For every country music mega star playing sold-out shows in massive arenas, with a huge band of highly trained musicians behind them, there are twice as many local artists with nothing but their words, their music and their dreams playing to whatever audience they can, trying to catch a break.

Such is the case with Thorsby’s Jessie Minor, who just released his debut album, “What Makes It All Worthwhile,” in June. He’s not signed to a major label, he doesn’t have a manager and you can forget about a tour bus; he doesn’t even have a backing band.

But he’s OK with not having any of these things, he said. For him, it’s all about the music–and has been as long as he can remember.

“As a kid, I always had a love for it,” he said. “No one in my family was real musical, but I remember telling my dad that’s what I was going to be when I grew up.”

Minor said he grew up singing in church as a child, and eventually knew he wanted to pick up guitar. He did at 19, mostly from watching YouTube clips and other videos.

Eventually, he began to write his own songs, drawing influence from some legendary musicians.

“I’m almost judgmental about music today,” he said. “I’m a big fan of Hank [Williams], Waylon [Jennings] and Willie [Nelson]. [My music is] country based. I’m totally into how Johnny Cash used to write. It describes all parts of life.”

Minor said he has about 60-70 original songs in his repertoire, and after “procrastinating,” finally decided to put an album together.

“It’s something I put off the last few years,” he said. “I fished around for studios [with high quality]. I wrote enough for four to five albums, and then got in the studio.”

The final product is a 12-track album that is 100 percent Minor’s effort. He wrote every song, produced it and even sang his own harmony vocals on some tracks.

“I didn’t have a producer,” he said. “It was just me. All the judgment calls [fell on me]; it was a big thing.”