To Amanda Martin, singing is like breathing. Born and raised in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, she spent her early years listening to her parents perform the best of Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Waylon Jennings in the honky-tonks of the North Country. Amanda came to Nashville in 1999 to attend Belmont University’s Music Business Program from which she received her degree in 2003 in Music Business Management. During her second year at Belmont, she was awarded the prestigious “Best of Belmont” which afforded her the opportunity to perform with Vince Gill. After graduating from Belmont, Amanda appeared on the “Oh Mickey, Where Art Thou?” compilation with other artists such as Ronnie Milsap, Collin Raye, and Charlie Louvin. She then went on to sign her first publishing contract with Best Built Songs, and became affiliated with the performing rights organization BMI in 2004.
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Within Daniel Smith's rugged six-foot-five frame lies the heart of a poet and the warm, sincere and comforting voice of a best friend. Like those of Kris Kristofferson, Smith's lyrics are literate and well-defined meditations on life's uneven surfaces. All 11 songs on this debut album American Made are Smith's solo compositions, except for one he co-wrote. Clearly, here is an artist with his own voice and vision. Smith grew up in Taylor Mill, Kentucky, a small town just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Although Cincinnati has long been a center of country and bluegrass music, Smith says his inspiration came from his parents' record collection, which tended to be heavy on albums by Eddy Arnold, Conway Twitty, the Statler Brothers and the gospel-singing Gaithers. Like most boys his age, Smith also developed a strong affinity for rock music. In college, he began playing in his fraternity's rock band, No Exit, which made a sizable name for itself working the clubs and bars of Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. "Eventually we broke up," Smith says, "and I kind of fell away from music for a while. But I finally realized that making music was what I wanted to do with my life. And I found myself drawn to country music. So I started writing songs and just getting to know the business."
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Robin Ruddy is a multi-instrumentalist. She plays Pedal Steel, banjo, guitar and dobro.
Currently she is playing with Rod Stewart on his world tour. So far in the last 18 months they have traveled to over 25 countries.
She also owns a music publishing company called Best Built Songs, a recording studio The Parlor, a production company Parlor Productions and a real estate company that caters to people in the music industry called Music Row Realty.
Her husband Larry Sheridan, is the co-founder and COO of all of these businesses while Robin is traveling the globe.
