Jelly Roll, Priscilla Block + More Are CRS’ 2023 New Faces of Country Music

After sharing the nominees list in November, the Country Radio Seminar (CRS) officially announced the five artists that it has named to its CRS New Faces class of 2023 on Monday (Dec. 12). Jelly Roll, Priscilla Block, Jackson Dean, Frank Ray and Nate Smith are the latest up-and-comers to join the program.

In March 2023, the five artists of New Faces will participate in the New Faces of Country Music showcase, which is one of the cornerstone events of the annual Country Radio Seminar. CRS is a three-day event with a focus on radio and industry members, offering an array of mixers, workshops, panels and other country music-focused events as well as live music.

The CRS New Faces program launched in 1970, and since then, it's gone on to serve as a launch pad for the biggest artists in the genre. Luke Bryan, Luke Combs and Taylor Swift are just a few of the artists who were New Faces members during the early years of their career.

This year's incoming New Faces class features an array of artists representing diverse creative paths within the country format. Two of the spotlight artists, Smith and Block, first started gaining momentum over TikTok: Smith with his breakout 2020 hit "Wildfire," and Block with viral releases like "Just About Over You" and "Thick Thighs." Smith subsequently notched a Top 10 (and climbing) country radio hit with "Whiskey on You," while Block has continued her upward trajectory with songs like "My Bar" and "You, Me and Whiskey," the latter of which is a duet with Justin Moore.

Meanwhile, Ray has established himself as a hit-maker at Texas country radio, and one of the leading young artists of the Latin country movement. His single, "Country'd Look Good on You," broke the Top 40 at country radio.

Dean earned his first chart-topping hit with "Don't Come Lookin'," a song that has also popped up on the soundtrack of the hit TV show Yellowstone. Jelly Roll, for his part, is a country-rap success story who topped charts with his breakout hit "Son of a Sinner" and -- on Friday night (Dec. 9) sold out Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

The 2023 Country Radio Seminar will take place March 13-15, 2023.