Unlike many other young men with hyped debut albums spilling out of Nashville, Dierks Bentley wasn't bred to be a country star. He didn't grow up with a preacher father or a gospel-singing mom and nobody dragged him to the Grand Ole Opry when he was a kid. Bentley had to pick it all up on his own. He collected country records as a child and when he was old enough to drink, he found himself pounding the pavement and hitting up live show after live show in Music City. His wide-eyed, heartfelt songs sound like this: If Dawson's Creek wasn't just about white American middle class kids, but white American middle class kids growing up in suburban Tennessee, Bentley would be all over those soundtracks.
- ESHEA

Few entertainers have attained the iconic status of Dwight Yoakam. Perhaps that is because so few have consistently and repeatedly met the high standard of excellence delivered by the Kentucky native no matter what his endeavor.

His name immediately conjures up compelling, provocative images: A pale cowboy hat with the brim pulled low; poured-on blue jeans; intricate, catchy melodies paired with poignant, brilliant lyrics that mesmerize with their indelible imprint.



Much has been made that the Kentucky-born, Ohio-raised Yoakam was too country for Nashville when he first sought out his musical fortune in the mid-80s, but the truth is his music has always been too unique, too ruggedly individualistic to fit neatly into any one box. Like the icons he so admires -- Elvis, Merle, Buck-- Yoakam is one of a kind. He has taken his influences and filtered them into his own potent blend of country and rock that honors his forbearers and yet creates something beautifully new. As Vanity Fair declared, "Yoakam strides the divide between rock's lust and country's lament."



Don't miss music legend Dwight Yoakam at Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater on July 21st!

It seems that good ol' boys and girls are everywhere country fans look these days. And while that rough-hewn sound and image has clearly established its place in the genre, it's refreshing to encounter an artist who stands apart from the crowd—in look and style, but especially in his music.



Enter David Nail. With Sinatra-like levels of poise and class, the rare gifts of natural melody and soul, and a voice as enveloping as a Cumberland River fog, the Missouri native is a modern-day country gentleman. He's Jim Reeves crossed with Elton John. Garth Brooks meets Stevie Wonder. Glen Campbell blended with Michael Bublé.



The musical result of those mash-ups is a rich sound that hearkens back to Nashville's Countrypolitan days, when artists like Campbell—one of David's heroes—added a dash of sophistication to country music.



"My father was a band director for 31 years and he listened to all sorts of music, including a lot of old-school Elton John. I just loved the big, lush feel of those records," David explains. "Glen Campbell was a huge influence on me for the same reason: the arrangements, the elaborate production, the dramatic songs. Those influences all come out in what I do."



This is specifically true on David's vibrant new album, The Sound of a Million Dreams. "A lot of the sounds that I try to emulate and use for inspiration are from a time when pop music was called that because it was popular," David says. "And who doesn't want to have popular music?"



The Sound of a Million Dreams is Nail's follow-up to 2009's I'm About to Come Alive, which yielded the Top Ten hit "Red Light" and was also listed by Esquire Magazine as one of 50 Songs Every Man Should Be Listening To. David also received an Academy of Country Music nomination for Single Record of the Year for "Red Light." Furthermore, Nail scored a Grammy nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for "Turning Home."



Much like I'm About to Come Alive, The Sound of a Million Dreams is cinematic in its scope, with lyrics and melodies awash in imagery. In the evocative "That's How I'll Remember You," it's snapshots of baseball-game dates in Brooklyn with an ex-lover. In the swirling "She Rides Away," the titular girlfriend makes tracks in a rusty El Camino. And in the album's yearning first single "Let It Rain," a contrite husband seeks forgiveness for "the one night I forgot to wear that ring."



"Imagery is so much a part of what draws me to the songs I record. I pick songs with cities in their lyrics or the names of girls because I want you to know exactly where I'm coming from and what I'm talking about," says David. "I love painting those pictures."



And with the album's title track, he just may have painted a masterpiece. Written by Scooter Carusoe and Phil Vassar, "The Sound of a Million Dreams" expertly sums up David's belief in the power of music, namely the power of a song, to create memories. It references classics by Seger, Springsteen and Haggard, all pegged to different milestones in the narrator's life.



Nail connected with the message so deeply that he chose "The Sound of a Million Dreams" to represent the album.



"I've always felt that an album's title was the most important thing besides the music. It automatically gives someone an idea of what to expect," says David. "If you had to tell the story of me to this point, that song really sums it up."



But the lyrics on The Sound of a Million Dreams, whether David's or those of his co-writers, only tell part of the story. The rest unfolds thanks to David's incomparable voice. Bourbon-smooth, full of emotion and always in control, it's an instrument in and of itself. And the singer-songwriter knows when to let it loose or rein it in.



"I don't want somebody to think I'm a great singer because I can sing a Stevie Wonder hit and do all the licks," he says modestly. "With this record, I wanted to find the best songs that I could sing as best as I can, but at the same time, songs that I could sing effortlessly. And by 'effortlessly,' I mean emotionally, not technically. There's a difference between singing a song on key, and singing a song that makes a person instantly feel something."



Still, David views the album as a stepping stone of sorts—he hopes his recorded work will draw listeners out to his live show, where the real vocal magic happens. While recording The Sound of a Million Dreams, he paid close attention to how the songs might sound when performed live. It was a pivotal difference from the way he and co-producer Frank Liddell structured I'm About to Come Alive, and an approach partially adopted from being on the road with Jason Aldean and Lady Antebellum. (Lady A's Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, incidentally, contribute a song to the album, the soaring "I Thought You Knew," co-written with David and Monty Powell.)



"I had the chance to see some bigger productions and the art of putting on a show," David says of those high-profile tours. "I learned how songs are so much bigger live and I had that in the back of mind while making this record. When people hear these songs, they'll anticipate how grand they're going to sound onstage." This is proved with the album opener "Grandpa's Farm," a sultry honky-tonk shuffle that is equal parts Little Feat and the Rolling Stones.



Ironically, the record's first song could end up being David's concert closer.



"That'll be a song that you wouldn't want to follow with another," he declares. "With 'Grandpa's Farm,' we'd leave as big as an exclamation point as we can."



The same can be said for The Sound of a Million Dreams as a whole. It's a definitive statement that David Nail has arrived and is committed to releasing his brand of mature country music—songs that are built around personal stories, transcendent vocals and a sense of class.



"That will always be the basis of what I do on a record and what I try to do live. If you're looking to get rowdy and hear a lot of screaming and hollering, you'll be disappointed," he says with a laugh. "This record yields a different kind of enjoyment. And there are all kinds of songs. It really does epitomize the sound of a million dreams."

And for fans of sophisticated country music, it's a million dreams come true.

Rodney Crowell - In 1977, he formed his own group, The Cherry Bombs, and in 1978 released his first album, Ain't Living Long Like This. In 1988 he released Diamonds and Dirt, which generated an unprecedented five number-one singles, including "It's Such a Small World," with Rosanne Cash.His acclaimed autobiographical album, The Houston Kid, in 2001 marked his break from the constraints of mainstream record labels.

There have been some awards along the way: Rodney won a Grammy in 1989 for the Best Country Song: "After all This Time." He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. After he re-formed The Notorious Cherry Bombs in 2004 with his old pal Vince Gill, the band was nominated for a CMA Top Vocal Group award.

Cody Canada & The Departed - In the wake of Cross Canadian Ragweed's decision to part ways, Cody resurfaced with an armament of musicians and a mission in mind. With his long time Ragweed band mate, Jeremy Plato (bass) the two made a seamless transition into the world of The Departed, as in 'Cody Canada and The Departed". "We kicked around several ideas for names," Canada said. "We're all from different bands and we wanted something to sound like we came from different places. The Departed was right on the money." Along with Canada and Plato, The Departed rounds out with Seth James on guitar (Seth James Band, Ray Wylie Hubbard), Steve Littleton on B3 organ and keys (Live Oak Decline, Stoney LaRue & the Arsenals, Medicine Show) and Dave Bowen on drums (Stoney LaRue, Bleu Edmondson, Dale Watson).

At 3 years old, Stoney LaRue could be found belting out "Swinging" by John Anderson on his Mr. Microphone radio. The son of a struggling bass player and a nurse, LaRue understood the allure of music at an early age, and recorded his first works at age twelve. He earned accolades through school for his unmatched vocal abilities and promising instrumental talents. Many subscribe Stoney LaRue to the category of artists that are simply natural born performers, just don't try to limit him by category.
From Willie Nelson to Ray Charles, to The Grateful Dead and Kris Kristofferson, LaRue's emerging style impressively blends varied elements of country, blues, and soulful rock into cohesive, vocal driven performances. His abilities earned the immediate respect of then "up and coming" peers including Cody Canada, Mike McClure, Jason Boland, and other cohorts of the revitalizing Texas and Red Dirt circuits (now electrifying audiences nationwide.)

Fans anxiously awaited the August 2005 release of Stoney LaRue-the Red Dirt Album, which hit the Billboard sales charts in its debut week. A far cry from the mixing trailer on the cliff, The Red Dirt Album was recorded with a tight circle of players and professionals in a studio setting. The record was a pinnacle effort for LaRue and has inarguably established his triple threat status as a truly gifted vocalist, player, and performer.

In 2006, Stoney released an addition to the famed Live at Billy Bob's series. His live single, "Oklahoma Breakdown" topped the Texas charts for over four weeks and has ignited Stoney's powerful support as an artist not to be missed. Armed with golden ear musicianship, an amusing wit, and soulful magnetism, LaRue's shows are infused with an uplifting quality, a cathartic barroom brand of spirituality, where venues are complimented for good bar "feng shui," and where time and dimension can be traversed via emotive lyrics and melodic riffs. A charismatic performer, LaRue's flawless vocals can draw a crowd to a open mouth level of sonic mesmerization, and next have them singing "Forever Young" so loudly that you can't hear anything else.

What the critics are saying about Elizabeth Cook's Welder…

"Welder is the kind of album that certain sorts of country-music fans are going to buy and pass around like a talisman." – NPR

#23 Album of the Year – Rolling Stone

#49 "El Camino" Song of the Year – Rolling Stone

"2010 Best Country Singer/Songwriter." – Nashville Scene

"Hilltop funerals, soup kitchens and backcountry hoe-downs become the stuff of legend in Welder's expansive tales, and though it features production by Don Was and guest appearances by Crowell and Buddy Miller, this album is all about Cook finally finding her voice—irreverent, hilarious and gritty as Appalachian soil." - 8.4/10 Paste

"You can bet we're going to hear Elizabeth Cook's sometimes springy, sometimes soulful, always satisfying music for years to come." - 9/10 Blurt

"Cook herself is of vintage country stock, possessing the kind of full-throated voice fast becoming an anomaly in her adopted Nashville. She's a throwback to Bonnie Owens and Loretta Lynn, but without any of the hokum that implies." - 4 stars Uncut

"Ultimately, Welder is the kind of album that only Elizabeth Cook could make, and that's precisely why it's crucial for her to operate outside the mainstream in which interchangeable artists and songs are the currency and distinctive musical personalities are persona non grata. Long may she reign apart from the music-biz machinery."- 3 ½ stars Allmusic

"If much of modern country is musically lazy and positively dishonest, Welder reveals Cook as a poet of everyday life who doesn't shrink from the world's hard, sad realities." - Nashville Scene

"If Elizabeth Cook's clear mountain yelp recalls Dolly Parton, her knack for writing songs shot with pain, playful humour and saucy flirting also brings to the mind the country matriarch." - 4 stars Q Magazine

"She is a refreshingly unpretentious -- and very good -- reminder of why country music is country music." -CMT.com

"…Cook has an understanding of country music past and present that she floats across this album, effortlessly and teasingly, as if to taunt the Nashville machine by showing how huge she could be if she were only willing to play by their rules." - The Hurst Review

"She is the true authentic voice of modern-day country music." - BBC

"Funny and heartfelt, traditional and yet fully contemporary, this is the best country record of 2010." - Grade: A Lincoln Journal Star

"Welder is a musically varied collection that mixes lighthearted and downright goofy fare with the seriously smart and soulful." - Philadelphia Inquirer

"The album takes its title from Cook's father's profession, but she is a welder, too, fusing country tradition and modern assertiveness so tightly you can't pull them apart." - Washington Post

"Fusing traditional country, rocking cowpunk and raucous honesty, Florida-raised Elizabeth Cook delivers her definitive artistic statement." - B+ Dallas News

"This is a singer who shows great range. She moves easily from the sad ("Mama's Funeral") and lonely ("Girlfriend Tonight") to classic ("Blackland Farmer") to real boot-stompers ("Snake in the Bed"). Her voice is perfect not only for the songs on this album, but for country music in general."- OC Examiner

"The music on Welder careens well outside the bounds of Opryland, shifting from waltzes and bluegrassy numbers to alt-country, pop ballads, and flat-out rockers." - UTNE Reader

"Family ties seem to be the ones that bind Elizabeth Cook's carefully observed story songs together here, from 'Mama's Funeral' to 'Heroin Addict Sister,' but don't let those titles lead you to thinking this is downer territory. Cook gets downright saucy on the tongue-in-cheek 'Yes to Booty' and even ventures into country rap on 'El Camino'." - Limewire Blog

"Elizabeth Cook sings like Dolly Parton with a dirty mind and writes like Tom T. Hall on a bender. She's released the country album of 2010."
-Style Weekly