The country-music singer originally started the program in 1996 in her Tennessee hometown.
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She grew up immersed in country-music culture her grandfather was a yodeler and bluegrass-country singer, and his mother a saloon-style pianist.
Just recently, I played a new song for a country-music record-executive friend.
This song is freely adapted from her CD of country-music hymns, the one she plays to get into a churchgoing mood on Sunday mornings.
The two dug into Charlie Poole's old recordings as well as Kinney Rorrer's biography, Rambling Blues to celebrate the life and times of the country-music pioneer, who died in 1931.
Mr. Gill, who helped steer the record toward its mix of more traditional and modern country sounds, already puts Ms. Monroe, along with Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss, on his short list of game-changing female country-music makers he's known.
Gympie, two hours north of Brisbane, is well-known for its country music associations - the city hosts the annual National Country Music Muster every August.
But these days, she is an up-and-comer in country music -- and a rare African-American performer in the genre.
"I always claim that everyone likes country music -- they just don't want to admit it, " he says with a laugh.
Well, you know, I mean, Im a huge fan of old-fashioned country music, like Kitty Wells and that sort of thing, but Im not sure why I get pigeonholed into country music because I have always had a very energetic rock band.
And you probably already heard a little bit about our music series where we showcase a whole range of different genres of music -- from classical to country, to the music of the Civil Rights movement.
Years of Taliban rule and war took a toll on the country's once-flourishing music scene.
Every genre from rock to hip-hop to country music is explored here.
While that may not match the hordes who flock to Glastonbury, it is still remarkable in a country where western-style rock music was all but unknown until about 20 years ago.
She participated on the CBS show "Star Search, " reaching the finals, and credits judge Naomi Judd's manager with introducing her to the creators of "Waiting in the Wings, " a CMT documentary about African-Americans in country music, according to her Web site.
In 2011, Apple launched its iTunes music store in the country - with high sales volumes surprising critics who assumed the region was too entrenched in a culture of pirating music.
Heading east along the I-81, I catch fleeting glimpses of familiar country music scenes: countless fluttering Stars and Stripes flags, pick-up trucks outside shabby roadhouses.
The hilly Ozarks near Arkansas are culturally part of the South, with their hickory-smoked ham and country music.
In 2002, after a debut album "Bramble Rose, " some touted singer-songwriter Tift Merritt as country music's next superstar.
This band has now gotten back together and they're on this speaking tour around the country - serving as kind of ambassadors of music and culture of New Orleans.
In two years, they had won eight Academy of Country Music Awards, including the male-dominated Entertainer of the Year category in 2000.
His tweets range from claims that Obama is using NASCAR and country music to attract "white non-college voters, " to slams of Michelle Obama, to allegations that Obama is racially discriminating against blacks in his White House hiring practices.
The Country Music Association of Australia already runs short intensive courses to help young up-and-coming musicians progress in their music careers.
African-Americans always have been in the country music industry, said John Rumble, senior historian for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.
Los Angeles may not sound like home for a country-rocker, and for many years, country music only represented a minor twang in the music of the punk band X.
Merritt's music is hard to pin down: She incorporates gospel, soul, '70s California rock 'n' roll and warm echoes of Joni Mitchell's brand of folk music into her piano-based country songs.
He is country's top-selling male act, one of its top touring draws and recently won the Academy of Country Music's male vocalist of the year award.
It features a carnival, livestock and horse shows, petting zoos, live music from country music superstars, and of course a bona-fide rodeo.
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