It is a running joke, of course that a band is on the upside or the downslide of their career, and it is usually the latter.
I don’t focus on the main acts. Those bands that are still big draws, if only to an aging crowd- and this years list covers all bases - The Chicks, Jason Aldean, The Black Keys, NKoTB, and Ludacris to name a handful.
No the bands on the Free Stage that are a “Where are they now” grouping and should be saluted for sticking it out.
Often, these are bands that still get rave reviews from fans for their live performance, though I occasionally hear the opposite (I am looking at you Kix)
In any case, this year brings a lot of return engagements. So a lot of bands that I have written about before. Still not going to stop me
Junior Marvin and the Legendary Wailers-
I know: The Wailers are legendary. I have also seen the name advertised for gigs for years and I always give some pause. You see Bob Marley (and Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston) have all passed. It hardly seems that the Wailers are still the product advertised
I learned: But if we are being honest, I think everyone knows Bob Marley is dead. With any aged group, it is still exciting to hear the lineage.
Now, this is where it is confusing. I think Marvin’s band is somewhat different than the one that constantly toured in the 90s. I think they exist too but that group was headed by the legendary bassist Aston Barrett and now led by his son (Marvin played with them for a time too)
Marvin joined the Wailers in 1977 and has some bona fide connection playing guitar and joining the band on Exodus and playing on the next four (and final) Marley albums.
He also has played with Steve Winwood, Lenny Kravitz and OAR through the years and recorded four albums as the Wailers
Fun fact: Marvin was invited to join Stevie Wonder’s band or Marley’s. He picked the Wailers since he was Jamaican
Great White
I know: I mean, the number one people used to think of when they heard the band name was Ian Hunter’s song. But then the fire happened. That is always going to be associated with the band
That said, I do know there are two touring versions - lead singer Jack Russell’s (the one with the Rhode Island Nightclub Fire) and the one without Russell
I learned: Everyone remembers Twice Shy but incredibly, they had eight albums make the Top 200 starting with the 1984 debut and finishing with 1999’s Can’t Get There From Here. That’s an amazing run for a band
“Once Bitten Twice Shy” made it all the way to # 5, but they still were getting play and chart action on Rock Radio even as grunge was replacing hair metal. Although I knew they were quite popular, it is a pretty impressive career that I don’t think people realize.
Although the band is missing their charismatic lead singer, three of the bands classic five piece lineup are part of the band giving them real authenticity
Terry Illous was Russell’s replacement until he left in 2018 to be replaced by Mitch Malloy who stayed until 2022 and singer Andrew Freeman. Freeman’s resume has a little bit of everything- playing on an Offspring album, leading the members of the late Ronnie James Dio’s band in the group Last in Line and singing quite often with George Lynch and his bands. Wiki says the current singer is Brett Carlisle
Fun Fact: Per Wiki, the band seems to do quite well in Switzerland. In fact, 2012s Elation- the first album with Illous on vocals charted there.
Vixen
I know: In retrospect, we probably should honor Vixen more, the only all female band to make headlines in a sea of glam rockers.
“Edge of a Broken Heart” was written by Richard Marx (and apparently co-written by Fee Waybill of the Tubes) and is the first song I think of, but the follow up “Cryin” was a bigger hit going to # 22.
What I learned: the band’s history starts with guitarist Jan Kuehnemund in 1971 leading to the bands debut album in 1988.
The band would put a total of four songs into the Top 100
Like many 80s bands, Vixen went through breakups and reformations, but unlike their peers, the touring lineups largely consisted of the “classic” members. Kuehnemund passed in 2013 and in the last few years, other members have stepped away with drummer Roxy Petrucci the only member remaining.
Fun fact: an early iteration of the band appeared in that 1984 VHS store staple Hardbodies as the band Diaper Rash.
Autograph
What I know: I write about some of the music in my youth as #raisedonradio and Autograph’s “Turn Up the Radio” is among the favorite songs of my youth.
You likely know the band story. An unsigned band that found themselves opening for Van Halen when unsigned bands didn’t do that. One massive hit - one of those variations on the rock anthem like “Rock and Roll All Nite”. And that is it. That’s the story.
What I learned: the song went to # 29 and clearly was their biggest hit, but they did go as far as chart three albums on the Top 200. But otherwise, yes success was rather short lived. They did have a second hit in “Blondes in Black Cars” that got some rock play from their second album. I went and listened to it and it is definitely “of its time” (a fancy way of saying “cheesy”)
I asked a friend who I consider about the biggest fan of 80s rock and he said the band just didn’t have the tunes and that is the music industry for you.
The band reunited in 2002 and released a new album but that only lasted three years. After that, singer and most recognizable member Steve Plunkett never had an interest in a reunion but the rest of the band did regroup with Simon Daniels recruited for lead vocals
Unfortunately because of deaths, the band that Daniels now leads has no original members left.
Fun fact: Steve Lynch won “Guitar Solo of the Year” for “Turn up the Radio” in Guitar Players Year End Awards
Country Gold with LeRoy Van Dyke, Mandy Barnett and David Frizell What I know: The Country Gold concert is as certain as death and taxes with 93 year old Van Dyke leading the proceedings for over 40 years.
Van Dyke is probably best known for the country classic “Walk on By”.
As a kid, I lived in a house where classic country was the soundtrack, and there were only two songs that really were rock enough for my tastes- “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and Van Dyke’s “The Auctioneer Song”.
I didn’t know that Van Dyke predicted punk. Heck, maybe that is a stretch but not enough of a stretch that Hank Williams III made an album of auctioneers over metal guitar in 2011 called 3 Bar Ranch Cattle Callin. (It surely is one of the most inessential albums ever made but Allmusic shockingly praised it and gave it three and a half stars.)
David Frizell was never as famous as his country legend brother Lefty, but he did have one all time classic country song (with Shelly West) in “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma” (# 1 on the country charts in 1981) and though I don’t really remember it, he had another country # 1 in 1982 which I have seen referenced a lot lately called “I’m Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our House”. I know he is one of those artists that has been forgotten in time but West and Frizell were big stars in the early 1980s
What I learned: Van Dyke’s career was overshadowed by his two early hits, but he had 19 Top 100 country hits from 1956 through 1977.
I don’t really know Mandy Barnett at all but she is a member of the Grand Ole Opry and her album I’ve Got A Right to Cry was a Rolling Stone pick Best of pick in 1999.
Frizzel’s career spanned decades, first touring with his brother as early as the late 50s until having success in the early 70s and his real time at the top in the early 80s.
He had three top 10 country albums in 1981 and 1982 (one solo and two with West). He had six Top 20 country hits with West (the last one in 1984). As a solo artist, he had three Top 10 hits (in 82 and 83) but he did have another 15 Top 100 hits from the time span of 1970 until 1987
Fun fact: Fast talking was a hallmark of Van Dyke whose one of his final hits was “Who’s Gonna Run the Truck Stop in Tuba City When I’m Gone”
Asleep at the Wheel
What I know: Surely one of the more unique paths a Musical Artist might take. Influenced by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, their style of Western Swing found success in the mid 70s, and while their sound fell out of favor, they had a resurgence in the neo traditional climate of Country music in the late 1980s.
What I learned: AaatW only had two top 20 country hits - more than a decade apart- 1975s “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read” and 1987s “The House of Blue Lights”.
At least 60 members have provided service in Ray Benson’s collective.
The band has charted 13 albums on the Country Top 100 Albums chart and 19 total songs on the Country 100.
Even as we have entered the 21st Century, the band has placed two albums in the top 15 of the Country Albums Chart- 2009s Willie Nelson collaboration Willie and the Wheel and 2015 Bob Wills tribute Still the King.
Fun fact: Perhaps one of the most famous musicians to serve time in the band is legendary guitarist Junior Brown (1985-1986)
Tribute bands
What I know: Tribute bands are always a hit and reflect current tastes.
This year provides four tribute artists: Blake Guyre (Elton John/Billy Joel)
Hairball (local Glam rock faves)
Good to Be King (Tom Petty)
Paradise Kitty (Guns N Roses)
What I learned: 20 year old Guyre often plies his trade in those famous Central Florida amusement parks
Hairball has been playing hair rock for 30 years
According to the State Fair website, Good to be King are based out of Western Massachusetts, but as far as I know are local band The Jesters
Paradise Kitty are a nationally touring All-female Guns N Roses cover band. Lead singer Jenna Syde (get it?) is one of the more interesting interview subjects on the net
Fun Fact: Hairball bassist (and band resident Gene Simmons impersonator) Dave Moody previously played bass for Billy Ray Cyrus
Bonus Fair Fun Fact: Every year, the Fair releases ticket sales on the Grandstand act. This year, Eric Church leads the pack with The Chicks closely behind- both selling around 15,000 tickets.
The much recently discussed Aldean is in the 10000 range with the nostalgia acts New Kids and Ludacris and Christian pop band For King and Country. Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, Tyler Hubbard (Florida Georgia Line), Maren Morris and the Black Keys were all under 7000
