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Sawyer Brown first gained national attention in 1983 when they participated on Star Search, a former television talent show on which they won the grand prize of $100,000 and a recording contract with Capitol Records (in association with Curb Records). Their first album, also titled Sawyer Brown, was issued in 1985. It included their first Number One single on the Billboard country music charts, titled "Step That Step". The band continued to chart regularly throughout the 1980s, although many of their late-1980s singles failed to enter Top 40. • Sawyer Brown Website • Sawyer Brown Discography

After recording two good-selling local hits for ABC-Paramount Records in 1957, he switched to the Carlton record label and had a double-sided national hit in 1958 with "Leroy" (#11) / "My True Love" (#3). The record sold over one million copies, earning Scott his first gold disc.[3] Later in 1958, "With Your Love" (#28) reached the Top 40. In all, six of 12 songs on his first album became hit singles. On most of these tracks, he was backed up by the vocal group, the Chantones. He served in the United States Army during most of 1959, just after "Goodbye Baby" (#8) made the Top Ten. 1959 also saw him chart with "The Way I Walk" (#35). •Jack Scott Website • Jack Scott Discography

Scruggs was born in Shelby, North Carolina to Georgia Lula Ruppe and George Elam Scruggs. Scruggs joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in late 1945 and his syncopated, three-finger picking style quickly became a sensation. In 1948 Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt left Monroe's band and formed Flatt and Scruggs. In 1969, Flatt and Scruggs broke up and Scruggs started a new band, the Earl Scruggs Revue, featuring several of his sons. On September 24, 1962 singer Jerry Scoggins, Flatt, and Scruggs recorded The Ballad of Jed Clampett for the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies which was released October 12, 1962. The theme song became an immediate country music hit and was played at the beginning and end of each episode. Flatt and Scruggs appeared in several episodes as family friends of the Clampetts in the following years. •  Earl Scruggs Discography • Earl Scruggs Books

Having survived a rare form of bone cancer in his teenage years, Sharp has also become actively involved in the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He has also written an inspirational book about his experience, and occasionally tours the United States as a motivational speaker, while maintaining his career in country music. • Kevin Sharp Website • Kevin Sharp Discography

Shaver's mother remarried about the time that his grandmother died, so he and his older sister Patricia moved in with their mother and new stepfather. Shaver left school after the eighth grade to help his uncles pick cotton, but occasionally returned to school to play sports.

Shaver joined the U.S. Navy on his seventeenth birthday. Upon his discharge, he worked a series of dead-end jobs, including trying to be a rodeo cowboy. About this time, Shaver met and married Brenda Joyce Tindell. They had one son, John Edwin, known as Eddy, who was born in 1962. The two divorced and remarried several times • Billy Joe Shaver Website • Billy Joe Shaver Discography

The trio was initially known as The Osborn Sisters. Signed to the Nashville division of RCA Records, they recorded one album which was never released. By 1999, they had assumed the name SHeDAISY and had signed to Lyric Street Records. Their first album to be released, The Whole SHeBANG, was issued that year and has been certified platinum in the United States. A Christmas album titled Brand New Year was released in 2000. Knock on the Sky was issued in 2002, followed by 2004's gold-certified Sweet Right Here, 2006's Fortuneteller's Melody and 2008's The Best of SHeDAISY, a compilation.

Counting two Christmas singles, SHeDAISY has charted 15 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. These include the Top Ten hits "Little Good-Byes", "This Woman Needs", "I Will… But", and "Don't Worry 'Bout a Thing". • Shedaisy Website • Shedaisy Discography

His second and third albums, 2003's The Dreamer (his first for Warner Bros. proper) and 2004's Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill, were each certified gold as well. Shelton's fourth album, Pure BS, was issued in 2007, and re-issued in 2008 with a cover of Michael Bubl้'s pop hit "Home" as one of the bonus tracks. This cover was also that album's third single. A fifth album, Startin' Fires, was released in November 2008. • Blake Shelton Website • Blake Shelton Discography

He was born at Danville Regional Medical Center in Danville, Virginia to Jenks and Eloise Shelton in 1952, but was raised in Grit, Virginia and went to High school in Gretna, Virginia. Shelton's father sang Gospel music while he was still a child, and from this Shelton also sang Gospel, but he also liked Pop music. He was soon in church, singing Gospel music. When he was a teenager, however, Shelton discovered Country music.• Ricky Van Shelton Website • Ricky Van Shelton Discography

Shenandoah has released nine studio albums, of which two have been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The band has also charted twenty-six singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the Number One hits "The Church on Cumberland Road," "Sunday in the South" and "Two Dozen Roses" from 1989, "Next to You, Next to Me" from 1990, and "If Bubba Can Dance (I Can Too)" from 1994.• Shenandoah Website • Shenandoah Discography

Shepherd attended Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport, Louisiana. Self-taught, he began playing at age seven, learning Muddy Waters licks from his father's record collection. At the age of thirteen, Shepherd was invited onstage by the New Orleans bluesman Bryan Lee. After proving his abilities, he decided on music as a career. Demo tapes were made and a two camera video was shot at Shepherd's first performance at the Red River Revel Arts Festival in Shreveport. It was this video performance that impressed Giant Records chief Irving Azoff enough to sign Shepherd to a multiple album record deal.• Kenny Wayne Sheppard Website • Kenny Wayne Sheppard Discography

In his mid-teens, Skaggs met a fellow teen prodigy, guitarist Keith Whitley, and the two started playing together with Whitley's banjoist brother Dwight on radio shows. By 1970, they had earned a spot opening for Ralph Stanley and Skaggs and Keith Whitley were thereafter invited to join Stanley's band, the Clinch Mountain Boys • Ricky Skaggs Website • Ricky Skaggs Discography

Between 1997 and the group's disbanding in 2004, Sons of the Desert charted eight singles on the country charts, in addition to recording two studio albums: Whatever Comes First (1997) and Change (2000). Former lead singer Drew Womack began a solo career after the group's disbanding. • Sons of the Desert Website • Sons of the Desert Discography

Active since 1980, Stegall has recorded two-major label studio albums: 1985's Keith Stegall and 1996's Passages. In the same time span, he has charted thirteen singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, with the highest-peaking being 1985's "Pretty Lady", a #10 hit.

Starting in the late 1980s, Stegall has been active primarily as a record producer for several recording acts, most notably Alan Jackson and Randy Travis. Stegall has also written several of Jackson's singles, as well as George Strait's Number one hit "I Hate Everything".• Keith Stegall Website • Keith Stegall Discography

Strait rocketed to success after his debut single "Unwound" in 1981. While contributing to the neo-traditional movement of the 1980s, he amassed 18 number one singles and seven number one albums in the decade with hits such as "Fool Hearted Memory" and "Ocean Front Property." By the 1990s, Strait had influenced a new breed of performers while continuing his own successes with 17 number one hits including "Heartland" and "Blue Clear Sky." The next decade for which he was named Artist Of The Decade by the ACM, he was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame and won his first Grammy award for his hit album Troubadour. Strait continued his previous successes during this time, producing a more contemporary sound with moderate cross-over hits including "She'll Leave You with a Smile" and "You'll Be There." • George Strait Website • George Strait Discography

From an early age, he was obsessed with Country Music. He was so obsessed, in fact, that he taught himself how to play the guitar and mandolin. At the age of 12, Stuart started performing with the Bluegrass group The Sullivans. He later met Lester Flatt bandmember Roland White. White invited Stuart to play with him and the Nashville Grass at the Labor Day gig in Delaware in 1972. After this, White asked him to join the band permanently and Stuart accepted. This made White responsible for the rest of Stuart's education. Marty stayed with Lester Flatt up until Flatt broke up the band in 1978 due to Flatt's failing health. • Marty Stuart Website • Marty Stuart Discography

The duo was founded in 2003 by Bush and Kristen Hall (acoustic guitar, background vocals), and became a trio when Jennifer Nettles was brought in as lead singer.Before joining Sugarland, Nettles fronted the Jennifer Nettles Band, and Hall had achieved success as a solo artist and songwriter. Bush's earlier musical career included being half of the duo Billy Pilgrim (along with Andrew Hyra), recording for Atlantic Records in the 1990s • Sugarland Website • Sugarland Discograhy • Top Vocal Duo 2009

Supernaw has released four studio albums: Red and Rio Grande (1993), Deep Thoughts from a Shallow Mind (1994), You Still Got Me (1995), and Fadin' Renegade (1999), as well as a compilation album, 1997's The Encore Collection. Between 1993 and 1996, he charted eleven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts, including "I Don't Call Him Daddy", a Number One single in late 1993.

Although he has not recorded an album since 1999, Supernaw has been the subject of media attention, stemming from a series of arrests and court trials. Supernaw was committed to a mental institution in July 2007 per a ruling by a Brazos County, TX judge, after making bizarre statements in court, including claims of a "political economic conspiracy" against him, international kidnapping, being used as a marijuana "test monkey" by the government, and other wild accusations • Doug Supernaw Website • Doug Supernaw Discography

"I'll never forget this moment because in this moment everything that I have ever wanted has just happened to me," Swift said through tears as she accepted the association's highest honor during ceremonies at Sommet Center.

Taylor Swift glitters in a gold Reem Acra gown as she arrives at the 2009 CMA Awards held at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday night (November 11).

In addition to opening the show, the 19-year-old singer is nominated for four awards this evening: Entertainer, Female Vocalist and Album of the Year as well as Best Music Video for “Love Story.” Good luck, T!

One of Taylor’s mentors, Reba McEntire revealed that she voted for Taylor for Entertainer of the Year. She shared, “I will say I did vote for her. The obvious is that she is a female and I do tend to support my female friends and artists in the business, but also because I think she is the one who’s done the most this year - television, touring. She is an extraordinary person and I think she highly deserves it.”

Swift released her second album, Fearless, in November 2008. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Swift is the highest-selling artist of 2008 in the United States with combined sales of more than four million albums. Swift's Fearless and her self-titled album finished 2008 at number three and number six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. Fearless has topped the Billboard 200 in 11 non-consecutive weeks, a feat no album has spent more time at number one since 1999-2000. With combined singles from her two albums, she is the female artist with the most top 40 hits this decade. According to the 2009 issue of Forbes, Swift is ranked as the 69th most powerful celebrity with over $18 million in earnings this year. • Taylor Swift Website • Fearless • Taylor Swift Discography • 2009 Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year for "Fearless," Music Video of the Year for "Love Story," and the Female Vocalist award for 2009