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The first single from the new album by Ashton Shepherd tells us all we need to know about the soul of this 21-year-old singer and songwriter. On "Takin' Off This Pain," her voice is tough, tender and wise beyond its years and her gift for setting the stage for a song with simple eloquence is in full view.

Producer Buddy Cannon knows how to breathe life into images of hard times and good times. Throughout Shepherd's MCA Nashville debut, Sounds So Good, on 12 tunes, eight written solely by the artist and three co-written with Adam Cunningham, Cannon swirls heartbreak fiddle, last-call steel guitar and powerfully assertive and expressive vocals into a neon-bathed tour de force.

From the twang in Shepherd's tone throughout "I Like Being Single" and the pain in her stretched-out phrasing on "Whiskey Won the Battle," you know that this Coffeeville, Ala., native has been there, done that and earned the right to write and sing about it with an almost startling conviction.

Raised in a flyspeck town of 360, Shepherd won her first talent contest at age 8, appropriately with a couple of Patsy Cline tunes. Her parents funded recording and manufacturing for 1,000 copies of her first album at 15. She won another contest at 16 that earned her an opportunity to open for Lorrie Morgan - and that in turn inspired a producer in the audience to invite her to Nashville. One connection led to another, the result being this remarkable album, rooted deep in tradition and reaching past that Alabama horizon toward an assured and enduring career.

Photo by Danny Clinch

MCA Nashville recording artist Ashton Shepherd

Whiskey Falls commands the essential ingredients for rock-inflected Country and adds their own distinctive attributes, the most evident being four-part harmonies that pound through "The Champ," soar like Eagles on "Last Train Running," nail some tricky intervals on "Let the Whiskey Fall," caress with a gentle yet muscular touch on "I Can't Stop Loving You" and sprinkle some Dixie dust on a Grateful Dead feel during the verses to "Days of Birmingham."

Their roots are in L.A., where Seven Williams, Wally Brandt and Wally's twin brother Bill ran We 3 Kings, a music production company that catered to film and television clients. Rather than hit the beach on weekends, though, Wally and Williams spent time in Nashville, honing their writing chops and making connections that led them eventually to Alabama-born multi-instrumentalist Buck Johnson and his friend and unrelated namesake, lead guitarist Damon Johnson.

Once the pieces had come together, the four-member group Whiskey Falls took shape, with a rough and rowdy veneer that somehow dovetails with the sophistication of their writing and instrumental finesse. Word spread quickly and virally, as 40,000 fans logged on to vote Whiskey Falls "Best New Duo/Group" on countrymusic.about.com while their self-titled album was the top-clicked debut on Napster's home, Country and subscriber pages. Produced by Cliff Downs, Bill Brandt and the band, Whiskey Falls on Midas Records Nashville is already flowing strong.

When Rissi Palmer invites all the women in the house to "clap your hands . show the world you're a Country girl," she's doing more than delivering a show-stopping vocal over a stomping, fiddle-lashed groove. She's actually practicing what she preaches.

That's the main reason why the world didn't get the chance to know her first as an R&B superstar. That opportunity beckoned when legendary producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis invited her into their stable of big-time clients, which at that time included Boyz II Men, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson.

But as a finalist in "Star Search" in 2003, the glitzy talent hunt phenomenon of the 1980s and early '90s that CBS-TV had revived, she found her true path, thanks to a few simple words from celebrity judge Naomi Judd: Awarding Palmer the maximum score of five stars, the Country legend said, "There are only two kinds of music, good and bad - and Rissi is good."

That's made clear on her self-titled debut featuring nine songs written or co-written by Palmer. The swaying romanticism of "Hold Onto Me," thoughtful introspection of "Anybody Out There" and irresistible strut of "Country Girl" testify to Palmer's refined, soulful singing. But her writing chops are just as evident, making it no surprise that one of her songs, "Faith," was included in the soundtrack for the Miramax film "The Woodsman" in 2004.

For all the travels she's taken, creatively and personally, from the talent shows of her teenage years in St. Louis to the publishing deal she signed with Song Planet in Nashville at age 20, she presents her message with the assurance you'd expect from a down-home Country girl on her way to the big time.

Photo by Jimmy Bruch

17.20 Entertainment recording artist Rissi Palmer

Like the sound of her music, the story of Sarah Johns is classic. Raised in a fly-speck Kentucky town, with a father so strict that she was punished when caught listening to a Faith Hill album, Johns learned to raise her head and sing in church before mastering the art of telling life's sad and joyful tales by singing a Country song.

Johns didn't start performing until after she'd enrolled at the University of Kentucky at Lexington, but a long residency at Regatta's seafood restaurant sharpened her skills to the point that she felt good about quitting school, bidding her boyfriend adieu and heading down to Nashville to build a career from scratch.

Eventually she won an invitation from Toby Keith's manager, who had caught her act back at Regatta, to do two songs on one of his client's tours. She chose a pair of originals, the rollicking "When Do I Get to Be a Woman" and the kiss-off anthem "The One in the Middle," probably the rowdiest celebration of a particular finger set to music in recent years.

The response she earned led straight to a record deal with BNA Records and a debut album, Big Love in a Small Town, produced by Joe Scaife and loaded with both of those barn-burners plus nine more songs that include a wickedly funny ode to love at first sight ("He Hates Me") and power ballads ("Touch Me" and "Baby My Heart") that add raw physical spice into her formula for romance. All of these bear her co-writing credit and reflect the promise that Johns has lots more to say with her pen, her voice, her country-bred charisma and maybe that middle digit every now and then.

PHOTO BY RUSS HARRINGTON

BNA recording artist Sarah Johns.

Win One of Three Special Prizes from Downtown Hoedown group The Road Hammers

AmericaJR.com announces that The Road Hammers will perform at the Downtown Hoedown on Saturday, May 10, 2008. In support of their upcoming performance, we're giving away three prizes to three separate winners: an autographed hat, a t-shirt and three stickers. The Road Hammers is an award-winning Canadian Country music group composed of Jason McCoy, Clayton Bellamy, Chris Byrne and Corbett Frasz. Their first self-titled album included remakes of several classic truck-driving songs.

Win an autographed copy of Downtown Hoedown group Little Big Town's album "The Road to Here" and a copy of their latest release "A Place to Land"

AmericaJR.com announces that Little Big Town will perform at the Downtown Hoedown on Saturday, May 10, 2008. In support of their upcoming performances, we're giving away four autographed copies of the album "The Road to Here" along with four copies of their latest release "A Place to Land". Four second-place winners will receive a copy of the Little Big Town album "A Place to Land". Its lead-off single, "I'm with the Band", has peaked at #32 on the country charts. The second single from the album, "Fine Line", is set for release in the spring of 2008. Courtesy of the Equity Music Group.

Win an autographed copy of Downtown Hoedown artist Phil Stacey's self-titled debut album

AmericaJR.com announces that Phil Stacey will perform at the Downtown Hoedown on Friday, May 9, 2008. In support of his upcoming performance, we're giving away five autographed copies of his self-titled debut album. Phil Stacey was a finalist on the sixth season of American Idol, where he performed for an average of 30 million viewers for the eleven weeks he competed on the series. Phil's debut single, "If You Didn't Love Me" is climbing the country charts. The track is produced by Wayne Kirkpatrick and co-written by Rascal Flatts' Gary Levox.

Win a copy of James Otto's latest album "Sunset Man", courtesy of Warner Bros. Nashville Records

AmericaJR.com has teamed up with Warner Bros. Nashville Records to give you the chance to win a copy of James Otto's new album "Sunset Man." It features the hit single "Just Got Started Lovin' You". Sunset Man, was released in April 2008, produced by John Rich (of Big & Rich) and Jay DeMarcus (of Rascal Flatts), the latter of whom is Otto's brother-in-law. In 1998, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and began attending songwriters' nights there; three years later, he joined the MuzikMafia, a group of country music songwriters which includes Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson.

Win a pair of tickets to see Adam D. Tucker at Boomer's Roadhouse in Waterford, Mich.

AmericaJR.com has teamed up with the Boomer's Roadhouse in Waterford to give you the chance to win a pair of tickets to see "Adam D. Tucker." The concert begins at 8:00 p.m. on May 24, 2008. Adam D. Tucker and his ultra talented band Custom Built have shared the stage with country music stars such as: Trace Adkins, Tracy Byrd, Josh Turner, Jason Aldean, Tracy Lawrence, Neal McCoy, Diamond Rio, Joe Diffie, Jo Dee Messina, Darryl Worley, among many others. Adam received the award for New Artist Radio Network Independent Country Music Artist Of The Year 2006!!!