Artists

Megan Moroney

As a new face and talent on the country music scene, Megan Moroney is quickly making a name for herself. The Georgian native, 25, is rocketing up the charts after her latest single, Tennessee Orange, has become a social media sensation.

The song about a Georgia girl falling for a boy from her rival university, the University of Tennessee and her "wearing Tennessee orange for him", the colours of their football team, was streamed one million times in just five days, after being exclusively released and promoted by Spotify, an impressive feat for an independent artist. More than 44,000 clips using the song have been created on TikTok. Speculation has been rife about who the song is about and as it is a true story, Moroney is staying tight-lipped.

Tennessee Orange is Moroney's first entry on the US Billboard charts and is rising up the country chart, in 19th position as of the November 19 chart. It also peaked at number 75 on the Hot 100.

Maroney released her debut six-song EP, Pistol Made of Roses, in July, has previously opened concerts for Chase Rice and in November signed a record deal with Sony Music Nashville, so Country Connoisseur will be following her closely and watching for new masterpieces. Maroney's debut album is expected to be released next year. Tennessee Orange will be released as a single for country radio in December.

Keith Urban

Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Keith Urban has entertained folks around the globe for more than 30 years but has captured the devotion of Australians since childhood.

The 55-year-old developed an early interest in music and was given a ukulele at the age of four and started playing the guitar at the age of six. Urban's musical influences mirrored his parents' love of country music and as a teenager, he entered and won talent competitions and appeared on various television shows. After dropping out of school at 15, he appeared on Australia's New Faces in 1983, aged 16, performing a cover of Aussie band Air Supply's All Out of Love. He continued to hone his craft and performed regularly with a Brisbane girl, Jenny Wilson, throughout the 1980s.

In 1990, Urban won the prestigious Star Maker competition for young country music singers at the Tamworth Country Music Awards and released his debut single I Never Work on a Sunday with EMI. The single's success lead him to win a Golden Guitar from the Australian Country Music Association for New Talent of the Year in 1991, which was followed by the release of his first album Keith Urban exclusively in the great southern land later that year. In 1992, Urban won two more Golden Guitars, including Male Vocalist of the Year and then relocated to Nashville, to break through as a recognised country musician.

Urban worked hard throughout the 90s, collaborating with stalwarts such as Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith and Charlie Daniels. His US debut album, also self-titled, came out in 1999 on Capitol Nashville and was released worldwide. His first single, It's a Love Thing, went to number 18 on the US country chart, before three other singles peaked in the top-five in the next couple of years, including 2000's But for the Grace of God which was a chart-topper. The album went to number 17, the only studio album of Urban's not to reach number one or two, on the country albums chart and was certified platinum for selling one million copies. Of Urban's next nine studio albums, seven topped the chart and two peaked at number two, including Golden Road, Be Here, Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, Defying Gravity and 2013's Fuse, his first number-one album in Australia and NZ Top 40 entry, except for his greatest hits album The Story So Far. That topped the Australian popular and country charts and reached number 26 on the NZ Top 40 the previous year. His oldest eight studio albums have all been certified platinum in the US, some multiple times.

In the last six years, Urban has released three more albums topping the Australian popular, country and US country charts, Ripcord, Graffiti U and The Speed of Now Part 1. All have also been well received in New Zealand. Over his career, he has achieved 16 US number-one country singles with hits including Somebody Like You, You'll Think of Me, Days Go By, Making Memories of Us, Kiss a Girl, Without You, Long Hot Summer, We Were Us with Miranda Lambert and Blue Ain't Your Color. Some of his other charted hits have been Cop Car, Somewhere in My Car and duets with Eric Church, Carrie Underwood and P!nk, on Raise 'Em Up, The Fighter and One Too Many respectively, the latter being his best charting pop single in Australia peaking at number six.

Urban has won four GRAMMYs for best male country vocal performance, 15 Academy of Country Music Awards including the Jim Reeves International Award and six Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards. In 2001, the CMA honoured Urban with its Horizon Award, designating him a talented artist with a bright future. He was the first Horizon Award winner in history to go on to win the CMA's Male Vocalist of the Year, a title he's captured three times and the coveted Entertainer of the Year, which he has won twice. Urban was inducted into the Grand Old Opry in 2012.

Urban was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia at the 2020 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to the performing arts as a singer and songwriter, and to charitable organisations".

His newest singles Nightfalls and Brown Eyes Baby are currently receiving airplay on Country Connoisseur.

Kaylee Bell

She's a small-town girl but is putting the spotlight on what became New Zealand's lonely world since the downturn of local country music in the 1990s.

Kaylee Bell hails from the small rural Canterbury town of Waimate. The 32-year-old wasn't even born when the likes of That's Country were appointment viewing on Saturday nights in the 80s, but growing up in a music-loving household, Bell entered her first country music talent competition at four years old alongside her older brother and sister, going on the local country club awards circuit.

Aged 18, she won the top senior prize at the 2007 NZ Gold Guitar Awards in Gore, New Zealand's premier country music competition. She did a three-year Bachelor of Performing Arts degree at the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art in Christchurch music, before moving to Australia at 21 to break into the Australian country music scene. And she did, following in the course of her idol Keith Urban and winning Star Maker in 2013 with her single Pieces, written and released with Jared Porter, who would go on to win the talent quest in 2014. The single received substantial airplay on Australian radio and won the 2015 APRA Silver Scroll for the best-written country song. Bell independently released her second album, Heart First, in 2013, which won Best Country Album at the 2014 New Zealand Music Awards.

During the last decade and just like Urban, Bell has been to Nashville for songwriting, recording and perfecting her craft, returning back and forth to Australia and New Zealand. In the second half of the decade, she continued to release singles including Getting Closer, a collaboration with Morgan Evans, Next Somebody, One More Shot, Wasted on You, Home, Before I Met You with The McClymonts and Keith.

After performing Keith, her tribute to Urban, on The Voice Australia this year, the song became a global viral hit on TikTok and Spotify, three years after its initial release, where it has gained over 40 million TikTok plays and over 13.4 million Spotify streams.

Bell has performed at numerous country music events and festivals around the world, including in Nashville, the CMC Rocks Festival in Queensland, Australia and Lake Hawea's Top Paddock Music Festival. In November, she headlined Christmas in the Park in Christchurch. She has opened concerts for and supported many of country music's true legends, Alan Jackson, Lee Kernaghan, The McClymonts, Morgan Evans, The Chicks and of course, Urban. This year alone Bell has opened for Brad Paisley, Six60 and performed her first headline show in Auckland, in November, all while continuing to release new singles.

Bell's success comes from streaming in this modern age, introducing a new generation to country music. With over 40 million streams, she is currently the Most Streamed Country Artist for Australasia in 2022. She still has received some airplay on some of New Zealand's most popular radio stations though, with crossover pop remixes That Summer and Keith.

Bell's third studio album, Silver Linings, was independently released last year and she also released an EP, The Red EP, in 2021. She released her debut album in 2010.

Her newest singles, Same Songs with Australian artist James Johnston and Small Town Friday Nights, an anthem in celebration of Bell's teenage times in Waimate and running around on Friday nights, are proving very popular on Australian country radio and are playing on Country Connoisseur too.

Bell is a finalist for the CMA's Global Country Artist Award in recognition of her furthering the popularity of country music in New Zealand.