How Alan Jackson Beat the Nashville Establishment: 75 Million Records by Refusing to Change
In an industry that insists pop crossovers and constant reinvention are the only ways to survive, Alan Jackson sold 75 million records by refusing to change a single thing. He dug his heels into tradi...
13 Jun 19min
How Bill Anderson Survived Seven Decades: Whispering Bill and the Power of a Song
How does a man with a voice so soft that people call him Whispering Bill end up writing some of the most emotionally devastating hits in country music history? Bill Anderson never overpowered listener...
13 Jun 19min
How Brandi Carlile Rewrote the Music Industry: From a Childhood Coma to 11 Grammys
At four years old, in a rural Washington town, Brandi Carlile was overwhelmed by bacterial meningitis. Her heart stopped more than once, she flatlined, and she slipped into a coma. The medical odds we...
13 Jun 15min
How Clint Black Defied the Nashville Machine: Five Number Ones and a Self-Made Star
When Clint Black released his debut album, he did something no artist had done before: five consecutive number one singles right out of the gate. It sounded like a record-label fairy tale, the kind of...
13 Jun 21min
How Dwight Yoakam Bypassed Nashville for LA: The Outsider Who Beat the System
Dwight Yoakam had a plaintive, yodel-edged voice and a determination to make hardcore, traditional country music. So he did the obvious thing and went to Nashville, where the industry practically laug...
13 Jun 18min
How Eddy Arnold Survived Rock and Roll: The Mule-Riding Boy Who Reinvented Country
Eddy Arnold scored 147 charting hits, second only to George Jones, sold more than 85 million records, and stretched a chart career across nearly 63 years. It is staggering global dominance. Yet he sta...
13 Jun 19min
How Sunstroke Built the Roy Acuff Empire: The Heatstroke That Made the King of Country
In 1952, asked who the biggest singer in country music was, Hank Williams didn't hesitate: for drawing power in the South, it was "Roy Acuff, then God." That godlike fame is hard to imagine today. Yet...
13 Jun 22min
Jason Isbell Finds Clarity Beyond the Haze: Addiction, Sobriety, and a Better Songwriter
Jason Isbell lived the rock and roll dream before he was old enough to rent a car: touring the world in a beloved, critically acclaimed band, playing huge crowds, writing standout songs. The problem w...
13 Jun 17min
