Showcasing a slew of music superstars, exciting events, and many things to do and see, this year’s Central States Fair plans to celebrate the last days of summer! Back by popular demand is the Supercross Races and other fan favorites such as the Demolition Derby and three nights of PRCA Rodeo. The grandstands will be rockin' with Country Stars Chris Cagle & Heidi Newfield, Rodney Atkins & Dustin Evans, Blake Shelton & The Doo Wah Riders; and ending the week with Rock legends Styx & Comedian Herb Dixon. It's Summer's Last Blast at the 2009 Central States Fair!
Monday, August 24th
There’s a very good reason that no less than four songs from Rodney Atkins’ platinum-selling 2006 album If You’re Going Through Hell became No. 1 hits—a feat that no one had accomplished since 2002. It’s the same reason that two of those songs became the most-played of 2006 (“If You’re Going Through Hell [Before the Devil Even Knows]”) and 2007 (“Watching You”), and why concert audiences all over the country are cheering him on and singing along.
It’s because Atkins has a rare gift for reflecting the lives of his listeners in his music—their hopes, their concerns, their spirit, their adversities, even their sense of humor. Simply put, as he sang in another chart-topping smash, “These Are My People.” A native of small-town East Tennessee, the adopted son of a loving family and the proud father to a family of his own, Atkins understands regular lives because he still leads one. “People always talk about image—‘You’re the guy in the ball cap, the All-American country boy,’” says Atkins, who does indeed still favor caps to cowboy hats. “But if the songs don’t connect with the folks listening, then none of that stuff matters.”
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Sunday, August 23rd
If Chris Cagle were nothing more than a man who lives life at full-speed, taking corners on two wheels, he would still be one of country music's more interesting characters. There aren't many in the industry who can put passion and energy on stage or on record the way he can. But a man doesn't go gold with his first two albums and produce seven hits--including four Top Tens--on nothing more than bravado. Chris's secret weapon lies in his ability to rope the whirlwind, to capture its motion and emotion with his pen and his voice. It is, as Wordsworth said, where emotion is recalled in tranquility that poetry is created, and it is there that Chris's untamed spirit becomes art.
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Wednesday, August 26th
Herb Dixon was born in Vancouver, British Columbia but grew up in the
heart of the west, that original cow-town, Calgary, Alberta. As a teenager,
he discovered he could make people laugh - really laugh! With his rubber
face , his ability to recreate sounds, and his talent to tell an engaging story,
it seemed he was destined for a career in comedy. So, in 1979 he began
making club audiences laugh as an amateur comic in Vancouver's comedy
Clubs.
Twenty Years have passed from the time Herb decided to become an
entertainer. All the while, Herb has built and honed his material on his way
up the ladder of comedy.
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Tuesday, August 25th
There is no one else like the Doo-Wah Riders. For over 20 years they have been riding their own patch of the musical
range throughout the west. They possess the rare combination of many years of experience and youthful energy, fired by
a love for what they do. The Doo-Wahs are country, with a unique, original sound.They define their sound as "high
energy country with a cajun twist". Their tight musicianship and powerful arrangements of classic, and original songs have made them favorites everywhere they go.
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Monday, August 24th
Dustin got involved in music at a very young age, influenced mainly by his father. Dustin learned most of his dad's songs and was singing them with true pitch at the age of three. As a teen, Dustin taught himself to play guitar, drums, bass, and piano, and began writing his own songs.
After High School, Dustin started a band called the Outriders, and later joined Good Times (an already popular South Dakota act) in 1995. Good Times is comprised of extremely talented musicians with a wide range of influences and experience.
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Sunday, August 23rd
Well I’m 5 years in to a 2 year plan
Still standing here with the walls closing in behind this open door
What am I waiting for?
Oh what am I waiting for?
-“What Am I Waiting For?”
On the threshold of that open door, Heidi Newfield and Trick Pony bandmates Keith Burns and Ira Dean poured out what she calls “My ode to the group” in what would be the threesome’s final songwriting session together. Days before announcing her departure from the platinum-selling band that had earned four top 20 singles, an ACM Best New Artist award, and an army of fans for their rabble-rousing honky-tonk brand of country music, Heidi had a lot on her mind. “I love the road— but when I stopped wanting to pack my bag and get on the bus, that was a telltale sign it was time for a change,” she recalls.
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Tuesday, August 25th
With the success of his 2008 chart-topper "Home," Blake Shelton took a long career step forward. With the release of Startin' Fires, he leaps to a whole new level.
"Home" took Shelton into new musical territory, stretching him vocally and stylistically, helping him expand his audience to include those who might have missed the more traditional approach he'd taken to that point. Startin' Fires, his fifth album, completes that journey, establishing him in the process as one of country music's most talented and versatile song stylists.
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Wednesday, August 26th
Although they began as an artsy prog-rock band, Styx would eventually transform into the virtual arena rock prototype by the late '70s and early '80s, due to a fondness for bombastic rockers and soaring power ballads. The seeds for the band were planted in another Chicago band during the late '60s, the Tradewinds, which featured brothers Chuck and John Panozzo (who played bass and drums, respectively), as well as acquaintance Dennis DeYoung (vocals, keyboards). By the dawn of the '70s, the group had changed their name to TW4, and welcomed aboard a pair of guitarists/vocalists, James "JY" Young and John Curulewski -- securing a recording contract in 1972 with Wooden Nickel Records (a subsidiary of RCA). Soon after, the group opted to change their name once more, this time to Styx, named after a river from Greek mythology that ran through the 'land of the dead' in the underworld.
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