Say what you will about Hootie and the Blowfish's profound mediocrity — their massive success was merely the launching pad for Darius Rucker's true calling: country. On his Nashville debut, Rucker's rich baritone, sentimental ballads and bright hooks made him the most successful African-American country singer since Charley Pride. Rucker amps up that formula on album number two, delivering a swaggering honky-tonk frat-boy duet with Brad Paisley ("I Don't Care"), a cutesy tale of domestic bliss about sneaking a little nooky while the kids ain't lookin' ("Might Get Lucky") and a road song that finds him pining for sweet tea and chivalry ("Southern State of Mind"). Rucker's country may be little more than Hootie with fiddles, but that's progress.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."