New Country & The Neo-Traditionalists

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The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band started out in 1966 as a student jug band in Los Angeles, and in an early incarnation it included a teenage Jackson Browne. Among the group’s founder members was singer and guitarist Jeff Hanna. Both Hanna and multi-instrumentalist Jimmie Fadden are still Dirt Band members 40 years on. The extremely ambitious Will The Circle Be Unbroken project was conceived by NGDB manager, William E. ‘Bill’ ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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After the 1960s heyday of the cultured Nashville sound, country music was all but swept aside. It had survived the lasting effect of 1950s rock – rock’n’roll and traditional old-timey music and bluegrass, especially – but it was now the turn of a musical hybrid, country rock, to lead the way for almost a decade. Country rock was originally played by bands boasting the look of rock acts and determined to ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, songwriter, guitar, b. 1958) Georgia-born Jackson moved to Nashville in 1985. His rise to fame came after a chance meeting between his wife, Denise, and Glen Campbell, and before long, he was a staff songwriter at Campbell’s music-publishing company. A traditionalist blue-collar act, he was the first signing to Arista’s Nashville branch, and his 1990 debut album Here In The Real World went platinum. His second album, Don’t Rock The ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Guitar, vocals, songwriter, b. 1943) Englishman Albert Lee first attracted attention playing with British R&B singer Chris Farlowe in the mid-1960s, and played in several British bands before working as a ‘hired gun’ for legendary acts like The Crickets, Jerry Lee Lewis and most notably The Everly Brothers. In 1976, he replaced his hero, James Burton, in Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band, playing on at least six of her albums. His 1979 ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1972) Moorer moved to Nashville after college and started songwriting after she met Oklahoma musician Doyle ‘Butch’ Primm, whom she later married. Moorer’s debut album, Alabama Song (1998) included ‘A Soft Place To Fall’, as featured in the soundtrack to the movie The Horse Whisperer. After four major-label albums, she was released from her contract, and may have found a more appropriate home with her album Duel (2004) ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1954) Aged 12, Norwegian Arly Karlsen bought his first guitar, and played with numerous bands in his native country during the 1970s, before forming The Western Swingers with Arne Løland and Liv Jurunn Heia. Their 1983 debut album, Sin Egen Stil, sold over 20,000 copies in Norway, and they made four more albums by 1996. In 2001, Karlsen embarked on a solo career. His third album, Sweet Honky ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, b. 1970) Bente Boe from Tonsberg, Norway, made her national radio debut aged only nine, and has been singing for her entire adult life. Voted European Female Singer of the Year in 1996, she made her first album in the US, Cross The River, in 1998, following three previous albums in Norway. Styles & Forms | New Country & The Neo-Traditionalists Personalities | Suzy Bogguss | New Country & The Neo-Traditionalists ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocal duo, 1990–present) Prior to partnering Ronnie Gene Dunn (b. 1953), Leon ‘Kix’ Brooks (b. 1955) had made a 1989 solo album, after writing ‘I’m Only In It For The Love’, a 1983 chart-topper for John Conlee, and ‘Modern Day Romance’, a 1985 No. 1 for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In 1990, the two songwriters made a demo for Arista, and began a hugely successful career with four No. 1 ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, b. 1955) Born Rebecca Carlene Smith, the daughter of June Carter and Carl Smith, she worked on The Johnny Cash Show and with The Carter Family after her mother married Cash. During the first half of the 1990s, she returned to country music, after a period in the rock world and early albums with Dave Edmunds and her then-husband Nick Lowe. Her vibrant vocal style can be heard in her ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, guitar, songwriter, 1948–2005) Chris LeDoux lived out many people’s fantasies of being a genuine cowboy and touring rodeo shows as a musician. Garth Brooks paid tribute to him in the song ‘Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)’, and was backing vocalist on LeDoux’s Top 10 single, ‘Whatcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy’ (1992), LeDoux made well over 30 albums, and would have been an even bigger star had ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1969) Despite being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis early in his career, Clay Walker – whose 1993 debut single, ‘What’s It To You’ topped the singles charts – has since occupied that position on more than 10 occasions. Without gaining the recognition he might have, the smooth-voiced ballad singer has remained a strong and consistent chart performer and is a good example of just how much talent is found ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1962) Born in New Jersey and raised in Houston, Black burst on to the scene in the late 1980s. Signed by ZZ Top manager Bill Ham, Black’s double platinum debut album, Killin’ Time (1989), spawned four chart-topping singles, including ‘Better Man’ and ‘Nobody’s Home’. He has duetted with legendary cowboy Roy Rogers, and in 1994, he was Billboard’s most-played country act. Styles & Forms | New Country & The ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, b. 1961) Irish-born O’Donnell has gained a large UK audience through his easy listening-styled covers of sentimental pop standards, Irish favourites and country ballads, since signing with Irish label Ritz Records in 1986. In 1991, his albums held six of the top seven positions in the UK country chart, and his albums and singles have repeatedly scored in the pop charts as well. His domestic live concerts from the 1990s ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Guitar, vocals, songwriter, b. 1975) Arizona-born and raised, Bentley moved to Nashville in 1994, playing the clubs as an intimate singer-songwriter. In 2001, he released the self-financed Don’t Leave Me In Love, backed by friends from the Jamie Hartford Band and bluegrass legend Del McCoury’s band. In 2003, a major label deal resulted in his eponymous debut album, which included the country chart-topping crossover hit single, ‘What Was I Thinkin’’. In ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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(Vocals, b. 1956) Stone (born Doug Brooks) found little commercial success until 1990, but made up for lost time with a dozen Top 10 hits, including several No. 1s, with his new-traditionalist approach. ‘I’d Be Better Off (In A Pine Box)’ (1990) and 1991’s ‘A Jukebox With A Country Song’ are among many tunes through which Stone, a genuine communicator, has touched the hearts of listeners. Styles & Forms | New Country ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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