We welcome Carver High School to the Annex for their graduation on Friday, June 12th 2020. Congratulations to the Class of 2020!
Parking and ticket information coming soon.
Full graduation schedule:
Carver High School – Friday June 12th at 7pm
Atkins High School – Saturday June 13th at 9:30am
Walkertown High School – Saturday June 13th at 12:30pm
We welcome Atkins High School to the Annex for their graduation on Saturday, June 13th 2020. Congratulations to the Class of 2020!
Parking and ticket information coming soon.
Full graduation schedule:
Carver High School – Friday June 12th at 7pm
Atkins High School – Saturday June 13th at 9:30am
Walkertown High School – Saturday June 13th at 12:30pm
We welcome Walkertown High School to the Annex for their graduation on Saturday, June 13th 2020. Congratulations to the Class of 2020!
Parking and ticket information coming soon.
Full graduation schedule:
Carver High School – Friday June 12th at 7pm
Atkins High School – Saturday June 13th at 9:30am
Walkertown High School – Saturday June 13th at 12:30pm
The Winston-Salem Fairgrounds presents The 2020 Classic Country Concert Series in partnership with 98.1 WBRF. Tickets go on sale Friday March 6th. Tickets start at $25 for individual shows, series passes start at $72
Where: Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex
Parking: $7 at Coliseum Lot off Deacon Blvd
Event Pages:
Montgomery Gentry with Little Texas
John Michael Montgomery with Whiskey Fox Trot
Mark Chesnutt with Jukebox Rehab
Show Tickets:
Montgomery Gentry with Little Texas
The Winston-Salem Fairgrounds presents John Michael Montgomery with Whiskey Fox Trot as a part of the Classic Country Series in partnership with 98.1 WBRF. Tickets go on sale Friday March 6th. Tickets start at $25
Who: John Michael Montgomery and Whiskey Fox Trot
When: Friday, June 26th 7:30PM. Doors open at 6:30PM
Where: Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex
Parking: $7 at Coliseum Lot off Deacon Blvd
Tickets: Click here
Bio:
John Michael Montgomery has turned an uncanny ability to relate to fans into one of country music’s most storied careers. Behind the string of hit records, the roomful of awards and the critical and fan accolades that have defined his phenomenal success lies a connection that goes beyond his undeniable talent and his proven knack for picking hits. Since the days when “Life’s A Dance” turned him from an unknown artist into a national star, John Michael’s rich baritone has carried that most important of assets—believability. Few artists in any genre sing with more heart than this handsome Kentucky-born artist.
It is readily apparent in love songs that have helped set the standard for a generation. Songs like “I Swear,” “I Love the Way You Love Me” and “I Can Love You Like That” still resonate across the landscape—pop icon and country newcomer Jessica Simpson cited “I Love The Way You Love Me” as an influence in a recent interview. It is apparent in the 2004 hit “Letters From Home,” one of the most moving tributes to the connection between soldiers and their families ever recorded, and in “The Little Girl,” a tale of redemption that plumbs both the harrowing and the uplifting. It is apparent even in the pure fun that has always found its way into John Michael’s repertoire—songs like “Be My Baby Tonight” and “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident),” where John Michael’s vocal earnestness takes musical whimsy to another level.
John Michael’s origins lie in deceptively modest beginnings. He was born in Danville, Kentucky, to parents who imparted a lifelong love of music.
“Where most people have chairs and sofas in their living rooms,” laughs John Michael, “we had amplifiers and drum kits.”
The family band played on weekends throughout the area, and John Michael and his brother Eddie eagerly soaked up everything about it.
“To a certain extent,” he says, “my dad always had a natural ability to draw fans and entertain people; I don’t care if it was on the front porch, the living room, or on a stage. I think that transitioned to me and my brother being able to do that on stage.”
John Michael took over lead singing chores after his parents divorced, and he performed for a while in a band called Early Tymz with Eddie and their friend Troy Gentry. Nashville talent scouts began hearing about and then seeing John Michael perform and by the early ‘90s he had a record deal.
The hits followed steadily, with songs like “Rope The Moon,” “If You’ve Got Love,” “No Man’s Land,” “Cowboy Love,” “As Long As I Live,” “Friends” and “How Was I To Know” establishing him as one of the elite acts of the era. He received the CMA Horizon award and was named the ACM’s Top New Vocalist, setting off a long series of awards that included the CMA’s Single and Song of the Year, Billboard’s Top Country Artist, and a Grammy nomination. Heavy touring meant he kept the close touch with fans he had begun in the clubs back home.
“You get to know your fans and what they like more and more through the years,” he says, “and you kind of gravitate towards one another.”
Indeed, he has always had an extraordinarily close relationship with his fans, and they have stayed with him through good and bad times.
Asked what he thinks gave him the edge in a career that calls millions but gives stardom to just a few, he pauses, then thinks back to the legacy of his parents.
“I reckon it was good genes and good blood,” he says with a smile. Few who know the depth and breadth of his own growing legacy would disagree.
WBFJ presents Rend Collective & Switchfoot as a part of the WBFJ Summer Concert Series. Tickets go on sale Friday March 6th.
Who: Rend Collective & Switchfoot
When: Saturday June 27th at 7:00PM, Doors open at 6:00PM
Where: Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex
Parking: $7 at Coliseum Lot off Deacon Blvd
Event Pages
Show Tickets
WBFJ presents Rend Collective as a part of the WBFJ Summer Concert Series. Tickets go on sale Friday March 6th
Who: Rend Collective
When: Saturday June 27th at 7:00PM, Doors open at 6:00PM
Where: Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex
Parking: $7 at Coliseum Lot off Deacon Blvd
Tickets: Click here
Bio: Amidst so much heaviness consuming events of today’s world, Rend Collective is sharing good news as a response to that brokenness. The Ireland-hailing Rend Collective is harkening back to their roots-y, unique sound – originally birthed out of Bangor, Ireland – for their sixth studio album, Good News, releasing January 19.
Taking on the moniker “Purveyors of Good News,” Rend Collective is barreling down the road of authenticity, and simple old-fashioned Gospel. Grown away from industry or formula, each song from Good News is deeply connected to the band’s roots in missional community – a group of people, or extended family, who are united through Christian community around a common service and witness to a particular neighborhood or network of relationships – much like the band themselves.
The title track and lead single, “Rescuer (Good News),” speaks to the band’s desire to shed light in the dark places. In a society that seems to continually face bad news, the lyrics point to the good news found in Jesus for every season and circumstance.
“There’s a lot of bad news out there, but no matter what we have good news, and that good news has a name: Jesus Christ. Today there is nothing more powerful we can do in the darkness, in the bleakness, than proclaim the good news, than proclaim the gospel, and that’s why we wrote this song,” says bandleader member Gareth Gilkeson.
Writing “Counting Every Blessing” was a personal and vulnerable process for the band. Birthed out of a period of downheartedness, the band made a conscious effort to practice ‘counting blessings’ in lieu of comparison.
“Sometimes we spend so much of our time looking at what we don’t have rather than being thankful for what we do have,” shares Gilkeson. “Our time on social media, comparing our lives to others, steals our joy and leaves us empty. God has given us so much and we must discipline our minds to think on our blessings rather than letting them fester on what we think we lack.”
Good News is marked with joy and celebration from beginning to end, but it doesn’t shy away from hardship. Each of the 15-tracks on the album speak to the struggle we all experience in light of the good news we’ve been invited to share in.
“All of us make mistakes and hit the ground feeling like we can’t get up again, that our failure is too overwhelming,” Gilkeson shares about the song, “Resurrection Day.” He continues, “But Romans 8 says that ‘The power that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of our mortal bodies’. That means resurrection flows in our veins and if Jesus can rise from the dead, we can get up off the floor again, declaring ‘this is my resurrection day.’”
With Good News, Rend Collective has chosen not to shy away from the brokenness and suffering, but rather through music and lyric that continues to push boundaries in the band’s own unique way, brings light to the darkness. This album is an invitation to all of us – to lament, to remember, and to share in the good news that belongs to all of us.
The Winston-Salem Fairgrounds presents The 2020 Classic Country Concert Series in partnership with 98.1 WBRF. Tickets go on sale Friday March 6th. Tickets start at $25 for individual shows, series passes start at $72
Where: Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex
Parking: $7 at Coliseum Lot off Deacon Blvd
Event Pages:
Montgomery Gentry with Little Texas
John Michael Montgomery with Whiskey Fox Trot
Mark Chesnutt with Jukebox Rehab
Show Tickets:
Montgomery Gentry with Little Texas
The Winston-Salem Fairgrounds presents Joe Nichols as a part of the Classic Country Series in partnership with 98.1 WBRF. Tickets go on sale Friday March 6th. Tickets start at $25
Who: Joe Nichols
When: Friday, July 17th 7:30PM. Doors open at 6:30PM
Where: Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex
Parking: $7 at Coliseum Lot off Deacon Blvd
Tickets: Click here
Bio:
As Joe Nichols began work on a brand new batch of old-school country music, he found himself looking back for inspiration. Back to his early career, back to true friends and the simple perfection of pure country music … back to things that never get old.
“Full circle is the term I would use,” the Arkansas native says about his new project, fittingly titled Never Gets Old. “The whole theme of the record is ‘Let’s get back to where it all began for me. Let’s get back to where my passion for music began.’”
From 2002’s Man With a Memory on, Nichols harnessed that passion as a steady hit maker, racking up six Number Ones and eight Top 10s, including chart-topping modern classics like “Brokenheartsville” and “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.” He’s a three-time Grammy nominee, an ACM, Billboard, CMA, and CMT Award winner, and his last album offering, Crickets, kept the success going, sending both “Yeah” and “Sunny and 75” to
Platinum-certified Number One status.
But then four years went by – the longest span between releases of his career – as Nichols dug in to reconnect with his calling. In Never Gets Old, he’s done just that.
“Instead of us making something that’s built for instant success, the idea was ‘Let’s make something we’re gonna be proud of 30 years from now,’” Nichols explains. “I’m thinking less about what will work, and more about what I love.”
What Nichols loves has always been obvious. Growing up around friends who were into anything but country, he was different. Nichols was pulled in by the realness of singers like Merle Haggard and Marty Robbins, Don Williams, Keith Whitley and George Strait, and that connection would inform his whole career. Even now with Never Gets Old, he’s happy to go against the grain.
“Hopefully the stuff we’re doing lasts a lot longer than today’s typical country record,” he says. “But I think the irony is that retro sounds are actually what’s fresh and new right now. All we had to do was what felt natural.”
Doing what felt natural has never been easier, as Nichols returned to the approach of his early albums. Working with Crickets producer Mickey Jack Cones and longtime collaborator and friend Brent Rowan– fiddles and steel guitar tempered tasteful modern sounds on nearly every mix, while that understated (but unmistakeable) baritone felt “better than it’s been in 10 years.”
Saying his goal was to sing with the most feeling possible and let whatever came out of his soul land on the record, Nichols ended up with 12 tracks that bound between spirit and sentiment, courage and cleverness, romance and rowdy fun, all wrapped in the throwback style he’s spent a lifetime pursuing.
Lead single and title track “Never Gets Old” points the way. Written by Connie Harrington and Steve Moakler, Nichols says it reminds him of the mid-’80s country era, a song that “wasn’t necessarily deep, but it was meaningful.”
With a swaying front-porch groove, it features laid-back acoustic guitars and accordions that waft in with the breeze, as Nichols ponders the moments that keep love fresh – like watching his wife laugh, holding her hand, and ending each day in a tender embrace. Nichols says he knew it was special when all three of his kids started singing along the first time they heard it.
Tracks like “This Side of the River,” “Billy Graham’s Bible,” and “We All Carry Something” are charged with soul-stirring power, while “Diamonds Make Babies” and “So You’re Saying” inject the project with heartwarming fun.
But it’s a bit of carefree craziness adapted from his live show which is sure to leave listeners with the biggest smile – an honest-to-goodness country cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s hip-hop favorite, “Baby Got Back.”
What began as a joke between Nichols and his band years ago went on to become a beloved moment onstage, and now it caps off Never Gets Old, proving that whatever this veteran song stylist sings, it’s gonna sound country. Nichols and his team invited comedian Darren Knight and his “Southern Momma” character to revamp the iconic spoken-word parts, and what came out in the studio was so much fun it had to be included on the album.
“Everybody was laughing that day,” he says. “It was out-of-the-blue and we never thought we’d put it on a record. But when it was done I was like ‘This is nuts, but this actually kind of feels like it should have been a country record … a goofy one, but still.’”
When Joe Nichols released his debut album, he was barely 20 years old and trying to put his youth behind him. Looking back now, he laughs at that thought, but some things never change. Back then he was scrappy and defiant about his quest to revive traditional country, and that drive remains. In fact, he says it’s one of those things that never gets old.
“I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” he says. “With my first album, there was this apprehension of ‘Is country music ready for a traditional country record?’ It was a little bit scary, but we went for it, and with Never Gets Old I still feel the exact same passion – it’s like ‘Let’s give it to them anyway.’ Now, I think country music is ready.”
WBFJ presents Rend Collective & Switchfoot as a part of the WBFJ Summer Concert Series. Tickets go on sale Friday March 6th.
Who: Rend Collective & Switchfoot
When: Saturday June 27th at 7:00PM, Doors open at 6:00PM
Where: Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex
Parking: $7 at Coliseum Lot off Deacon Blvd
