Steel Magnolia (Country Pop)

Steel Magnolia sing about what they know -- which is to say, Meghan Linsey and Joshua Scott Jones are boyfriend and girlfriend in their 20s, singing (and frequently writing) mostly about boyfriends and girlfriends in their 20s. They met as cute as can be -- at a karaoke bar in Nashville where Meghan worked. Before that, she'd grown up near New Orleans, and started belting out soul, blues and honky-tonk in front of a bar full of middle-aged guys while still in her mid-teens; Jones, for his part, was born in Houston, Tex., was adopted, then grew up on rock and country in small-town Illinois, and refined his own adolescent singing chops -- starting with a self-penned song inspired by L.A.'s riots -- at the black Baptist church his family attended. Years later, once the couple joined forces, they tried out for the second season of CMT's Can You Duet, made it on, and won. Big Machine -- Taylor Swift's label -- signed them, and put out their first single, "Keep On Lovin' You," in 2009. After it went Top 5 on Billboard's country chart, they followed it with two more singles and an EP in 2010, then a full album in early 2011.