The Nashville country music business - a system more feudal than modern - is closely controlled by just a handful of producers who are responsible for four-fifths of the hits from Music Row.

This insider's guide explores all the parts of this byzantine system and its group of tightly knit power players: the producers, writers, artists, publishers, session musicians, studios, labels, and the promotion machine, as well as the deep roots and the promising future of country music and its role in today's culture.