We continue our recording artists category with some smoking hot men of country music. With their smoldering good looks and down-home melodies, they have all the goods to turn someone like me into a bowl of jelly! I can say just one lustful glance from any of these men is enough for me to pull a Crystal Gayle and make my brown eyes blue! Be sure to vote for your favorite over at WhosHotFL.com.
We continue our recording artists category with some smoking hot men of country music. With their smoldering good looks and down-home melodies, they have all the goods to turn someone like me into a bowl of jelly! I can say just one lustful glance from any of these men is enough for me to pull a Crystal Gayle and make my brown eyes blue! Be sure to vote for your favorite over at WhosHotFL.com.
Keith Urban
Born October 26, 1967
Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Keith Urban is living proof that you don’t need to be raised in Dogpatch or Harper Valley to feel country roots down in your soul. He made his U.S. debut in 1999 and his first album went platinum. He also scored the biggest country hit for the entire decade of the 2000s with “Somebody Like You.”
He has earned fourteen #1 singles on the country charts, and his fame earned him spots on the judges’ tables on The Voice Australia and American Idol (he really didn’t stand a chance next to diva Mariah and crazy Nicki, did he?). Before you write your love letters like I did, he’s been taken for many years, having married the Aussie redheaded bomshell Nicole Kidman in 2006. In 2008 and 2011 their daughters were born. A happy family? Almost sounds TOO happy for a country song!
Brad Paisley
Born October 28, 1972
A small-town boy at heart, Brad Paisley was born and raised in the small West Virginia town of Glen Dale (population 1,526). He entered the music industry after he earned a scholarship to Nashville’s Belmont University, originally writing songs for other artists before branching out in his own right as a singer. His explosive debut in 1999 earned him a platinum-certified album and an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry in 2001 (as its then-youngest ever member). His legacy includes eighteen #1 singles on the country charts, including a string of back-to-back #1 releases which lasted for four years!
Poor Brad was unlucky in love with fellow country singer Chely Wright, who eventually came out as a lesbian, but he rebounded nicely and settled down with Father of the Bride and According to Jim actress Kimberly Williams. Why do these women always get to my men first??? Oh, well. They’re a cute couple and very happy together.
Blake Shelton
Born June 18, 1976
It took Oklahoma native Blake Shelton six times before he would earn a platinum album certification, but he’s no slouch, having earned fourteen #1 hits on the country charts. His debut single, “Austin,” in 2001 was his breakthrough track, and the album it was on went gold. He is now up-and-coming country royalty, having married sassy singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert in 2011.
2011 was a banner year for Blake, as he was picked to be the “country” mentor on the tremendously popular singing competition The Voice on NBC. Out of the four seasons the show has aired to date, his contestants have won three of the seasons. Whether they will reach the high heights of the country charts like he has remains to be seen. His Christmas special last year was high-rated and critically lauded…could he be today’s country version of Bing Crosby? Only if he’s nice and not naughty. (Okay, I’ll give him permission to be a little naughty.)
Luke Bryan
Born July 17, 1976
Luke Bryan, from a small town in southwest Georgia called Leesburg, is newer to the country music scene. He scored his first top ten hit in 2007, and since then he has notched seven more, four of which rose to #1. He won top honors for “best new artist” at the Academy of Country Music Awards. His fans are very vocal, picking him to win two big awards in 2012: the Favorite Male Country Artist award at the American Music Awards and Artist of the Year at the American Country Awards.
Luke Bryan still has a ways to go before he makes his place in country music history like the previous three men profiled this week, but he is well on his way. His fourth album, “Crash My Party,” will be released in August and it may very well reach multi-million sales like his last album, “Tailgates & Tanlines.” I hope his music matures from “stay for the party” to “stay a while longer,” because he could if he wanted. He is that talented.
