Twenty years ago, in 2003, several country music albums were released that shaped country. The included Dierks Bentley’s debut and the resurgence of the TV sitcom star Reba McEntire.

The Grammy awards named the Louvin Brother’s Livin’, Lovin’, Losin’: Songs of the Louvin Brothers as the Country Album of the Year, and Johnny Cash’s 2002 album American IV: The Man Comes Around was named the CMA Album of the Year in 2003. Another album released in 2002, Alan Jackson’s Drive, was named the ACM’s Album of the Year in 2003.

Here are ten big albums that came out of country music 20 years ago in 2003.

• “The Dreamer” – Blake Shelton (2003)

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  "The Dreamer" is the second studio album released by Blake Shelton. Released February 4, 2003, on Warner Bros. Records Nashville. The project features the Number One single, "The Baby."

• “For God and Country” – Dolly Parton – (2003)

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  "For God and Country" is the fortieth solo studio album by Dolly Parton. It was released on November 11, 2003, and is Dolly's musical tribute to America in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Included are covers of famous patriotic songs and new Parton originals. In its famous cover photo, Dolly poses as though appearing in a vintage USO poster. That image is now often used on bumper stickers and laptop stickers that read: "Dolly Parton for President."

• “Dierks Bentley” – Dierks Bentley – (2003)

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  Dierks' debut self-titled album introduced us to this country music-loving Arizonian. The album was released on August 19, 2003, on Capitol Records Nashville. It produced three singles, including "What Was I Thinking'," which became Bentley's first number-one hit on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart.
• “Martina” – Martina McBride – (2003)

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  "Martina" is the seventh studio album by Martina McBride. It was released in September 2003 by RCA Nashville and was number one on the country album charts and seven on the US album charts. The album produced the top five country single "This One's for the Girls." The song featured backing vocals from Faith Hill and McBride's two daughters and was also McBride's first and only number-one hit on the Adult Contemporary charts.

• “Rascal Flatts Live” – Rascal Flatts – (2003)

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  Released on September 16, 2003, this was only the group's first live album and came on CD and DVD. Their second live album was released in 2011 and is called "The Best Of Rascal Flatts Live."

• “Mud on the Tires” – Brad Paisley – (2003)

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  "Mud on the Tires" is the third studio album by Brad Paisley. Released on July 22, 2003, it produced four hit singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts: the top five hits "Celebrity," "Little Moments," and "Whiskey Lullaby," as well as the Number One title track.
• “Honkytonkville” – George Strait – (2003)

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  "Honkytonkville," Strait's twenty-second studio was released on June 10, 2003, by MCA Nashville. One of only a few albums of his career not to produce a number-one single, the album was certified platinum by the RIAA.

• “For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome” – George Strait – (2003)

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  "For the Last Time: Live From the Astrodome" is the first live album released by George Strait on February 11, 2003. The title refers to the fact that this concert was the final event that took place at the Houston Astrodome.

• “Room to Breathe” – Reba McEntire – (2003)

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  "Room to Breathe" is Reba's twenty-fifth studio album. It was released on November 18, 2003, by MCA Nashville Records. The album was McEntire's first album of new recordings since 1999's "So Good Together" and her first studio album of the new millennium. McEntire had previously branched into theater and television, starring in a television sitcom, "Reba," and had decided to leave the recording industry temporarily. The release contained McEntire's first number-one single in six years with "Somebody."
• “Red Dirt Road” – Brooks & Dunn – (2003)

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  "Red Dirt Road" was Brooks & Dunn's eighth studio album. Known as a "concept album," Ronnie Dunn said of the project at the time, "I knew we were going to call this album 'Red Dirt Road' before the first song was even picked. I wanted that thread that was growing up in rural America and all the universal touchstones we all go through—that first beer, wrecking my first car two weeks after I got it, being taken to a revival by my cousins who lived a few miles farther down that road."

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