As influenced by the outlaw country movement of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson as he is contemporary country rockers like Big & Rich or latter-day Kid Rock, Tomlinson is at least as committed to the honky tonk hell-raiser life as he is to the sweeter side of Nashville. Tomlinson, whose press photos make him look like the Southern-fried cousin of Steve Van Zandt in his bandana and leathers phase, was born in Arkansas in 1976 and raised in the small town of Kennett, MO. His father, Don Tomlinson, had played pro basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early '70s before a knee injury led him to high school coaching; despite some sporting talent of his own, Tomlinson was primarily interested in music. While still in high school in the early '90s, Tomlinson appeared on a country version of Star Search called You Can Be a Star, eventually winning first runner-up. Moving to Nashville upon graduation, Tomlinson spent nearly a decade in the usual Music Row grind as a struggling songwriter, chasing publishing deals and placing the occasional album track for second- and third-string singers. Moving into a more rock-influenced and progressive direction as the musical trends changed in Nashville, Tomlinson began to perform his own songs while having more luck placing tunes with acts like Emerson Drive, George Strait, and Sara Evans. Finally, in 2006, Tomlinson released his debut single on the Lyric Street label, the rowdy domestic spat "Drunker Than Me." Scoring a Top 20 country hit on his first try, Tomlinson followed with a ballad dedicated to his father, "One Wing in the Fire," which managed to cross over into the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100. Tomlinson's debut album, Country Is My Rock, was released in the spring of 2006. ~ Stewart Mason