In 2020, the music stopped; but what better way to launch the 2021 Deschutes County Fair & Rodeo FREE Concert Series than with some of the biggest shows in the Fair’s 101 year history.
The 2021 FREE Summer Concert Series at the Deschutes County Fair & Rodeo will feature something for everyone, with a mix of music across multiple genres including Rock, Country and more.
Wednesday, July 28 — Skillet
Opening the Fair and summer concert series will be big time rock group Skillet. Skillet will perform at the Deschutes County Fair & Rodeo on Wednesday July 28. This show is presented by KNLR New Life Radio; 95.9 Bend and KNLX 104.9 Prineville.
Thursday, July 29 — Chris Janson
On Thursday, July 29, Country music sensation Chris Janson will return to Central Oregon to perform some of his number one songs including, Good Vibes, Buy Me a Boat, Name on It and more. Chris Janson is presented by KSJJ 102.9.
Friday, July 30 — Nelly
On Friday, July 30, Power 94 will present Grammy award winning artist Nelly. This Atlanta-based artist is famous for the smash hits Ride Wit Me, Country Grammar and E,I,, from the Multi-Platinum 200 release Country Grammar, along with huge success on hits coproduced with Florida Georgia Line, Tim McGraw and more.
Saturday, July 31 — Reckless Kelly
Saturday July, 31, Idaho-bred Country Rock band Reckless Kelly who made Seven Nights in Eire and Wicked Twisted Road famous, will take the stage, along with multiple special guests for a festival-style event that guests will not want to miss.
“We are excited to welcome our fans back with some of our biggest shows yet,” said Geoff Hinds, Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center director.
With safety as the top priority, the entire Deschutes County Fair & Rodeo Summer Concert Series will be moved to an outdoor location outside the First Interstate Bank Center at Fair & Expo. The new location will provide a larger footprint, to allow for additional social distancing, and an open-air setting perfect for the Central Oregon summer.
Tickets for the 2021 Deschutes County Fair & Rodeo will go on sale online on July 5. Additional information is available at DESCHUTESFAIR.com.
SKILLET BIO:
One of the best-selling rock bands of the 21st century, two-time GRAMMY Award-nominated, Pandora Billionaires Club recipients, multiplatinum Wisconsin quartet Skillet — John Cooper [lead vocals/bass], Korey Cooper [guitar/keys], Jen Ledger [drums/vocals], and Seth Morrison [lead guitar]—write the soundtrack to triumph. An undying spirit humbly asserted and affirmed the band as one of this generation’s most successful rock acts. However, as all classic underdog stories do, it happened quietly under the radar. By 2019, they not only garnered a pair of GRAMMY Award nods and sold over 12 million albums worldwide, but they also took home a Billboard Music Award for the double-platinum Awake. Its breakout single Monster remains “one of the most-streamed rock songs of all-time” with over 3 billion global audio streams. 2016’s Unleashed bowed at number three on the Billboard Top 200. Going number one on Rock Radio, the lead single Feel Invincible cracked 150 million global audio streams and went platinum. Meanwhile, the gold-certified Unleashed became their fourth consecutive album to receive either a gold, platinum, or double-platinum. To date, nine original tunes earned RIAA recognition in tandem with high-profile syncs by everyone from WWE and Marvel to ESPN and NFL. Between selling out arenas on four continents, the group performed on CONAN and graced the pages of USA Today and New York Times, to name a few. In 2018 alone, the band clocked one billion streams. This momentum continues on their 2019 tenth full-length, Victorious. With the bulk produced by Korey and John, it lives up to its name for Skillet as their most triumphant body of work yet. On top of Victorious, Skillet debuted their first graphic novel, EDEN: A Skillet Graphic Novel with Z2 Comics, which has become the publisher’s best-selling book of all time.
CHRIS JANSON BIO:
In case you haven’t heard, Warner Music Nashville’s Chris Janson is not your typical country artist.
Both a crowd-pleasing fixture on the historic Grand Ole Opry and a viral hit maker, he’s been straddling the divide between country’s past and future. A self-taught multi-instrumental wizard; a red-hot fireball of a performer; and a gifted songwriter whose deep messages are often delivered with a clever, lighthearted smirk, those in the know recognize Janson as one of the genre’s most captivating total-package phenomenon’s.
Superstars have turned into believers, with Keith Urban and Vince Gill calling Janson his pick for Entertainer of the Year and artists as diverse as Tim McGraw, Hank Williams Jr., Justin Moore, LoCash and many others recording his songs.
But now, coming off the career-defining success of his Platinum certified get-rich smash Buy Me a Boat and its top five album of the same name, Janson’s turning his creativity loose. And with Everybody, he combines all the elements that make him unique, once and for all.
Twelve new tracks show off the contrasting shades of Janson’s world. Both a restless ball of energy and a dedicated husband and father, his new tunes bound between jacked-up enthusiasm and heartfelt tenderness. Rafter-shaking electric guitars weave in and out of twangy, pure-country vocals, while homespun hooks and acoustic melodies bring soaring themes of love, life, and legacy down to earth.
“I don’t want to come off corny by saying ‘There’s a song for everybody,’ but there really is,” Janson explains. “I wanted to make it a diverse record. I didn’t want to be pigeon holed into one sound or approach, so I wrote a bunch of songs that each had their own individual style.”
The rollicking realist from Buy Me a Boat” shows back up in Fix a Drink, the album’s first single and one of the fastest rising hit of his career. Frenzied early-arrivers to Sam Hunt’s 15 in a 30 Tour have already turned it into an anthemic live-show highlight, and a string of headlining dates this fall are sure to add to its reputation.
It’s a near-perfect mirror of Janson’s personality — grinning and playful, but balanced by his own brand of down-home wisdom — and that’s what guided the whole project. Janson was determined to show what makes him tick.
The title track Everybody includes a foot-stomping groove and a few more laughs inspired by society’s celebrity fixation, while Redneck Life puts the hammer down for a wild-eyed cocktail of punk and country the singer describes as, “Social Distortion meets Waylon Jennings.” It offers the best glimpse yet into Janson’s harmonica wielding, 100-mph concerts.
The devoted family man from his Top 20 hit Holdin’ Her is revealed again by heart-melting slow jams like Bein’ a Dad (something he wouldn’t trade for the world), Eyes for Nobody (dedicated to his wife Kelly) and the deceptively-titled Drunk Girl, which despite its title is actually a stunning piano ballad about personal integrity. “I believe you show respect to everybody, especially women. For me, Drunk Girl goes to the heart of that.”
Meanwhile, Name On It claims a perfect night in the name of true love, sharing the feel of a romantic radio hit with Little Bit of Both. That one’s drenched in flirtatious fun and a strutting horn section — a career first that fits even better than he imagined.
“I took the time to write what I wanted to, say what I wanted to, and just have fun,” he explains. “That’s the biggest difference. The Buy Me a Boat album was like trying to catch a wave, but when I started on this record I just felt at peace.”
In short, it’s the realization of a vision he’s been crafting since his childhood, and his most complete self-portrait yet. “I love this record,” he says plainly. “I come from a dream-big lifestyle and made something out of nothing by working really hard, and I just hope people find happiness and a little bit of themselves in it. To me it’s one of those ‘I still can’t believe this is happening’ things.”
Fans, friends, critics and country-radio tastemakers alike have all seen this coming. Now, Everybody is on the same page.
NELLY BIO:
Diamond Selling, Multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning rap superstar, entrepreneur, philanthropist and actor, Nelly, has continually raised the bar for the entertainment industry since stepping on the scene in 2000 with his distinctive vocals and larger-than-life personality. His collaboration with Florida Georgia Line received Diamond status and he is only one of seven rappers to reach this honor. He is touring around the globe and recently was the first artist to play in Saudi Arabia with a mixed gender/family crowd. He is the first hip hop artist to play with multiple symphonies nationwide and played himself in BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood with Kevin Hart. His sports knowledge and love of all sports secured him a gig as a sports caster with Skip Bayless.
Nelly embarked on his music career with Midwest hip hop group St. Lunatics, in 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Nelly entered the spotlight with the release of Country Grammar in 2000, spending seven weeks at number on the Billboard Top 200 and spawning the massive hits Ride Wit Me, Country Grammar and E.I. The album landed Nelly four Grammy Award nominations and sold over nine million copies worldwide. Country Grammar is Nelly’s best-selling album to date, selling over 8.4 million copies in the United States.
Nelly kept the momentum going with the 2002 release of Nellyville. The album debuted at number one on top of scoring Nelly his first two Grammy Awards for Hot in Here — Best Male Rap Solo Performance — and Dilemma [feat. Kelly Rowland] — Best Rap Song Collaboration. This album was highly successful and was certified six-time multi-platinum by the RIAA on June 27, 2003. He has since gone on to win multiple American Music Awards, a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award, Soul Train Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and was crowned Top Pop, Rap, and R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of The Year by Billboard. He has been referred to by Peter Shapiro as, “one of the biggest stars of the new millennium,” and the RIAA ranks Nelly as the fourth best-selling rap artist in American music history, with over 21 million albums sold in the United States. On December 11, 2009, Billboard ranked Nelly the number three Top Artist of the decade.
On September 14, 2004, Nelly released two albums, Sweat and Suit. Suit, an R&B-oriented album, debuted at number one on the Billboard albums chart, and Sweat, a rap-oriented album, debuted at number two. From Suit, the slow ballad Over and Over, an unlikely duet with country music star Tim McGraw, became a crossover hit. On the 2004 NBC television concert, special Tim McGraw: Here and Now, McGraw and Nelly performed the song. In the winter of 2005 came Sweatsuit, a compilation of tracks from Sweat and Suit with three new tracks.
Brass Knuckles was released on September 16, 2008 with Party People, featuring Fergie and produced by Polow da Don, being the first single released. Stepped on My J’z was the next single, produced by Jermaine Dupri and featuring Dupri and Ciara; following that was Body on Me, produced by Akon and featuring Akon and Ashanti. Following up Brass Knuckles was 5.0 released in November 2010. The album’s lead single Just a Dream was released on August 17, 2010, through iTunes along with the promotional single Tippin’ In da Club. Just a Dream made its first chart appearance debuting on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 12 and peaking at number three in its fourth week. The song also debuted at number three on the Billboard Digital Songs chart, selling 888,000 downloads in its first week. The second single Move That Body, which features T-Pain and Akon, was released on October 12, 2010. The song made its first chart appearance debuting on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 54.
Nelly’s Country Grammar album and his song Cruise with Florida Georgia Line both achieved Diamond status in 2016. In 2016, Nelly was featured in a unique opportunity to perform alongside the country’s most prestigious orchestras including St. Louis, Columbus and Pittsburgh garnering great reviews. Nelly has performed on NBC’s The Voice, The American Music Awards, ABC’s Greatest Hits and served as a judge on CW’s The Next. Just some of his hits include: Hot in Here — Dilemma [feat. Kelly Rowland] Country Grammar, Ride Wit Me, Just a Dream — Cruise reached diamond status, The Fix sampling Marvin Gaye and summer sixteens dance anthem Millionaire with Cash Cash and Digital Animal Farm.
RECKLESS KELLY BIO:
For nearly 25 years, Reckless Kelly has graced the musical landscape with a high-powered form of Americana, equally rooted in raw passion, refined musicianship and gritty authenticity. With the dual release of two new albums — American Jackpot and American Girls — the Idaho-bred band presents a beautifully detailed portrait of their beloved country, turning their nuanced songwriting to its many glories and tragedies. While one batch of songs centers on slice-of-life storytelling and the other explores the complexities of human connection, the collective body of work unfolds with a profound and often eye-opening attention to the subtleties of American life.
Although Reckless Kelly initially intended to make just one album, the project took on a life of its own once they headed into the studio. “I wanted to produce this one by myself, just to try that out, and I made sure to book plenty of studio time to get it done right,” says Willy. “We ended up moving along really fast, so I pulled out a few more songs and figured we’d end up using them down the road. Before we knew it, we had enough material for two really good records.”
The follow-up to their acclaimed 2016 album Sunset Motel, American Jackpot and American Girls embody a wonderfully eclectic sonic palette, achieved with the help of V.I.P. guest musicians like Gary Clark Jr. and Charlie Sexton, along with several members of their own legendary family (including Uncle Gary Braun on chromatic harmonica and their father Muzzie Braun on lead and harmony vocals). Recorded at Arlyn Studios in their adopted hometown of Austin, both albums abound with an unbridled vitality — an element that has much to do with the band’s deliberate decision to keep pre-production to a minimum in order to harness the magic of in-studio spontaneity. “There’s something incredible about the first time you play a song really well together, and we don’t ever want to waste that take on the rehearsal room,” Willy notes.
One of many songs penned with Idaho-born singer/songwriter Jeff Crosby, I Only See You With My Eyes Closed provides one of American Girls most haunting moments, its intensity heightened by Sexton’s ethereal guitar work. But on Lost Inside The Groove, American Girls turns impossibly jubilant, bringing swinging rhythms and a fiery guitar solo to the song’s expression of lovestruck adoration. “Shawn Sahm sent me that song idea, so we worked it out and had him come down and play guitar and Vox Continental organ,” explains Willy, referring to the son of Sir Douglas Quintet/Texas Tornados founder Doug Sahm.
Though the two brothers first forged their musical partnership back in Idaho, they later decamped to Bend, where they quickly linked up with Jay Nazz. Soon after forming Reckless Kelly (whose name nods to the legend of Australian highwayman Ned Kelly), the three musicians relocated to Austin and rounded out the lineup with bassist Joe Miller and guitarist David Abeyta (who exited the band after the release of Sunset Motel). Over the years, they’ve delivered a string of critically lauded albums, including 2011’s Grammy-nominated Good Luck & True Love and 2013’s Grammy-winning Long Night Moon.
With the release of American Jackpot and American Girls, Reckless Kelly hopes to lead listeners to thoughtful reflection on their own experience of living in America, and possibly invite a certain purposeful nostalgia. Mostly I just hope these songs remind them of all the different aspects of growing up in America, and feeling so lucky to live here,” says Willy Braun.
