The Shake Up

Go to any summer cookout in the Bluegrass and you’ll find the finest steaks on the grill and a country crooner playing in the background. After all, if there is anything Kentucky knows it’s country music and grilled food. So we thought, why not bring the two of them together in one place to make our patrons feel right at home? And with a little help from our friends at Sivori Catering that’s exactly what we did!

Local superstar, J.D. Shelburne is returning to the Sivori Country Music Tent. This Taylorsville, Ky. native has garnered enough recognition from his debut album that he was featured in the March 2009 edition of Country Weekly Magazine, earned global airplay on the legendary 650 WSM Nashville Station, made numerous television appearances, and played countless gigs that include The Wildhorse Saloon, The Bluebird Café, Churchill Downs, Waterfront Park and Louisville Slugger Field. But Shelburne is no stranger to fame, sharing the stage with some big names opening for the likes of Kellie Pickler, The Kentucky Headhunters, Joe Nichols, and John Michael Montgomery.

Speaking of fame, Society Preservation of Bluegrass Music Association Entertaining Bluegrass Act of the Year nominee Kentucky Blue will grab your attention with the first note of their energetic performance featuring great music and comedy. With great two, three and four-part harmonies accompanied by red hot blazing instrumentals, this group will leave you wanting more.

And more Bluegrass is exactly what you will get when the Whiskey Bent Valley Boys take the stage.Hailing from the backwoods of Pewee Valley, Kentucky, this band will have you stomping your feet to the beat and singing along to classics from Roscoe Holcomb, The Stanley Brothers, and fiddle legend Tommy Jarrell as well as some originals.

The perfect blend of new and traditional country mixed with your favorite Southern Rock dance tunes will have you pulling up a seat and staying a while in TwangTown. With a kickin’ country groove, their high energy show definitely covers some ground and takes you on a ride you never expected!ith the perfect ‘time tested’ blend of New and Traditional country mixed with your favorite Southern Rock dance tunes, and some

Can’t get enough Southern Rock? Then get down and dirty with Black Mudd as they perform both original music and some of the most popular country and Southern-rock tunes of yesterday and today.

But that’s not all! You’ll also hear from Louisville native Olivia Henken, the White Russians, MacDaddies and Junction Creek. So go ahead and make Sivori Country Music Tent your home away from home at the largest cookout you’ll be invited to this summer, the Kentucky State Fair! After all, we have so much more to offer than that guy from next door and you don’t even have to bring a dish!

 Lady Antebellum is doing their namesake justice by cementing their place in country music history. The band is swooping up awards left and right, most recently the Group Video of the Year Award at the CMT Awards on June 8^th. They followed with a killer performance at the show, reminding fans once again why they are consistently on top of the Billboard Charts:

http://www.cmt.com/videos/misc/662102/2011-cmt-music-awards-just-a-kiss-kiss.jhtml

Luckily, we don’t have to wait until next year’s CMT’s to see them again. Tickets for their performance at the Kentucky State Fair will be on sale Monday June 13^th at 10 a.m. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster.com or at the Kentucky Exposition Center ticket office if you feel so moved to come visit us, we would love to see you. 

The band got together in 2006 after middle school friends Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley found Hillary Davis, daughter of country music star Linda Davis. The talented trio went about making their first album which was an instant hit. They then began their second album while balancing a thick tour schedule. However, all their hard work has really seemed to pay off, with more than 40 award nominations and No.1 hit after No. 1 hit. We see no need to title drop here, you know their songs.

We hope to see a lot more of this group in upcoming years. And if past is any indication of future, we don’t think they’re going anywhere.

…Hank Williams Jr. and John Mayer had a lovechild?

I’m from a small town, so it’s easy for me to relate to songs about “Red dirt roads and big tire toys, country girls and redneck boys” (Sumter County Friday Night) But even I was a little stumped when I came across this question researching country singer and songwriter Lee Brice. But with his music reflecting traditional honky tonk sounds while teetering on the edge of contemporary rock and roll, it’s easy to see Brice filling those shoes.

Raised in Sumter, S.C. on his momma’s gospel, Lee Brice was what you would consider “musically sheltered” before being exposed to various genres in high school. So it’s ironic that today he draws inspiration from a list of artists that would challenge even Pandora to unite:  Garth Brooks, Hank Junior, Coldplay, John Mayer, Brian McKnight, Tom Petty, 3 Doors Down, Whitney Houston, Edwin McCain and Ray Charles. Aside from hitting shuffle on Lee Brice’s iPod, this list could only be complied by a shoplifter making a grab and run at the local music store. But inspiration united these unlikely companions in Brice’s mind as the definition of greatness.

“They’re all great, which appeals to me because I want to make every song I do as great as I can too. I’m not comparing myself to them in any way, but I want the same thing that I love in what they do: They all make music that you can believe in.”

But it’s been a long road from Sumter, S.C. to Freedom Hall. After his football career at Clemson University ended prematurely following an injury, Brice walked away from a civil engineering degree to pursue his true passion; music. Shortly after moving to Music City, he met Doug Johnson, sharpened his writing skills and was soon writing two and three times a day with heavyweights in the industry. His career received a major boost when his song “More Than a Memory” was picked up by Garth Brooks in 2007. As a singer, his breakthrough came in 2009 with the release of his single “Love Like Crazy” which made a slow consistent build to the top of the Billboard charts. Since then, Brice released his debut album Love Like Crazy in 2010.

Beginning with his very first single “She Ain’t Right” in 2007 he has proven that with simple lyrics, he has the ability to make memories come alive. And at the 2011 Kentucky State Fair you’ll have the opportunity to travel through the dirt roads of Sumter County as Brice kicks off the Main Stage Concert Series, opening for Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” tour on August 18 at 8 p.m.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on June 13 at the Kentucky Exposition Center, KFC Yum! Center and Kentucky International Convention Center Ticket Offices and all Ticketmaster outlets. Charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000, or purchase online at www.ticketmaster.com. 

Now we don’t like to brag, nevermind yes we do, and we are going to. Because SIX of the upcoming performers at the Kentucky State Fair in August are nominated for a CMT Music Award. Most are nominated for MORE than one award and THREE are performing at the awards show itself!

The handsome and ever-charming Jason Aldean is nominated for Video of the Year, Male Video of the Year and Web Video of the Year for “My Kinda Party”. A song he wrote about being at the Kentucky State Fair. Okay, that may not be true, but we like to act like he did.

Aldean’s opening act for the fair, Thompson Square made-out with two nominations: Duo Video of the Year and USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year for “Are you Gonna Kiss Me or Not”. Get it, made-out?

Lady Antebellum, the talented trio who formed in our neighbor state to the south is nominated for Video of the Year and Group Video of the Year for “Hello World” and Web Video of the Year for “Stars Tonight”. Both are great, so if you haven’t seen them, you should probably go do that, as soon as you’re done exploring our blog, of course:

www.cmt.com/videos/lady-antebellum/591891/hello-world.jhtml

 Lee Brice, who is performing with Lady A at the Fair, is standing on his own at the CMT Music Awards with a nomination in the USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year for “Love Like Crazy”.  It’s a beautiful song, and it’s pretty good advice too!

Speaking of loving like crazy, Luke Bryan is nominated for Nationwide Insurance’s On Your Side Award, given to the best new live act. The award is voted on by fans, so if you do love Luke Bryan like crazy, get on CMT. com and vote for him. We don’t think it will violate the restraining order?  Bryan is also nominated for Web Video of the Year for his fun summer jam “Shore Thing”.

Another of our Main Stage performers, Train, an unlikely group to associate with the Country Music Awards, has also snatched a nomination. Maybe they are trying to bond with some other performers before the Fair? Train is nominated for CMT Performance of the Year for their performance with Martina McBride on CMT Crossroads.

Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum and Luke Bryan will also have live performances during the award’s show. But nothing is quite the same as seeing them live so make sure to catch them and other amazing artists when they come to the Fair in August. Once again, not bragging, but where else can you see all these great concerts in the same week at the same place! Nowhere. We’ve looked.