New country, southern rock music to highlight ‘23 fair entertainment

    A pair of country music singers and two southern rock/country bands will entertain concert-goers at this year’s Chase County Fair.
    Announced this week by the fair board, the entertainers will take stage at the fair on back-to-back nights, Aug. 18 and 19.
    This year’s full week of CCF activities is on tap for Aug. 13-20 in Imperial.
    Jake Burke, who handles tickets and marketing for the fairboard, described this year’s entertainment as a mix of newer acts with music that’s gaining popularity.
    On Friday, Aug. 18, headliner Black Stone Cherry and special guest Read Southall Band will feature a mix of country and rock.
    “Black Stone Cherry is more of a rock band, while Real Southall Band leans more toward country with a rock ‘n roll influence,” he said.
    On Saturday, Aug. 19, it will be a night of country music solo artists, Burke said.
    Newcomer Ian Munsick will headline the Saturday show and is “pioneering a new brand of country.”
    Munsick may be best known right now for his song collaboration with Cody Johnson, “Long Live Cowgirls.”
    Burke said Munsick has been “blowing up” on the country charts the last couple of years, and has a high ceiling for the future.
    Opening for Munsick Aug. 19 will be another country newcomer, Megan Moroney.
    She currently has a song climbing the charges titled “Tennessee Orange,” but broke out on the country scene last year with her debut Extended Play record, “Pistol Made of Roses.”
More on entertainers
    Black Stone Cherry is riding high on its latest release, “Out of Pocket,” available on the Mascot Records Label and all streaming platforms.
    It’s the band’s first new song since the release of their 2020 album The Human Condition.
    Lifelong friends Chris Robertson, vocals/guitar; Ben Wells, guitar/vocals; and John Fred Young on drums have welcomed a new bass player Steve Jewell.
    Over the past two decades the Kentucky Southern rockers have played across the U.S., and across Europe. In 2021 they fulfilled a lifetime ambition of playing London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall.
    According to RIFF Magazine, the Read Southall Band “combines the heavy guitars of the late and post-grunge era with southern rock vocals and a country music sensibility to create a sound outside the expectations of any of those genres by themselves.”
    The 6-member band is enjoying success from a third studio album, For the Birds, described as “ambitious and captures vigorous, rock ‘n’ roll energy with elements of country and southern rock.”
    From classic to contemporary rock, the album’s songs can appeal to the disparate fan bases of Gary Stewart, Joe Walsh, Rival Sons or Chris Cornell.
    Headlining the Saturday Aug. 19 concert will be Ian Munsick, a Wyoming-born singer and song writer.
    Under the tutelage of their fiddle-playing father, Munsick and his two older brothers grew up playing everything from bluegrass to The Beatles.
    Munsick followed his ear to Nashville, and after establishing a robust touring career as an independent artist, he signed a major label record deal with Warner Music Nashville in 2020. Since then, he’s had more than 300 million global streams as well as accolades from Spotify—“Hot Country Artist to Watch”—and MusicRow magazine’s “Next Big Thing.”
    His debut album, Coyote Cry, features his mile-high tenor voice and his ode to the west song, “Long Haul,” which earned him his second iHeartRadio Rocky Mountain Country Music Award for Song of the Year.
    The recent releases of “Long Live Cowgirls” (with Cody Johnson), “More Than Me ” and “Horses & Weed” are ushering in the next chapter of his musical saga.
    Megan Moroney was born and raised in Georgia, where she was heavily influenced in classic country, southern rock and Americana. She is known for her distinctive voice and honest, conversational lyrics.
    The buzz surrounding her single “Tennessee Orange” prompted her to perform it on ESPN’s College GameDay, while racking up an average of 5 million streams a week and over 70 million global streams to date.
    Moroney pulls her inspiration from artists such as Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves, and was called a “musical risk-taker with powerhouse pipes” by CMT and “2023 Artist to Watch”  by Spotify, Pandora, Holler and The Nash News.
    She starts her Pistol Made of Roses tour this spring.
Tickets now on sale
    Burke said Early Bird Discount tickets go on sale Thursday this week at 9 a.m.
    For more event information and tickets, visit www.chase countyfair.com.
    Burke added the fairboard is working on other new events and attractions to be announced in the coming months.