The industry had not forgotten his name forever. It just waited until he was gone to say it out loud again.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” CMT OPENED WITH FARON YOUNG SINGING “IT’S FOUR…

Country Music

TEN NO. 1 COUNTRY HITS DID NOT MAKE RICKY VAN SHELTON WANT MORE. BY 2006, HE WANTED HIS LIFE BACK — AND WALKED AWAY SO COMPLETELY THAT NASHVILLE ALMOST NEVER HEARD FROM HIM AGAIN. Raised in the tiny Virginia community of Grit, he sang locally after high school while working a succession of ordinary jobs. He played clubs for years without a record contract, convinced that the right opportunity would eventually arrive. In 1984, Shelton followed his future wife, Bettye, to Nashville. Two years later, newspaper columnist Jerry Thompson heard one of his demo tapes and helped arrange an audition with Columbia Records. The label signed him. Success came almost immediately. “Somebody Lied” became Shelton’s first No. 1 in 1987. “Life Turned Her That Way” and “Don’t We All Have the Right” followed. His next album produced three more chart-toppers: “I’ll Leave This World Loving You,” “From a Jack to a King,” and “Living Proof.” By the early 1990s, Shelton had collected 10 No. 1 country singles and several platinum albums. His voice placed him naturally beside Randy Travis, George Strait, and the other traditional singers reshaping country radio. He could revive an older song without making it sound like an exercise in nostalgia, and audiences believed the plainspoken man singing it. But the success carried a private cost. Shelton later acknowledged that alcohol had taken control of his life. He avoided drinking before performances, then drank heavily afterward. The touring schedule and isolation widened the distance between him and Bettye until his marriage and health were both in danger. In 1992, he sought help and began rebuilding his sobriety. At nearly the same time, his place on country radio began shrinking. The wave of new stars arriving in the 1990s changed the market, and Shelton’s singles stopped reaching the upper part of the chart. After leaving Columbia, he financed his own label and released Making Plans in 1998 through Walmart stores, but it could not restore the commercial run of his early years. His final studio album, Fried Green Tomatoes, appeared in 2000. Its singles made little impact, though Shelton continued performing for several more years. Then, in May 2006, he announced that he was retiring from touring. There was no farewell campaign built around one last hit. Shelton said he wanted to spend more time with his family and pursue other interests, including painting and writing children’s books. He had already published stories about a duck named Quacker and had painted artwork used with his gospel album. After that, he did something unusual for a star of his size. He stayed gone. Shelton largely withdrew from interviews, awards shows, reunions, and the public machinery that keeps retired performers visible. Years passed without new recordings or a major comeback attempt. The man who had once spent two decades waiting for Nashville to notice him no longer appeared interested in reminding it that he had been there. His records remained: “Somebody Lied,” “I’ll Leave This World Loving You,” “Keep It Between the Lines,” and the duet “Rockin’ Years” with Dolly Parton. But Shelton chose a life where those songs could continue traveling without requiring him to travel with them. The paintings, books, and quiet years afterward were not a pause between tours. They became the career he chose after the applause stopped deciding his schedule

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” RICKY VAN SHELTON HAD TEN NO. 1 COUNTRY…

Country Music

THEY BORROWED $4,500 TO RECORD A DEMO THEY EXPECTED TO SELL AT SHOWS. MERCURY RELEASED IT ALMOST AS IT WAS — AND PICKIN’ ON NASHVILLE SOLD MORE THAN TWO MILLION COPIES. The Kentucky Headhunters did not begin inside a Nashville writing room. They began in 1968 at the rural Kentucky home of brothers Richard and Fred Young’s grandmother, Effie. Richard played rhythm guitar, Fred played drums, and their cousins Greg Martin and Anthony Kenney completed a band they called Itchy Brother. The small building behind the house became their practice room, a place where country, blues and Southern rock could collide without anyone asking which radio format the music belonged to. For more than a decade, they played regional clubs, recorded occasional singles and waited for a larger opportunity. One nearly arrived in 1980. Itchy Brother drew interest from Swan Song Records, the label created by Led Zeppelin. But drummer John Bonham died that September, Led Zeppelin ended, and the label’s future collapsed before the Kentucky band could complete an album. Two years later, Itchy Brother broke apart. The musicians scattered. Richard Young wrote songs in Nashville. Fred played behind RCA artist Sylvia. Greg Martin joined Ronnie McDowell’s road band. Anthony Kenney stepped away from performing. But the old practice house remained. In 1986, Richard, Fred and Greg began playing together there again. Kenney declined to return, so Greg brought in bassist Doug Phelps, who then suggested his brother Ricky Lee as lead singer. They renamed themselves The Kentucky Headhunters and started appearing twice a month on a local radio program called The Chitlin’ Show. They still did not sound like the polished country bands Nashville was signing. Their records carried Bill Monroe, Don Gibson and Henson Cargill beside loud guitars, blues phrasing and bar-band energy. Instead of sanding those edges away, the five men borrowed $4,500 and recorded a demo that they planned to sell at live shows. The tape reached Mercury Records executive Harold Shedd. Mercury signed them in 1989, but rather than sending the group back into the studio to rebuild everything, the label released the demo as the foundation of their debut album, Pickin’ on Nashville. The first single, “Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine,” was an old Bill Monroe song pushed through electric guitars. “Dumas Walker,” named for a Kentucky shopkeeper and championship marble player known by the band, followed despite the label’s concern that the reference was too local for national radio. The band trusted what happened when they played it live. “Dumas Walker” reached the country Top 20. “Oh Lonesome Me” climbed to No. 8, and “Rock ’n’ Roll Angel” gave the album a fourth consecutive Top 40 single. Pickin’ on Nashville reached No. 2 on the country album chart and eventually sold more than two million copies. The industry that had once seemed unsure what to do with them began handing them awards. The Kentucky Headhunters won CMA honors for Album of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year. In 1991, Pickin’ on Nashville earned the Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, while the band was also nominated for Best New Artist. They were described as newcomers, although Richard, Fred and Greg had already spent more than twenty years trying to make the same collision of sounds work. Lineup changes followed. Ricky Lee and Doug Phelps left in 1992 to form Brother Phelps, and later versions of the Headhunters passed through new singers and changing record deals. Doug eventually returned, joining Richard, Fred and Greg in the enduring lineup. Through it all, the band kept returning to Mama Effie’s practice house. It later became a gathering place for another generation of Kentucky musicians, including members of Black Stone Cherry, who developed their own heavy Southern sound in the same rural room. The Kentucky Headhunters eventually entered the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, but the old building remained more important than any formal industry office.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” THE KENTUCKY HEADHUNTERS BORROWED $4,500 TO CUT A…

Country Music

JOHN MICHAEL MONTGOMERY BEGAN WITH “LIFE’S A DANCE,” SCORED SEVEN NO. 1 HITS, THEN ENDED 33 YEARS ON THE ROAD WITH ONE FINAL HOMETOWN SHOW—SURROUNDED BY HIS BROTHER, HIS SON, AND THE MUSIC THAT BUILT HIS LIFE. Before Nashville knew his name, John Michael Montgomery was already singing with his family. Raised in Kentucky, he performed as a child with his parents and later played in a band with his brother Eddie. Those local stages gave him the direct, conversational style that would later carry songs such as “Life’s a Dance,” “I Swear,” “I Love the Way You Love Me,” and “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident).” His breakthrough came quickly. “Life’s a Dance” reached country radio in 1992, and the debut album bearing its name eventually went triple platinum. The next two albums sold even more heavily, placing Montgomery among the defining male voices of 1990s country. Across his career, seven of his singles reached No. 1 on the Billboard country charts. But the road that built the career kept taking its share. For years, Montgomery moved through the cycle familiar to major country acts of that era: buses, soundchecks, late nights, another town, then another stage. By the time he announced in January 2024 that he would wind down touring across 2024 and 2025, he had been living that routine for more than three decades. He did not announce an abrupt disappearance. He gave himself two years to say goodbye. The farewell run became known as the Road Home Tour. Each stop carried the knowledge that it might be the final time audiences in that city heard him sing those songs in person. Then he chose where the last night would happen. Not Nashville. Not Las Vegas. Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. The final concert took place on December 12, 2025. His brother Eddie Montgomery joined him. So did his son Walker Montgomery and his son-in-law Travis Denning, turning the last road show into a family gathering inside one of Kentucky’s largest rooms. For Montgomery, the meaning went beyond a final set list. He had begun performing as a child in Kentucky, entered the national country scene in 1992, and spent the next 30-plus years carrying those songs far beyond home. Now the people standing beside him at the finish represented both ends of that life: the brother who had shared the early years and the younger generation continuing after him. The show sold out. When it ended, Montgomery did not retire from music itself. He retired from the road—the buses, miles, and repeated goodbyes that had shaped nearly every year of his adult life. His final touring night closed with his family nearby and Kentucky in front of him. The next morning, for the first time since 1992, there was no next city waiting

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” JOHN MICHAEL MONTGOMERY STARTED SINGING IN KENTUCKY WITH…

Country Music

DIAMOND RIO LANDED A RECORD DEAL—THEN THREE MEMBERS WERE HIT BY A CRUSHED THUMB, A BOAT PROPELLER AND A LARGE TUMOR. THEIR DEBUT SINGLE STILL WENT TO NO. 1. The group began in 1982 as the Grizzly River Boys, an attraction created around the park’s new rafting ride. They soon became the Tennessee River Boys, playing multiple daily shows for visitors who had come for roller coasters rather than Nashville’s next major band. The lineup changed repeatedly until Marty Roe, Jimmy Olander, Dan Truman, Dana Williams, Brian Prout and Gene Johnson came together in 1989. They recorded demos in Prout’s garage and searched for a label willing to sign a self-contained country band. Diamond Rio wanted to play its own instruments and sing its own harmonies on record, while Nashville often preferred established studio musicians. Arista executive Tim DuBois initially considered signing Roe alone. Producer Monty Powell convinced him to watch the entire group open for George Jones. After seeing the six musicians together, DuBois offered the band a contract. They renamed themselves Diamond Rio and prepared to record the album they had spent years trying to reach. Then the accidents began. On August 9, 1990, Gene Johnson severely cut his left thumb in a carpentry accident. Johnson played mandolin and supplied the high tenor central to the group’s harmony. The injury threatened both. Four weeks later, bassist Dana Williams was water-skiing when a boat propeller struck his legs and sent him to the hospital. Around the same time, guitarist Jimmy Olander discovered a lemon-sized tumor pressing against his esophagus. Doctors never established a clear diagnosis, and the growth eventually disappeared, but for a period the band did not know whether half its members could continue. The contract remained. The band capable of fulfilling it nearly did not. Johnson returned with reduced dexterity. Williams recovered from his injuries. Olander’s tumor receded. The six musicians regrouped and entered the studio, still determined to perform the parts themselves. Arista released “Meet in the Middle” on February 6, 1991. It reached No. 1 and stayed there for two weeks, making Diamond Rio the first country group to top the Billboard country chart with its debut single. The album also produced the Top 10 hits “Mirror, Mirror,” “Mama Don’t Forget to Pray for Me,” “Norma Jean Riley,” and “Nowhere Bound,” and was eventually certified platinum. Diamond Rio later recorded “How Your Love Makes Me Feel,” “One More Day,” “Beautiful Mess,” and “I Believe,” while earning repeated vocal-group honors. Its sound remained built around six identifiable musicians rather than anonymous studio replacements. That original lineup stayed together for more than three decades. Gene Johnson and Brian Prout retired from touring in 2022, ending one of the longest continuous lineups in modern country music. Opryland USA closed in 1997. The band created to entertain people waiting beside one of its rides was still on the road twenty-five years later.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” DIAMOND RIO FINALLY GOT A RECORD DEAL. THEN…

Country Music

SHENANDOAH HAD ALREADY SCORED MULTIPLE NO. 1 HITS WHEN A FIGHT OVER ITS NAME COST MORE THAN $2 MILLION AND FORCED THE BAND INTO BANKRUPTCY. THEY KEPT THE NAME, CHANGED LABELS, AND FOUGHT THEIR WAY BACK TO NO. 1. Shenandoah began as a group of working musicians in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Guitarist Jim Seales, drummer Mike McGuire, bassist Ralph Ezell, keyboardist Stan Thorn, and singer Marty Raybon had spent years in studios, local groups, and road bands before coming together in the mid-1980s. A demo reached Columbia Records, and when the label offered several possible names, Raybon chose Shenandoah. At first, the name seemed to bring them everything they had been chasing. “The Church on Cumberland Road,” “Sunday in the South,” and “Two Dozen Roses” all reached No. 1 in 1989. “Next to You, Next to Me” stayed at the top for three weeks in 1990, while “Ghost in This House” showed that the band could handle a quiet ballad as convincingly as a driving radio hit. In 1991, the Academy of Country Music named Shenandoah its top vocal group. But as the records climbed, another Shenandoah appeared. A Kentucky band claimed it had already been using the name and threatened legal action. The country group reached a financial settlement, only to face claims from two more bands using Shenandoah elsewhere. The lawsuits began consuming the money Shenandoah earned on the road. The band asked its record label and production company to share the legal burden. When that support did not fully materialize, the five musicians were left trying to defend a name that had become valuable only after they had made it famous. By early 1991, Shenandoah had spent more than $2 million on settlements and legal costs. The band filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy while still placing songs on country radio. They were eventually allowed to keep the name. But keeping it cost them nearly everything built underneath it. The bankruptcy helped end their relationship with Columbia after a greatest-hits release in 1992. Shenandoah moved to RCA, returned to the road, and began rebuilding without the financial cushion their biggest years should have created. The comeback was not immediate, but it was real. In 1993, “I Want to Be Loved Like That” reached the Top 5. The following year, “If Bubba Can Dance (I Can Too)” became another No. 1, proving that the lawsuits had damaged the business without destroying the sound. Shenandoah continued through lineup changes, Marty Raybon’s departure and eventual return, and the death of founding bassist Ralph Ezell. The songs remained in circulation long after the money from their first great run had been spent defending six letters on concert posters and album covers. Decades later, Luke Combs joined the band for a new recording of “Two Dozen Roses.” It was cut at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, near the place where Shenandoah’s musicians had first learned how to build records together, and reached No. 1 on the iTunes all-genre and country charts in 2023.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” SHENANDOAH HAD NO. 1 HITS, AWARDS, AND A…

Country Music

CHET ATKINS HEARD A TEENAGER PLAYING ON THE RADIO, BROUGHT HIM TO NASHVILLE, AND PUT HIM IN HIS ROAD BAND. THAT TEENAGER WENT ON TO SCORE 14 NO. 1 HITS, WIN MULTIPLE GRAMMYS, AND BECOME ONE OF COUNTRY MUSIC’S MOST RESPECTED GUITARISTS. Steve Wariner grew up in Noblesville, Indiana, in a family where music was part of everyday life. He learned several instruments as a child, but the guitar quickly became the one he never put down. While still in high school, he was performing on local radio and television, building a reputation as a teenager who could play far beyond his years. One broadcast reached an unexpected listener. Chet Atkins. Already one of country music’s most respected guitarists and the executive guiding RCA Nashville, Atkins invited the 17-year-old to audition. By the end of the meeting, Wariner had been offered a job in Nashville. The move changed everything. Instead of chasing club gigs for years, Wariner found himself playing guitar in Atkins’ road band, watching recording sessions from inside RCA Studio B, and learning how Nashville worked from one of the architects of the city’s sound. Atkins became more than an employer. He became Wariner’s mentor. As the years passed, Atkins encouraged him to sing as well as play, believing the quiet Indiana guitarist could build a career of his own instead of remaining behind other artists. RCA eventually signed Wariner as a recording artist. Success arrived gradually before accelerating in the 1980s. Songs including “All Roads Lead to You,” “Some Fools Never Learn,” “Life’s Highway,” “Small Town Girl,” “The Weekend,” and “Lynda” helped establish him as one of country music’s most dependable hitmakers. During that run, he earned 14 No. 1 singles and became one of Nashville’s most respected guitarists as well as a major recording star. The relationship with Atkins never disappeared. The two men later recorded together, and Wariner remained one of the few musicians Chet openly praised for carrying forward his style of tasteful, melodic guitar playing. When Atkins died in 2001, Wariner did more than remember his mentor in interviews. He continued performing the music they had shared, speaking often about the lessons learned inside RCA Studio B and the patience Atkins had shown a teenager who arrived in Nashville with talent but little experience. Years later, Wariner won Grammy Awards, entered the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and built a career that stretched far beyond the opportunity first offered to him. But one instrument never left his side. Among the many guitars he has owned, the most meaningful have always been the ones that carried a reminder of the man who first looked beyond a teenage radio performance and decided it was worth bringing to Nashville.

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“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.” CHET ATKINS HEARD STEVE WARINER PLAYING ON THE…

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