Jewly Hight

The artist was a star performer in country music, and went on to become one of the genre's most recognizable and universally adored ambassadors to broader popular culture. Both Missouri and Kansas participated in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which mailed free books to young children.

In the '90s, Brooks & Dunn helped to broaden country music's audience with its embrace of a wide range of sounds and on-stage spectacle. 25 years later, their influence is everywhere in Nashville.

There really was no precedent for Maybelle Carter, who learned to play from her own mother and spent much of her life teaching her children — as well as generations of country stars that followed.

Auerbach breaks down working with new artists and seasoned session players through his label imprint, Easy Eye Sound.

On her bustling third album, the former Carolina Chocolate Drops member maps her vision of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora while gently taking Anglocentricism (and capitalism) down a notch.