Ashton Shepherd is 24 years old, but she doesn't sing like it. She has one of those lived-in country voices: hard and bright, weary but hopeful, perfect for her wise, witty, tough-minded songs. Her debut, Sounds So Good, was one of the best country releases of 2008. Where Country Grows is even better - full of kiss-offs ("Look It Up"), celebrations of the sticks ("More Cows Than People") and backwoods-diva ballads like "I'm Just a Woman." She can be as rugged as Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson, and sings better than each. In "I'm Good," she belts, "I'm gettin' better at being my best." That's an understatement.

 Listen to "Look It Up":

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“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."