Randy Houser Essentials

Randy Houser's 2013 hit "How Country Feels" describes what it's like to take a city girl on a backwoods tour. Houser proves the perfect tour guide: Born in Mississippi, he broke into Nashville writing hits like "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk," then scored his first solo smash with "Boots On," singing about a night at the bar over a blues beat accented by slide guitar twang. Houser's gritty voice ties it all together, able to carefully express both whiskey-soaked sadness and working-class defiance. On "Runnin' Outta Moonlight," he goes romantic, taking his girlfriend out for a drive on a clear summer—and presumably Southern—night.