Top 6 Breakout Country Artists of 2017

Talented singers and songwriters are ubiquitous in Music City. You'll find them singing their hearts out on Broadway, playing show after show after show, setting up meetings, attending writers' rounds and holed up in songwriting mode -- and all for one reason: music. Everyone's hustling like crazy, but these days, it doesn't just take talent to "make it" in music; it takes supreme effort, a little luck, that extra-special "something" and a drive to never, ever, ever give up.

The six artists in the photo gallery below are acts who saw all that work pay off in 2017. Some are relatively new to Nashville, while others have been working Music Row for years.

One artist dropped out of high school to perform full-time at Dollywood in order to chase her dreams, and one pawned her wedding ring to pay for her debut album. All six, though, artists are the cream of the crop: tenacious, talented and major up-and-coming forces in country music.

Click though the gallery to see The Boot's picks for country music's six biggest breakout artists of 2017.