Chris Young and Chase Rice

His traditional country style and powerful baritone has gained Young many fans across the spectrum of country music, looking back to the likes of Hank Williams and Randy Travis, moving away from pop-country or country with rock influences which began to dominate the modern scene.

After winning Nashville Star, Chris Young was signed to record label RCA records, releasing his debut single, "Drinkin' Me Lonely" in 2006, from his self-titled debut album. The release reached number 42 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart. From here, Young's success only continued, gaining a top 40 hit with his third single "Voices" from his EP of the same name.

In 2009, Young released his second full length album, "The Man I want to Be," which, as well as his original songs, featured covers of Waylon Jennings "Rose in Paradise" and Tony Joe White's "Rainy Night in Georgia." The single from the bum, "Getting' You Home (The Black Dress Song)" became Young's first number one single, which was followed by another with the re-release of "Voices."

Following a Grammy award nomination, Chris Young had cemented his place in the world of country music. His talents garnered further chart success with the 2011 single, "Tomorrow," becoming his fourth straight number one. The album "Neon" was released the same year, featuring a further number one single, "You."

His fourth studio album "A.M," released in 2013, showcased two top ten singles, "Aw Naw" and "Who I Am With You."Young was selected to act as an ambassador for the CMA Songwriter's Series, which travelled to European countries in an attempt to spread the popularity of country music.

Rice was born in Florida but spent his adolescence in North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where the extra curricular country and western singer also excelled in sports being the linebacker on the football team. Prior to his country and western music career he even found himself as a cast member of Survivor: Nicaragua, which despite playing his single “Buzz Back” on, it didn’t catapult his music career the way he’d hoped, but looking on the bright side he recalls it as an important time in his life.

Rice began playing the guitar quite late in life, in fact whilst he was at University, with his father being the inspiration for him beginning to play guitar in the first place saying “boy, anyone can play guitar, but no one is gonna really listen to you until you start singing”. His debut EP came in the form of “Country as Me” which was released on March 8th 2011, but unfortunately didn’t chart. It also featured the single “Buzz Back”. The next year however, Rice released his follow up entitled “Dirt Road Communion”, released on March 20th 2012. It made it to number 48 in the US Country Chart. It was the same year that the singer-songwriter collaborated with Florida Georgia Line’s track, “Cruise”, which was an international success, charting in numerous countries. It reached the top spot on the US Hot Country Songs Chart, and number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

In 2013, Rice released a 6 track EP that featured the title track “Ready Set Roll”. It reached the top spot on the iTunes Country album chart. The next year, Rice teamed up with Columbia Records for the release of his album “Ignite the Night” on August 19th 2014. It got to number seven in Canada, the number one spot on the Country Albums chart, and number three on the Billboard 200.