Story By Donald Campbell
The DeKalb County VFW Agricultural Fair is set to open on October 21st, and fair officials say they’ve got a wide range of music set to appeal to everyone lined up for the festivities.
Country music group “Country Case” will take the stage at 7 P.M. Tuesday as part of WQSB’s Country Music Night. The bluegrass band “Alley Katz” will be performing Wednesday night, starting at 6 P.M. Thursday night at 6, fairgoers can take in the sounds of guitar students from Fort Payne High School and the Chris Roberts School of Music. Playing a little bit of everything, “Crossroads,” presented by The Pickin’ Post, is set to provide Friday night’s musical performances beginning at 6. Wrapping up the fair week, at 5:30 Saturday evening, “New Ground” and “The Lacey Family” will be taking part in the 35th annual gospel singing, sponsored by First Fidelity Bank.
“Northeast Alabama, this area is very talented when it comes to music,” Fair Chairman Charles Stephens said. “We try to get local acts as much as we can.”
Stephens explained that, when it comes to selecting groups to be part of the musical lineup, fair officials try to pick groups from different genres to appeal to a wide range of people. They also like to pass it around, giving different groups the chance to play at the fair, which helps keep the lineup a little fresher from year to year. Fair officials do take comments they hear from fairgoers into account when making their decisions as well, while there have been times when groups have reached out to them, explaining their schedule is open at fair time and expressing their interest in being part of the musical lineup.
“It’s an honor. We’re very blessed,” Robbie Maxwell with “New Ground” said. “We did some of the gospel portion of June Jam in the past, but this is our first time performing at the fair.”
Describing their program as primarily Southern gospel with a handful of other styles of gospel music thrown in, Maxwell said it’s exciting to get to be part of the fair’s musical lineup this year. She said the group has looked at being part of the fair’s program for a number of years, and with the group members living in Scottsboro and across Sand Mountain, it’s a show that’s close enough to home where their friends and families would be able to attend without issue.
Trent Slaton with “Country Case,” a group playing primarily ‘80s and ‘90s country, along with some Southern rock, said they have been playing the fair for around 10 to 12 years, regularly serving as the band for WQSB’s Country Music Night. Slaton said a number of the comments they hear from fairgoers are about how much they enjoy the group’s set list, hearing music from artists including Alabama, Toby Keith, Conway Twitty, and Merle Haggard, among others.
“It’s an honor to get to come back anywhere,” Slaton said. “Especially a place like this and getting picked by a country music radio station to represent them here.”
Admittedly, there have been times when it’s been more difficult to find groups with open dates to fill one of the slots, Stephens said. One of the other key issues is finding acts that are able to fit within the fair’s budget. However, Stephens said there are still plenty of quality entertaining acts the fair has been able to land year after year.
“We look for what will be a good draw, and things people enjoy hearing,” he said.
“Come on out and support some good local music,” Slaton added.
