One big break came when he met the legendary Harlan Howard, who was so impressed with Chris's songwriting progress that he was the first to publish one of his songs. Chris then landed a publishing deal and had songs recorded by David Kersh. A woman he met while waiting tables led him to Virgin Records head Scott Hendricks, who signed him to a record deal. Musical career For the next five years he worked odd jobs throughout Nashville, eventually landing a songwriting deal and co-writing album tracks for David Kersh. While working at a restaurant, he was discovered by an agent of the newly formed Nashville division of Virgin Records, and was signed to a recording deal with the label in 2000. 2000–2002: Play It Loud Cagle's first album, Play It Loud, was issued in mid-2000. Serving as its lead-off single was "My Love Goes On and On", which reached No. 15 on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs), while "Laredo", its follow-up, became his first Top Ten hit in mid-2001. After Virgin closed in 2001, the album was re-issued on Capitol Records with "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out" (which was also one of the songs that he had written for David Kersh in the late 1990s) added as a bonus track. Its b-side, "Country by the Grace of God", was the fourth and final single from the album. "I Breathe In, I Breathe Out" became his only No. 1 hit in early 2002. By the end of the year, Play It Loud had been certified gold in the United States. 2003–2004: Chris Cagle Capitol released Cagle's second album, Chris Cagle, in the middle of 2003. His second consecutive gold album, it produced the Top 5 singles "What a Beautiful Day" and "Chicks Dig It", as well as the No. 39 "I'd Be Lying". In 2003, Cagle also performed "Don't Ask Me No Questions" for the Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie soundtrack; it plays during the end credits of the film. In early 2004, Cagle was diagnosed with multiple anomalies on his vocal cords, including a polyp, a lesion, a vocal fold cyst, and a granuloma. The diagnosis forced him to cancel nearly twenty appearances that year, including opening dates for Rascal Flatts. He was ordered sixty days of vocal rest and did not sing for nearly three months after the diagnosis. 2005–2006: Anywhere