Big Daddy Weave, The Isaacs, Connie Smith, Marty Stuart, et Carrie Underwood

The current lineup of Big Daddy Weave is almost identical to the original, formed now over a decade ago; Mike Weaver is the frontman, singing and playing guitar, his brother Jay Weaver plays bass, Jeremy Redmon is on lead guitar and Joe Shirk is a multi-instrumentalist, usually playing either saxophone or keyboards. Only Brian Belhi, on drums, is a recent addition, joining the band in 2013 after original sticksman Jeff Jones departed to focus on other endeavors. Big Daddy Weave are by no means a Christian rock band in the kind of abstract way that, say, Creed became known for - they deal with typical Christian topics directly in their lyrics, and their hits include the likes of ‘Audience of One’, ‘What Would Life Be Like’, Every Time I Breathe’, ‘In Christ’, ‘Fields of Grace’, ‘Without You’ and ‘Redeemed’.

The band came together whilst all studying at college, at the University of Mobile; there’s more than a little suggestion, though, that there might have been some divine intervention behind the group’s formation. Frontman Mike Weaver was originally a worship leader in Pensacola, Florida. Thankfully, for the group’s legions of fans, he only moved to Mobile at the behest of his pastor, who was convinced that the vocally gifted Weaver should have been studying voice.

Underwood’s rise to fame came after winning the fourth season of ‘American Idol’ in 2005, launching the singer into country-music stardom. After the victory and the subsequent Idols Live Tour, Underwood released her debut single “Inside Your Heaven" which immediately debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the only country single of the decade to do so. The singer’s debut maintained much the same appeal, “Some Heart” released in 2005 sold over 300,000 copies in its first week, stayed in the chart for over two years and eventually certified platinum seven times over.

As a result the singer became highly acclaimed and received an intimidatingly-high number of coveted awards including Single Record of the Year for “Jesus, Take the Wheel” from the Academy of Country Music, a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association and five trophies courtesy of the Billboard Music Awards among many others. Into 2007 the singer was still releasing singles from her debut album including “Wasted” and after a couple of Grammy wins the same year she issued her sophomore release “Carnival Ride” in October 2007.

“Carnival Ride” which debuted at No. 1, produced the four hit singles “So Small”, “All American Girl”, “Last Name” and “Just A Dream”. Underwood’s third studio effort “Play On” took the singer in a much more rooted songwriting position, co-writing seven on the album’s tracks including the lead single “Blown Away”. The album was released in early 2012, was produced by long-term contributor Mark Bright and featured the singles “Temporary Home” and "Undo It”.

Despite the singer’s modest show of releases, Underwood has earned a significant spread of awards including inductions into the Grand Ole Opry in 2008 and into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, winning six Grammy Awards, sixteen Billboard Music Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards and eight American Music Awards.