It’s been more than a decade since Capitol Records Nashville artist Jon Pardi began careening down the highway, leading the charge to modernize honky tonk with roaring guitars and a roaring, good-time spirit.

Now with four Top 5 albums which include 2016’s Platinum #1, California Sunrise, Pardi’s reputation for punchy, against-the-wind bravado has only grown. Never afraid to break from the pack, fourteen RIAA-certified singles feature six #1s (like the back-to-back 6x-Platinum “Head Over Boots” and “Dirt On My Boots”), and with years of blue-collar barnstorming behind him, the California native has earned international headlining acclaim, alongside 9.3 billion global streams. But despite the success – or maybe emboldened by it – today’s Jon Pardi feels more restless than ever.

Koe Wetzel never met a genre wall he couldn’t tear down: The Texas singer-songwriter has earned a rabid audience for his songs that mix country, rock, hip-hop, and even Nineties grunge. His 2016 album Noise Complaint endeared him to fans with its no- holds-barred lyrics about drunken nights, broken hearts and stints in jail, and included the Gold-certified hits “Love” (feat. Parker McCollum), “Something to Talk About” and the infamous “February 28, 2016.” Wetzel’s 2020 major label debut, Sellout, only furthered his legend with the Platinum-certified “Drunk Driving” plus the Gold-certified “Good Die Young” and “Kuntry & Wistern.” The 2022 follow-up, Hell Paso, hit No. 3 on Billboard’s Country Albums and spawned hits on both the country and rock charts, including the Gold-certified “Creeps” and “Cabo.” To date, Wetzel has 2.8 billion total streams and has created a genuine experience with his live concerts, which he describes as “total chaos.” In 2023 alone, he sold more than 275,000 tickets, and appeared for a third time on POLLSTAR’s Top Worldwide Tours. Wetzel will play prominent festival sets this summer and open for Morgan Wallen on the superstar’s One Night at a Time Stadium Tour in Texas, while also headlining his own Damn Near Normal World Tour. His new album, 9 Lives (Columbia), is available everywhere now as lead single “High Road” feat. Jessie Murph arrives as his debut Country radio single. 

As a new-school country rocker with a reputation for red-dirt swagger and blue-collar grit, Sony Music Nashville artist Corey Kent has spent more than 15 years cutting his own path through a tangled wilderness of stumbles and setbacks … and never once come close to waving a white flag.

A Bixby, Oklahoma native now based in Dallas, the proud husband, father and creative freedom fighter has become a decorated artist on the rise, growing from humble heartland roots into a Platinum certified Number One hit maker with 750 million career streams, and a black bandana on his neck. But today, that Black Bandana is more than an accessory – and not just the name of his sophomore major-label album. It’s his rally cry.

“It started from riding motorcycles and wanting something over your face so you didn’t swallow a bug,” the singer-songwriter says. “But then it turned into a staple I wear on stage, and then a symbol of the path through my career, and life. Through all the ups and downs, the one constant thing was this relentless hope – this relentless pursuit of believing that if I don’t give up, I can get where I’m going.”

With a self-built story that has seen success and disaster, keeping that belief wasn’t always easy – but it’s been paying off. Rising from the vibrant Red Dirt country scene as the embodiment of authenticity, Kent set his sights on Nashville as a teen, bringing his self-penned catalog of country-rock anthems with him. But after the pandemic coincided with the loss off his first publishing deal, Kent was forced to move to Texas and get a job on a paving crew to pay the bills, yet he stubbornly refused to call music quits. Honkytonks and dancehalls on both sides of the Red River became his stomping ground, and slowly but surely, the black bandana spirit grew.

Sharp storytelling. Gripping and gorgeous five-part harmonies. Arrangements that can swing between fun, engaging, and lively one moment and stirring, booming, and chill-inducing the next. These are the essential elements that make up the sound of The Wilder Blue, the Texas five-piece who put their own spin on rock-influenced country with their eponymous sophomore album.

Built around the keen storytelling voice of primary frontman Zane Williams, Paul Eason’s salient lead guitar, the imaginative tandem of drummer Lyndon Hughes and bassist Sean Rodriguez, and the striking, compelling mind of multi-instrumentalist Andy Rogers, The Wilder Blue are only beginning to scratch the surface of their potential.

Williams and Eason began toying with the idea of a new band in 2019 by seeking out a nimble set of collaborators. Knowing that they wanted to emphasize a rich vocal blend that could be replicated live, they soon enlisted Hughes and Rogers. When Rodriguez joined, it solidified the outfit as a cohesive unit.

“Having studio time paid for by our fan subscribers gave us the chance to relax and spread out a little,” explains Williams about the recording process for The Wilder Blue. Recording over the course of a few three-day sessions every few months allowed the band to experiment in the studio while avoiding harsh deadlines or the demand of cramming an album’s worth of material into a week’s worth of time. Often recorded to tape, a vibrant tapestry of sonic swirls emerged.

From Birmingham’s ballfields to the bright lights of Nashville, Myles Morgan is a rising country artist whose story is as authentic as his sound. Raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Myles was a dedicated baseball player throughout his youth. However, his life took a turn when, at 17, he picked up his father’s unused guitar and began teaching himself to play. By the summer of 2023, he was performing live at restaurants and bars like Rock n Roll Sushi and the World Famous Flora-Bama.

Myles released his debut single “Nobody’s Fault But Yours,” in the summer of 2024 which has surpassed a million streams. He followed it up with “Jon Boat or a Yacht,” and “Is This Seat Taken?”—the latter inspired by a memorable experience at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, AL where Myles is a student at the University of Alabama.

Myles writes all of his own songs and works with producers Clayton Collins and Dalton Wixom. This network introduced him to Dominic Frost, lead guitarist for Morgan Wallen, who also contributes guitar work on all of Myles’ tracks. He quickly amassed over 100k monthly listeners on Spotify and with his rapidly growing fanbase, Myles Morgan is poised to make a major impact on the country music scene. His debut EP is set to release later this year, promising more of the heartfelt storytelling and Southern charm that fans have come to love.