Like the Beatles in rock, Randy Travis marks a generational shift in country music. When his Storms of Life came out in 1986, country music was still wallowing in the post-urban cowboy recession, chasing elusive crossover dreams. Travis brought the music back to its basics, sounding like nothing so much as a perfect blend of George Jones and... [+] Read More

Like the Beatles in rock, Randy Travis marks a generational shift in country music. When his Storms of Life came out in 1986, country music was still wallowing in the post-urban cowboy recession, chasing elusive crossover dreams. Travis brought the music back to its basics, sounding like nothing so much as a perfect blend of George Jones and Merle Haggard. He became the dominant male voice in country until the rise of "hat acts" like Garth Brooks and Clint Black, releasing seven consecutive number one singles during one stretch. He won the CMA's Horizon Award in 1986 and was the association's Male Vocalist of the Year in 1987 and 1988.

Travis (born Randy Bruce Traywick, May 4, 1959, Marshville, NC) was born and raised in North Carolina, in a small town outside of Charlotte. His father encouraged his children to pursue their musical inclinations, as he was a fan of honky tonkers like Hank Williams, Jones, and Lefty Frizzell. Randy began playing guitar at the age of eight, and within two years, he and his brother Ricky formed a duo called the Traywick Brothers. The duo played in local clubs and talent contests.

Both of the brothers had a wild streak, which resulted in Ricky going to jail after a car chase and Randy running away to Charlotte at the age of 16. While he was in Charlotte, he won a talent contest at Country City U.S.A., a bar owned by Lib Hatcher. Hatcher was impressed by Travis and offered him a regular gig at her bar, as well as a job as a cook.

For several years, he sang and worked at Country City. He still had trouble with the law in his late teens. At his last run-in with the police, the judge told him if he saw Travis again he should be prepared to go to jail for a long time. Travis was released into the care of Hatcher. In a short time, Hatcher became Travis' manager, and the pair began to concentrate on his career. Joe Stampley helped Travis land a contract with Paula Records in 1978. The following year, Travis released two singles under his given name; one of them, "She's My Woman," scraped the bottom of the country charts.

In 1982, Travis and Hatcher moved to Nashville, where she managed the Nashville Palace nightclub while he sang and cooked. Within a couple of years, the pair independently released his debut album under the name Randy Ray; the record was called Randy Ray Live and sold primarily in the Nashville Palace.

Thanks to Hatcher's persistent efforts and the Randy Ray Live album, Warner Brothers signed Travis in 1985 and suggested that he change his performing name to Randy Travis. "On the Other Hand," his first single for the label, was released in the summer of that year and climbed to number 67. Despite its lackluster performance, radio programmers were enthusiastic for Travis, as evidenced by the number six placing of "1982," which was released late in the year. "1982" was followed by a re-release of "On the Other Hand" in the spring of 1986. This time, the song hit number one.

Storms of Life, Travis' full-fledged debut album, was released in the summer of 1986 and became a huge success, eventually selling over three million copies. Travis was the first country artist to go multi-platinum; before his success, most country artists had difficulty achieving gold status. With his mass appeal, he set the stage for country music's crossover success in the early '90s. However, Travis dominated the late '80s. The last two singles from Storms of Life, "Diggin' Up Bones" and "No Place Like Home," hit number one and two, respectively. "Forever and Ever, Amen" -- the first single from his second album, 1987's Always & Forever -- began a streak of seven straight number one singles that ran through 1989. Always & Forever was more successful than his debut, reaching number 19 on the pop charts and going quadruple platinum; it also earned him the CMA's award for Male Vocalist of the Year. Old 8x10 (1988) and No Holdin' Back (1989) weren't quite as successful as their predecessors, but they still spawned number one singles and both went platinum.

Travis was still at the top of his form in the beginning of the '90s, starting the decade with his biggest hit, "Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart." However, his hold at the top of the charts began to slip after Clint Black and, in particular, Garth Brooks. Nevertheless, Travis never fell away completely -- his albums continued to gold and he usually could crack the Top Ten. Wind in the Wire, a soundtrack to his television special released in 1992, marked his first unsuccessful album -- none of the singles broke the Top 40. This Is Me, released in 1994, was a successful comeback to the top of the charts, featuring "Whisper My Name," his first number one hit in two years. In August 1996, Travis released Full Circle, his last album for Warner Brothers. He left the label in 1997, signing with the fledgling "super" label DreamWorks. His first album for the label, You and You Alone, was released in the spring of 1998; Man Ain't Made of Stone followed a year later. Traveling the familiar country route, he released an album of traditional and contemporary religious songs, Inspirational Journey, which hit the stores in late 2000. The album went on to win two awards at The Gospel Music Association's 32nd Annual Dove Awards in 2001; Inspirational Journey took home honors for Country/Bluegrass Album of the Year and Country Recorded Song of the Year for "Baptism." Select songs from the album also made their way in the two-part finale for Touched by an Angel, which featured Travis in character. Two years later, Travis continued with his gospel fare with the release of Rise and Shine, followed by the similarly reverent Worship & Faith, Passing Through and Glory Train. ~ Brian Mansfield & Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide [-] Hide

One of country music's most versatile performers, Steve Wariner grew up in suburban Indianapolis, interested in the Beatles on the radio, as well as Chet Atkins and George Jones, the artists his father listened to most frequently. He started playing music in his dad's band, and by his high school years, he was playing local clubs. At age 17, he... [+] Read More

One of country music's most versatile performers, Steve Wariner grew up in suburban Indianapolis, interested in the Beatles on the radio, as well as Chet Atkins and George Jones, the artists his father listened to most frequently. He started playing music in his dad's band, and by his high school years, he was playing local clubs. At age 17, he caught the ear of Dottie West, who persuaded him to join her band, and in that position he ended up playing bass on her classic 1973 single "Country Sunshine." He moved on to work as a sideman for Bob Luman and signed a singles deal with RCA Records in 1976. His career developed slowly, and in the beginning, the low-tuned guitars and wide range of his singles brought frequent comparisons to the early Glen Campbell hits. His first really successful single was "Your Memory," which peaked in the country Top Ten in early 1981, followed by "By Now" and "All Roads Lead to You," which topped the country charts in December. RCA released another couple of singles before finally issuing his debut album, Steve Wariner, in the fall of 1982. He returned to the country Top Ten in 1983 with "Midnight Fire," which became the title track of his second album, and "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers."

Wariner's career really took off when he left RCA for MCA in late 1984. His first single for the new label, "What I Didn't Do," made the country Top Five in early 1985, setting off a string of 18 consecutive Top Ten hits that included the chart-toppers "Some Fools Never Learn," "You Can Dream of Me," "Life's Highway," "Small Town Girl," "The Weekend," "Lynda," "Where Did I Go Wrong," and "I Got Dreams" (the last two Wariner compositions). This run took him into 1990, when he switched to Arista Records. He had considerable initial success on the new label, with his first Arista album, I Am Ready, going platinum (none of his previous albums had even gone gold) and his first three Arista singles making the Top Ten. And he shared a 1991 Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Collaboration with Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill for "Restless," a track on Mark O'Connor's album The New Nashville Cats.

Wariner scored a country Top Ten hit with "If I Didn't Love You" in the summer of 1993, but his record sales were declining. His 1996 instrumental album, No More Mr. Nice Guy, his first release in three years, did not chart, but that year he joined the Grand Ole Opry. In 1997, he sang with Anita Cochran on "What If I Said," and the single topped the country charts in early 1998, just after Garth Brooks' recording of Wariner's composition "Longneck Bottle" had gone to number one. This twin success reinvigorated his career. He signed to Capitol Records, Brooks' label, and released "Holes in the Floor of Heaven," which made the country Top Five, winning the Country Music Association's awards for Song of the Year and Single of the Year. Burnin' the Roadhouse Down, his debut album for Capitol, reached the country Top Ten, went gold, and crossed over to the Top 50 of the pop charts. He followed it with 1999's Two Teardrops, which also went gold; the same year, he shared his second Grammy for Best Country Instrumental for the Asleep at the Wheel track "Bob's Breakdown." His third Capitol album, Faith in You, was released in May 2000. ~ William Ruhlmann and Tom Roland, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Although she spent most of her life singing, Lorrie Morgan didn't become a star until the early '90s, when she scored a string of Top Ten country hits. Born Loretta Lynn Morgan, she was the daughter of Grand Ole Opry star George Morgan and made her professional debut at age 13 on the Opry, where her rendition of "Paper Roses" received a standing... [+] Read More

Although she spent most of her life singing, Lorrie Morgan didn't become a star until the early '90s, when she scored a string of Top Ten country hits. Born Loretta Lynn Morgan, she was the daughter of Grand Ole Opry star George Morgan and made her professional debut at age 13 on the Opry, where her rendition of "Paper Roses" received a standing ovation. When her father died in 1975, she took over his band and began leading the group through various club gigs. Within a few years, she disbanded the group, and in 1977, she went on to play with the Little Roy Wiggins band. She then became a receptionist and demo singer at Acuff-Rose, where she also wrote songs. In 1978 she had one minor hit single; the following year another minor hit with "I'm Completely Satisfied," an electronically dubbed duet with her late father. She began touring Nashville nightclubs and opened for a number of acts, including Jack Greene, Billy Thunderkloud, and Jeanie Seely. She also toured as a duet partner with George Jones and spent two years as part of the Opryland USA bluegrass show and as a guest singer on TNN's Nashville Now.

In 1984, Morgan scored a minor hit with "Don't Go Changing." That year she became the youngest singer ever to join the Grand Ole Opry. She married Keith Whitley in 1986 and two years later had a Top 20 hit, "Trainwreck of Emotion." Morgan's popularity was blossoming and she had just scored a major hit with "Dear Me" when Whitley died suddenly in 1989. Though devastated, Morgan continued to work, and that year her album Leave the Light On went gold. In 1990 she had her first number one single, "Five Minutes," along with several other Top Ten hits. Something in Red, her second album, was released in 1991; it went platinum and spawned the number one single "What Part of No." Morgan's third album, Watch Me, was released in 1992; Merry Christmas From London (1993) and War Paint (1994) followed before she issued her Greatest Hits in 1995. She released her fifth studio album, Greater Need, in 1996; Secret Love followed two years later. In 1999, Morgan returned with My Heart; the hits collection Side by Side appeared the following spring. I Finally Found Someone, featuring a duet with Sammy Kershaw, was released in spring 2001. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Alternative country meets the rockabilly revival meets California guitar virtuosity in the music of Rosie Flores. Since the late '70s, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Rosie Flores has been an important figure on the alternative country scene in both Austin, TX, and Los Angeles. She's a hard-working, independently minded artist who's... [+] Read More

Alternative country meets the rockabilly revival meets California guitar virtuosity in the music of Rosie Flores. Since the late '70s, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Rosie Flores has been an important figure on the alternative country scene in both Austin, TX, and Los Angeles. She's a hard-working, independently minded artist who's well-respected for her gritty, energetic vocals and fiery guitar solos.

A native of San Antonio, Flores moved to San Diego with her family when she was 12. Her family encouraged her singing and guitar playing, and as a girl she soaked up the sounds of southern California -- surf guitar, country and country-rock, blues, and rockabilly-flavored garage rock. By the time she was in her teens, Flores was playing in a band called Penelope's Children. During the first explosion of punk rock in the late '70s Flores formed Rosie & the Screamers, an otherwise all-male band that played hard country and rockabilly material, much of it written by Flores herself. She worked as a solo acoustic artist for a time but then formed an all-female punk band, the Screaming Sirens, who recorded the album Fiesta in 1984.

In 1987 Flores recorded her first solo album, Rosie Flores, produced by Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam's producer and guitarist) and released by Warner Bros.. The album gained critical acclaim, and among music-industry folk a Flores concert remains a strong draw to this day. But it was only modestly successful commercially, and Flores was dropped by Warner Bros.. She signed with the California independent label Hightone and in 1992 she released her second solo album, After the Farm, followed by Once More With Feeling a year later. These albums featured original songs by Flores, her own sharp guitar leads, and crackerjack session work from a variety of Los Angeles veterans. Flores then spent the better part of 1994 playing lead guitar in Butch Hancock's band.

In 1995 Flores recorded Rockabilly Filly, a spirited tribute to the music she grew up with. The album featured duets with her longtime idols Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin, both of whom Flores brought out of retirement for the project. The album led to a cross-country tour with Jackson, who hadn't played in nightclubs in over 20 years. In 1997, Rounder re-released her Warner Bros. debut along with six new bonus tracks under the title Honky Tonk Reprise, helping to sustain the momentum of her career. That same year, the Austin label Watermelon released her duet project with Ray Campi, entitled A Little Bit of Heartache. In the late '90s, Flores moved to the folk-oriented Massachusetts label Rounder, pushing the stylistic mix of her music slightly in the direction of rockabilly but not really changing course. The 1999 live album Dance Hall Dreams was recorded at a San Antonio country club and featured several of the top session players Flores has always been able to attract, among them Texas steel guitar stalwart Cyndi Cashdollar. Flores released Speed of Sound on the Eminent label two years later, offering yet more original songs as well as a scorching cover of Buck Owens' rockabilly classic "Hot Dog." Flores offered her fans an intimate perspective on her music with the solo acoustic live set Single Rose in 2004, and an album of country and rockabilly styled holiday favorites, Christmasville, followed in 2005. Prolifically creative, Rosie Flores deserves to be numbered among the creators of the alternative country movement. Her career, never really flagging, has outlasted those of a host of other acts in that fast-moving genre. ~ James Manheim, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Eclectic and bluesy, Lacy J. Dalton was one of the most distinctive female country singers of the '80s, landing a few hits on the strength of her gritty, nuanced vocals. Dalton was born Jill Byrem in Bloomsburg, PA, in 1948, and grew up in a highly musical family; her first loves were folkies like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, but she also soaked up... [+] Read More

Eclectic and bluesy, Lacy J. Dalton was one of the most distinctive female country singers of the '80s, landing a few hits on the strength of her gritty, nuanced vocals. Dalton was born Jill Byrem in Bloomsburg, PA, in 1948, and grew up in a highly musical family; her first loves were folkies like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, but she also soaked up country music through her father. She briefly attended Brigham Young University but dropped out and drifted around the country for a time; she eventually went to Los Angeles, then migrated to Santa Cruz, where she performed as a protest-oriented folksinger. During the late '60s, she sang with a Bay Area psychedelic rock band called Office; she also became Jill Croston when she married the group's manager, though, sadly, he died in a swimming pool accident. She went on to reinvent herself as a country performer, adopting the stage name Lacy J. Dalton, and landed a deal with CBS when producer Billy Sherrill heard her demo tape in 1979. Her Top 20 debut single, "Crazy Blue Eyes," helped her win the CMA's Best New Artist Award, and she scored an impressive run of hits over the next three years, highlighted by "Hard Times," "Tennessee Waltz," "Hillbilly Girl With the Blues," the number two smash "Takin' It Easy," "16th Avenue," and "Everybody Makes Mistakes" (all but "Tennessee Waltz" made the Top Ten). Dalton's albums also received strong reviews for their adventurous, borderless taste in material, particularly her self-titled debut. A 1983 cover of Roy Orbison's "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)" was her final Top Ten entry, but she continued to record for CBS through 1987; part of her commercial slide was due to her ambitious stylistic shifts, as she devoted attention to rock-oriented material (1986's Highway Diner, whose "Working Class Man" was a decent-sized hit), blues, and bluegrass. She subsequently departed for Capitol, where she recorded four albums through 1992. In 1999, she assembled the Wild Horse Crossing compilation, which featured several new tracks of her own and was released by her own Let 'Em Run foundation, which worked to preserve the wild horses of the west. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide [-] Hide

BR5-49 was hardly the first retro-country act to emerge in the 1990s, but as one of the first trad-style C&W bands to gain a following (and a major label contract) in Nashville for nearly 20 years, they suggested that in the midst of Garth-mania there were still folks in Music City hungry for some down-home twang in the classic style, which made... [+] Read More

BR5-49 was hardly the first retro-country act to emerge in the 1990s, but as one of the first trad-style C&W bands to gain a following (and a major label contract) in Nashville for nearly 20 years, they suggested that in the midst of Garth-mania there were still folks in Music City hungry for some down-home twang in the classic style, which made country music a phenomenon in the first place. BR5-49's self-titled debut album may lack a bit of the grit and high spirits of their live show (either as witnessed in person or as preserved on the Live at Robert's EP), but it does a great job of capturing this band's spunky attitude and superb chops, and makes clear they can write original songs just as well as they can give new life to classics by Moon Mullican and Ray Price. While a few tunes like "Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)" play to the slightly kitschy side of the group's collective personality, "Even if It's Wrong," "One Long Saturday Night," and "Lifetime to Prove" testify that BR5-49 truly respect classic country music, and write songs as smart and heartfelt as the classics they cover. And boy, can they play -- Don Herron shines on every instrument he touches (including fiddle, steel guitar, and mandolin), Shaw "Hawk Shaw" Wilson and Smilin' Jay McDowell are a superbly uncluttered rhythm section, and Gary Bennett and Chuck Mead can pick just as well as they harmonize (and that's mighty fine indeed). Adding a here-and-now energy and drive to classic styles of the past, BR5-49 proves you can not only have it both ways, but have a great time to boot. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Rosanne Cash's catalog on Columbia is nothing if not formidable. Her pioneering meld of country, rock & roll (with an emphasis on "rock"), folk, and even blues, her topical concerns (which went deeper than most songwriters who came before her in taking on the tough topics of life), and her insistence on working outside the Nashville box scored... [+] Read More

Rosanne Cash's catalog on Columbia is nothing if not formidable. Her pioneering meld of country, rock & roll (with an emphasis on "rock"), folk, and even blues, her topical concerns (which went deeper than most songwriters who came before her in taking on the tough topics of life), and her insistence on working outside the Nashville box scored her a number of hits and blazed the trail for many women who came later. King's Record Shop followed by two years her flirtation with the kind of pop coming out of England in droves, the radically underappreciated Rhythm & Romance. King's Record Shop -- produced by her then-husband and longtime collaborator Rodney Crowell -- is a granite-solid collection of covers and originals that delve deeply into the traditions that informed her life and created her as an artist, while revealing the trouble in her marriage to Crowell. The opening track, Eliza Gilkyson's "Rosie Strike Back," is a real feminist country anthem, and contain killer backing vocals from Patty Smyth (of Scandal) and Steve Winwood. Her read of John Hiatt's "The Way We Make a Broken Heart" is the kind of torch and tang ballad that will stand the test of time simply for its gender-bending take on relationships. Her collaboration with Hank DeVito, "If You Change Your Mind," is a jangly folk-rock ballad that expresses romantic longing in the face of a wayward lover; in its choruses one hears need as well as generosity. "The Real Me," a song that offers the vulnerability, truth, and flaws of a life in the process of transformation, is a preview of the type of material that would appear on the nakedly revealing Interiors. And it just goes deeper, from her rollicking and rebellious rocker "Somewhere Sometime" to the stellar cover of John Stewart's heart-wrenching "Runaway Train" to the straight-ahead country of her father Johnny's "Tennessee Flat Top Box." With its faux soul R&B chorus, Crowell's "I Don't Have to Crawl" is as full of want, cracked-heart honesty, and determination to keep standing as anything in country music. Ultimately, King's Record Shop is Rosanne Cash's classic, a work that transcends production and songwriting styles and the pop and country music of the time. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide [-] Hide

This self-titled release is by far and away the closest to perfection any studio project has achieved in a very long time. With every aspect of the production, performance, and choice of material handled by the artist himself, there is a continuity and purity about it that is missing in even the top-selling discs that chart and receive platinum... [+] Read More

This self-titled release is by far and away the closest to perfection any studio project has achieved in a very long time. With every aspect of the production, performance, and choice of material handled by the artist himself, there is a continuity and purity about it that is missing in even the top-selling discs that chart and receive platinum recognition. Vocally, no one can come close to Intveld's irreproachable style. His ability to evoke emotion from a song, even those he did not write, is dumbfounding; his version of Don Gibson's "Blue Blue Day" is evidence of this. As a writer, Intveld is stunning in his clarity and storytelling ability; listen carefully to the earthy tale of "Kermit Vale." While he does not consider himself a country writer per se, he is quite capable of concocting a mean shuffle and accentuating it with the optimal amount of twang, as exhibited on "Your Lovin'" and "Barely Hangin' On." His own rendition of his classic hit, "Cryin' Over You," made famous by Rosie Flores, also demonstrates Intveld's obvious understanding of traditional country music. A noteworthy balladeer, James Intveld takes this art form to the highest level. His own "You Say Goodnight, I'll Say Goodbye" is not only emotionally evocative, but also intelligent. The entire affair is dedicated to his late brother, Ricky Intveld, which makes this, his first Bear Family CD, all the more meaningful for James and his many fans the world over. As they say, nobody does it better than James Intveld; in a perfect world where music and musicians are rewarded for talent, ability, and original creativity, the enticing Mr. Intveld would be constantly sitting at number one on all the music charts and this CD would be double or triple platinum at least. ~ Jana Pendragon, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Lorrie Morgan's Greatest Hits highlights 11 tracks from the contemporary country vocalist's late-'80s and early-'90s recordings for RCA. Among the number one singles are "What Part of No," "Five Minutes," "Something in Red," and "Dear Me." Also featured is the posthumous duet recorded with Morgan's late husband, Keith Whitley, "Til a Tear... [+] Read More

Lorrie Morgan's Greatest Hits highlights 11 tracks from the contemporary country vocalist's late-'80s and early-'90s recordings for RCA. Among the number one singles are "What Part of No," "Five Minutes," "Something in Red," and "Dear Me." Also featured is the posthumous duet recorded with Morgan's late husband, Keith Whitley, "Til a Tear Becomes a Rose," released following his death in 1989 from alcohol poisoning. ~ Al Campbell, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Hindsight 20/20 is a comprehensive overview of Carlene Carter's career, concentrating on country hits like "Every Little Thing" and "I Fell in Love," but also touching on her earlier recordings like "Never Together But Close Sometimes." The compilation offers an excellent introduction and encapsulation of one of the finest female country singers...

Hindsight 20/20 is a comprehensive overview of Carlene Carter's career, concentrating on country hits like "Every Little Thing" and "I Fell in Love," but also touching on her earlier recordings like "Never Together But Close Sometimes." The compilation offers an excellent introduction and encapsulation of one of the finest female country singers of the '80s and '90s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide [-] Hide