D Records/"Pappy" Dailey: Coming into the recording business via his jukebox company, "Pappy" Dailey had both good business sense and an ear for what the public wanted to hear. He began recording local acts as early as 1949, issuing the first recordings of Webb Pierce and Hank Locklin and distributing them through Four Star Records.

Forming Starday Records with Beaumont partner Jack Starnes, according to The Encyclopedia Dailey "made the first commercial recordings by George Jones, Webb Pierce, Hank Locklin, Roger Miller, the Big Bopper, and Willie Nelson. Even George Strait made early recordings for Dailey's D Records."

Dailey was also the producer for George Jones from 1953-1971; in an acrimonious ending, Jones bought his way out of his contract with Dailey to join Tammy Wynette at Epic Records and work with producer Billy Sherrill.

Bob Dunn: A trombonist turned steel guitar player, Bob Dunn holds a unique place in the history of country music and Western Swing. Joining Milton Brown's Musical Brownie's in 1934, Dunn is credited with being the first person to play an electrified instrument in the genre, and his 1935 recordings with Brown are some of the first uses of electrical stringed instruments in country music.

The Encyclopedia goes on to proclaim that Dunn, who moved to Houston after World War II and operated a music store on Bissonnet, where he gave lessons and influenced an entire generation of Houston steel players, "helped define Western Swing, particularly in the Southwest." Dunn's amazing solos are still admired by steel-guitar aficionados for their inventiveness and muscle.

The Four Guys/Laddie Cain: The vocal group the Four Guys came to prominence via the Wheeling, West Virginia Opry, and in 1967 were invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. Cain was the only member born in Houston.