Jonathan "JJ" Lawhorn is an aspiring country artist who graduated from Hanover in 2011. Lawhorn is currently marketing a new country album entitled "Sittin’ on a Tailgate."

Many country stars like to name a specific style to what most of their songs mean. Lawhorn refers to his style as "outlaw/blue collar" country. This genre shows what a typical, hard-working, average Joe he really is.

Lawhorn greatly enjoys what he does and has been playing guitar for almost five years. He said, "I’ve been singing as far back as I can remember; I’m like a human radio."

Lawhorn attended guitar lessons for about a year, but most of his instruction has come from his mother who has a degree in music from the Virginia Commonwealth University. As Lawhorn gradually became better at singing and playing guitar, he began posting videos of himself performing covers of other country music artit’s songs on Youtube.com which is how he grabbed the attention of Average Joes Entertainment in March 2010, with whom he now has a record deal.

Lawhorn posted a cover of a Justin Moore song as a response to one of the artist’s numerous music videos. Later on, Lawhorn received some positive feedback on his video. At first, when Lawhorn saw the message in his inbox that a producer, Jeremy Stover, would like to talk to him about utilizing his talent he thought that it was going to be a convoluted scam. However, despite his initial skepticism he decided to try to make a phone call to the number that was displayed in the message, unfortunately though he only recieved the number’s voice mail.

Later the next day, Lawhorn once again called the company and found out that they wanted him to make his way to Nashville, TN to discuss a possible record deal.

It is imperative to remember Lawhorn did not reach the level he is at now overnight. It takes a great deal of hard work, perseverance, and a fair amount of luck.

Lawhorn said, "You don’t just snap your fingers and get famous." Lawhorn describes the hardest part of becoming famous as getting a record deal and after that everything else is easy in comparison.

Currently, Lawhorn is shooting a music video for his song "Sittin’ on a Tailgate" in the near future and his album is set to make its debut in early months of 2012.

Lawhorn said, "I don’t think that fame will really change who I am, but it has taught me to grow up really fast." Lawhorn is preparing to start a band and will tarvel on tour with big country artists. Some of whom may be Derris Rucker, Montgomery Gentry, and Justin Moore.