Old Dominion, Darius Rucker, Flo Rida, Jake Owen, FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS, Nashville Yacht Club Band, Uncle Kracker, and Phil Vassar

Rucker founded Hootie & The Blowfish in 1986 with bandmates Mark Bryan, Jim “Soni” Sonefeld and Dean Felber. The outfit apparently came about when Bryan heard Rucker singing in the shower of the college dorms and was awestruck by his vocal prowess.

Ruckers mainstream success with Hootie & The Blowfish was the 1994 release “Cracked Rear View”, which was a staggering success. It was the best selling album of 1995 and went platinum 16 times over in the United States. The album contained the outfit’s best known tune “Only Wanna Be with You”, which peaked at Number 6 and the other hits “Hold My Hand”, “Let Her Cry” and “Time”.

After a small hiatus and an R’n’B styled debut solo album, “Back to Then” (2002), which amounted to modest success, Rucker’s solo career kicked off properly with his country release “Learn to Live” in 2008. The album achieved gold status with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and later received a platinum certification in 2009. The album’s single “History in the Making” peaked at Number 3 on the Billboard Country Chart. Three singles topped it at Number 1: "Don't Think I Don't Think About It", "It Won't Be Like This for Long" and "Alright", making Ruckers the first black man to chart a number one on the Hot Country Songs charts since 1983. He was also first black man to win the Country Music Association’s New Artist Award.

The album was released on Capitol Records, which would become Rucker’s rock in his solo career, going on to record “Charleston, SC 1966” in 2010, which included the Number 1 singles “Come Back Song” and “This”, and 2012’s “True Believers”, which got him yet another Number 1 with his cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel” featuring vocals from Lady Antebellum.

Ruckers announced a Christmas album in 2014 that would feature a collaboration with Sheryl Cole on the track “Baby It’s Cold Outside”.

Born one of eight siblings, Dillard’s first move into the musical came when he joined the amateur rap group GroundHoggz when still in ninth grade. Formed of members Flo Rida, 1Bred, Key Lime and Fist, the four-man group remained together for eight years, until the rapper signed with Poe Boy in 2006. The rapper’s debut single “Birthday” was released in 2006 featuring Rick Ross, and was followed by a guest appearance on DJ Khaled’s album “We the Best” on the single “Bitch I’m from Dade County”.

Flo Rida’s debut album “Mail of Sunday” arrived in March 2008, spawning the singles “Low”, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Elevator” featuring Timbaland, “In the Ayer”, and “Roll”. The album featured a host of guest appearances including will.i.am, Sean Kingston and Lil Wayne, and proved Flo Rida’s viability for chart success. Before the release of his sophomore album the rapper made cameo appearances on the singles “Move Shake Drop” by DJ Laz, “We Break the Dawn” by Michelle Williams, as well as “Running Back” by Jessica Mauboy, among others.

“R.O.O.T.S.” arrived in March 2009 and debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. The album’s lead single “Right Round”, which sampled the Dead or Alive hit “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”, broke the record for most digital downloads in one week with 636,000 downloads. The rapper subsequently released the singles “Sugar” featuring Wynter Gordon, “Jump” featuring Nelly Furtado, and “Be on You” featuring Ne-Yo. Also in 2009 Flo Rida appeared on the debut single of the UK’s “The X Factor” winning Alexandre Burke, “Bad Boys”, which debuted at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.

Dillard’s third full length album, “Only One Flo (Part 1)” was released November 2010 spawning the singles “Come With Me”, “Turn Around (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)”, and “Who Dat Girl”. In December 2010 Flo Rida started his own label International Music Group later signing 18-year-old rapper Brianna and Git Fresh. Dillard has subsequently released the album “Wild Ones” in 2012, which shot to No. 1 in 20 countries and spawned the No. 1 single “Levels”.

Owen grew up in Winter Haven Florida with his twin brother Jarrod. Both brothers took an avid interest in a variety sports in their youth. However, when Jake was involved in a Wakeboarding accident that required reconstructive surgery, he ended up playing around on a neighbours guitar and before long was playing gigs in a local bar.

Owen was signed after moving the Nashville, Tennessee, as he began his new life in the south, he went to open a bank account and passed on one of his CDs to a bank clerk, who liked it so much, she sent it to a Warner Music Group. Hs country career was born.

In 2006, Owen released his debut single, “Yee-Haw”. The party tempo track was a success, making its way up to number 16 on the charts, and it lead to the release of his first full length release, “Startin' With Me”, which was a top ten hit in the country chart.

Three years later in 2009, Jake Owen returned with his follow up effort, “Easy Does It”, which was another charts success for the country star. The same year, Owen received the ACM award for Top Male New Vocalist. Owen’s third album “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” was a huge success for the singer, with the first two singles both debuting at number one on the Billboard Country charts.

Jake Owen has toured around the US, opening for other country acts such as Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley and Keith Urban. In 2012, he famously proposed to his model girlfriend, Lacey Buchanan live on stage. The couple have a daughter, named Olive Pearl.

Front man, Michael Fitzpatrick is the brain behind the operation that is Fitz and The Tantrums. He bought an old Conn electronic organ and wrote the song “Breakin’ the Chains of Love”, the same day. He contacted his college peers, and five phone conversations later, organised a rehearsal. One week later, they played their first show at Hotel Café in Hollywood. Still as a newborn band, they played some of Los Angeles’ most prestigious venues such as the Viper Room and Spaceland. After heading into the studio, which was a set up in Fitzpatrick’s home, they released their first EP on August 11th 2009.

This year was all ‘go’, with the band managing to land support slows with Hepcat, Flogging Molly, and even eight concerts on the Maroon 5 Back to School tour. The following year saw the band open for The Specials, and signed to Dangerbird Records. They also released their debut studio album, in the form of “Pickin’ Up the Pieces”, which was released on August 24th 2010.

They even got invited to play in a webisode of Live from Daryl’s House with Daryl Hall. In 2011, they made it onto some of the biggest late night TV shows, such as, Jimmy Kimmel Live! Conan, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and the following year, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

They have earned themselves a lot of spots on TV shows, with their song “News 4 U” making it on to a promo for the seventh season of Desperate Housewives. “Spark” was featured on the FIFA 13 soundtrack, and “Walker” made it onto an episode of Suits.

Their following record, “More Than Just a Dream” was released on May 7th 2013 through a new label, Elektra Records.

Uncle Kracker was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan, in the early 70’s. After early attempts at rapping in his early years, his first taste of performing came after meeting a young Robert James Ritchie aka Kid Rock at a turntable competition his brother was playing at. After hitting it off with Kid Rock, he agreed to perform with his then band “Twisted Brown Trucker”.

As Kid Rock blew up, he kept Shafer on as his tour DJ and also used him as a back up vocalist for his 1996 album “Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp”. After continuing DJing for Ritchie over a number of years, Shafer decided to begin work on his own solo album.

In 2000, Shafer released his debut LP, “Double Wide” under the moniker Uncle Kracker. The albums rock and rap blending sound was a hit around the world, proven by its success in the charts, as Double Wide rose as high number 7 in the US, as well as charting in many European countries. This album remains Shafer’s most successful to date and has been certified double platinum.

Following the release of his first effort, Uncle Kracker went on an extensive tour around the US, before writing and recording his follow up album, “No Stranger To Shame”, which came out in 2002. Shafer’s sophomore effort was also a success commercially, especially after the release of it’s first single, “Drift Away” was an instant hit. The track is a cover of Dobie Gray’s 70’s hit song.

Moving forward, Uncle Kracker ditched his rap rock leanings and moved into the world of country music, releasing a further three albums in that genre, the latest being 2012’s “Midnight Special”.

In a move that's more common in the American country music scene than just about anywhere else in mainstream music, Phil Vassar broke into the music scene as a songwriter, working behind the scenes until his skill proved to be so great that it had to be shared with the world. However, Vassar did originally move to Nashville, Tennessee in his early 20's to pursue a career as a solo artist, but although he was able to secure a publishing deal, no solo hits were forthcoming. However, many other artists were impressed with his songwriting, and by the late 90's, artists like Neal McCoy, Tim McGraw and Jo Dee Messina were covering songs of his to massive critical and commercial acclaim. As a result of this, Vassar signed a record deal with Arista Nashville in late 1999, and began work on his debut studio album.

Vassar's debut efforts as a solo artist did not disappoint, and while his first single, October 1999's “Carlene” was a top five hit on the Billboard country charts, its follow up “Just Another Day In Paradise”, released after the his self-titled debut album dropped, went five better and topped the same chart a year later in November 2000. Thanks to the success of its singles, his debut album was later certified Gold for shipping half a million copies, and in the space of a little under two years, Phil Vassar had gone from a respected behind the scenes guy, to one of the hottest acts in American country music. Ever since then, Vassar has remained one of the most popular country acts of the modern age, even breaking the top ten of the Billboard 200 with his 2008 fourth album “Prayer Of A Common Man”. He may be something of a late bloomer by today's standards, but Vassar still comes highly recommended.