Phil Vassar

Friday, August 27, 2010, 8:00p.m.

Heartland Events Center

FREE Concert with a paid gate admission to the Fair

Wristband required

Phil Vassar’s unbounded energy and limitless talent have proven him, again and again, as one of Nashville’s most prolific and versatile stars. His resume boasts six #1 hits for country artists including Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, and Collin Raye, and three more as an artist in his own right. He’s been named the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year twice and has taken top honors from the Academy of Country Music, Billboard and MusicRow. Now releasing his sixth album, Traveling Circus, Vassar approaches his uniquely piano-based, rhythm and blues-infused, infectiously buoyant brand of country music from the back-to-basics school of thought.

Phil Vassar has been called “one of country’s most appealing voices” by the New York Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel suggests “the energy level at a Vassar show tops anything else that Music City has to offer.”

Click here for complete bio

Mel Tillis

Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 11a.m..

Heartland Events Center

FREE Concert with a paid gate admission to the Fair

Wristband NOT required

Country music legend, Mel Tillis, started performing in the early ‘50’s with a group called The Westerners while serving as a baker in the United States Air Force, stationed in Okinawa. In 1956, Webb Pierce recorded a song written by Mel entitled “I’m Tired”, and it launched Mel’s musical career. In 1993, he recorded his first gospel album. This album is entitled “Beyond the Sunset”.

One of Mel’s recent recordings is the “Old Dogs” album with Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings, and Jerry Reed. It was released in July of 1998, and received a nomination for the 1999 Vocal Event of the Year by the Country Music Association.
Mel Tillis has been in the music/entertainment business now for 50 plus years. He and his band, the Statesiders, have worked concerts all over the 50 states, Canada, England, and other countries.

Click here for complete bio

Lifehouse

Saturday, August 28, 2010, 8:00p.m.

Heartland Events Center

FREE Concert with a paid gate admission to the Fair

Wristband required

Still in their twenties, the guys in Lifehouse have an impressive resume. Founding members Jason Wade and drummer Ricky Woolstenhulme Jr. met in Los Angeles and formed the band in the late 90s. Lifehouse released its smash debut No Name Face in 2000, which launched them to global stardom. Their breakout single "Hanging by a Moment" was the single most played radio track of 2001. Over the next few years – joined first by a replacement, bassist Bryce Soderberg and more recently by new member, guitarist Ben Carey - Lifehouse built upon that initial success.

Combined album sales are over 5 million and Lifehouse singles have sold over 3 million copies online including number one hits "Hanging By a Moment" and "You and Me." Later Lifehouse singles "First Time," "Whatever It Takes," and "Broken" have also achieved major chart and sales success.  The band also has formidable online presence – their video streams are at 70 million and counting.

Lifehouse spent a year recording upwards of thirty-five tracks before settling on the twelve songs that make up Smoke & Mirrors, (many of the rest will be included on a deluxe edition). The latest record is loosely split between rock tracks meant to capture the feel of seeing Lifehouse live, and extremely catchy, sing-along pop songs.

Click here for complete bio

Heart

Sunday, August 29, 2010, 8:00p.m.

Heartland Events Center

Tickets: $15 plus gate admission to the Fair and standard Ticketmaster fees. Tickets go on sale Monday, July 26th at the Heartland Event Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, and on Ticketmaster.com.

 As they head back on the road with their Red Velvet Car, the sisters Wilson of Heart are excited. Red Velvet Car -- the most personal and powerful work yet from Ann and Nancy Wilson -- takes generations of Heart fans on what truly feels like the musical ride of a lifetime. Powerfully produced by Ben Mink -- who previously worked with Ann Wilson on her acclaimed 2007 solo album Hope & Glory – Red Velvet Car is a thoroughly electrifying song cycle of largely acoustic-based sound and a stunning album with a true and renewed sense of purpose. The result on Red Velvet Car is an album of breathtaking intimacy and honesty. 

Heart will be performing some of the new songs from Red Velvet Car, along with an entire set of hits and fan favorites when they rock the fair on August 29. Come along for the ride!

Click here for complete bio

Casting Crowns

Thursday, September 2, 2010, 8:00p.m.

Heartland Events Center

FREE Concert with a paid gate admission to the Fair

Wristband required

In an unprecedented six-year span with nearly 4.5 million career album sales, a GRAMMY Award, an American Music Award, 23 Dove Awards and 8 chart-topping radio singles, Casting Crowns remains focused on discipleship through music. Living life with a kingdom focus, a reaching-out, loving-the-world-like-Jesus-does purpose – that’s the focus of the band’s fourth studio album titled Until The Whole World Hears.

Until The Whole World Hears showcases the signature sound of Casting Crowns and its members: Mark Hall, Megan Garrett, Melodee DeVevo, Hector Cervantes, Chris Huffman, Juan DeVevo, and new member Brian Scoggin. For the first time on a Crowns’ album, Juan DeVevo and Hector Cervantes add their vocals to Hall’s on the haunting worship song “At Your Feet.” In an effort to connect others to the powerful theology of hymns, the album includes modern reinventions of songs Hall grew up with, including “Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me)” (from the hymn “One Day”), “Joyful, Joyful” and “Blessed Redeemer” − which features violinist Melodee DeVevo as lead vocalist and includes the congregation from Eagles Landing First Baptist Church, Hall’s home church.

Click here for complete bio

Boys Like Girls

Friday, September 3, 2010, 8:00p.m.

Heartland Events Center

FREE Concert with a paid gate admission to the Fair

Wristband required

Boys Like Girls didn’t have to look far for inspiration when it came time to record Love Drunk, the long-awaited follow-up to their self-titled Columbia Records debut. After spending three years on the road in support of Boys Like Girls – which has sold more than 700,000 copies to date, is certified gold by the RIAA, and spawned the top ten Top 40 radio hit “The Great Escape” – the four friends from Boston knew how much they’d progressed as a band, and they credit a lot of that growth to their fans.

Voted Spin.com’s Artist of the Year after receiving an astonishing 68% of the total vote in 2007, Boys Like Girls spent three years on the road, touring with the likes of Good Charlotte, Avril Lavigne and the Vans Warped Tour and developing one of the most loyal fan bases in modern rock. After selling more than 3.0 million digital singles – including 1.5 million copies of “The Great Escape,” 900,000 copies of “Hero/Heroine” and 600,000 copies of “Thunder” – Boys Like Girls chronicled their rise from Ramen Noodles and sleeping on fans’ floors to headlining their hometown arena with the release of their first DVD in November 2008, readbetweenthelines.

Click here for complete bio

Martina McBride

Sunday, September 5, 2010, 8:00p.m.

Heartland Events Center

Tickets: $25 plus gate admission to the Fair and standard Ticketmaster fees. Tickets are ON SALE NOW at the Heartland Event Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, and on Ticketmaster.com.

Since day one, Martina McBride, the four-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year has carved out her niche as a woman that women can relate to, while creating music that speaks to everyone. Her consistent level of musical integrity has been rewarded with more than 18 million in album sales and 22 Top 10 singles, six of which hit the top of the charts.

Martina’s tenth studio album (all on RCA Records Nashville), Shine, is titled not only as a nod to the lyrics in three of the songs encompassed within, but because of what the word ‘shine’ suggests: Powerful. Positive. Strong. The fresh sound is immediately noticeable right from the opening guitar lick of “Wrong Baby Wrong Baby Wrong.” However, not everything on Shine falls under the realm of new. Always one to successfully straddle that fine line between staying innovative and remaining familiar, Martina brings her signature bombastic vocals to songs like “Walk Away” and “What Do I Have To Do.” The songs that make up Shine are, as always, the essence of Martina.

Click here for complete bio

Josh Turner

Monday, September 6, 2010, 8:00p.m.

Heartland Events Center

FREE Concert with a paid gate admission to the Fair

Wristband required

Josh Turner’s latest album, Haywire, includes the album’s debut single “Why Don’t We Just Dance.” The excitement over that song inspired him to write or co-write five of the album’s 11 songs: “Haywire,” “As Fast As I Could,” “Eye Candy,” “Friday Paycheck,” and “The Answer.”

Since earning a standing ovation as an unknown singer on the Grand Ole Opry stage in 2001, he has established himself as one of the most identifiable male vocalists in country music. The Hannah, S.C. native has sold more than 4 million albums and garnered three multi-week No. 1s (“Your Man,” “Would You Go With Me,” and “Why Don’t We Just Dance”). His debut album was certified platinum for more than 1 million copies sold, and his sophomore album, Your Man, was one of only four country albums to reach double-platinum status in 2006. Six years after his Opry debut, he was inducted into the prestigious organization, becoming one of the youngest artists to receive such an honor.

Blender magazine says Josh “is a country Barry White. His burring voice can tease our sensuality in unlikely places.”

Click here for complete bio