Sean C. Morgan
The Oregon Jamboree last week announced Chris Young as the final headliner for the 2019 festival.
Just after Thanksgiving, the Jamboree announced the addition of Hank Williams Jr. They join the Brothers Osborne, who were announced during the 2018 festival.
The Oregon Jamboree is an annual three-day camping and country music festival owned and operated by the Sweet Home Economic Development Group as a fund-raising tool for economic development projects.
In the past month, the Jamboree has also announced supporting acts: Jackson Michelson, Britnee Kellog, Cort Carpenter and Mitchell Tenpenny.
“We’ve had great, great feedback (about Hank Jr.),” said Festival Director Robert Shamek. “People are excited to see him. He doesn’t get to the Northwest very often. We’re definitely excited.”
Young “has a ton of No. 1s,” Shamek said. “We’ve had nothing but great feedback about Chris Young.”
Jamboree patrons have responded really well to those announcements, he said. “Ticket sales are doing really well right now. For the month of November, we were up 50 percent over last year’s sales for the month.”
Overall, the Jamboree is running about 10 percent ahead of last year, Shamek said. Sales were initially behind sales last year but have picked up and surpassed last year’s sales so far.
As the Jamboree gets back to work after Christmas, Shamek said, staff are in the planning phase for the additional events hosted by the Jamboree prior to the festival, which is Aug. 2-4.
Hank Williams Jr., son of the legendary Hank Williams, and father of artists Hank Williams III and Holly Williams, blending southern rock with traditional country music, played his first show at 8 years old in 1957.
He performed at the Grand Ole Opry in 1960; reached No. 5 with his his first single, s”Long Gone Lonesome Blues,” in 1964; reached No. 1 for the fist time in 1970 with “All for the Love of Sunshine;” and charted numerous Top 10 hits in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Among his numerous his are “A Country Boy Can Survive,” “There’s a Tear in My Beer,” “My Name is Bocephus” and “All My Rowdy Friends are Coming Over Tonight.”
He released his most recently single, “Take a Knee, Take a Hike,” in October.
Chris Young signed a record deal after winning “Nashville Star,” a USA network competition in 2006. He began scoring No. 1 hits with the album “The Man I Want to Be,” with the title track, “Voices,” and “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song).”
He reached No. 1 again on the next album, “Neon,” with “Tomorrow” and “You.”
His most recent record, “Losing Sleep,” reached No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart and debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 last year.
Jackson Michelson is a Corvallis artist who has played the Jamboree and Jamboree events in the past. Now based in Nashville with a record deal, he is currently touring the West Coast.
A singer since age 3, Britnee Kellogg appeared in seasons 11 and 12 of “American Idol.” Performing across the country, she also can be found playing small breweries and local venues in the Portland area. She is in the process of releasing her first EP.
Nashville artist Mitchell Tenpenny charted this year with the hit “Drunk Me” from his first major label album, “Telling All My Secrets.” His independent EP “Linden Ave.,” reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart, No. 6 in Heatseekers Albums and No. 12 in Country Album Sales.
Cort Carpenter was the Male Entertainer of the Year in the 2017 Independent Josie Music Awards.
He is most widely known for 2015’s “Let Me See Your Koozie,” and the video for “What Were We Drinking” from the 2016 EP “Changing Lanes” has accumulated 1.3 million views on YouTube. He released his first official radio single “Wrong Kinda Right” in 2017 and “Again,” “Holy Ground” and “Ex ’em” this year.