Sunny Sweeney

No, you didn't step into a time machine and no, you are not listening to a reissue. Austin, Texas' Sunny Sweeney sings old-school honky-tonk, and that shouldn't seem so weird. She shouldn't be an anomaly in her field, but she's one of the only modern-day country singers playing twangy, timeless roadhouse songs. She grew up in a Texas town called Longview, where absorbing the songs of Kitty Wells, Buck Owens, George Jones and other country legends came as easy as breathing air. Having a stepfather and a grandfather who are country musicians surely helped influence her as well. Before singing country music, Sweeney lived in New York City and worked with a comedy improv group. Every time a skit required her to sing, the folks in her troupe encouraged Sweeney to pursue her more obvious gift. So she moved back home to cut an album. Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame showcased her as a brassy and soulful singer as well as a songwriter who puts her living into the narratives of her compositions. But it also reveals a woman who knows her country music so well that she can pick songs not only to cover, but to make her own (dig her life-size version of Audry Auld's "Next Big Nothing").