KMLE 108 Summer Throwdown Users Guide

Courtesy of azcentral.com

Valley radio station KMLE-FM (107.9 FM) is no stranger to promoting big-time country concerts. In April, the station hosted the annual Country Thunder music festival. Now that Valley country fans have had time to recover from the three-day event, KMLE is hosting another country festival. Although the Summer Throwdown isn't nearly as big as Country Thunder, it promises to showcase some of the genre's fastest-rising talents.

Here's a look at the lineup:

JT HODGES

Given his musical background, it's not a big surprise that JT Hodges eventually found his way around to becoming a performer. His mother was a country musician who was once signed to MCA Nashville and his father was a classically trained pianist and owner of Buffalo Sound Studios in Hodges' hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. After graduating from Texas Christian University, Hodges moved to Los Angeles, where he played small gigs to test out his own material. Hodges eventually made his way to Nashville, where he scored a record deal with Toby Keith's Show Dog/Universal Music record label. "Hunt You Down," his first single, became a summer hit with country music fans and critics alike in 2011. Country music website Roughstock.com described the song as "insanely catchy" and "an almost instant sing-along." It remains to be seen if fans will be eager to hunt Hodges down when he releases his debut album but chances are they will be.

VIEW THE FULL LINEUP HERE >>