Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sugarland, Randy Owen of Alabama, Joe Nichols and Trace Adkins have all been signed to appear at this year’s Oregon Jamboree.
The Jamboree announced its 2008 lineup Tuesday. Other artists scheduled to appear are Trent Tomlinson, Kelli Pickler, Rissi Palmer, Confederate Railroad and Phil Stacey.
“The talent schedule is nearly complete,” Event Manager Peter LaPonte said. The three-day country music and camping festival will include a total of 13 concerts.
The Jamboree is scheduled for Aug. 1-3. The Aug. 1 schedule includes Tomlinson with Surgarland headlining. The Aug. 2 schedule starts with Confederate Railroad followed by Rissi Palmer, Kelli Pickler, Joe Nichols and headliner Randy Owen. The Aug. 3 schedule includes Phil Stacey with headliner Trace Adkins.
Like last year, “this year we’re going to have all national acts except for the first show on Friday,” LaPonte said. “I think the whole thing is good now, but if we are able to fill out our Sunday with what we’ve got coming, that’s going to be huge.”
On customer surveys, Sugarland was one of the top two most requested bands, LaPonte said, “and they put on a great show.”
In the two years since the top-five single “Baby Girl” put Sugarland on the map, the band has accomplished more than anyone ever expected, least of all Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush themselves, who won the Country Music Association Duo of the Year award in 2007, the first time in the last six years that Brookes and Dunn did not win the award.
With almost 3 million copies sold of their Mercury Nashville debut, “Twice the Speed of Life,” the band has garnered a string of awards, including an American Music Award for “Favorite Breakthrough Artist,” an Academy of Country Music Award for “New Duo/Group of the Year,” a Grammy nomination for “Best New Artist,” and six CMA nods.
Sugarland most recently released “Enjoy the Ride,” which opened at number four on the U.S. Top 200 and number two on the country chart. The lead single, “Want To,” became the duo’s first number one single. Follow-up single “Settlin'” also reached the top of the charts, and the fourth single, “Stay,” is currently at number two and has been on the charts for 18 weeks.
“Randy Owen is Alabama,” LaPonte said. “He wrote most of the songs. He was the singer.”
Now he has a new band and a new album, LaPonte said.
As the lead singer of the legendary group Alabama, Randy Owen would appear to have seen and done it all – 73 million albums sold, countless miles on the road touring, a warehouse full of awards and a coveted spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Yet this singer/songwriter/entertainer/rancher is embarking on a new path – a solo career with a new album in the works and the single, “Braid My Hair.”
“I’m as excited about this as I’ve ever been,” said Owen. “Before I decided to do the solo thing, we put a band together and did some dates late last year to see if the fans were still out there. When I came back I was totally convinced we needed to do this.”
Produced by John Rich, of Big & Rich fame, Owen’s album, titled “One on One,” will hit stores this spring on the newly-formed DMP Records. Owen and his 10-piece band will hit the road later this month for a tour that will extend into the fall.
Trace Adkins’ body of work has been marked by both good-time anthems and soul-stirring slices of life. The centerpiece of “American Man,” the greatest hits album he is supporting right now, may well be “Honky-Tonk Badonkadonk,” the hip-hop-influenced, across-the-board smash that carried the Louisiana-born singer to new levels of popularity following its 2005 release. But the track that sets both the CD and Adkins’ career into perspective is “Songs About Me,” which makes clear the emotional realities behind the best of country music and so much of his work.
Joe Nichols exploded into country music with two multi-week, number-one hits, “The Impossible” and “Brokenheartsville,” pushing his debut album sales to gold and beyond and garnering four Grammy nominations. He released the album “Real Things” in 2007.
Confederate Railroad is kind of a nostalgia act, LaPonte said.
The band started out in Georgia bars before selling nearly 5 million albums, including songs, like “Queen of Memphis,” “Trashy Women,” “Jesus and Mama,” and “Daddy Never was the Cadillac Kind.” The band was a key part of the country music landscape in the 1990s, winning the Academy of Country Music’s Best New Group award in 1993 along with a Grammy nomination and numerous nominations from the Country Music Association and the British Country Music Foundation.
Kellie Pickler made the finals of the fifth season of “American Idol” and was a member of the “American Idols Live! Tour 2006.” Her first album, “Small Town Girl,” released in 2006, was certified gold, producing three singles, “Red High Heels,” “I Wonder” and “Things That Never Cross a Man’s Mind.”
Rissi Palmer turned down a pop record deal by Jimmy Jam and Tery Lewis, who have worked with Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Boyz II Men to follow her heart. She chose country music. A songwriter who has worked with Nashville writiers Angela Kaset, James Dean Hicks and Shaye Smith, she co-wrote nine of 12 songs and released her self-titled debut album in 2007 with the singles “Country Girl” and “Hold on to Me.”
Phil Stacey was a top-six finalist in the sixth season of “American Idol.” He released an EP last year, and his current single is “If You Didn’t Love Me.” He sang in church and then was a member of the Lee Singers and Second Edition choirs at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., where he studied music. He served as the music minister at First Coast Christian Center in Jacksonville, Fla.
Trent Tomlinson plays straight-ahead, unpretentious, guitar-driven music, he said. “It’s open-a-beer, sit-in-a-lawn-chair, let’s-have-a-party country.” He honed his music in countless demo studios over the years. Five of his demos appear on his first album, “Country is My Rock,” released in 2006, with singles “Drunker than Me,” “One Wing in the Fire” and Just Might Have Her Radio On.” He reached second place on The Nashville Network’s “You Can be a Star” his junior year in high school.
The Jamboree is produced by the nonprofit Sweet Home Economic Development Group. Proceeds from the festival are used to fund economic development and charitable programs in the Sweet Home community.
For tickets or more information, call 367-8800 or (888) 613-6812. General admission tickets cost $105 for three days or $70 for a single day. Camping is $70 for the weekend. Children under 6 are admitted free with an adult. Admission for children ages 7 to 12 is $25 for the weekend and $12 for one day.