Dillon Carmichael

They told him he'd have to pay his dues, and he did. He has. He is.

"I fell in love with it, and I said, 'I'm gonna cut this song one day,'" Carmichael remembers, "and then, like, four years later, I cut that song, and here we are."

The gritty performance calls to mind some classic country greats.

He's dancing away with our hearts, too.