Country singers make us fall in love with them each time we hear one of their songs.
Sometimes, it’s hard to imagine a time before they were making music full-time, but lots of singers excelled at other things before they made it big in the country world.
We’ve compiled a list of country singers who have done some pretty “out there” things before they became famous!
Chris Young
(Facebook: Chris Young)
We can thank Miranda Lambert for revealing on The Talk that Chris Young started breakdancing when he was a kid, and it seems that he hasn’t stopped since! Watch him bust a move below!
Kenny Rogers
(Facebook: Kenny Rogers)
In Men’s Health Magazine, Rogers admitted that when it came to tennis, he was a little too intense. “I can’t play tennis anymore, since I’ve got no original body parts that work anymore,” he said. “Maybe because, when I played, I played eight hours a day, every day. You’ve got to pace yourself. Then again, I was ranked two spots above Bjorn Borg in doubles.” Bjorn Borg is a former world No. 1 tennis player from Sweden.
Jason Aldean
(Facebook: Jason Aldean)
Before Jason Aldean hit it big, he drove a truck for a living. Not just any truck, but a Pepsi truck. When he was 17-years-old, he started working at the Pepsi plant in Georgia and began driving the delivery truck shortly after. “I was the guy that rode around in a truck and delivered drinks to all the convenience stores, so this was kind of my back-up plan,” he said in an interview.
Chris Lane
(Facebook: Chris Lane)
You may know Chris Lane because of his hit song, “Fix”, and his dashing good looks. You may have seen him on TV many years ago and not even know! He and his twin brother auditioned for American Idol and rapped their audition! Needless to say, the judges did not like what they heard and they didn’t advance. Lane sure proved them wrong, though! He is now going to be opening for Rascal Flatts.
Kix Brooks
(Facebook: Kix Brooks)
Believe it or not, music wasn’t always Kix Brooks’ number one priority. In college, he majored in Theater Art. He attended Louisiana Tech University and worked for his father on an oil pipeline in Alaska.
Jana Kramer
(Facebook: Jana Kramer)
Before she was melting our hearts with pictures of her gorgeous baby girl, Jana Kramer was an ice skater! In high school, she used to do pre-game skating shows before Detroit Red Wings games. She even competed in the Junior Nationals.
Dustin Lynch
(Facebook: Dustin Lynch)
“I was gonna be a surgeon,” Dustin Lynch tells Go Country 105. Before Lynch began focusing on music, he was focusing on going to school to be a doctor.
Keith Urban
(Facebook: Keith Urban)
Keith Urban has always wanted to be a musician, so he never had a weird first job or anything. The shocking fact about him, though, is that he was a guitarist for Brooks & Dunn! Since he is from Australia, he had to obtain a work visa, and because he wanted to play music, that’s all his visa allowed him to do. He also played for some time with the Dixie Chicks.
Craig Campbell
(Facebook: Craig Campbell)
Campbell worked for two years as a prison guard at Rogers State Prison in Reidsville, Georgia. He did everything from searching cells and inmates to patrolling the grounds of the all-male facility.
Garth Brooks
(Facebook: Garth Brooks)
A lot of people know this about Brooks, but it’s still crazy to think that he did something besides sing beautiful country music! Brooks has reported for Spring Training for the San Diego Padres, New York mets and Kansas City Royals from 1999-2004. He had a less-than stellar batting average, but he had a blast!
Tim McGraw
(Facebook: Tim McGraw)
McGraw revealed on his Facebook page that his first job ever was cleaning shopping carts. Yes, the ones from the grocery store! “Me and my buddy used to go out and clean shopping carts from grocery stores,” he said. “We would clean them and fix the wheels.”
Blake Shelton
(Facebook: Blake Shelton)
When Blake Shelton was a young kid, he always knew he wanted to be a singer. Unfortunately the only place that he could perform for a crowd was in children’s pageants. “There was a talent portion of the pageant,” Shelton told Entertainment Tonight. “In order for me to sing in the pageant, like my mom wanted me to, I had to do the evening wear and all that crap.”
Trace Adkins
(Facebook: Trace Adkins)
The man with the deepest voice in country music did not always sing for a living. Before he was famous, he worked as an oil rigger and according to Trace Adkins himself, he still does it to this day!
Faith Hill
(Facebook: Faith Hill)
Prior to her move from Mississippi to Nashville, Faith spent some of her time asking McDonald’s customers if they wanted to super-size their fries! Yep, Faith Hill worked at McDonalds. She also sold merchandise at Reba McEntire’s booth at concerts.
Reba McEntire
(Facebook: Reba McEntire)
In 1994, Reba McEntire wrote an autobiography where she revealed that she helped her parents with their farm. She assisted her dad in turning bulls into steers. “I would stand behind the bull and hold his tail while Daddy sliced the sack and cut the cord and let the testicles fall … Daddy would pass the testicles to me and I’d put them in a bucket,” she wrote.
Jake Owen
(Facebook: Jake Owen)
Jake Owen has taken the country world by storm, but before he did that, he almost became a professional golfer!! After graduating high school, Owen planned on playing golf at Florida State University before playing professional golf. A wakeboarding injury sent him down another path. He hurt his shoulder, which required surgery, and it was never the same again. During his rehab, he picked up a guitar, and the rest is history!
Toby Keith
(Facebook: Toby Keith)
Toby Keith worked in the oil fields in the 70s and in 1980, Keith began playing semi-pro football. He played defensive end for the Oklahoma Outlaws and the Oklahoma City Drillers before focusing on music exclusively in 1984.
Conway Twitty
(vulture.com)
Conway had an early interest in music. When he was ten-years-old, he joined hist first group, the Phillips County Ramblers. Although he showed much promise, his dream was to be a baseball player. He was actually offered a contract by the Philedelphia Phillies, but was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and was unable to accept the contract. He returned stateside in 1956 and decided to pursue music after he heard Elvis Presley sing.
Chase Rice
(Facebook: Chase Rice)
Chase Rice helped write the Florida Georgia Line mega-hit “Cruise” and released his first single, “Ready Set Roll”, in 2013. Before he was famous, he competed on the 21st season of Survivor and he placed second! Check out a clip of him from the show below.