JOE NICHOLS: Country Jam 2015 Featuring: ERIC CHURCH

Another industry vet, WCOL welcomes Joe Nichols to this year’s Country Jam!  Raised in Arkansas, Nichols got his first recording deal at age 19, and released his debut album Joe Nichols in 1996.  Following poor sales, Nichols was dropped from the label and had trouble finding further success, even having to pick up odd jobs to pay his bills.  In 1999, a friend of Nichols helped him get signed by Universal South Records, and Nichols released his second album in July of 2002.  Man with a Memory proved to be a much bigger success than his debut, earning Nichols three Grammy nominations, ACM’s award for Top New Male Vocalist, and several singles, including his first number one hit, “Brokenheartsville”.  Nichols catalogue has grown substantially then, with six more albums and four more number one singles, including “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off”, “Sunny and 75”, and “Yeah”.  What will undeniably be an electric show, WCOL is thrilled to have Joe Nichols join us for this year’s Country Jam!

The two- day festival will be hosted at the historic Legend Valley Concert Venue and Campground located on Buckeye Lake, just thirty minutes east of downtown Columbus.  2015 will mark the 3rd year that WCOL Country Jam has taken place at the venue. The festival is packed with a multitude of country music acts from classic country, southern rock country, and modern country artists.

General Admission tickets are currently available. There are several camping options available to patrons. Tickets and camping passes are on-sale now and available at www.LegendValleyFestivals.com.  Camping passes are sold separately.

The WCOL Country Jam is a country festival that has occurred annually for the last 10 years. In 2013, WCOL and Bluestone Promotions formed a partnership to bring the show to the Legend Valley Music Center, a historic venue located near Buckeye Lake in Thornville, Ohio. Previous years included performers Hank Williams Jr., Dierks Bentley, Gary Allan and Tim McGraw.   The venue boasts acres of campgrounds and a large field with great views of the stage. Legend Valley Music Center has functioned as a music venue since the early 1970’s, but has undergone some name changes since that time.  LVMC has hosted a multitude of artists including: The Charlie Daniels Band, The Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Alabama, Journey, and Jimmy Buffett.

Cam Live at The Bluestone

CAM will be performing live at The Bluestone on Thursday December 1st

Doors for the show will open at 7pm

Opening Artist: TBA

Tickets available for $15 in advance and will increase to $20 day of show

General Admission Tickets are standing room only!

PURCHASE TICKETS

CAM.

THE SIMPLE, THREE-LETTER NAME IS BOLD. AND THAT RINGS TRUE TO THE ART, AND THE HEART, OF ONE OF COUNTRY’S SHINING NEW ACTS.

THAT BOLDNESS IS EVIDENT IN NEARLY EVERY STEP SHE TAKES. CAM MAKES IT A HABIT TO WEAR EYE-CATCHING YELLOW EVERY TIME SHE GOES OUT IN PUBLIC. THE STRINGS AND ACOUSTIC GUITAR IN HER BREAKOUT #1 PLATINUM-CERTIFIED SMASH, THE GRAMMY AND ACM AWARDS NOMINATED “BURNING HOUSE,” ARE STIRRINGLY FRAGILE, A BRAVE COUNTERPOINT TO THE PARTY ATMOSPHERE OF MODERN COUNTRY. AND SHE SINGS WITH A DYNAMIC CLARITY THAT’S BOTH DISTINCTIVE AND FRIENDLY.

CAM BACKS UP THAT BOLDNESS WITH A FIRM DELIVERY, EMBEDDING HER MATERIAL WITH A RINGING CONVICTION THROUGHOUT THE 11 SONGS ON HER ARISTA NASHVILLE/RCA RECORDS FULL-LENGTH DEBUT, UNTAMED. RELEASED DECEMBER 11, 2015, HER NEW ALBUM BURST ONTO BILLBOARD’S TOP COUNTRY ALBUMS CHART AT #2 AND EARNED 2015’S BEST FIRST-WEEK ALBUM SALES BY A DEBUT COUNTRY ARTIST.   WHETHER SHE’S SINGING ABOUT FRESH LOVE, BROKEN HEARTS OR DIFFICULT PERSONAL CROSSROADS, SHE’S CLEARLY LIVING THE EXPERIENCE FOR THE THREE OR FOUR MINUTES SHE’S IN IT. ACTUALLY, SHE’S RE-LIVING THE EXPERIENCE, BECAUSE THE EMOTIONS IN EVERY ONE OF HER SONGS COME UNAPOLOGETICALLY FROM HER SINGULAR INTERACTION WITH THE WORLD.

“THERE’S A LOT OF WORK INVOLVED IN BEING AN ARTIST, AND I’M SO HAPPY TO DO IT,” SHE SAYS. “BUT IF I’M GOING TO INVEST MY TIME IN THE WORK PART OF IT, THE MUSIC JUST HAS TO BE ME.”

THE “ME” THAT CAM PRESENTS TO THE WORLD IS MULTI-DIMENSIONAL. SHE’S POWERFULLY VULNERABLE IN “BURNING HOUSE,” FIERCE AND DEFIANT IN “RUNAWAY TRAIN,” EFFERVESCENT AND CAREFREE IN “MY MISTAKE.” AND THE EMOTIONS IN THE MATERIAL AREN’T THE ONLY THING THAT SEPARATES THOSE TITLES – EVERY SONG INCORPORATES A DIFFERENT SONIC PALETTE. WHILE ONE MIGHT RELY ON POLISHED POP INFLUENCES AND MELODY, ANOTHER YIELDS A PIANO BAR FEEL, ONE CLEVERLY INFUSES A BIT OF GREGORIAN CHANT, AND YET ANOTHER USES STEEL GUITAR TO CREATE A CLASSIC-COUNTRY MOOD.

THAT WIDE-RANGING ARTISTRY IS KEY IN CAM’S APPROACH. INSTEAD OF LIMITING HER CHOICES TO MAKE AN EASILY DEFINED PRODUCT, SHE’S PUT FAITH IN THE UNIQUENESS OF HER VOICE, ALLOWING THAT TO BE THE DEFINING CHARACTER OF A PLIABLE, ADVENTUROUS MUSICAL PERSONA.

CO-WRITING EACH OF THE SONGS ON UNTAMED, CAM SAYS, “THE COHESIVE PART IS ME AND MY VOICE. THE MUSIC ALL STEMS FROM THE SAME PLACE, AND IT ALLOWS YOU TO GO IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS WITH THE CONTENT AND THE LYRICS AND THE KIND OF VIBE THAT’S GOING ON IN EACH SONG.”

ADVENTURE AND UNIQUENESS WERE PRACTICALLY BUILT IN TO CAM FROM THE OUTSET. CAMARON MARVEL OCHS WAS BORN IN THE WATERFRONT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TOWN OF HUNTINGTON BEACH, SHE SPENT BIG CHUNKS OF HER YOUTH AT HER GRANDPARENTS’ HORSE RANCH IN OCEANSIDE, WHERE THE TRACTOR WAS RED AND THE BARN WAS BLUE. HER GRANDFATHER WAS BOTH A COWBOY AND AN ENTREPRENEUR – HE STARTED HIS OWN BUSINESS, BUILDING WOODEN OFFICE DESKS – AND HER PARENTS WERE SIMILARLY NON-CONFORMIST. HER FATHER GREW UP IN A MILITARY FAMILY AND HAD THE GUTS TO MOVE OUT ON HIS OWN AT AGE 17, A TIME WHEN MOST KIDS ARE LOOKING TO DAD FOR A FEW EXTRA BUCKS TO PUT GAS IN THE CAR AND SEE A MOVIE. HER MOTHER HAD AN EXECUTIVE POSITION IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AT A TIME WHEN THOSE JOBS WERE RESERVED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY FOR MEN. IN TURN, THEIR INDEPENDENT, SELF-RELIANT STREAK WAS INSTILLED IN CAM, PARTICULARLY AFTER THE FAMILY RELOCATED TO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

“WE’D CLIMB REDWOOD TREES IN THE BACKYARD, AND I WOULD CLIMB SUPER HIGH AND GET STUCK,” SHE RECALLS WITH A LAUGH. “I’D ASK MY DAD TO HELP ME DOWN, AND HE’D SAY, ‘WELL, I CAN’T. YOU’VE GOT TO GET YOUR OWN SELF DOWN. BUT I’LL STAND HERE AND CHEER YOU ON.’”

THERE WAS PLENTY TO CHEER. FOR EIGHT YEARS, BEGINNING IN FOURTH GRADE, CAM WAS PART OF THE CONTRA COSTA CHILDREN’S CHOIR, WHICH SANG IN 14 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. THE CHOIR TOURED INTERNATIONALLY, PERFORMING IN SUCH EXOTIC LOCATIONS AS CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL IN ENGLAND, NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS AND THE VATICAN.

THROUGH THAT PROCESS, CAM LEARNED MUSIC THEORY, HARMONY, STRUCTURE AND TONE. AND SHE LEARNED THE JOY OF BEING PART OF A TEAM.

“I LOVED SINGING IN GROUPS,” SHE SAYS. “I DON’T NECESSARILY LIKE TO BE THE CENTER OF ATTENTION.”

WHEN SHE HEADED OFF TO COLLEGE, CAM STUDIED PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS. THE SCHOOL IS CENTERED IN FARMLAND OUTSIDE OF SACRAMENTO, PART OF THE SAME RING OF SMALL-TOWN SUBURBS THAT INCLUDES FOLSOM, A TOWN THAT WOULD BECOME VITAL TO THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY CASH.

THE SETTING WAS CRUCIAL. CAM HAD ALREADY BEGUN TO CONNECT TO DIVERSE BRANDS OF MUSIC – SHE WAS DRAWN TO STRONG, INDIE-ROCK FEMALES AND TO SINGER/SONGWRITERS IN HER CASUAL LISTENING AT THE SAME TIME SHE WAS SINGING CLASSICAL MUSIC WITH THE CHORAL GROUP. BUT COUNTRY MUSIC WAS A BIG PART OF THE SOCIAL SCENE AT DAVIS, AND IT BECAME AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN HER SELF-EXPRESSION.

“VARSITY BLUES CAME OUT, AND EVERYBODY WORE COWBOY BOOTS TO SCHOOL,” CAM RECALLS. “AND EVERYBODY LISTENED TO TIM MCGRAW AND THE DIXIE CHICKS AND SHANIA TWAIN.”

THAT INCLUDED CAM, WHO IDENTIFIED WITH THE VALUES OF HOME AND COMMUNITY THAT ARE CENTRAL TO THE GENRE. THAT EMOTIONAL CONNECTION WOULD PAY OFF WHEN SHE PURSUED MUSIC PROFESSIONALLY. WHILE LIVING IN LOS ANGELES, CAM MET A KINDRED SPIRIT IN UP-AND-COMING SONGWRITER/PRODUCER TYLER JOHNSON (TAYLOR SWIFT, P!NK). A SONGWRITING PARTNERSHIP WAS BEGUN, WITH PROMISING EARLY RESULTS – THEY CO-WROTE A SONG ON MILEY CYRUS’ ALBUM BANGERZ, AND CAM ALSO LANDED A SONG ON A PROJECT BY INDIE COUNTRY ACT MAGGIE ROSE.

CAM AND JOHNSON METICULOUSLY WROTE AND REWROTE THE MATERIAL FOR WEEKS AND MONTHS AT A TIME UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE OF GRAMMY®-WINNING PRODUCER AND SONGWRITER JEFF BHASKER (FUN., MARK RONSON), WHO HELPED BRING HER TO THE INDUSTRY’S ATTENTION IN NEW YORK, EVEN WHILE SHE MADE ORGANIC INROADS IN MUSIC CITY.

IN A BIT OF A FLUKE, CAM’S MUSIC WAS DISCOVERED ONLINE BY NASHVILLE RADIO PROGRAMMER MICHAEL BRYAN, WHO STARTED PLAYING ONE OF HER SONGS, “DOWN THIS ROAD,” ON WSIX EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS UNSIGNED. WHILE THE ATTENTION WAS A BOON, WHEELS WERE ALREADY IN MOTION BEHIND THE SCENES WITH LABEL MEETINGS IN NASHVILLE WHEN BHASKER GOT CAM A MEETING IN NEW YORK WITH RCA RECORDS CHAIRMAN & CEO PETER EDGE AND PRESIDENT & COO TOM CORSON. BLOWN AWAY BY HER INCREDIBLE VOICE AND IRRESISTIBLE PERSONALITY AND CHARM, EDGE IMMEDIATELY CALLED SONY MUSIC’S CEO, DOUG MORRIS, WHO LIKEWISE FELL FOR HER UNDENIABLE TALENT WHEN SHE AUDITIONED FOR HIM. IN A RARE SITUATION, SHE’S NOW SIGNED TO BOTH THE COUNTRY (ARISTA NASHVILLE) AND POP (RCA RECORDS) LABELS – SHE SEES HERSELF AS A COUNTRY ACT, BUT IF HER MUSIC BREAKS OUT OF THE GENRE OR FINDS AN AUDIENCE OVERSEAS, THE POP DIVISION IS WAITING IN THE WINGS.

MANY OF HER SONGS WENT THROUGH MAJOR REVISIONS EVEN AFTER SHE SIGNED HER DEAL, A REFLECTION OF CAM’S EVOLUTION AS AN ARTIST AND HER DOGGED PURSUIT OF A DISTINCTIVE SOUND. AS THE ARRANGEMENTS OR INSTRUMENTATION CHANGED, THE LYRICS INVARIABLY GOT TWEAKED, TOO. SHE WAS PRESENT FOR EVERY NUANCE, ENSURING THAT THE END RESULTS REFLECTED HER REALITY.

“IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR ME TO KNOW EVERYTHING THAT WAS INVOLVED IN MY MUSIC,” SHE SAYS. “I’M THERE FOR ALL THE PRODUCTION THAT HAPPENS, I SIGN OFF ON ALL THE MIXES, I’M THERE FOR THE RECORDING. THE PEOPLE THAT ARE WORKING WITH ME ARE INCREDIBLE, SO I’M NOT DRIVING EVERY ASPECT OF IT, BUT I’M THERE INSPIRING IT.”

IN EARLY 2015, COUNTRY RADIO WAS INTRODUCED TO CAM WITH THE ENGAGING FIRST SINGLE, “MY MISTAKE,” WHILE HER FOUR-SONG EP, WELCOME TO CAM COUNTRY, DEBUTED ON SPOTIFY. THE MEDIA WAS IMPRESSED WITH CAM’S POSSIBILITIES. BILLBOARD PRAISED HER MUSIC AS “AT ONCE FRESH AND FAMILIAR, THAT RARE MIX OF DARING AND COMFORT THAT’S OFTEN THE HALLMARK OF A HIT,” WHILE GOSSIP KING PEREZ HILTON CHAMPIONED HER FOR BEING “FEARLESS.” THE ACCOLADES CONTINUED WITH THE RISE OF “BURNING HOUSE,” WHICH ROLLING STONE COUNTRY CALLED “HAUNTING” AND “ONE OF THE MOST BUZZED-ABOUT TUNES OF THE YEAR.” AND THE WASHINGTON POST LAUDED BOTH “MY MISTAKE” AND “BURNING HOUSE,” NOTING THAT “THE TWO SONGS FEEL LIKE NIGHT AND DAY, BUT THEY ALSO SUGGEST RANGE AND DEPTH.”

SINCE JULY 6, 2015, THE OFFICIAL RADIO IMPACT DATE OF “BURNING HOUSE, NOT ONLY HAS CAM BECOME THE ONLY COUNTRY FEMALE TO ACHIEVE MORE THAN 1 MILLION DOWNLOADS OF A SINGLE THIS PAST YEAR, BUT, ADDITIONALLY, BOTH HER BREAKTHROUGH HIT AND DEBUT DISC MADE MULTIPLE “BEST OF 2015” CRITICS’ LISTS, INCLUDING ROLLING STONE, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, THE WASHINGTON POST, ASSOCIATED PRESS, NASHVILLE SCENE, AMONG OTHERS. CAM ALSO BECAME THE MOST-NOMINATED FEMALE AT THE 2016 ACM AWARDS WITH SIX TOTAL NODS, AND, SHE RECEIVED A 2016 GRAMMY NOMINATIONFOR “BEST COUNTRY SOLO PERFORMANCE” FOR “BURNING HOUSE” AND 2016 AMERICAN COUNTRY COUNTDOWN AWARDS NOMINATIONS FOR “FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR” AND “BREAKTHROUGH FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR.” HER CAREER IS SHOWING PROMISE.

PROMISE IS PART OF CAM’S CHARM. EVEN IN “BURNING HOUSE,” A SPARE SONG ABOUT A CRUMBLING RELATIONSHIP, ONE CAN SENSE AN UNDERLYING POSITIVITY: HER PERSISTENCE AND HER DETERMINATION TO MEND A DEVASTATING FRACTURE.

IT’S A RARE GIFT, AND IT’S REFLECTED IN HER BOLD PENCHANT FOR YELLOW. SHE SPRINKLES THAT COLOR INTO SHOES, DRESSES, BRACELETS – SOMETIMES A COMBINATION OF ALL OF THEM – AS SHE VISUALLY CAPTURES HER INNER GLOW. THAT GOLDEN SIGNATURE LOOK WAS DEVELOPED OUT OF A CONVERSATION WITH HER MANAGER, LINDSAY MARIAS. CAM HAD RAISED A FAIR AMOUNT OF MONEY THROUGH A KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN AND WAS USING SOME OF THAT REVENUE TO FUND A VIDEO. WORKING LATE AT NIGHT DURING THE PRODUCTION, CAM MADE SOME COFFEE TO GET A LIFT, AND AS SHE GRABBED A CUP, SHE PURPOSELY CHOSE A YELLOW ONE OFF THE SHELF.

“I REALLY NEEDED THIS BRIGHT MOMENT TO BE ABLE TO JUST CONNECT WITH PEOPLE THROUGH THE VIDEO,” SHE EXPLAINS. “LINDSAY WAS THERE WITH ME, AND SHE SAID, ‘YOU ARE YELLOW.’ IT’S SO CHEERY AND FRIENDLY AND RELATABLE, AND ALL THOSE ADJECTIVES FIT SO WELL WITH ME AS A PERSON AND WHAT MY MUSIC IS ABOUT, SO IT JUST ALL CLICKED. THEN THE MORE WE INCORPORATED YELLOW, I STAND OUT IN PICTURES. PEOPLE SEND ME YELLOW THINGS, AND EVEN IF I’M TIRED OR IF IT’S A SUPER-COLD, SNOWY DAY, YELLOW LIFTS PEOPLE’S SPIRITS. IT KIND OF DOES HALF THE WORK FOR YOU.”

IT’S A SIGN OF CAM’S BOLDNESS. HER DEAL, HER MUSIC, HER PHILOSOPHY – EVEN HER NAME: EVERYTHING ABOUT HER STANDS OUT. IF YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED CAM, YOU SIMPLY WEREN’T LOOKING.

Drake White and The Big Fire will be performing live at The Bluestone on Friday, May 5th, 2017

Featured Artist: Drake White

Opening Artist: Dave Kennedy

Opening Artist: Channing Wilson

Doors for the show will open at 7pm

PURCHASE HERE–This Show is SOLD OUT

Drake White Tickets on sale Friday, December 16th at 10am

VIP OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE

VIP TABLE PURCHASE DOES NOT INCLUDE ADMISSION TICKETS TO THE SHOW.  

Admission tickets must be purchased separately.

• Loft Lower Tier: $250 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Prime view of the stage!
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
• VIP Server
• Exclusive Private Bar access

• Loft Upper Tier: $200 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
• VIP Server
• Private Bar Access
• May have an obstructed view
• *All VIP tables located in the loft area

*All Sales are final

Every reaction begins with a catalyst, some initial event that sets things on their inexorable course. For Drake White, it goes back to something raw and elemental in his debut album Spark.

“I learned how to play guitar and keep people’s attention around a fire,” explains the Hokes Bluff, Alabama native. “A spark can start a fire that can keep you alive and sustain you. So this is the beginning for me. This is the first strike of the flint.”

The spirit of Spark comes from those simple, early days spent enjoying the outdoors among friends in the warm glow of a fire. And though he’s now a city dweller with all the complications and distractions that entails, White still seeks the freedom and deeper connections he felt when the chorus of nature and the strums of his guitar blended into one harmonious song — the kind of contentment he sings about in the swirling majesty of his single “Livin’ the Dream.” Drake White

“We grew up free. We grew up on 4-wheelers, riding through the backwoods,” he says. “We grew up hunting and fishing and being out in the Appalachian Mountains. People don’t understand how beautiful north Alabama is until you see it in person.”

Drake White

Save for “Livin’ the Dream,” White wrote or co-wrote the remaining 11 tracks on Spark, working with red-hot producers Ross Copperman and Jeremy Stover through the process. He also brought in his own band for a handful of tracks to capture the energy of his live shows.

The first sound on Spark — before the pulse-quickening “Heartbeat” kicks into gear — is the voice of White’s late grandfather speaking from the pulpit. Several of these ghostly transmissions from the past appear on Spark, all extolling the virtues of love, brotherhood and nature. It’s a touch of the surreal that nods at White’s fondness for Pink Floyd’s psychedelic masterpiece The Wall, but also a deeply personal gesture that matches his vision perfectly.

“I went through about five or six sermons of my grandfather and picked out certain little snippets,” he says. “I just think they kind of fit. They’re weird and people are asking what they are. And that was my point: to get people talking about it.”

White has his own message of finding some harmony amid the demands of modern life, one that goes down easy in the uplifting, Zac Brown Band-assisted Southern rock anthem “Back to Free” and the cautionary-but soulful “I Need Real.” It’s a simple message of not letting oneself be swallowed up by technology and seeking out honest, genuine connections with others.

“When I’m at home, my wife and I keep our phones in the bedroom,” says White. “We listen to records. We hardly turn the TV on, unless it’s time for Game of Thrones. Before social networking was a smartphone app, we did it around a fire. That goes way back.”

With his gospel-derived, passionate delivery, White seems to have inherited his grandfather’s ability to touch crowds with a sermon — his divine vocal improvisations at the end of the honky-tonk flavored “Story” will undoubtedly get butts out of seats. White stresses that he isn’t a preacher, but doesn’t see a problem with putting his own methods for surviving the world out there.

“Some of the best songs, like Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” or anything by Bob Marley, have a little bit of preachin’,” he says. “I never want to come across too preachy, but instead I’m saying, ‘Hey man, this is my life, and this is what I do to be happy and I’m figuring it out just like you.’” Drake White

Spark covers an entire spectrum of emotions beyond these statements of character and self-definition. In “Making Me Look Good Again,” White cruises on an R&B-style groove to express his gratitude for his better half, while “Waiting on the Whiskey to Work” finds him embodying a man spun out on love and heartbreak. Then in the tropically-themed “Equator,” he flies south to give his nomadic side a little time to play.

“This record is about balance. It’s me asking, where’s that boy I used to be? Oh yeah, we gotta go get him back,” he says. “We gotta go on a hike or camping or grab my wife and go to some foreign country. I gotta feel alive. I gotta go out there and do that.” Drake White

Long a respected live entertainer with his (appropriately named) band the Big Fire, White’s climb to the limelight hasn’t been a straight or uncomplicated one. Rather than blowing up right away with a big debut single, he’s toiled on the road for years, giving jaw-dropping performances night after night and making believers one show at a time. “There are many different paths.

Country Artist, JOE NICHOLS, will be performing LIVE at The Bluestone

on Thursday, September 14th

Doors for the show will open at 7pm

Opening Artist: McCoy

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 day of show

Tickets will go on-sale Friday, June 16th at 10am

PURCHASE HERE

RESERVED LOFT TABLE SEATING

RESERVED TABLE PURCHASE DOES NOT INCLUDE ADMISSION TICKETS TO THE SHOW.  

Admission tickets must be purchased separately.

• Loft Lower Tier: $250 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Prime view of stage!
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
• Server
• Exclusive Private Bar access

• Loft Upper Tier: $200 (seats four people-no exceptions)
• Includes first bucket of Miller or Coors Light
•  Server
• Private Bar Access
• May be Obstruction in View

*All Reserved tables located in the loft area

ALL SALES ARE FINAL

Joe Diffie LIVE at The Bluestone on June 29th, 2018

*Opening Artist: Dillon Carmichael and David Adam Byrnes

*Doors for the show will open at 7PM

*Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 day of show

Tickets On-Sale Now!

Joe Diffie was regarded by many of his peers as one of the better vocalists in contemporary country, and lent his traditional sensibilities to humorous, rock-tinged novelties and plaintive ballads. Diffie was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1958 and grew up in a musical family, first performing in public at age four with his aunt’s country band. He played in a rock band during high school, and later moved on to a gospel quartet and, during college, a bluegrass band called the Special Edition. He worked on his songwriting and singing over the next few years while working in a foundry, and caught a break when his “Love on the Rocks” was recorded by Hank Thompson. When Randy Travis nearly recorded another of his songs, Diffie was convinced he had a shot in the business, and moved to Nashville in 1986. He took a job at the Gibson guitar plant while continuing to write songs, and became an in-demand demo singer as well. Holly Dunn’s 1989 recording of a Diffie collaboration, “There Goes My Heart Again,” proved a major hit, and Diffie found himself a hot commodity. He signed with Epic and released his debut album, A Thousand Winding Roads, in 1990. His first single, “Home,” went all the way to number one on the country charts, and “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets)” duplicated that feat; meanwhile, two more singles from the album, “If You Want Me To” and “New Way (To Light Up an Old Flame),” reached number two.

Diffie became a regular hitmaker over the rest of the ’90s, and scored again with his sophomore LP, 1992’s Regular Joe; “Is It Cold in Here” and “Ships That Don’t Come In” both made the Top Five. Known primarily for his ballads at this point in his career, Diffie switched things up with 1993’s Honky Tonk Attitude, which emphasized his rambunctious, rocking side and sense of humor, and proved to be his biggest-selling album yet. The title track, “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die),” and “John Deere Green” all went Top Five. Sticking with engaging humor as the selling point of his hugely popular follow-up, 1994’s Third Rock from the Sun, Diffie scored two number ones with the title track and “Pickup Man,” plus a Top Five hit in “So Help Me Girl.” 1995 brought a holiday album, Mr. Christmas, as well as a proper release in Life’s So Funny, which gave Diffie his fifth number one hit in “Bigger Than the Beatles.” 1997’s Twice Upon a Time saw his commercial momentum slipping a bit, and so Epic issued a Greatest Hits compilation the following year; its new song, “Texas Sized Heartache,” returned Diffie to the Top Five. 1999’s A Night to Remember was the most straight-ahead, traditional country record Diffie had yet recorded, and it gave him two Top Ten hits in the title cut and “It’s Always Somethin’.” He returned to his more established style for 2001’s In Another World, which found him transferred to Sony’s reactivated Monument subsidiary; its title track went Top Ten early the next year. Tougher Than Nails followed in 2004, then in 2010 Diffie returned to bluegrass for Homecoming: The Bluegrass Album, which was released by Rounder Records and was greeted by warm reviews.

Diffie had a bit of an unexpected revival in early 2013, when his name provided the chorus of Jason Aldean’s party-hearty hit “1994.” Later that year, Diffie set out on the road with fellow country singers Sammy Kershaw and Aaron Tippin on a tour called All in the Same Boat; the trio released an accompanying album of the same name in May. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi

Joe Nichols Live in concert

Tickets ONLY $25

July 15th, 2021

Joe Nichols live in Columbus, Ohio

Joe Nichols has been a mainstay of country music for two decades, bridging the gap between the genre’s old-school roots and contemporary era. Joe Nichols a 21st-century traditionalist — an artist who’s both timely and timeless, racking up a half-dozen Number 1 singles and ten Top 10 hits with a sound that honors his heroes. From his first radio smash, 2002’s “The Impossible,” to 2021’s Home Run,” Nichols has proudly done things his own way, blurring the boundaries between country music’s past and present along the way.

It’s an approach that has earned Joe Nichols multi-platinum success, three Grammy nominations, a CMA award, an ACM trophy, and — perhaps most importantly — the support of his idols. Joe Nichols still remembers the day he received a letter from Buck Owens, who passed away the same week his message arrived in Joe Nichols’ mailbox.
The two had previously crossed paths in Bakersfield, California, where Owens complimented Nichols on his classic sound… and gave him some good-natured teasing about the length of his hair.