However, their core audience of American country music fans greeted the album with a lukewarm response.
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Travis, who has sold more than 20 million records, has won seven Grammy Awards, 10 Academy of Country Music statuettes, 10 American Music Awards, seven Music City News awards, five Country Music Association honors and eight Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association, according to his website.
First, though, to La Paz, Bolivia, where an American is changing the country's music scene.
Even within the confines of musically narrow genres, Cooder allows himself room to stretch, manipulating the song structures of 1930s American music: minstrel folk, country ballads, blues and even the lounge jazz of Chet Baker.
Sponsorship can lead to musicians wearing a company's clothes and naming songs after it: Rascall Flatts, a country music band, has done both for American Living, a label carried by JCPenney.
But these days, she is an up-and-comer in country music -- and a rare African-American performer in the genre.
Country music is home to a smattering of well-known African-American artists.
"Country Girl, " the first single off Palmer's self-titled 2007 debut album, made her the first African-American female in 20 years to hit Billboard's country chart, according to Country Music Television.
For his latest album, Palacio abandoned mainstream Latin-American instruments and simplified his music to connect more with the true sound of his home country.
"Their music is often at the heart of the American story and speaks to folks across the country, " Mr Obama said.
Warm and intimate, his largely acoustic and usually spare arrangements are a tribute to what Ward sees as the greatest era for American music: the 1950s and early '60s, when singers like Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison infused country-rooted pop with honesty and romance.
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