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National country acts are back at the county fair

Garth Brooks played the 1990 Clark County Fair, then a month later released “No Fences.”

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Trent Tomlinson plays the Clark County Fair on Saturday. Will he follow Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney or Trace Adkins – all of whom played the fair as up-and-comers? Or will he follow Lionel Cartwright, Ken Mellons or Ty England, who also played the fair and were never heard from again?

The fair has a knack for landing acts whose careers are about to take off

By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer Updated 7:02 AM Friday, July 24, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — If becoming a star in country music is like catching a virus, the Centers for Disease Control would find that many of the infected share one thing in common.

They all visited Clark County.

Garth. Reba. Kenny. Brad. Trace. Trisha. Rascal.

Uh. As in Flatts.

And there’s lots more.

This is one epidemic we should happily take credit for — they all came to the Clark County Fair and, by some unknown form of transmission, later came down with a serious case of stardom.

So when Trent Tomlinson plays the 2009 fair at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 25, he would be wise to not wash his hands.

He’ll be the first national country artist to appear at the county fair since 2005, when the fair suspended the tradition out of money concerns.

But even the Eagles tribute band the fair booked for 2007 as a cost-saving measure went on to good things — one of the guys is now Taylor Swift’s keyboard player.

“The bus doesn’t pull up to the fairgrounds for nothing,” said Doug Ayres, a country fan who’s been on the fair’s entertainment committee for 17 years. “Back when Garth Brooks was here, that show for him was $7,500. You don’t even get in the door for that anymore. One hit and it’s $25,000 right out of the box.”

Booked with the help of a Springfield Foundation grant, Tomlinson already has been good for two Top 20 hits — “One Wing in the Fire” and “Drunker Than Me.”

More often than not, the fair seems to be able to book the right people at the right time, so odds are, Tomlinson will go the way of Travis Tritt and not Ricky Lynn Gregg.

But, hey, anything’s possible, and even the fair hasn’t picked all winners.

Trace Adkins was the first act Ayres personally booked, and Brad Paisley has been his favorite.

“Every time I hear them on the radio,” he said, “I think, ‘I had a part in that.’ ”

A look back

From 1981 to 2005, the Clark County Fair booked a wealth of country talent.

The fair had a knack for landing acts whose careers had just taken off or were about to. A number of Country Music Hall of Famers also found their way here.

Here are the highlights of who you could’ve seen up close. You probably even could’ve met them.

Go ahead and kick yourself at any moment. 

1981: You could get a bigger bang for your buck back in the day than you can today. Just look at the first year the fair hosted national country talent. Sonny James, Boxcar Willie, Jeanne Pruett (of “Satin Sheets” fame) and “Hee Haw” cast members Kenny Price and Roni Stoneman all showed up. James logged an amazing 72 hits between 1953 and 1983, including the immortal “Young Love” in 1957.

1982: The great Marty Robbins played the fair the same year he was inducted into the hall of fame and the year he died. Other top draws included Helen Cornelius (newly solo after leaving duet partner Jim Ed Brown); Little Jimmy Dickens (a year ahead of his hall of fame induction); and the duo of R.C. Bannon and Louise Mandrell (the Mandrell sisters were starring in their own TV variety show at the time).

1983: Earl Thomas Conley had just started his run of 21 Top 10 hits (most of them No. 1) when he played here. He was nominated for the Horizon Award (best new artist) at the 1984 CMA Awards, and his 1983 hit, “Holding Her and Loving You,” was up for single of the year.

1984: This was a big one, pitting then-current, two-time CMA female vocalist of the year, Janie Fricke, against the woman who’d unseat her for good, Reba McEntire. Both played the ’84 fair — but just when women were coming into their own in country, the fair also hosted something called the Chicago Knockers.

“All-girl mud wrestling.”

1985: Tammy Wynette brought “Stand by Your Man” to the fair, and Steve Wariner was about to have his biggest success (he’d win CMA song of the year honors for “Holes in the Floor of Heaven” in 1998).

1986: Fresh from winning the 1985 Horizon Award, Sawyer Brown played the fair. They went on to be nominated for CMA vocal group of the year every year from 1992 to 1998. Gary Morris also brought the original version of “The Wind Beneath My Wings” to town — a No. 4 country hit in 1983 — on his way to playing Jean Valjean in “Les Miz” on Broadway in 1987.

1988: Tanya Tucker had hits going back to 1972’s “Delta Dawn,” but she arrived here at her height. She’d be crowned the CMA female vocalist of the year in 1991.

1989: What the?! The fair landed some new teenybopper group called New Kids on the Block — then “Hangin’ Tough” became a No. 1 hit the same year. Girls were fainting everywhere. But the fair also hosted Rodney Crowell, the Bellamy Brothers and Highway 101 that year, all at their peak.

1990: The big one. Garth Brooks played the fair, then a month later released “No Fences” (the one with “Friends in Low Places” on it). He’s now the second top-selling artist of all time behind The Beatles.

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