Deana Carter

A glamorous country starlet with a smooth voice, good looks and a wicked turn of phrase, Deana Carter was seen as a refreshing antidote to vacuous Nashville pop when she broke through in the 1990s with her alt. folk melodies, barbed, bitter sweet lyrics and unflinching honesty. The daughter of country guitarist Fred Carter Jnr, she got her break relatively late at 30, when Willie Nelson heard her demo recordings and put her on the bill at Farm Aid in 1994; and she was already a divorced, single mum by the time debut Did I Shave My Legs For This? (1995) was released. The album made the US Top 10 and lead single Strawberry Wine topped the Country charts and won two CMA Awards and Carter went on to open for Faith Hill, Bob Dylan and Keith Urban. Her follow-ups Everything's Gonna Be Alright (1998), Father Christmas (2001) - featuring her father - and I'm Just A Girl (2003) also fared well, and she recruited Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson and George Jones to appear on her sixth studio album The Chain. Kenny Chesney had a hit with her song Tequila And Me in 2011, but she took a lengthy break from the industry before returning with Southern Way Of Life (2013) released through her own independent label Little Nugget Records.