One of the biggest female country voices of the 1990s, Martina used her star power to sing songs dealing with female empowerment and other topics including abuse (“Independence Day”), disabilities (“God’s Will”), and cancer (“I’m Gonna Love You Through It”). The journey to her career started out in 1988 when she married her husband John, who was a sound engineer. The two of them moved to Nashville hoping to get Martina the dream she was chasing. John ended up joining Garth Brooks’ sound crew (the biggest country artist at that time and 2012 Hall Of Fame inductee), so Martina sold merchandise during the shows. Garth was impressed by her, so he offered her a spot as an opening act if she could get a recording contract. John helped make her a demo, and she signed with RCA. From there, she put together a music resume that any up-and-coming artist would dream of: songs that are considered classics in the genre, 14 Grammy award nominations and eventually she will earn a spot in the Country Music Hall Of Fame.

Coming onto the country scene in 1980, Earl became popular for his “thinking man’s country” style of country music that he recorded throughout his career; his songs involved characters, well written stories and heartbreak. He started out in the business as a songwriter, getting some hits for country artists Mel Street and Conway Twitty. Spending those years just writing songs allowed him to hone his skills for when he got his own recording contract. His well written tunes were hits and helped get him what is a celebrated career. He had at least one number one song every year from 1981-1989, and (thanks to a duet with Anita Pointer) was the only country artist to sing on the show “Soul Train”. In fact, he had the third most number one songs of any singer in the 1980’s. Unfortunately, his radio career basically came to a grinding halt when the “Class of ‘89” came in, signalling a new generation of country singers coming in. Today, his catalogue of songs isn’t as respected as it should be, but he left a legacy of brilliant storytelling that is still a height the songwriters of the present day try to live up to.

I’m sure growing up as one of the children of an astronomical musical force like Johnny Cash could bring about a fair share of difficulties, but having the most popular singers coming in and out of your house as a teenager also helps to get you a foot in the door. Connecting up with some of those singers and a lot of hard work lead to her record contract. In the early 1980s, her signature song “Seven Year Ache” helped put her on the map for critics and audiences. This started a string of hits and acclaim for her throughout the 80s. Once her radio career ended, she took the acclaim and audience she had built up and created another successful chapter of her career in the independent/Americana field. Without radio support, she certainly doesn’t come anywhere close to the sales she had before. But with the fans that still stick by her, and the consistently great critical reviews (including 16 Grammy award nominations), she can smoothly ride this wave for as long as she wants to. Hopefully, that wave takes her all the way to the Hall Of Fame someday.

Clint Black is another artist who got his start singing in a band with his brothers as a child. Eventually, he went solo and got a record contract with RCA. His first single was released in 1989, placing him in country music’s legendary “Class Of ‘89” which also included Garth Brooks (2012 Hall Of Fame inductee), Alan Jackson (2017 inductee), Travis Tritt, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Clint went pretty traditional with his music throughout his career, so he was never going to have the crossover success of Garth Brooks or Shania Twain. But even without being a crossover star, Clint ended up being one of the big country stars of the 1990s. He wrote all of his own songs, played guitar on all of his tracks, 11 Grammy nominations, won 2 CMA awards, won 5 ACM awards, didn’t miss the top ten for an entire decade, and sold over 20 million albums. By the year 2000, he was ready to get out of the tough cycle of the Nashville industry, essentially ending his run at radio. But by that point he already built up an impressive resume. Today, his songs may not have held up as much as other ’90s hit-makers but he still was able to make an important legacy with country music.