When Doug Stone first impacted radio back in 1990 with his debut single, “Better Off in a Pine Box,” listeners were introduced to one of the most distinctive traditional voices ever to hit country airwaves. Now the legendary singer of timeless country hits like "A Jukebox with a Country Song" and "In a Different Light" has returned to touring , and is currently playing venues across the United States .
Throughout his hit-filled major label career, Doug Stone has had 8 number one and 15 Top Ten singles on the charts. His current tour offers all of these, as well as new recordings that are vintage Doug Stone .
No doubt, Stone's life and career have taken some unpredictable turns through the years . "I crashed a motorcycle, two trucks and an airplane, and I also had a stroke, a heart attack and bypass surgery, so just to be here is pretty amazing.", Stone says.
The unwavering loyalty of an army of Doug Stone fans has remained constant. "There's no more loyal fans than country music fans" Stone says. " They really hang on, and I've got a ton of them from all the way back in 1990. They're kind of like family, and they've been with me every step along the way. I've had my ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it for nothin'." |
Signed to Evergreen Records at 21 years old, Sammy Sadler had already hit the top of country charts six times, and was nominated for Top 5 Indie Male Vocalists when he and friend Kevin Hughes , chart director for music industry magazine Cashbox , were approached one evening in 1989 on Nashville's famed Music Row by a masked man in dark clothing. The man opened fire , fatally wounding Hughes, and leaving Sadler for dead.
It would take more than a decade before the details were learned of an elaborate chart- fixing scheme at the now defunct magazine, and before the masked gunman was identified, tried, convicted and sentenced for the crime, which has famously become known around the world as the “ Murder on Music Row .” Hughes had been the target, and Sadler happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sadler has picked up the pieces and continues where he left off. In 1993, he was voted Top Male Vocalist for Dallas-Fort Worth . His new album, Heart Shaped Like Texas , is his first nationally released album on major label Koch E1 since the shooting, and is filled with top-drawer songs that are true country classics . “I look for songs that speak to me,” he says. “If I don't believe in what I'm singing, there's no way I can expect an audience to believe it, either.” |
