WHAT WAS IT LIKE GROWING UP IN GRAND FORKS, N.D.?
I was very close to my paternal grandparents. They founded the saddle club in Grand Forks, and my grandmother taught me to ride bareback. She was my inspiration. “If you can ride bareback, you can ride anything,” she would say. My parents say that I could sing before I could talk and ride horseback before I could walk.

After nine studio albums, three greatest hits compilations, and a string of hits that date all the way back to “Life’s A Dance” from his 1992 debut album of the same name, John Michael Montgomery is striking out on his own.

The writer of the cowboy classic “The Old Double Diamond” is back with his first new studio album since 1992. McMahan’s unconventional voice may take some getting used to, but his stellar writing talents are in full effect on Goin’ My Way. This album was well worth the wait. —M.B.

Two or three times a year, the Grammy-award winning cowboy quartet Riders in the Sky performs with a symphony orchestra as part of a Pops series. However, when the band joined the Nashville Symphony Orchestra for three sold-out performances at Schermerhorn Hall in February 2009, it was a unique experience decades in the making.

How do you define the career of a music legend who’s spent five decades defying convention and blazing her own path? In a word, Dolly. This four-CD set includes all 21of Parton’s #1 country hits, as well as her duets, B-sides, seven previously-unreleased tracks, and a full-color booklet stuffed with rare photos. —Tom Wilmes

Two or three times a year, the Grammy-award winning cowboy quartet Riders in the Sky performs with a symphony orchestra as part of a Pops series. However, when the band joined the Nashville Symphony Orchestra for three sold-out performances at Schermerhorn Hall in February 2009, it was a unique experience decades in the making.