With more than 2.6 million albums sold and over 2.8 billion total streams, plus a legion of passionate fans at his high-energy concerts across the globe. With new releases “Fireside,” “Go Down Singin’” and “Haw River” previewing his forthcoming independent albumGo Down Singin’ (Sept. 20) as the follow-up to critically acclaimed album I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, Rice’s sound continues to evolve to reflect the realities of his life; from emotional reckoning to an admiration of the American West.

CORY ASBURY

CoryAsburyisafearlesssongwriter and performerwith a lifelonghabit ofbreaking molds andbustingboxes.“It’s thephilosophyI’ve always had,” Asbury explained. “I’ve always been the guywhois goingto push boundaries and going to hopefully break boxes.One of my favorite words is iconoclast,the dude,or the gal,who breaks the mold. It’s always been part of who I am.”With his latest record,Pioneer, the Grammy-nomineeis unpackingcrates ofraw emotion he’switnessed firsthand on his impressive, rambling journey to Music City.“You see humanity at its best and worst. You see people at their most broken and you seepeople at the top of the mountain,” Asbury offered.“The thing that resonates with me as asongwriter is the plight, the experience of being human–it’s such a fragile, vulnerable,sort ofbroken thing.