Although he didn't quite achieve the fame or sales of new country contemporaries as Tim McGraw or Clay Walker, Mark Wills earned a respectable following and strong reviews following the release of his eponymous 1996 debut album. As a teenager in the small town of Blue Ridge, GA, Wills was fond of pop-metal bands like Poison and Bon Jovi, and throughout his teens he played in metal garage bands. But as he became an adult, his tastes shifted toward country-pop and new traditionalist country. Considering that he grew up around country music, singing it both at home and in church as a small boy, this wasn't surprising. At the age of 17, he entered a talent show at ~the Buckboard Country Music Showcase in nearby Marietta.