Chris Cagle

Chris Cagle left Louisiana at age four and settled with his family on the outskirts of Houston, the area that became his childhood home. Guitar lessons began when he turned six, only to end after twelve months, though he picked up piano while attending high school and resumed playing guitar during his final year. Following graduation he entered the University of Texas at Arlington, yet left at nineteen to chase a career in music. Arriving in Nashville in 1994, he spent the next five years trying to break through; his first compositions were accepted by the veteran Nashville songwriter Harlan Howard, which led to a publishing contract and several placements with David Kersh. An assistant to the president of Virgin Records Nashville encountered him at a restaurant where Cagle was working, resulting in a contract with the label. The debut single, “My Love Goes on and On,” appeared on the country charts in July 2000 and climbed into the Top 20. His first album, Play It Loud, arrived that October, charted on the country albums list, and yielded the Top 40 track “Laredo.” In 2001 Cagle moved from Virgin to Capitol Records—both EMI subsidiaries—and the new imprint re-released Play It Loud the following June with two added songs. A self-titled set followed in 2003, then Anywhere But Here in 2005, which also reached the country Top 40. My Life’s Been a Country Song came out in 2008, and Capitol issued the compilation The Best of Chris Cagle in 2010. After several years away from recording, during which he constructed a ranch, married, and welcomed his first child, Cagle joined Big Picture Music Group. He returned in 2011 with the single “Got My Country On,” an early preview of the studio album Back in the Saddle slated for release the next year.