Walk down Broadway in downtown Nashville at any time of the day or night and you’ll hear music blasting from practically every establishment. Singers, songwriters and musicians, all doing what they love and hoping their music will reach a wide audience.

Allie Colleen is one of those artists. Music has been her lifeblood, her passion since she was a child. And she’s been listening and learning from the best ever since.

“I think it was Jo Dee Messina. It was Christina Aguilera, it was Kelly Clarkson, it was Amy Lee from Evanescence, I just want to be the Amy Lee of country so bad! That’s what I want to do,” Colleen told On The Red Carpet.

“I hope to take over the world in my life but I am still grateful every year to be doing some things.”

Colleen has been doing plenty of things, including releasing her debut album, “Stones.” She also performs weekly at a special spot in downtown Nashville.

“I play on the rooftop of Friends in Low Places every Tuesday from noon to three. That is my weekly gig, that is my gig that I play,” she said.

That bar is owned by Garth Brooks, who also happens to be Colleen’s dad, as well as her biggest fan.

“My parents just want me to be happy, you know, so I think that’s the best advice my parents have given me is to pursue happiness. And I’m very lucky that that aligns with my career, it aligns with everything I wanted to do and I’m lucky for that,” she said.

Another artist to watch is Frank Ray. We caught up with him at a fan appearance during CMA Fest.

“I love CMA Fest,” Ray told On The Red Carpet. “It’s really cool to be able to interact with the fans because at the end of the day, they’re the real boss.”

Music wasn’t Ray’s first career, he was actually a police officer! But the stage was calling and he made a choice.

“I served for ten years in the Las Cruces Police Department in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and stepping away from a job where I had that kind of tenure, where I had that kind of stability, where, I knew what I was doing, and then to risk it all with the family and say, I’m going to try to do country music, because that’s my dream… it was a tough sell.”

Now, he’s making the music he loves and helping bring his Latin roots to the forefront.

“Latin influence has been embedded in country music’s DNA since the beginning. Since its origins, and country music has always been a diverse melting pot of different sounds,” he said. “It’s a good time for country music. It’s a good time for our culture and, you know, I think there’s certainly no shortage of Latin artists out there. We just have to, you know, make the stage a little bit bigger and amplify our voices.”

We’ll be looking for Ray and Colleen at the CMA Awards, airing November 19 at 8pm EST/7pm CST on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

And don’t miss our live streaming preshow, “On The Red Carpet at the CMA Awards” beginning at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT before the ceremony featuring live interviews with the nominees, performers and presenters, red carpet fashion analysis and more! You can stream it all live at OnTheRedCarpet.com, CMAAwards.com, YouTube.com/OnTheRedCarpet and Hulu.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of this ABC station.