Since the days when "Life's A Dance" turned him from an unknown artist into a national star, John Michael’s rich baritone has carried that most important of assets--believability. Few artists in any genre sing with more heart than this handsome Kentucky-born artist.

It is readily apparent in love songs that have helped set the standard for a generation. Songs like “I Swear,” “I Love the Way You Love Me” and “I Can Love You Like That” still resonate across the landscape--pop icon and country newcomer Jessica Simpson cited “I Love The Way You Love Me” as an influence in a recent interview. It is apparent in the 2004 hit “Letters From Home,” one of the most moving tributes to the connection between soldiers and their families ever recorded, and in “The Little Girl,” a tale of redemption that plumbs both the harrowing and the uplifting. It is apparent even in the pure fun that has always found its way into John Michael's repertoire--songs like “Be My Baby Tonight” and “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident),” where John Michael's vocal earnestness takes musical whimsy to another level.

At around five years old, Eddie began performing with his parents’ band “Harold Montgomery & Kentucky River Express”.  When Eddie reached his teens he joined his dad’s band full-time and replaced his mom, Carol, as the group’s drummer.

When Eddie isn't on the road you might find him working on his farm in Kentucky, at a Kentucky Wildcats game or at his Eddie Montgomery Steakhouse.  Eddie is a huge UK fan and you can find him in the stands for most any Wildcats game whether it be basketball or football. 

Hometown: Lancaster, Kentucky
Birthday: September 30
Hobbies: Hunting, fishing, motorcycle riding, sports, horseback riding
Early influences: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams, Jr., Charlie Daniels, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard

As a teenager Troy began doing guest vocals with area bands and eventually landed a gig with a local Lexington, KY group.  Due to his outstanding talent, Troy won the 1994 Jim Beam National Talent Search in Nashville, which led to opening slots for Patty Loveless, John Michael Montgomery, Tracy Byrd and Eddie Rabbitt.

When Troy isn't on the road you might find him in the gym, taking his youngest daughter to school or hanging around the house with wife Angie.  Both Eddie and Troy value their time with family off the road but can't wait to get back out on the stage. 

Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky
Birthday: April 5
Hobbies: Outdoor sports, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, motorcycle riding
Early influences: George Jones, Randy Travis, Hank Williams, Jr., Merle Haggard
Was an avid country radio listener as a youngster and loved listening to George Jones on his dad’s eight track.

Jake Owen's has made the transition from a country newcomer with an infectious first single called "Yee Haw" to a bona fide star with a handful of hits under his belt and an ever-growing and loyal fan base.

Some young artists might buckle under the kind of pressure and distractions that comes with country stardom, but Jake's sophomore album, Easy Does It, show he has not! There's a certain confidence and honesty evident in Jake's performances on all of the album's 10 tracks, eight of which he had a hand in writing. In short, Jake makes it all look, well, easy.

In the past three years, Jake's racked up plenty of reasons to believe in himself and the creative direction he is taking on Easy Does It. The journey began in 2006 with the release of his debut album on RCA Nashville, Startin' With Me. The insightful title cut from that project hit the country top ten, leading to Jake's first ACM nomination for Top New Male Vocalist. An out-of-left-field hit with Sugarland and Little Big Town on the tune "Life in a Northern Town" gave Jake's upward career momentum even more steam, garnering the Florida native his first CMA and Grammy nominations in 2008. With the new project, Jake builds on these successes, using his own life as the catalyst for his songwriting.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson has been showered with plaques, trophies and award statuettes, but they aren’t the answer to his dreams.

“My dream already came true,” says the Alabama native who has rocketed to Nashville stardom. “All I ever wanted was to get to just ride around and sing country music. It’s cool when things happen along the way, because those are things I never thought I could achieve. But whatever happens, I’ll just keep on doing what I do. I wake up every day and go play some more country music.”

The things that have happened along the way include songwriter awards for 2005’s “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” which Jamey co-wrote for Trace Adkins. In the spring of 2007, the Academy of Country Music gave Jamey a Song of the Year award for co-writing the George Strait hit “Give It Away,” and the Country Music Association did the same later that year.

Mercury Records issued his album That Lonesome Song in the summer of 2008, and the collection was universally hailed as a masterwork. Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Esquire and The Los Angeles Times are just a few of the major publications that sang its praises.

The disc led to invitations from Willie Nelson to play Farm Aid and to appear on Letterman and Leno. In April 2009, the album earned Jamey a Gold Record. The set’s “In Color” was named the Song of the Year by both the ACM and the CMA. During 2009 and 2010, Jamey collected five Grammy Award nominations. He toured with country titan Hank Williams Jr. and was one of the few country acts asked to play the massive Bonnaroo festival in June 2010.

In the midst of all of this, Jamey Johnson worked little by little on the landmark project that has become The Guitar Song. It is a 25-song, double album with thematically linked sets of songs dubbed the “Black Album” and the “White Album.”

“The original idea was always to do a double album,” says Jamey. “It is an album that is a tale. The first part of it is a very dark and sordid story. And then everything after that is progressively more positive, reassuring and redemptive.”

The “Black” songs include the menacing, partly spoken “Poor Man Blues,” the intensely defiant “Can’t Cash My Checks,” the sighing and bluesy “Even the Skies Are Blue” and the chillingly aggressive “Heartache.” The lighter, “White” songs are highlighted by the strongly autobiographical “That’s Why I Write Songs,” the languidly relaxing “Front Porch Swing Afternoon,” the rocking “Good Times Ain’t What They Used to Be” and the easy-going groove tune “Macon.”

The ambitious project’s textures are many and varied. “Baby Don’t Cry” is a lullaby. “I Remember You” is a gospel song. “That’s How I Don’t Love You” is a deeply sad power ballad. “By the Seat of Your Pants” tells of life’s lessons. The title tune, “The Guitar Song,” is told from the point of view of two forgotten guitars hanging on a pawn shop wall. “Playing the Part” and “California Riots” come from feeling out of place as a country boy in Hollywood.

Jamey Johnson is a lover of classic country sounds, and he regularly performs oldies in his stage shows. The Guitar Song contains his versions of Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times,” Vern Gosdin’s “Set ‘Em Up Joe” and Mel Tillis’s “Mental Revenge.” “Lonely at the Top” is a previously undiscovered gem co-written by the late Keith Whitley.

“Picking the songs for it was easy,” says Jamey. “They pretty much picked themselves. We just had to decide which album each one went on and at which point on the record should each one occur. Once we decided where each fit, it was a done deal.

“When I did That Lonesome Song, I was in town all the time. It was just a drive to the studio. But this album here, we’ve had to record things on the fly, on the road, in studios here and there, wherever we were. I think we went around the country five or six times while we were making The Guitar Song.”

Recording sessions for the two-hour music collection were held in Los Angeles, Nashville and at Jimmy Buffett’s Shrimp Boat Studio in Key West, Florida. The singer-songwriter began working on it in early 2007 and concluded the project by delivering it to surprised staffers at the Universal Music Group offices in downtown Nashville via an armored car and a guard squad of 40 men in April 2010.

That’s a typically unorthodox gesture from an artist who has always marched to the beat of a different drummer. He was raised outside Montgomery, Alabama in a family that was poor but highly musical. Like many country artists, Jamey first performed gospel music in churches. Unlike most, he is a formally trained musician who understood music theory as early as his junior-high years.

Jamey Johnson is a study in contrasts. He was raised in a devout household, yet he spent part of his youth drinking beer and playing songs at night on the Montgomery tombstone of Hank Williams. He is deadly serious about his music, yet has a wry and witty sense of humor. With his piercing pale-blue eyes and biker beard, he looks like a hell raiser, but he has the heart of a poet. He seems like a rebel, but Jamey Johnson spent eight years as a member of the highly disciplined U.S. Marine Corps Reserves.

Jamey arrived in Nashville on Jan. 1, 2000, spending every dime he had to make the move. In 2001-2004 he ran his own construction company. Performing in Nashville nightspots led to work singing songwriters’ “demo” tapes on Music Row. Word of his talent got around. In 2005, he landed his first recording contract and had a hit with his song “The Dollar.”

But when his record-company lost interest, and he went through a painful divorce, Jamey Johnson came to the darkest place in his life. The bright side of this time period was the creation of many of the compositions that became That Lonesome Song.

At first, he intended to put that record out himself. But when UMG Nashville’s chairman and CEO Luke Lewis promised complete creative freedom, Jamey Johnson brought his distinctive sound to Mercury Records. In the two years since then, he has been burning up America’s highways with his Kent Hardly Playboys band.

“The road is where it’s at. I love it. That’s where you take country music. You don’t get the message out there by sitting at the house. I go out there and meet the people. When I come back home to make an album, I don’t want you to second-guess me. I’m telling you what is the right thing, because I’m the guy out there shaking their hands every night.”

“Everything comes from God. So when I write, it is my gift to Him. It is my interpretation of what He gave me, the circumstances that I drew the material from. So when I get done with a song, it’s not for my fans. It’s certainly not for the industry, the trophies, the accolades and the plaques. It is straight from me to God.”

JP Pennington, guitar/vocals
Les Taylor, guitar/vocals
Marlon Hargis, keyboards/vocals
Sonny LeMaire, bass/vocals
Steve Goetzman, drums

After having had worldwide success with the #1 pop smash in 1978, "Kiss You All Over," this legendary quintet made a seamless transition from pop to country in the early 1980s. Their second country single, "Woke Up In Love" peaked at #1 in early 1984 and nine consecutive #1 singles followed: "I Don't Want To Be A Memory", "Give Me One More Chance", "She's A Miracle", "Crazy For Your Love", "Hang On To Your Heart", "I Could Get Used To You", "It'll Be Me", "She's Too Good To be True" and "I Can't Get Close Enough". Combining achievements in pop and country with success overseas, Exile earned 11 #1 singles, numerous top 10 singles, three gold albums including two Greatest Hits CDs, several multi-platinum singles and thirteen award nominations from the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and the Country Music Association (CMA).

As award-winning songwriters, singers and instrumentalists, Exile transcends expectations. The group made its debut in country music at a time when no other self-contained band played on their own records. Exile is recognized as the first contemporary country band to do this. The Music Row community knew this set Exile apart and the band earned the respect of its peers. The rarity of their transition from pop to country and explosive success in two music formats further enhanced Exile's popularity.

The small town of Richmond, Kentucky hosted the birth of "The Exiles" in 1963. Within two years the band would become the opening act and house band for several national tours with "The Dick Clark Caravan of Stars." On one fateful night in 1965, the band cornered Dick Clark and asked for some advice. Clark responded, "Never forget your audience!" Clark's advice became the band's creed. There were regional radio hits throughout the late sixties and early seventies. The name changed to "Exile" in 1972 and opening spots followed with major pop acts leading up to their worldwide hit in 1978, a country music explosion in the 80s and 90s and, now, together again for EXILE. Through it all the band still maintains its creed. With great new songs, signature vocal harmony, precision recording and high-energy live shows, EXILE remembers its audience.

J.P., Les, Marlon, Sonny and Steve, together again to the delight of so many loyal fans everywhere, deliver an action packed performance of back to back hits with a peek at some new songs, as well. True to their heritage and long lasting appeal, these five amazing musicians know how to entertain their fans. Exile is back!

Colt Ford is a walking, talking 300-pound celebration of country music and country living. His songs pay tribute to the people, pastimes and attitudes that define a lifestyle embraced from Texas to Wisconsin, from Florida to Washington State and a lot of places in between. For all the bigger-than-life excitement that defines his music and his stage show, though, Colt is quick to point to what lies underneath it all.

"I'm just an average Joe who's been blessed with the ability to write music and who loves to perform," he says. "I talk about everyday real country life and I believe in real country values—God, family, friends, and hard work. And if that ain't country, I don't know what is."

His connections to the lifestyle run deep. An avid sports fan and outdoorsman, he wrote "Buck 'Em" for the Professional Bull Riders Association, and "Huntin' The World," the award-winning theme song of the popular Outdoor Channel show of the same name, and he capped a lifetime of appreciation for country music's rich musical heritage when he made his debut early in 2010 on the Grand Ole Opry.

The Kentucky HeadHunters have sold more than 6 million albums!

Grammy award WINNER for “Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group”

Country Music Association award WINNER for “Vocal Group of the Year” (2 times), “Album of The Year” (Pickin’ On Nashville) and Album of the Year (Production)

Academy of Country Music Award WINNER for “Top New Vocal Duo or Group”

Thirty-six years is a long time for a band to survive in today’s cutthroat music jungle. The secret? Richard and Fred Young, along with cousin, Greg Martin and long time friend Doug Phelps, never set out to play music for a living. They were born to be together and they live to play music. Some of the Kentucky Headhunters have sold millions of albums, however, one thing remains the same…they are one of a kind, originals.

Carryin’ On was formed in the Spring of 2009, shortly after band friend, David Hunt, lost his battle with cancer, originally to play a charity event for David’s favorite cause. The band was named in honor of David, and to “carry on” his love for country and southern rock music.

Singing powerhouse, Kimberly Carter, was the obvious choice to front the band. As fate would have it, at about the same time, interest in her was stirring in Music City, so after the record-setting charity concert, she instantly had a back-up band of good friends and talented musicians, all dedicated to the promotion of her singing career.

George Molton was born and raised in Olive Hill, Kentucky. He started playing local bars at the ripe old age of 15. Never wanting to do anything but play music, George has followed his dream. His music takes you back into a true country sound that seems to be slipping away as the country music industry grows. countrymusichighwaydocumentary.com

On The Community Trust Bank Stage Friday, September 23, 2011 - 3:00pm- 4:30pm.

On The Community Trust Bank Stage Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 1:00pm-3:00pm

On The Community Trust Bank Stage Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 11:30am- 12:30pm

On The Community Trust Bank Stage Friday, September 23, 2011 - 1:30pm- 2:30pm.

On The Community Trust Bank Stage Friday, September 23, 2011 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm

On The Community Trust Bank Stage Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 10:00am- 11:00am