LEWISBURG, WV (01/29/2018) (readMedia)– State Fair Officials have announced the Southern Uprising Tour featuring Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels and the Marshall Tucker Band will take the stage on Friday, August 17, 2018, at the 94th Annual State Fair of West Virginia. Tickets for this show will go on sale Friday, February 2, 2018 at 10 am.
“We are very excited to release the Southern Uprising Tour as the first of many announcements to come,” State Fair CEO Kelly Collins stated. “To have three legendary acts such as Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels and the Marshall Tucker Band on one stage is going to make for a great evening!”
Ticket prices and details on how to order can be found at www.statefairofwv.com. Tickets will only be available via Etix at www.statefairofwv.com/fair/tickets/ or by calling 1-800-514-ETIX (3849) Monday through Friday 9 am – 6 pm or Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets will not be sold at the State Fair Box Office until later in the spring.
Travis Tritt
More than 27 years after Travis Tritt launched his music career, the Southern rock influenced artist continues to display strong sales activity, sell-out shows, and stay true and relevant to country music fans across the globe. Continuously performing shows and withholding a heavy appearance schedule, Tritt is proving to be unstoppable.
The highly abbreviated Tritt timeline started when the young Marietta, Georgia native incorporated his lifelong influences of Southern rock, blues and gospel into his country during a honky-tonk apprenticeship that led him to Warner Bros. in 1989. Over the course of a decade, Travis released seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label. His 1990 debut Country Club and its succession of hits put him in the vanguard of the genre’s early ’90s boom, dubbing him as one of “The Class of ’89,” which included country music superstars Garth Brooks, Clint Black and Alan Jackson; all whom dominated the charts in the early ’90s.
“Country Club,” “Help Me Hold On,” “I’m Gonna Be Somebody,” and “Drift Off to Dream” peaked at numbers two and three on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts; all which led for Tritt to win Top New Male Artist award from Billboard and the CMA Horizon Award (now known as the New Artist Award). Additionally, in 1991, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) marked Tritt’s debut album Country Club as certified platinum.
Two years after his debut, Travis’ sophomore album, It’s All About to Change, was released. Literally speaking, this album changed everything when the album shipped three million copies and all four of its singles reached the top five on the country music charts. Along with his first album, this release became triple-platinum certified by the RIAA.
At the same time, his conspicuous lack of a cowboy hat and musical aggressiveness set him apart. The next series of albums, seven of which are certified platinum or higher, scored him more hit singles and led him to amass more than 25 million in career album sales, two Grammys, three CMA Awards and a devoted fan base that filled venues coast-to-coast.
He’s been a force in sports appearances, having performed at the 1996 Olympics, two Super Bowls, a World Series Game, the opening of the Georgia Dome, the final Braves game at Atlanta-Fulton Country Stadium and, in 2013, the NCAA men’s basketball championship.
In 2012, Tritt formed his own label, Post Oak Recordings and shortly after released his album, The Calm After…. Tritt will release a new project, a special live 2-disc CD and DVD, titled A Man and His Guitar – Live From The Franklin Theatre, on Nov. 18. The much-anticipated release, shot and recorded at the historic Franklin Theatre in Franklin, Tenn., spotlights Tritt’s distinctively soulful voice and his exceptional guitar prowess in an intimate theater setting.
More than 25-years after he launched his music career, the Southern-rock influenced artist continues to stay true and relevant to Country music fans across the globe. Last year (2015), Tritt topped the SoundScan Top 200 Catalog Country Albums chart for over 60 consecutive weeks with 15 weeks spent at No. 1 and 35+ weeks notched in a Top 5 position. Tritt’s compilation album, Very Best of Travis Tritt, which was released in 2007, saw a resurgence of sales that started in Nov. 2014. The 20-track album features some of Tritt’s biggest hits, including “It’s A Great Day To Be Alive,” “Here’s A Quarter,” and “Anymore.”
For more information on Travis Tritt, visit his website TravisTritt.com and follow him on and Facebook and Twitter.
Charlie Daniels
From his Dove Award winning gospel albums to his genre-defining Southern rock anthems and his CMA Award-winning country hits, few artists have left a more indelible mark on America’s musical landscape than Charlie Daniels. An outspoken patriot, beloved mentor to young artists and still a road warrior at age 80, Charlie has parlayed his passion for music into a multi-platinum career and a platform to support the military, underprivileged children and others in need.
Raised among the longleaf pines of North Carolina, Charlie began his career playing bluegrass music with the Misty Mountain Boys. After moving to Nashville in 1967, he began making a name for himself as a songwriter, session musician and producer. Elvis Presley recorded a tune Charlie co-wrote titled “It Hurts Me,” which was released on the flip side of “Kissin’ Cousins.” He played on such landmark albums as Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline and tried his hand at producing on the Youngbloods’ Elephant Mountain and Ride the Wind.
His own unique voice as an artist emerged as Charlie recorded his self-titled solo album in 1970 for Capitol Records. Two years later he formed the Charlie Daniels Band and the group scored its first hit with the top ten “Uneasy Rider.” Since then the CDB has populated radio with such memorable hits as “Long Haired Country Boy,” “The South’s Gonna Do It Again,” “In America,” “The Legend of Wooley Swamp” and of course, his signature song, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group in 1979 as well as single of the year at the Country Music Association Awards.
The CDB performed 100+ concert dates in 2017 including performances on the Grand Ole Opry and will begin touring in March of 2018 for another full schedule of concert appearances.
“I love what I do,” says Charlie of his 60-plus years in the music business. “I look forward to entertaining people. When show time gets here, I’m ready to go, ready to go play for them. It’s a labor of love. I just thank God I make a living at what I enjoy doing.”
The Marshall Tucker Band
In the early fall of 1973, The Marshall Tucker Band was still a young and hungry group out to prove themselves every time they hit the stage. “We were a bunch of young guys who didn’t know any boundaries,” says founding member and longtime lead singer Doug Gray. As it turned out, the collective talents of The Marshall Tucker Band took them very far indeed.
Today, the band records on its own RAMBLIN’ RECORDS Label (distributed by Sony/RED) and continues to release new and previously unreleased material. Still led today by founding member and lead singer Doug Gray, they represent a time and place in music that will never be duplicated. Gray is quick to credit the band’s current dynamic members with carrying on the timeless essence of The Marshall Tucker Band sound. Current members include the highly respected drummer B.B. Borden, a former member of both Mother’s Finest and The Outlaws, multi-instrumentalist Marcus Henderson of Macon, Georgia, plays flute, saxophone and keyboards in addition to lead and background vocals, Pat Elwood on bass guitar, and Rick Willis on lead guitar and vocals, both of Spartanburg SC, are disciples of the Caldwell Brothers. Acclaimed lead guitarist and vocalist Chris Hicks recently rejoined the band after a two-year absence. Together they present a powerful stage presence as they continue to tour the country and continue to be powerful force in the world of music.
The Marshall Tucker Band got its start in Spartanburg, S.C. when Gray teamed up with Tommy Caldwell and Toy Caldwell, Paul T. Riddle, George McCorkle and Jerry Eubanks, borrowing the name “Marshall Tucker” from a piano tuner whose name was found on a key ring in their old rehearsal space. In 1972, they signed with Capricorn Records, the same label that guided The Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie, and others to national fame. The MTB opened shows for The Allman Brothers in 1973, and the following year, they began to headline their own shows across America due to the platinum-plus sales of their debut album. They toured constantly playing sheds, stadiums, theaters, fairs, and festivals.
In years to come, The Marshall Tucker Band would wow critics and influence major country acts like Alabama, The Kentucky Headhunters, Confederate Railroad, and Travis Tritt with its definitive blend of rock, rhythm & blues, jazz, country, and gospel. Now, thanks to the expanding scope of today’s music, a new generation of fans is learning what the rest of their fans have known for so long- that good music knows no boundaries. Along the way, the band has recorded 22 studio albums, three DVDs, three live albums and many compilations.
In 1980, Tommy Caldwell died as a result of injuries from an auto accident. In 1984, Toy Caldwell, George McCorkle, and Paul Riddle decided to retire. Doug Gray and Jerry Eubanks with the blessings of the other three continued to record and perform as The Marshall Tucker Band. 1n 1993 Toy Caldwell, who wrote the majority of their songs, passed away, as did George McCorkle in 2007. Jerry Eubanks retired in 1996 and Doug Gray continues to lead the current band of fine musicians winning new young fans as well as satisfying the loyal fans of several generations.
Years of rigorous tour schedules earned the band the respect of critics and countless dedicated fans. With hit singles like “Heard It In a Love Song,” “Fire On The Mountain,” “Can’t You See,” and “Take The Highway,” The Marshall Tucker Band earned seven gold and three platinum albums while they were on the Capricorn Records label. During the 90’s, the MTB scored four hit singles on Billboard’s country chart and one on Billboard’s gospel chart. Their music has also been featured on the soundtracks of movies such as Smokey and the Bandit, Blow, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, Shipwrecked, Crank 2, Don’t Mess with Zohan, Stop Loss, Swing Vote, Taking Chance and many others as well as many TV Shows.
“The buying public never really cared whether we were country or rock & roll” says Gray. “They called us a Southern rock band, but we have always played everything from country, jazz, blues, rock & roll and all things in-between. As we’ve become older,” Gray grins, eyes twinkling, “our Southern heritage seems to come out even more. But, no matter how old we get, we can still rock your socks off.” Gray also notes that people have gotten “married and buried” to classic MTB songs like “Desert Skies” and “Can’t You See”. After 40 years, The Marshall Tucker Band continues to be played on classic rock and country radio, and they have never stopped touring.
More than 40 years after forming, The Marshall Tucker Band continues to tour, performing more than 130 live dates each year.
CMT (Country Music Television) named the MTB’s “Can’t You See” the #4 Greatest Southern Rock Song. The MTB’s debut album, The Marshall Tucker Band, reigns as Gibson Guitar’s #5 Greatest Southern Rock Album. UltimateClassicRock.com crowned the MTB’s “Can’t You See” as the #1 Southern Rock Song and in 2013, GRAMMY® Magazine named the group’s logo as one of the most distinctive and iconic brands in music.
The 2018 State Fair themed “Unforgettable Fun”, is a 10-day Fair scheduled August 9-18, 2018. The State Fair of West Virginia, with a $13.8 million dollar economic impact on the state of West Virginia, is a 501 © 3 non-profit corporation committed to the traditions of agriculture, family entertainment, and education. For more information, please visit www.statefairofwv.com, or follow fair events on Facebook and Twitter.
