Tammy Wynette Graham, c.1968, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. Named by her parents after Tammy Wynette, this country singer began to make some progress towards a similar level of name recognition in the mid-90s. Graham spent much of her youth as a child singer, before spending several years as one of the most successful acts at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. She had begun singing at the age of three, going on to teach herself piano. By the time she was 10 she was opening shows for Jerry Lee Lewis, moving to Nashville a year later. Although her demos failed to secure a contract, she continued to sing semi-professionally, working with gospel singer Wally Fowler and serving as support act to Faron Young and Danny Davis. When she became a teenager she elected to go on the road with a group for the first time: "Me and my momma and daddy in the front seat and my three musicians in the back seat of a Lincoln Continental, pulling a U-Haul trailer. We went all over, from Florida to Mexico." She began performing in Las Vegas casinos at the age of 17. Thus began her record-breaking seven-year, three shows a night, six nights a week residence at Caesar's Palace. She returned to Nashville only after one of these performances had been observed by Joe Diffie's manager, Danny Morrison. He introduced her to Tim DuBois, who signed her to Career Records after travelling to Las Vegas to see her play. Paired with producer Barry Beckett she made her long-playing debut in 1996. This self-titled collection utilized some of "Music Row's" best writers, including Mark D. Snaders, Bob DiPiero and Bob McDill.

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