Sunny Sweeney

You don't have to be a coked-up A&R exec to know that Sunny Sweeney is going to be huge. After listening to her debut, it's obvious that she's a true Texas spitfire overflowing with talent and the intangible "it" that you either have or don't. Heartbreaker's Hall Of Fame is a straight-up honky-tonk album, the first recorded by a woman since Loretta Lynn's 2004 epic Van Lear Rose. With help from Jim Lauderdale, Sweeney's soulful wail covers many tunes (as well as her own compositions), but Audrey Auld's "Next Big Nothing" is a salient hit on this impressive debut.