Number 9: Lee Brice

Lee Brice comes from the backwoods of South Carolina, and mentions it many times in his debut album, Love Like Crazy. The first track, also called "Love Like Crazy", put Lee on the map, taking a record breaking 46 weeks to make it to the top of the Billboard charts. Lee was influenced by the music of Hank Williams Jr, Garth Brooks, but also, Coldplay, 3 Doors Down, and Tom Petty (I'm a huge Tom Petty fan, so this could be why I like him so much!) Now, let's get down to the important stuff. What got Lee to my top 9 of favorite newer country artists? Well, not only those beautiful eyes, but also his music. Songs such as "Sumter County Friday Night" and "Carolina Boys" are great tunes to boogie down to at a honky tonk, while songs such as "Happy Endings" and "These Last Few Days" really tug at the heart strings. Lee draws his inspiration from growing up in South Carolina under the strong influence of family and love. The first track of the album, "Picture of Me", paves the way for the rest of the cd and gives listeners a taste of what Lee's all about, with lyrics such as, "Like me or leave me, either way you'll know it the second you shake my hand." His lyrics stem straight from the memory and truths about growing up. Just like a true country artists, his music comes straight from the heart and rocks the soul. Did I mention he's easy on the eyes? Although this newcomer doesn't have any Grammy awards under his belt just yet, (the Grammy people seem to have awful taste in country anyway) Lee is well on his way to the top. In January, 2012, Lee was nominated by the ACM for "Song of the Year" due to his writing of the song "Crazy Girl" that is performed by another amazing band, The Eli Young Band. This song was the number 1 Billboard song for 2011, a year after "Love Like Crazy" was the number one song for 2010! On April 24th, 2012, Lee will release his second album, Hard 2 Love. His first single from this album,"A Woman Like You" has had big radio success so far. I'd say definitely keep a look out for this guy-I know I will for sure be picking up that cd!!