Arts & Entertainment

A Night of Country at the Dixon May Fair

Country legends Trace Adkins, Merle Haggard will headline a night of country music at the Dixon May Fair Friday

By Brianna Boyd
Special to Dixon Patch

The Dixon May Fair will go country this week with an evening featuring a superstar and a legend who will each deliver hit after hit to thousands filling the concert arena.

Country superstar Trace Adkins and special guest Merle Haggard will keep the crowd on its feet and singing along with a night filled with favorites on Friday, May 6, the third of the five-day event.

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The two artists are part of a strong concert line-up for the 136th annual fair that also includes blues artists Jonny Lang and Robben Ford, rock and roll musicians John Kay and Steppenwolf and Eric Burdon and the Animals and Disney pop star Selena Gomez and her band, The Scene.  

There are still tickets available at both the May Fair box office and online at www.ticketmaster.com. Reserved seats are $49 and $45 and general admission seats are $39. All prices include admission into the fair.  

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This year marks Adkins' second return to the Dixon May Fair. He played at the fair about 10 years ago, as an opener to fellow country star Clint Black. The May Fair has grown since then, and so too has Adkins.

Adkins has long been considered country music's alpha male, a man whose commanding presence and once-in-a-generation baritone have made him a pillar of the contemporary Nashville sound.

More than 20 of his songs have hit the Top 20 chart.  His hits include "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk", "You're Gonna Miss This", "Hot Mama", "Songs About Me", "Then They Do", "This Ain't No Love Song" and "Hillbilly Bone" with Blake Shelton. He's earned four Grammy nominations in his career, with two for "You're Gonna Miss This".

In the past decade, Adkins has made his mark as an actor, both on television and in the movies, an author, a voiceover artist and commercial spokesman, a social commentator, and a reality show participant on “Celebrity Apprentice”. After his initial and highly successful appearance on “Celebrity Apprentice”, businessman and showman Donald Trump invited him back as a boardroom advisor. He has turned his entertainingly articulated views into a well-received book, “A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck”, and has even inspired an action comic book series, “Luke McBain”.

A native of Sarepta, Louisiana, Adkins worked as a pipe fitter on an offshore drilling rig and spent time in a gospel quartet before making a name for himself in the honky-tonks of Texas and Louisiana. He moved to Nashville in 1992, and did construction work while singing at night. It was at one of those bars that then Capitol Records president Scott Hendricks spotted him and signed him to the label.

His first album, the platinum “Dreamin’ Out Loud”, produced three top 3 hits, including his first number one song, “Thinkin’ Thing”. Other albums include “Songs About Me”, “Dangerous Man”, “X” and “Cowboy’s Back in Town”.

When fellow country star Toby Keith’s Show Dog label merged with Universal Music, Adkins expressed interest in joining and Keith eagerly invited him aboard. Last year, the two were together for “America’s Toughest Tour” which included stops in 29 cities across the United States. 

The word “legend” usually makes an appearance at some point while discussing Haggard.  As a performer and songwriter, Haggard was one of the most important country artists to emerge in the 1960’s and he became one of the leading figures of the Bakersfield country scene throughout that decade.

Throughout his career, Haggard has been a champion of the workingman, largely due to his rough history. Immediately embraced by country fans, Haggard has 40 number one hits and scores of Top 10 songs.  These hits include "The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde", "Mama Tried", "Okie From Muskogee", "Someday We'll Look Back", "Branded Man" and "Sing Me Back Home".

The May 6 concert will begin at 7 p.m. in the fair’s arena.

For more information on the 136th annual Dixon May Fair, visit www.dixonmayfair.com


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