Jeff Giles

David Nail’s career took plenty of twists and turns before he finally found his audience — including a busted deal at Mercury Nashville and a stint as a baseball coach. But when he finally released his debut album in 2009, its title ‘I’m About to Come Alive,’ proved prophetic. Now, Nail is one of country’s hottest freshman acts, and he’s looking to build on that success with the release of his sec

When you’ve been doing something as long as Kenny Rogers has been making music, the milestones are bound to pile up — and sure enough, this holiday season will mark an auspicious anniversary for the country legend. When Rogers embarks on his annual Christmas and Hits tour this November 25, it’ll mark his 30th straight year of heading out on the road to bring holiday cheer to fans. Billy Dean will

He’s sold more than four million albums in the last two years and is a more or less constant presence on the iTunes and Billboard charts. So when Justin Bieber announced that he was recording a Christmas album for this year’s holiday season, it automatically became one of the fourth quarter’s most highly anticipated releases. At this point, Bieber could probably hum carols through a kazoo and turn

With his first single closing in on the country top 40 and a prime opening slot on his label boss’ latest tour, JT Hodges could hardly ask for a better start to his recording career. Hodges won’t be satisfied with an auspicious beginning, however. He’s in this for the long haul, and to prove it, he’s getting ready to release a debut album that he promises will be “very, very diverse.”

Joshua Scott Jones and Meghan Linsey have come a long way since their fateful meeting at a Nashville karaoke bar. They’re now engaged to be married, while also making up the rising country duo Steel Magnolia, with three top 40 singles and a pair of CMA Awards nominations on their growing list of achievements. As their self-titled debut CD launches its fourth single, ‘Bulletproof,’ Jones and Linsey

With more than five decades as a professional musician to his name, Del McCoury is an elder statesman of American music, but at an age when many artists tend to slow down, McCoury refuses to rest on his considerable laurels. In fact, with a pair of albums out in 2011, he’s busier than ever.

Losing a band member is almost always difficult and it’s got to be particularly tough to learn your bandmate is leaving via Twitter, as the members of Gloriana discovered a couple of months ago, when vocalist and mandolin player Cheyenne Kimball announced she was quitting. They took the news in stride, however, and regrouped as a trio, getting down to work on their upcoming sophomore release, ‘A T

Rick Diamond, Getty Images For most country artists, moving to Nashville is a matter of course because it simply makes sense to be right there in the middle of Music Row. But for Brantley Gilbert, there were other factors to consider when it came time to decide whether he’d be picking up stakes and leaving his Georgia home. Like, for instance, his mama.

  Rick Diamond, Getty Images The old line about country music is that it’s all about trucks, women, and dogs. And like most jokes, although it overstates the situation, it does include a nugget of truth. Take, for instance, country newcomer Brantley Gilbert. His latest single, ‘Country Must Be Country Wide,’ is currently shooting up the charts, giving him his first hit — but that isn’t as importan

Jason Aldean‘s latest album, the double-platinum ‘My Kinda Party,’ isn’t even a year old yet, but he isn’t wasting any time getting started on his next release. In fact, he’s planning on heading into the studio next month to start laying down tracks. When Aldean’s crew convenes for the sessions for his fifth album, they’ll have no shortage of songs to choose from. In fact, it sounds like it’ll be

The fight over taxes and the public debt is never far from the headlines lately, and Toby Keith has never been shy about speaking his mind on political matters, so it’s only natural that he offered his thoughts about taxes when speaking with the Boston Herald. What might be surprising — at least for folks who consider Keith just another red state-residing good ol’ boy — is the way he responded to

You already know Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood are going to return for another round as hosts when the 45th annual CMA Awards roll around this year. But with the gala ceremony looming on the calendar, we still don’t know which performers will be joining them on stage. Well, the night’s full lineup is still a closely guarded secret, but the first few names have been announced and it looks like