Thad Cockrell

As a youngster growing up in Tampa, Fla., Thad Cockrell didn't have rock 'n' roll or country records around the house. His father was, and still is, a Baptist preacher, as are Cockrell's two brothers. Thad's first exposure to the pure country sound came from listening to Merle Haggard and George Jones on commercial radio. At home, there was always plenty of Southern gospel music.

Cockrell attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., hardly a musical hotbed, but it was there he got the bug to write his own tunes.

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