Jason Aldean headlines 4-day Country Thunder in Florence
Country Thunder rumbles into Phoenix on Thursday
Grab the Stetson and make sure your Wranglers are freshly pressed. Why? Because it’s time for Country Thunder, the annual music blowout that attracts about 29,000 fans each day for the festival. Here’s our guide to who’s playing, ranging from household names to up-and-comers and all in between.
It’s being billed as “the ultimate festival experience” for country fans in Arizona.
And anyone who’s ever been to Country Thunder would expect no less from the biggest four-day country-music blowout the state has to offer.
As Toby Keith, one of the headliners at this year’s party sums it up, “The crowds are so big and so ready to party and if you’ve got that gear in your transmission box where you can just step on their heads and pull their tails off and drink out of a Red Solo Cup and rock, it’s just so much fun.”
In addition to Keith, this year’s lineup is topped by Cole Swindell, Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan. But there are plenty of other reasons you might want to come in from the campsite while the sun is out, from Lukas Nelson to Runaway June.
Here’s a guide to this year’s lineup:
THURSDAY
Bryan White (5 p.m.): His first two albums were certified platinum in the ‘90s, sending four songs to the top of Billboard’s country chart — “Someone Else’s Star,” “Rebecca Lynn,” “So Much for Pretending” and “Sittin’ on Go.” He’s only cracked the country Top 10 once since then, with 1997’s “Love Is the Right Place.” Adam Sanders (6:30 p.m.): Since signing a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music, he’s had his songs recorded by artists as high-profile as Luke Bryan (“Out Like That”), Dierks Bentley (“Sounds of Summer”) and Cole Swindell (“Ain’t Worth the Whiskey”). His current single is “Thankful For.”
Lauren Alaina (8 p.m.): The former “American Idol” contender was recently named New Female Vocalist of the Year by the Academy of Country Music. And she’s the only female vocalist to send two songs to No. 1 at country radio last year.
Cole Swindell (10 p.m.): This Georgia native topped the Billboard country charts with “Chillin’ It,” his debut single, in 2013, and returned to the top with “You Should Be Here” in 2015. Both songs went platinum, as have several other singles – “Hope You Get Lonely Tonight,” “Ain’t Worth the Whiskey” and “Middle of a Memory.” He’s also had a hand in writing hits for other acts, from “Get Me Some of That” by Thomas Rhett to “This is How We Roll” by Florida Georgia Line” and “Roller Coaster” by fellow headliner Luke Bryan.
FRIDAY
Lukas Nelson (3:30 p.m.): If country music had its own Mount Rushmore, Nelson’s dad would definitely be there. But Willie’s son has been fronting his own band, Promise of the Real, since 2008. By 2009, they were opening shows for Willie Nelson and B.B. King. Last year, they hit the country album charts at No. 2 with “Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.”
Neal McCoy (5 p.m.): He made his first appearance on the Billboard country charts in 1988 with “That’s How Much I Love You.” But this singer really hit his stride in 1994 when “No Doubt About” and “Wink” hit No. 1. His other hits include “The City Put the Country Back in Me,” “For a Change,” “They’re Playin’ Our Song” and “Billy’s Got His Beer Goggles On.”
Drew Baldridge (6:30 p.m.): This Illinois native had a minor country hit in 2016 with “Dance with Ya.” In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Baldridge said that an upcoming disc “is going to be a little different” but “it’s still in that realm of the funk music I love,” going on to say he’d grown up listening to Michael Jackson and Earth, Wind & Fire – “all that grooving stuff.”
Tracy Lawrence (8 p.m.): His debut single, “Sticks and Stones,” hit No. 1 on
Billboard’s country chart in 1991. A year later, he was named Top New Male Vocalist by the magazine. His other hits include seven more chart-toppers – “Alibis,” “Can’t Break It to My Heart,” “My Second Home,” “If the Good Die Young,” “Texas Tornado,” “Time Marches On” and “Find Out Who Your Friends Are.”
Jason Aldean (10 p.m.): Aldean’s fourth album, “My Kinda Party,” established him at the forefront of the modern-country vanguard. The biggest-selling country album of 2011, “Party” sent three singles, led by the quadruple-platinum “Dirt Road Anthem,” to the top of
Billboard’s country charts and took home album of the year at that year’s CMAs. He headlines Country Thunder a week before releasing “Rearview Town,” his much-anticipated follow to “They Don’t Know,” his fourth consecutive release to hit the country album charts at No. 1.
SATURDAY
Runaway June (2 p.m.): Three female vocalists strumming acoustic guitars and harmonizing with each other while backed by four musicians, one of whom supplied an endless string of aweinspiring steel guitar licks, were among my favorite acts on last year’s bill. Highlights ranged from “Fast as You,” a Dwight Yoakam cover that effortlessly swaggered through the rockabilly side of Bakersfield, to “Lipstick,” their first hit.
Michael Ray (4:30 p.m.): This singer topped the country airplay charts his first time out with “Kiss You in the Morning,” following through with a string of Top 20 appearances – “Real Men Love Jesus,” “Get to You” and “Think a Little Less.”
Williams and Ree (5 p.m.): This comedy duo met in 1968 at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota, forming a band who filled time between songs with comedy sketches. Audiences liked the humor better, so they stuck with that, performing with Garth Brooks, the Oak Ridge Boys and Tim McGraw.
Cody Johnson (6:30 p.m.): This Texas singer-songwriter hit No. 2 on Billboard’s country album chart with his sixth album, “Gotta Be Me,” which spawned his first Top 40 entry on the country airplay charts, “With You I Am.” The album also finished 24th on a list of the 40 Best Country Albums of 2016 in
Rolling Stone, which said, “This is a singer at home with both Texas dance halls and Sam Hunt-like recitation.”
Big & Rich (8 p.m.): Big Kenny and John Rich went triple-platinum their first time out with an album called “Horse of a Different Color” that also spawned their biggest-selling hit, “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).” If you don’t think that song will inspire massive singalongs at Country Thunder, you have clearly never been there. Toby Keith (10 p.m.): Keith’s first single, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” was the most-played country single of the ‘90s. But his biggest hit arrived 18 years later with “Red Solo Cup,” a double-platinum novelty song extolling the virtues of the plastic cup that holds his beer.
SUNDAY
Morgan Wallen (4 p.m.): He was on “The Voice” four years ago and co-wrote “Preachin’ to the Choir” for a Thousand Horses. You may have seen him with Florida Georgia Line, who appear on Wallen’s first Top 20 entry on the Billboard country charts, “Up Down.”
Lindsay Ell (5:30 p.m.): You may have seen this Canadian singer-songwriter early this year when she opened the Brad Paisley concert in Glendale, rocking a GRL PWR baseball cap while dusting off such highlights as “Waiting On You”, “By The Way” and “Worth The Wait.” Released last year, “The Project” hit the country charts at No. 4 and gave the singer her first U.S. country hit, “Criminal.”
Brett Young (7 p.m.): He topped the charts at country radio last year with “Like I Loved You” and “In Case You Didn’t Know” after making a name for himself in 2016 with the platinum breakthrough single, “Sleep Without You.” But a good part of the buzz surrounding Young’s return to Arizona is the news of his engagement earlier this year to Taylor Mills. As Young told People magazine, “We met in Arizona while she was at
school at ASU, and we will likely get married there.”
Luke Bryan (9 p.m.): The four-time Entertainer of the Year at both the ACM and CMA Awards just topped the Billboard Country Airplay charts with “Most People Are Good,” his 20th single to do so. And two of those (the other being “Light It Up”) are from “What Makes You Country,” which became the singer’s third consecutive release to hit the Billboard album charts at No. 1 and fourth to top the country charts this past December. Bryan’s hits include “Rain Is a Good Thing,” “Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” “I Don’t Want This Night to End,” “Drunk on You,” “That’s My Kind of Night,” “Drink a Beer,” “Play It Again,” “I See You,” “Kick the Dust Up” and “Strip It Down.”