Ira Dean comes from a musical family. His brother is Billy Dean, but not that Billy Dean. "It's a joke because Billy Dean's royalty checks used to go to my brother," Ira Dean said. But his brother and father were both very much in the business. His father played guitar, sang, and even had his own radio show when he was 13, so the music business is all Dean's ever known. "It was either make it or wear a hairnet and say, 'Do you want fries with that?'" he joked.

The leap from rodeo bullfighter to country music singer may not be as vast as you think. Lane Smith was raised in Branch Springs, Texas, just north of San Antonio. The tough, unpredictable nature of rodeo culture mirrors the challenges of building a country music career from the ground up. He soon realized he couldn't be a bullfighter forever. Country music and rodeo go hand in hand, with concerts following most rodeos. Smith saw them and thought, "I really want to be an artist."

Two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year and Columbia Nashville artist Luke Combs was inducted into the Music City Walk of Fame this week.

When I first heard a few Six Gun Sally songs, I knew immediately that this band was meant to be heard live. The members, who have various musical pursuits, remind me of a supergroup bringing the best of what they do together to create the rowdy, eclectic southern rock band Six Gun Sally.

Kelsey Hart never had the goal of being a country music singer. Right out of high school, the Kentucky native went to barber school and got his license. His friend who lived right down the street had a guitar and often stopped by the shop where the pair would sing together to pass the time. This led to them starting a hometown band. For a year, Hart was the frontman for their local band, but by age 20, he decided he needed to learn the guitar. The hometown band eventually fizzled out, but by then, Hart knew enough songs on guitar that he could play solo at bars or wherever they would have him.