Get your money ready, because the Missouri State Fair recently announced the last of the concerts that will be presented at the Pepsi Grandstand. And let me say this: this lineup is more Fair than it has ever been.
And you probably guessed by now that there’s a whole lot of country music, and country-like music. Not that there’s anything wrong with that: that’s what a lot of people like to hear and see, and those are the kind of acts that the Fair should strive to sign, the kind that the people are willing to pay for.
But at the same time I still think that the future of the Fair depends on appealing to more than just the rural, country-music demographic. The Fair is an agricultural showcase first and that won’t ever change but I think it’s facing one of the same problems as the city it calls home: sometimes it can be tough to appeal to young people. I might even be too old to know how to do that!
Anyhow, this is the column you might have been expecting: where I sort through the musical acts at the Fair and acquaint myself with any that I’m not excessively familiar with.
Friday, Aug. 11th happens to be this columnist’s birthday but it is also the day that Halestorm comes to the Missouri State Fair. Considering their commercial and critical success I’ve probably heard at least one of their songs – we’ll have to see.
Wait, did I already do Halestorm previously? Hmm, I don’t remember hearing any of these songs. Anyway, I kind of like Halestorm at least as far as modern rock bands go. It’s refreshing to hear a female voice in hard rock/metal, and vocalist/guitarist Lizzy Hale provides the sweet and vicious vocals for Halestorm’s hard-rocking instrumentals.
There is one thing I noticed: they seem to be able to create songs in more styles than I expected from a modern metal band. Outside of a bad word or two a song like “Here’s To Us” wouldn’t seem out of place on the modern country pop charts. Maybe that’s why they are at the fair, because they can at least imitate pop country if necessary.
On Tuesday Aug. 15th Granger Smith, also known as Earl Dribbles, Jr. will bring yet more country music to the Missouri State Fair. I was surprised to hear that Earl Dribbles, Jr was coming to the Fair because I only knew him as a Facebook personality who says cheesy down-home things that make most people roll their eyes. It turns out that EDJ is Smith’s comedy redneck alter ego, which seems very strange considering that most modern country music sounds like parody to me.
With inspiring song titles like “The Country Boy Song”, “Country Boy Love” and “Backroad Song” I’m pretty sure that Granger Smith is some sort of computer program designed to pump out the most generic possible country music for mass consumption. Frankly, that sounds like a license to print money. Just try to come up with a country music song title, Granger Smith has probably already done it. “Merica” has lyrics that sound like they’ve been pieced together from an assortment of truck stop t-shirts.
There’s just one more thing I want to talk about. Friday, August 18th has been christened “Red Dirt Country Night” and it seems to me that there’s a notable absence: not too many years ago Sedalia native and red dirt country artist Ryan Manuel won State Fair Idol and has since went on to record and carve himself out a career in various venues throughout the midwest with his band, The Getaway. If you’re going to have Red Dirt Country Night, you should definitely try to secure the services of a Fair-grown artist!
What concert are you looking forward to?
