Between 1991 and 2007, Collin Raye landed 30 singles on the country charts; his No. 1 singles include "Love, Me," "In This Life," "My Kind of Girl" and "I Can Still Feel You." But before those hits started rolling in, Raye was just like any other up-and-coming artist: eager to hear one of his songs on the radio. Below, the singer-songwriter recalls the first time he hear himself on air.

Oh boy -- I was in Greenville, Texas, with my kids [in 1991], and "Sweet Memory" was the first single from the All I Can Be album -- my first album -- and it was moving because I didn't freak out! I had had some independent records regionally that had gotten airplay before. But I did realize this was different: This was a national song. This was everywhere!

Even though "Love Me," the second single, would go on to be the big hit, "All I Can Be" did pretty well: It ran up to about 22 on the chart, and so we had a good experience with that. But that first time you hear that and you realize, "I'm on a major label, and a major station in Dallas, Texas, is playing my music!" I definitely felt like I had finally done what I set out to do.

This story was originally written by Pat Gallagher, and revised by Angela Stefano.

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