{"key":"5451","name":"Wilco","bio":"Wilco is a rock band which formed in 1994 in Chicago, Illinois, United States by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure from that group. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt remaining from the original incarnation. The other current members are guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalists Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen, and drummer Glenn Kotche. Wilco has released e\u20e5i\u20e5g\u20e5h\u20e5t\u20e5 nine studio albums, a live double album, and three collaborations: two with Billy Bragg, and one with The Minus 5.Wilco's music has been inspired by a wide variety of artists and styles, including Bill Fay and Television, and has in turn influenced music by The National and Cherry Ghost. The band continued in the alternative country of Uncle Tupelo on its debut album A.M. (1995), but has since introduced more experimental aspects to their music.Wilco garnered media attention for its fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002), and the controversy surrounding it. After the recording sessions were complete, Reprise Records rejected the album and dismissed Wilco from the label. As part of a buy-out deal, Reprise gave Wilco the rights to the album for free. After streaming Foxtrot on its website, Wilco sold the album to Nonesuch Records in 2002. Both record labels are subsidiaries of Warner Music Group, leading one critic to say that the album showed \"how screwed up the music business in the early twenty-first century.\" Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is Wilco's most successful release to date, selling over 590,000 copies. Wilco won two Grammy Awards for their fifth studio album, 2004's A Ghost Is Born, including Best Alternative Music Album.The I Might Songfacts reports that Wilco's eighth album, The Whole Love (2011), marked the first ever release on the band's own label dBpm.FormationWilco was formed following the breakup of the influential alternative country music group Uncle Tupelo. Singer Jay Farrar quit the band in 1994 supposedly because of a soured relationship with co-singer Jeff Tweedy. Both Tweedy and Farrar sought to form bands immediately after the breakup. Tweedy was able to keep the entire Uncle Tupelo lineup sans Farrar, including bassist John Stirratt, drummer Ken Coomer, and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston. The band was tempted to keep the Uncle Tupelo name, but ultimately decided to rename the band. The group named itself \"Wilco\" after the CB radio voice procedure for \"I Will Comply\". A.M. and Being ThereAfter collaborating with Syd Straw on a cover version of the Ernest Tubb song, \"The T.B. is Whipping Me\" (released in September 1994 on the Red Hot + Country compilation), Wilco began recording tracks for A.M., their first studio album, at Easley studio in June 1995. A demo tape from these recordings was sent to executives at Reprise Records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers, and the label signed Tweedy to a contract. Although Tweedy stated that he wanted a more collaborative project than Uncle Tupelo, only his name appeared on the Reprise contract. Tweedy requested songwriting submissions from other members, but only one submission\u2014John Stirratt's \"It's Just That Simple\"\u2014appeared on A.M.. It was the last song Wilco ever released that was solely written by a member besides Tweedy.Stylistically similar to Uncle Tupelo, the music on A.M. was considered to be straightforward alternative country rock in what Tweedy later described as \"trying to tread some water with a perceived audience.\" A.M. peaked at number twenty-seven on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, considerably lower than the debut album of Jay Farrar's new band, Son Volt. The album was met with modest reviews though it would rank thirty-fourth in the Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop critics poll. Critically and commercially paling in comparison to the reception of Son Volt's album, the Wilco members perceived A.M. to be a failure. Shortly after the release of the album, multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett joined the band, providing the band with a keyboardist and another guitarist.Wilco made its live debut on November 17, 1994 to a capacity crowd at Cicero's Basement Bar in St. Louis, Missouri (the band was billed for the occasion as \"Black Shampoo\").During the two hundred-date tour supporting A.M., Tweedy began to write songs for a second album. The lyrical theme of the songs reflected a relationship between musical artist and a listener; Tweedy chose this topic because he sought to eschew the alternative country fan base. Ken Coomer elaborated:\"The whole No Depression thing was funny to us because people seemed to forget that Jeff was a bigger punk-rock fan than a country fan. It led to things like us all switching instruments on 'Misunderstood,' where I'm playing guitar.\"A number of songs were recorded with this theme, including \"Sunken Treasure\" and \"Hotel Arizona\", however, Wilco also recorded a number of songs in the style of A.M. Wilco named the album Being There after a Peter Sellers film of the same name. The band went through some personnel changes during the recording sessions. Max Johnston left the band because he felt that his role in the band had diminished in favor of Bennett; he had also been replaced by violinist Jesse Greene on one track because the band felt that Johnston was unable to play the part. Bob Egan of Freakwater briefly joined the band in the studio, playing pedal steel guitar on \"Far, Far Away\" and \"Dreamer in My Dreams\", and then became an official member in September 1996.Unlike the A.M. recording sessions, the band had no vocation for producing a hit song from their second effort. The recording sessions produced nineteen songs, too many for a single album release. Tweedy was concerned about the high retail price that a double album would be sold for (at least $30), so he asked Reprise Records to release it as a double album at a single album price ($17.98 or less). Reprise agreed to this on the terms that they received Wilco's share of the album royalties. It was estimated in 2003 that the band lost almost $600,000 on the deal, but Tweedy was satisfied. Being There was well-received by critics from several major media outlets, including Rolling Stone. The album reached #73 on the Billboard album charts, a significant improvement from A.M., and placed fourteenth on the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1996.Summerteeth and the Mermaid Avenue sessionsIn November 1997, Wilco entered Willie Nelson's recording studio in Spicewood, Texas to record a third studio album. The album was lyrically inspired by the marital problems of Tweedy and his wife, as well as by twentieth-century literature. Tweedy relied heavily on Bennett to provide music for the singer's \"bold, but depressing\" lyrics. Wilco recorded several songs, including \"Via Chicago\" and \"She's a Jar,\" but began working on another project before assembling the tracks into an album.Nora Guthrie contacted singer-songwriter Billy Bragg in spring 1995 about recording some unreleased songs by her father, folk singer Woody Guthrie. Most of the songs were written late in Guthrie's life when he was unable to record due to the motor impairments of Huntington's disease. By the 1990s, Woody Guthrie had become a \"relic\" to the MTV generation, and Nora sought to establish a different legacy for the musician. To Nora, Bragg was \"the only singer I knew taking on the same issues as Woody.\" Bragg was concerned, however, that his fans would not realize that the songs were written by Guthrie when he performed them on tour, so he decided to record the album with another band.Bragg contacted Tweedy and Bennett about co-recording the album while Wilco was on the European segment of their Being There tour. Bragg was particularly fond of Being There because their influences extended farther back than the 1950s. Although Tweedy was indifferent to the offer, Bennett was enthused about recording songs of one of his idols\u2014Bennett's previous band Titanic Love Affair was named after a Billy Bragg lyric. A recording contract between Bragg and Wilco was signed after a show at Shepherd's Bush Empire. Bragg mostly recorded the politically-charged lyrics, while Tweedy preferred to record lyrics that showcased Guthrie as a \"freak weirdo.\" The recording of Mermaid Avenue began on December 12, 1997, and was the topic of BBC's Man in the Sand documentary film.Tempers flared between Bragg and Wilco after the album was completed. Bennett believed that Bragg was overproducing his songs, a sharp contrast to Wilco's sparser contributions. Bennett called Bragg about the possibility of remixing Bragg's songs, to which Bragg responded with \"you make your record, and I'll make mine, fucker.\" Eventually Bragg sent copies of his recordings to Chicago for Bennett to remix, but Bragg refused to use the new mixes on the album. The two parties were unable to establish a promotional tour and quarreled over royalties and guest musician fees.Despite these conflicts, the album was released on June 23, 1998, and sold over 277,000 copies. The album received rave reviews from Robert Christgau and Rolling Stone, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. It also placed fourth on the Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1998. After the album was released, Bob Egan was replaced by multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach.After the completion of the Mermaid Avenue sessions, Wilco returned to Spicewood to complete their third studio album, Summerteeth. Unlike previous Wilco and Uncle Tupelo recordings, the album featured a lot of overdubbing with Pro Tools. Stirratt and Coomer were concerned with the production, since it reduced their involvement in the music. According to Stirratt:\"The story of Summerteeth is Jay bought a Mellotron and he was going to use it, no matter what. It was lovely, but it was overdone. Once they got going on the overdubs, they didn't stop. And nobody in the band stepped up to stop the madness \u2026 It reminds me of Heart of Darkness, where you knowingly extend the creative process for the purpose of exploration or redemption, or whatever it is you're looking for.\"During 1999, Warner Brothers was looking to help repay a $16 billion debt acquired during the recent merger of parent company Warner Communications with Time Inc.. As a result, Warner's imprints were under pressure to produce musical acts that would yield hit records. The head of Reprise, Howie Klein, who had previously authorized the release of Being There as a double album, was willing to let Wilco produce Summerteeth without label input. When Klein played the album for Reprise's A&R department, however, they demanded a radio single for the album. Wilco agreed to do this \"once and once only\" and recorded a radio-friendly version of \"Can't Stand It\" at the request of David Kahne, the head of the A&R department. The single version of \"Can't Stand It\" failed to cross over from Triple-A radio to alternative rock stations. Consequently, the album sold only 200,000 copies, significantly less than Being There. This was despite critical acclaim; the album placed eighth on the Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1999.After the release of Summerteeth, the band resumed the Mermaid Avenue sessions. Although they had recorded enough material for a second release in 1998, Wilco recorded a few new songs for Mermaid Avenue Vol. II. \"Someday Some Morning Sometime,\" featuring a vibraphone filtered through a space echo, was identified by Tweedy as being the \"piece to the puzzle\" towards the creation of their fourth studio album. The album was released on May 30, 2000, and was the last release from the sessions.Yankee Hotel FoxtrotShortly after the recording sessions for Mermaid Avenue Vol. II, Wilco purchased a studio in Irving Park, Chicago, which they named the Wilco Loft. The band recorded some tracks in the studio in early 2000 for a fourth studio album. In May 2000, Jeff Tweedy requested to perform with Jim O'Rourke at a festival in Chicago; Tweedy was a fan of O'Rourke's Bad Timing. O'Rourke introduced Tweedy to drummer Glenn Kotche, and the trio enjoyed working together so much that they decided to record an album as a side project named Loose Fur. Wilco had recorded an entire album of music at this point, but Tweedy was unhappy with the drum parts. He enjoyed Kotche's contributions to Loose Fur so much that Tweedy brought him into the studio to re-record some demos. Some believe that Tweedy sought to make Wilco sound like Loose Fur after officially replacing Ken Coomer with Kotche in January 2001.Although Bennett sought to act as both mixer and engineer for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Tweedy was unsure of Bennett's abilities against those of O'Rourke. Tweedy and Bennett frequently argued over whether the album should be accessible to a general listener, or attempt to cover new musical ground. Unbeknownst to Bennett, Tweedy invited O'Rourke to remix \"I Am Trying to Break Your Heart\", and the results impressed the other band members\u2014even Bennett. Tensions grew between Bennett and O'Rourke because Bennett wanted to mix every song on the album. O'Rourke cut the contributions of other members on several of the songs; some songs, such as \"Poor Places\", only featured the Loose Fur trio. The album was completed in 2001, and Bennett left the band immediately afterwards. The recording of the album was documented by Sam Jones and released in 2002 as the film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.Time Warner, which owned Warner Brothers, merged with America Online in 2001, leading to more pressure on Warner's record labels to cut costs. Over 600 employees of Warner Music Group were fired, including Howie Klein, the president of Reprise Records. In absence of Klein, David Kahne became the interim head of Reprise. Kahne assigned Mio Vukovic to monitor the progress of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and to offer suggestions. Music journalist Greg Kot claims that Vukovic disdained the album and was unhappy that Wilco ignored his suggestions. He brought the album to Kahne, who felt that there was no single on the album. In June 2001, the album was rejected by Reprise and Wilco was asked to leave the label.Wilco managed to negotiate terms to a buy-out from Reprise. Music journalist Greg Kot claims that instead of financial compensation, the band agreed to leave the label with the master tapes of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The label was already receiving bad publicity for its treatment of the band and were willing to accommodate Wilco's request. However, Allmusic claims that Wilco \"bought the finished studio tapes from Warner\/Reprise for a reported $50,000 and left the label altogether\" after Wilco was \"unwilling to change the album to make it more 'commercially viable.'\" To curb the negative publicity, Reprise began to invest more in bands such as The Flaming Lips. Lead singer Wayne Coyne once remarked: \"We are benefiting from the label's regret over Wilco. We are living in the golden age of that being such a public mistake. The people on Warners said, 'we'll never have a band like Wilco feel we don't believe in them again.' They'd tell me that it would never happen to us. And what a great day for me!\"As the band searched for a new label to release the album, they decided to stream it at their official website to discourage illegal trading of low-quality MP3s. The band signed with Nonesuch Records, another Time Warner subsidiary, and the album was released in the spring of 2002. When it was released, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot reached number thirteen on the Billboard 200, Wilco's highest chart position to that date. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sold over 590,000 copies, and to date remains Wilco's best selling album. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was met with wide critical acclaim: it topped 2002's Pazz & Jop critics' poll, was named one of the 100 greatest albums of all time by Q Magazine, and was named one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone.Down with Wilco, A Ghost Is Born, and Kicking Television: Live in ChicagoWhile waiting for the commercial release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco agreed to support R.E.M. collaborator Scott McCaughey for an album release by The Minus 5. They scheduled a recording session for September 11, 2001, but were distraught about the 9\/11 terrorist attacks that day. Later that day, Wilco and McCaughey agreed to \"create something good in the world right now\" and record some material. Influenced by Bill Fay's Time of the Last Persecution, The Minus 5's Down with Wilco was released in 2003.In November 2003, Wilco traveled to New York City to record their fifth album. Unlike Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born featured songs that were created with Pro Tools before ever performing them live. The album featured the song \"Less Than You Think\", which included a fifteen-minute track of electronic noises and synthesizers, which Tweedy called \"the track that everyone will hate\". Tweedy justified the inclusion of the song: \"I know ninety-nine percent of our fans won't like that song, they'll say its a ridiculous indulgence. Even I don't want to listen to it every time I play through the album. But the times I do calm myself down and pay attention to it, I think it's valuable and moving and cathartic. I wouldn't have put it on the record if I didn't think it was great \u2026 I wanted to make an album about identity, and within that is the idea of a higher power, the idea of randomness, and that anything can happen, and that we can't control it.\"Leroy Bach left the band immediately after the album's completion to join a music theatre operation in Chicago. Like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco streamed the album online before its commercial release. Instead of using their own web page, the band streamed it in MPEG-4 form on Apple's website. Wilco sought to substantially change their lineup after Bach's departure, and added Mikael Jorgensen, who had engineered Down with Wilco, Pat Sansone of The Autumn Defense, and avant-garde guitarist Nels Cline to the lineup. Just as the band was about to tour to promote the album, Tweedy checked himself in to a rehabilitation clinic in Chicago for an addiction to painkillers. As a result, tour plans for Europe were canceled, and the release date for the album was set back several weeks. A Ghost Is Born was released on June 22, 2004, and became Wilco's first top ten album in the U.S. The album earned Wilco Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package in 2005. It also placed thirteenth on 2004's Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.In 2004, the band released The Wilco Book, a picture book detailing the creation of A Ghost Is Born. The book also contains writings and drawings from band members, as well as a CD with demos from the A Ghost Is Born recording sessions. Also that year, Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot released a biography of the band entitled Wilco: Learning How to Die. The new six-piece Wilco lineup debuted on Kicking Television: Live in Chicago, a two disc live album recorded at The Vic Theater in Chicago. Released on November 15, 2005, the album received high accolades from Spin, Billboard, and Entertainment Weekly. As of 2007, it has sold over 114,000 copies.Sky Blue SkyWilco returned to their loft in Chicago to record a sixth studio album in 2006. Influenced by The Byrds and Fairport Convention, the band considered Sky Blue Sky to be less experimental than previous releases. Also unlike previous albums, the songs were created as collaborations.Wilco streamed the album online on March 3, 2007, and offered the song \"What Light\" as a free MP3 download. To further publicize the album, Wilco licensed several songs from the Sky Blue Sky recording sessions for use in a Volkswagen advertising campaign. The move was criticized by both critics and fans; Wilco responded by noting that they had previously done advertising campaigns with Apple Computers and Telef\u00f3nica M\u00f3viles (Movistar). The album was released on May 15, 2007, and was a commercial success: it sold over 87,000 copies in its first week and peaked in the top five in the U.S. album charts. It also was a top forty hit in seven other countries.Reviewer James Brubaker states that Wilco \u201cshines on a handful of the songs\u201d on Sky Blue Sky, such as the \u201clight, and straightforward\u201d songs. While he calls the album \u201cgreat traditional rock and folk album at times\u201d, he states that \u201conce you get past the handful of masterful and lovely performances\u2026 the rest of the record comes off at times as dull, and forced\u201d. The allaboutjazz review also had mixed comments. While praising the album as \u201cdeceptively insinuating, almost intoxicating to listen to\u201d and noting its \u201cimpeccable sound quality\u201d, the reviewer claimed that \u201cSky Blue Sky becomes the first Wilco album that sounds too careful for its own good.\u201dPabs Hernandez, a reviewer for Lost at Sea praised the album\u2019s \u201cbreezy atmosphere and pacing\u201d, and noted that it is not \u201ceasily judged upon first listen.\u201d Overall, Hernandez stated that it \u201cmay be no masterpiece, but at worst it's a more than worthy entry into Wilco's laudable catalogue.\u201d Reviewer Greg Locke praised the record as \u201cone of the best albums of the year\u201d, calling it a \u201ctimeless record, full of sweet, hopeful sophistication and class\u201d and \u201ca lean, mean, soulful album.\u201d Like Hernandez, Locke acknowledged that the album could not be properly judged just on the first listening. The NPR review also had a positive take on the record. While the NPR reviewer stated that the recording \u201cisn't groundbreaking\u201d, they praised its \u201ccoherent musical expression\u201d and emphasis on \u201csolid songcraft without pretense\u201d which created a \u201csatisfying and melodically sound albu.\u201dMusical style and influenceWilco's music is typically categorized as alternative rock and alternative country. Despite their career long association with a major record label, they are generally associated with indie rock. Wilco draws influence from bands from a variety of musical genres, but primarily from music created between 1966 and 1974. John Cale's Paris 1919 was credited by the band as providing a musical parallel. According to Tweedy, \"It was eye-opening that I wasn't the only person that felt like these worlds had a lot more in common than they'd been given credit for\u2014that experimentation and avant-garde theory was not directly opposed to beauty, y'know?\"Other recording artists from that timespan appreciated by the band include John Lennon, Neil Young, and Brian Wilson. For his thirty-fourth birthday, Tweedy received a private guitar lesson from Richard Lloyd of Television; Tweedy was a big fan of the group and was particularly fond of the guitar work, which he wanted to incorporate into his music. Uncle Tupelo was inspired by bands such as Jason & the Scorchers and The Minutemen, influencing the recording of Wilco's A.M.. Tweedy and O'Rourke enjoyed free jazz artists such as Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, and Derek Bailey; they also listen to mainstream jazz by artists such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane. The lyrical structure of Wilco's songs were dictated by classic literature and cadavre exquis\u2014an exercise where band members take turns writing lines on a typewriter, but are only allowed to see the previously written line. Among the books that the band has cited as being stylistically influential include William H. Gass's In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, and Harold Bloom's The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry.Some critics have dubbed Wilco the \"American Radiohead\", due to their stylistically diverse catalog. A critic from the New York Times argues that Wilco has a \"roots-rock\u2026 reached back to proven materials: the twang of country, the steady chug of 1960s rock, the undulating sheen of the Beach Boys, the honky-tonk hymns of the Band and the melodic symmetries of pop.\"Rolling Stone described Wilco as \"one of America's most consistently interesting bands\" and \"America's foremost rock impressionists.\" Despite critical acclaim, Wilco's influence on modern rock has been limited. Bands that have been influenced by Wilco include Derek Webb (of Caedmon's Call), The National, and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. English indie rock band Cherry Ghost took its name from a lyric from the Wilco song \"Theologians\" (from A Ghost Is Born)\u2014lead singer Simon Aldred is a self-proclaimed \"massive Wilco fan\". Pete Yorn's song \"Crystal Village\" was influenced by Wilco's \"She's A Jar.\" On his 2004 album Live From New Jersey he introduces the song by saying, \"Someone accused me of ripping off Cat Stevens. And I was like, 'That's bullshit, man. I would never rip off Cat Stevens.' I ripped off Wilco on that song.\"http:\/\/www.wilcoworld.net","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/5451_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"5450","name":"My Morning Jacket","bio":"My Morning Jacket is a rock band which formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The band consists of Jim James (vocals, guitar), Carl Broemel (guitar), \"Two Tone\" Tommy Blankenship (bass), Bo Koster (keyboards) and Patrick Hallahan (drums). The band is best known for their reverb-soaked sound and their enthusiastic live shows. My Morning Jacket is signed with ATO Records. The band's style is a blend of alternative, alt country, folk rock and psychedelic rock.The band's moniker comes from a discarded coat James saw while walking through the remains of his favorite bar the morning after it burned down. The coat had the letters \"MMJ\" embroided on it. The band has released seven albums so far: \"The Tennessee Fire\" (1999), \"At Dawn\" (2001), \"It Still Moves\" (2003), \"Z\" (2005), \"Evil Urges\" (2008), \"Circuital\" (2011) & \"The Waterfall\" (2015). The band's breakthrough came when their 2003 single \"One Big Holiday\" became one of the most played songs on college radio that year. 2008's \"I'm Amazed\" was also a sizable hit, peaking at #6 on Billboard's Triple A (adult album alternative) Singles chart. The Circuital songfacts reports that \"Circuital\" was recorded inside a church\u2019s converted gymnasium in the band's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Said frontman Jim James: \u201cI hate the phrase \u2018going back to our roots\u2019, but for this record we came home and made it in Kentucky. And it just felt a lot like it did when we were first starting out.\u201d James co-produced the record with Tucker Martine. The pair first worked together when James appeared on Laura Veirs ' album \"July Flame\" in 2010, which Martine, Veirs\u2019 husband, also produced. My Morning Jacket guest stared in the American Dad Episode \"My Morning Straitjacket\" where Stan Smith becomes obsessed with them and decides to become a groupie. The edisode was first aired November 22 2009.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/5450_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"150,000 - 300,000"}

{"key":"5349","name":"Luke Bryan","bio":"Luke Bryan grew up in the very small town of Leesburg, Ga. Back home, he helped his father with his peanut and fertilizer businesses while playing sports and enjoying the great outdoors. Yet he can remember his mother urging him to belt out George Strait songs over and over while she drove him into town to shop. By age 14, his parents bought him an Alvarez guitar. By 15, his father would take him down to a nearby club, Skinner's, where he shared guitar licks and lead vocals with other local country singers.At age 16, two local songwriters who'd enjoyed some success providing tunes for Nashville artists invited him to join their twice-a-week writing sessions at a local church. By that time, Bryan led his own band, playing at Skinner's and various community events.Encouraged by everyone who heard him play, Bryan planned to move to Nashville after high school graduation. Supported by his family, he was loading his car for the move when tragedy struck. His older brother Chris, Bryan's biggest supporter and one of his best friends, was killed in an auto accident the day Bryan was to leave town.He continued to devote himself to music, finding escape and emotional release in its songs. He poured his feelings into his songwriting, and after enrolling in Georgia Southern University, Bryan and his band would perform nearly every weekend on campus or at nearby clubs or parties. He eventually recorded an album of 10 songs, nine of which he'd written.Despite everyone's encouragement, he stubbornly refused to reconsider moving to Tennessee. After graduation, he went to work for his father's agriculture business. Bryan loved the work, but a year into it, his father forced him to quit the job and move to Nashville. He arrived in Music City on Sept. 1, 2001.Within two months, he'd signed a publishing deal with a company owned by songwriter Roger Murrah. Bryan spent time honing his material, building up a catalog of songs.His debut album, I'll Stay Me, was released by Capitol Nashville in 2007 and included \"All My Friends Say\" and \"Country Man,\" which each reached the Top 10 on Billboard's country albums chart. He followed it up with 2009's Doin' My Thing, which included the Top 10 single, \"Do I.\" The project also featured \"Rain Is a Good Thing,\" which became Bryan's first No. 1 single in 2010, and \"Someone Else Calling You Baby,\" which topped the chart in 2011.Additionally, Bryan tapped into the college market with a series of EPs released to coincide with spring break \u2013 2009's Spring Break With All My Friends, 2010's Spring Break 2 \u2026 Hangover Edition and 2011's Spring Break 3 \u2026 It's a Shore Thing.Bryan was named the Academy of Country Music's top new artist and top new solo vocalist for 2009. At the 2010 CMT Music Awards, he received the USA Weekend breakthrough video of the year award for \"Do I.\"-Matchu","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/5349_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"500,000 - 1,000,000"}

{"key":"5447","name":"Kid Rock","bio":"Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985 in Waikiki, Hawaii), better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is a Filipino-Puerto Rican American singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist signed to Atlantic Records. He is most well known for his hit Just The Way You Are, which went #1 in 9 countries in 2010. He is also known for singing\/co-writing the hooks for the #1 hit Nothin' On You by B.o.B, and Billionaire by Travie McCoy; he also co-wrote the international hits Right Round by Flo Rida and Wavin' Flag by K'naan.After the success of the songs he featured on, Mars released his debut EP, It\u2019s Better If You Don\u2019t Understand, in May 2010. He then released his debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, on October 5th, which Kid Rock (born Robert James Ritchie on January 17, 1971), is an American singer-songwriter and rapper from Detroit with five Grammy Award nominations. Kid Rock is known for music that incorporates elements of hip-hop, rap metal, blues-rock, hard rock, southern rock, funk and country.Kid Rock released several studio albums from 1988 that mostly went unnoticed before his 1998 record 'Devil Without a Cause', released with Atlantic Records, sold 11 million albums behind the hits, \"Bawitdaba\",\"Cowboy,\" and \"Only God Knows Why\". In 2000, he released The History of Rock which was a compilation of remixed and remastered versions of songs from his previous albums as well as the hit single, \"American Bad Ass\". In 2001, he released the follow up, Cocky. After a slow start, his country-flavored hit \"Picture\" with Sheryl Crow resurrected the album and it went gold as a single and pushed the album's sales to more than 5 million. It was followed by 2003's self-titled release, which failed to chart a major hit. In 2006 he released Live Trucker , a live album. In 2007 Kid Rock released Rock N Roll Jesus, which produced a hit in \"All Summer Long.\" It was his first worldwide smash hit, charting #1 in eight countries across Europe and Australia. Rock N Roll Jesus would go on to sell 5 million albums worldwide including being certified triple platinum in the US.He has sold 22 million albums to date in the United States, which currently ranks him as the 99th best selling music artist of all time in the U.S.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/www.aaemusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/5447_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"500,000 - 1,000,000"}

{"key":"5475","name":"Bob Seger","bio":"Robert Clark \"Bob\" Seger (born May 6, 1945) is an American rock musician who achieved his greatest success in the 1970s and 1980s and continues to record and perform today. Seger started his musical career in the 1960s in his native Ann Arbor, Michigan, soon after playing in and around Detroit as a singer and as the leader of Bob Seger and the Last Heard, and then later the Bob Seger System. Best known for his work as Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, a group he formed in 1974. Seger was known as a workhorse midwestern roots-rocker who dealt with blue-collar themes and toured constantly in support of his frequent album releases, spanning five decades.In April 1976, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band had an even bigger commercial breakthrough with the album Live Bullet, recorded over two nights in Detroit's Cobo Hall in September 1975. The album stayed on the Billboard charts for 168 weeks, peaking at #34, easily Seger's highest charting album to that time. It also contained Seger's hit rendition of Tina Turner's \"Nutbush City Limits\" (#69 US) as well as Seger's own classic take on life on the road, \"Turn the Page\", from Back in '72. It also harkened back to his late 1960's successes with both \"Heavy Music\" and \"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man\" making appearances.Critic Dave Marsh later wrote that \"Live Bullet is one of the best live albums ever made \u2026 In spots, particularly during the medley of 'Travelin' Man'\/'Beautiful Loser', Seger sounds like a man with one last shot at the top.\" An instant best-seller in Detroit, Live Bullet quickly began to get attention in other parts of the country \u2013 although perhaps not as quickly as Seger would have liked. In June 1976 he was a featured performer at the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit in front of nearly 80,000 fans. Yet three nights before in Chicago, Seger had played before 50 people in a bar. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2004; close friend and fellow Michigander Kid Rock gave the induction speech during which he called Seger, \"The Hardest Working Man in rock n roll\", and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm proclaimed that date Bob Seger Day in his honor.With the single exception of Smokin' O.P.'s, re-released on compact disc by Capitol in 2005, all of Seger's albums prior to Beautiful Loser (the pre-Silver Bullet Band releases) have long remained out of print and command extremely high prices if offered for sale.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/5475_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"500,000 - 1,000,000"}

{"key":"85023","name":"Thompson Square","bio":"In the world of entertainment, music arguably demands the most personal investment from its artists, and it doesn't get any more intimate than Thompson Square. While most celebrities go to tremendous lengths and expense to carve out personal space in a Twitter-manic, paparazzi-fueled culture, husband and wife Keifer and Shawna Thompson veil no aspects of their relationship. In fact, they put their marriage on display in each song and, night after night, on tour. Thompson Square is a country music duo made up of husband and wife Keifer and and Shawna Thompson, both of whom alternate as vocalists. In 2010, their single \u201cAre You Gonna Kiss Me or Not\u201d hit #1 on the US Country Singles chart. That song also hit #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified Platinum two times by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The Thompsons, who met a singing competition in Nashville, Tennessee, followed up their success with \u201cAre You Going to Kiss Me or Not\u201d by releasing the eponymous debut album on February 8, 2011, with Stoney Creek Records. That album hit #15 on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2012, the duo released the single \u201cIf I Didn\u2019t Have You\u201d to build anticipation for their second album, Just Feels Good, which came out in March 2013 with Stoney Creek Recoreds. \u201cIf I Didn\u2019t Have You\u201d hit #1 on the US Country Airplay charts and #1 on the US Country Singles chart. In both 2012 and 2013, Thompson Square was recognized as the Vocal Duo of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards. After leaving Stoney Creek Records due to abysmal single sales, Thompson Square independently released their third album, Masterpiece, on June 1, 2018.","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/85023_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"please contact"}

{"key":"5056","name":"Montgomery Gentry","bio":"Montgomery Gentry is a country music duo, founded in the 1990s, consisting of Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry. Eddie Montgomery is the older brother of John Michael Montgomery. Some sources say that Troy Gentry is the son of Bobbie Gentry, which is untrue. Troy's parents are Lloyd and Pat Gentry. Eddie, Troy, and John were in a band called Early Tymz. Eddie and Troy continued to perform after John left to pursue a solo career. The duo went through several name changes before they decided to call themselves Montgomery Gentry. Eddie Montgomery is bald and seemingly always wears a hat. Eddie also has a habit of twirling his microphone on stage, which has become somewhat of a signature.The band has released five CDs including \"Some People Change\" which was released in 2006","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/5056_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"75,000 - 150,000"}

{"key":"5407","name":"Florida Georgia Line","bio":"Florida Georgia Line is a duo comprised of members Tyler Hubbard (from Monroe, Georgia) and Brian Kelley (from Ormond Beach, Florida). Their sound combines electrifying, hard-driving rock with honest, expressive lyrics. The Cruise Songfacts explains that both Hubbard and Kelley began playing guitar individually while they were in high school before meeting at Nashville\u2019s Belmont University. They began writing songs together between classes and soon found themselves playing local clubs, quickly building a fan-base. Hubbard and Kelley signed a publishing\/production\/management deal with Craig Wiseman's Big Loud Mountain record label in December 2011 and released their first five-song E.P., It\u2018z Just What We Do, the following May. \"Cruise\" is their first single from the collection.For more details on the biography of Florida Georgia Line, visit www.floridageorgialine.com","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/5407_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"500,000 - 1,000,000"}

{"key":"5443","name":"John Fogerty","bio":"John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945 in Berkeley, California, USA) is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock\/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a solo recording artist.John Fogerty began a solo career, originally under the name The Blue Ridge Rangers for his 1973 LP debut. Fogerty played all of the instruments on covers of others' country music hits, such as \"Jambalaya\" (which was a Top 40 hit). Prior to performing country & western tunes he released a rock & roll single in late 1973, also as The Blue Ridge Rangers. The two John Fogerty penned songs were \"You Don't Owe Me\" and \"Back In The Hills\" (Fantasy F-710).In early 1974 John Fogerty released two rock & roll tunes on a 7\"-single. The two songs were the vocal \"Comin' Down The Road\" b\/w the instrumental \"Ricochet\". His second solo album John Fogerty was released in 1975. Sales were slim and legal problems delayed a followup, though it yielded \"Rockin' All Over the World\", a top 40 hit for Fogerty in North America.Fogerty finished an album called Hoodoo in 1976. A single, \"You Got The Magic\" b\/w \"Evil Thing\", preceded the album's release, but it performed poorly. The album, for which covers had already been printed, was rejected by Asylum Records a couple weeks before its scheduled release, and Fogerty agreed that it wasn't up to his usual high standards. Fogerty told Asylum Records to destroy the master tapes for Hoodoo sometime in the 1980s. Fogerty is something of a perfectionist, often destroying unreleased material. Fogerty says that he was unable to write music during this period of his life.Fogerty's solo career re-emerged in full force with 1985's Centerfield, his first album for Warner Bros. Records (which took over co-ownership of Asylum's contract with Fogerty). Centerfield went to the top of the charts and included a top-ten hit in \"The Old Man Down The Road\"; the title track is frequently played on classic rock radio and at baseball games to this day. But that album was not without its legal snags either.Two songs on the album, \"Zanz Kant Danz\" and \"Mr Greed\", were believed to be attacks on Fogerty's former boss at Fantasy Records, Saul Zaentz. \"Zanz Kant Danz\" was about a pig who can't dance but would \"steal your money\". When Zaentz responded with a lawsuit, Fogerty issued a revised version of \"Zanz Kant Danz\" (changing the lead character's name to Vanz). Another lawsuit claimed that \"The Old Man Down The Road\" shared the same chorus as \"Run Through The Jungle\" (a song from Fogerty's days with Creedence to which Fantasy Records had owned the publishing rights). Fogerty ultimately won his case when he proved that the two songs were wholly distinct compositions.The followup album to Centerfield was Eye of the Zombie in 1986, which was less successful. Fogerty toured behind the album, but he refused to play any Creedence material. The album took on a darker mood, talking about a troubled society, terrorism, and pop stars selling out. For years, he refused to play material from the Zombie album. However, \"Change In The Weather\" was included in the set list for his 2009 tour. Fogerty played Creedence material again at a concert in Washington, D.C., for Vietnam veterans that took place on July 4, 1987. The show was aired on HBO. Aside from the show at the Palomino, this was the first time Fogerty had performed any Creedence Clearwater Revival songs for a large audience since 1972.Fogerty traveled to Mississippi in 1990 for inspiration and visited the gravesite of blues legend Robert Johnson. He realized that Robert Johnson was the true spiritual owner of the songs Johnson had written. Fogerty decided to start making a new album and to perform his old Creedence material regularly in concert. It was at this time visiting the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church cemetery that Fogerty met Skip Henderson, a New Jersey vintage guitar dealer who had formed a nonprofit corporation The Mt. Zion Memorial Fund to honor Johnson with a memorial marker. Fogerty subsequently funded headstones for Charlie Patton, James Son Thomas, Mississippi Joe Callicott, Eugene Powell, Lonnie Pitchford and helped with financial arrangements for numerous others.Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. John Fogerty refused to perform with his former band mates and fellow inductees Stu Cook and Doug Clifford during the musical portion of the induction ceremony. In place of the surviving members of CCR, Fogerty recruited LA session musicians on drums and bass and was also joined by Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Robertson in performing three songs; \"Who'll Stop The Rain\", \"Born On The Bayou\" and \"Green River\".Fogerty returned to the commercial music industry in 1997 with Blue Moon Swamp. The layoff between Zombie and Swamp had been longer than his mid-'70s-mid-'80s break. The album was much more successful than his previous effort and won the Grammy for best rock album in 1997. A live album of the equally successful tour was released to similar acclaim and good sales.It seemed as though Fogerty was back, but again he drifted out of the mainstream, only returning after another break in 2004. Deja Vu (All Over Again) was Fogerty\u2019s next release. His new record contract was with DreamWorks Records, which had taken over distribution of Fogerty's Warner Bros. catalog. Rolling Stone wrote: \"The title track is Fogerty's indictment of the Iraq war as another Vietnam, a senseless squandering of American lives and power\". On the album, Fogerty squeezed 10 songs into only 34 minutes.The sale of Fantasy Records to Concord Records in 2004 ended the 30+-year estrangement between Fogerty and his former label as the new owners took steps to restore royalty rights Fogerty gave up in order to be released from his contract with Fantasy in the mid 1970s. In September 2005, Fogerty returned to Fantasy Records. That was made possible when DreamWorks Records' non-country music unit was absorbed by Geffen Records, which dropped Fogerty but continued to distribute his earlier solo albums. The first album released under the new Fantasy contract was The Long Road Home, a compilation CD combining his Creedence hits with solo material which was issued in November 2005. A live CD and DVD concert was released the following year.Fogerty\u2019s touring schedule increased in the period after Deja Vu (All Over Again). In October 2004, Fogerty appeared on the Vote for Change tour, playing a series of concerts in American swing states. Centerfield was also played at the 2008 Republican National Convention when John McCain introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate. Fogerty's numbers were played with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Fogerty toured with John Mellencamp in the summer of 2005 and with Willie Nelson in the summer of 2006. On June 29, 2006 he played his first headlining British concert since 1972, at the Hammersmith Apollo theater in London, as part of the European leg of the tour. During that leg, he also performed in Sundsvall, Sweden, where 25,000 people came to see him perform at the town square. On Thanksgiving Day of 2006, Fogerty performed at halftime at the Miami Dolphins\/Detroit Lions game as well as at the Denver Broncos\/Kansas City Chiefs halftime later that evening.Alongside, Bill Withers, the Sherman Brothers, Steve Cropper and Isaac Hayes and David Porter, Fogerty was named to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.Fogerty features on Jerry Lee Lewis's album \"Last Man Standing\" issued 26 September 2006, duetting on a recording of \"Travellin' Band\". He also participated in the live set follow-up \"Last Man Standing - Live\", joining Lewis for a duet of \"CC Rider\", \"Will The Circle Be Unbroken\" (also featuring Kris Kristofferson), and concluding with a performance of \"Good Golly Miss Molly\", with Lewis backing him on piano.Fogerty completed his first new country and rock album in three years, Revival, which was released on October 2, 2007. Heavily promoted by the label, Revival debuted at number 14 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with sales about 65,000 copies in its first week. Revival was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album of 2008 but lost to the Foo Fighters.On February 10, 2008, he appeared with Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard on the Grammy Award's Show. Along with these rock icons and his regular touring band, he played his ultra-rare 1973 single \"Comin' Down The Road\" leading into Lewis and Richard's performances of \"Great Balls Of Fire,\" and \"Good Golly Miss Molly,\" respectively.On March 16, 2008, Fogerty kicked off an Australian tour. On March 22 in Point Nepean, Australia, surprise guest Keith Urban joined Fogerty on stage, performing two songs: \"Broken Down Cowboy,\" off Fogerty's newest album Revival, and \"Cotton Fields,\" from CCR's album Willy & the Poor Boys.Fogerty's current touring band includes Dave Santos on bass, Kenny Aronoff on drums, Matt Nolen on keyboards, guitar & mandolin, Hunter Perrin on guitars Billy Burnette (of Fleetwood Mac fame) on guitars, and Dan Hochhalter on fiddle, mandolin, and guitars.On June 24, 2008, Fogerty made a return to the Royal Albert Hall, a venue he last played with CCR in 1971. It was the last concert on his 2008 European Tour. This concert was filmed (causing staging problems that annoyed some fans) and, according to his website, is to be released in early 2009.On December 10, 2008, a Billboard article announced that besides the Royal Albert Hall DVD, Fogerty was working on recording a new album of mostly country covers. The album is a sequel to his 1973 solo debut The Blue Ridge Rangers and will be called The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again. It will be released on September 1, 2009 and will contain a duet with Bruce Springsteen on the 1960 Everly Brothers classic \"When Will I Be Loved?.\" In addition, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit of The Eagles sing with Fogerty on a cover of Rick Nelson's 1972 classic \"Garden Party.\"On April 16, 2009, Fogerty performed his hit \"Centerfield,\" from center field, at the opening day festivities of the new Yankee Stadium.On July 2,3,and 4, 2009 John Fogerty performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. The Bowl was completely sold out. The night included a fireworks display. Although the night was billed as Fogerty with the LA Philharmonic, the LA Philharmonic began the night with music by American composers, and Fogerty and his band came on after intermission and played all of his greatest hits. Fogerty and his band only played one song with the orchestra.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia","featuredImage":"https:\/\/assets.allamericanmusic.com\/images\/5443_h_0.jpg","feeRange":"150,000 - 300,000"}