Trisha Yearwood, one of the most popular female country singers, initially rose to fame as a protégée of Garth Brooks but quickly staked out her own identity as one of country music’s premier artists. Yearwood started out with an internship with MTM Records and soon moved on to become an in-demand demo singer, which resulted in an up-and-coming Brooks hiring her as a backup vocalist. Yearwood appeared on Brooks' 1989 debut and its blockbuster follow-up, No Fences, and with the help of producer Garth Fundis, she staged a showcase performance in 1990 that landed her a record deal with MCA.

"She's In Love With The Boy", found a new youthful market for country music that the industry was not yet aware of, and it shot up the charts, spending two weeks at #1. It was the first of four hits from her album, Trisha Yearwood, which went to #2 and was certified double platinum for two millions copies sold. She won new artist awards from the Academy of Country Music, the American Music Awards and Pollstar (a concert industry award.)

Trisha Yearwood‘s new album since 2001's chart-topping "Inside Out," and it is as if she never left. She is already back on the country airwaves with "Georgia Rain," a beautiful story song that showcases the pipes that have made her one of the format's most acclaimed vocalists. Highlights include the sultry, sexy "Sweet Love"; the high-energy romp "Pistol"; the achingly poignant "Trying to Love You"; and "Who Invented the Wheel," an edgy, bluesy number about a failed relationship.

From her first record, audiences knew there was something special about her performance. She would later sum it up in a Billboard interview: "I just flat out love to sing. . . If you really feel it, other people will hopefully feel it too. But even if nobody's listening, I will do it forever."

Sugarland
Sugarland is made up of a trio of singer/songwriters from Atlanta Georgia each of whom had solo careers. Jennifer Nettles, a powerhouse singer was working a lot on the local club circuit. Kristen Hall, a singer/songwriter, had two well-received solo albums. Kristian Bush, a local folk/rock hero, is one-half of Billy Pilgrim, a duo with a major record label deal. Each of them weren’t looking for a club-level career. “We thought, ‘If we’re going to do this, let’s go all the way. Let’s hit it out of the park. We know what we’re doing and how to have fun doing it.’ We thought, ‘Let’s go play arenas, let’s make a record with 10 singles. Let’s do the impossible, it can’t hurt to try.’”

The trio began working together in 2002 and after four months together Sugarland played their first gig and were very pleased with the audience’s reaction to their rootsy music and poignant lyrics. By their fourth gig, they were selling out 1000 seat venues, and then were signed to Mercury Records, which in 2004 released a two-song single “Baby Girl” and “Something More”. Both of these songs were huge successes with Baby Girl” and “Something More,” reaching the Top 5 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. In addition, “Baby Girl” is the highest-charting debut single by a country group in 14 years. Early in 2004 they followed their singles up with a Garth Fundis-produced full-length album, Twice the Speed of Life, that same year.

Billy Currington
Billy Currington exploded onto the music scene in 2003 with his debut CD, which contained the Top 10 hit “Walk a Little Straighter” and the Top 5 smash “I Got a Feelin’,” However, his rise to fame came with a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Raised in a small working class Georgia town, Billy Currington’s music reflects upon his childhood growing up with an alcoholic father, “He'd get drunk and a little crazy," Currington says. "He eventually died of drinking and cancer."

When superstar Shania Twain heard Currington’s soulful Southern voice, she knew she had found the perfect partner for the country duet “Party for Two,” so Currington anxiously boarded a plane for Europe to work in the studio with Twain and legendary producer Robert “Mutt” Lange. Currington and Twain performed the song live on the 2004 Country Music Association Awards and a special Good Morning America show from Nashville.

On his second CD, Doin’ Somethin’ Right, Currington reveals a more mature Southern sound of blues-tinged country in songs such as the debut single, “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right,” “Why, Why, Why,” “Whole Lot More,” “Here I Am” and “She’s Got A Way With Me,” a duet with legendary singer Michael McDonald. “I wanted to make sure it was country,” he says. “After the Shania duet, people asked me, ‘Have you changed your direction? Are you going more pop?’ I don’t want anybody to be confused about where I am musically because in my heart I am the same.”

Despite traveling the world, magazine photo sessions with People magazine and Playgirl, Currington simply refuses to live life in the fast lane. “The bigger and better is nice,” he says of the comforts success brings. “The hotels are nice and visiting different countries is great. But I always try to picture it at the end. When you are 80, what are you really going to want? What’s really going to matter? It’s not a lot of materialistic things for me. It’s just maybe a front porch, a couple of rocking chairs, a simple life.”