Country Fever Music Festival

Fever pitch is raised at Country Fever Music Festival

BY BRANDY MCDONNELL
Published: June 19, 2009

PRYOR — Intense sun and hot red-dirt bands sent the mercury soaring Thursday, the first day of the Country Fever Music Festival.

"In case you can’t see us because of the heat waves, we’re No Justice,” quipped guitarist/lead vocalist Steve Rice as the Stillwater band took the stage.

After playing the opening set on the huge main stage, Texas singer-songwriter Jackson Taylor described the heat up there as "horrific hot, Africa hot.”

"When you see people out there in the heat, you know they’re hot, too, and if they’re willing to stand out there in the heat to listen to you, we’re willing to play,” Taylor said at a post-show news conference.

No Justice guitarist/vocalist Brandon Jackson pointed out that last year’s event had a different problem: "We were ... in the nice rainstorm. We swam around backstage.”

The glaring sun and 90-degree-plus temperatures weren’t the only elements heating up the seventh annual Country Fever. Artists and fans warmly received the switch from a mainstream country approach to a full lineup of red-dirt/Texas performers.

"Last year, we had one day of all red-dirt artists and from what I understand, it was one of the best nights they’ve had here at Country Fever,” Jackson said. "For them to decide to ... devote it all to the red-dirt/Texas music artists is just a great thing to show where this genre’s going.”

In the past, Country Fever brought big names out of Nashville, like Trace Adkins, Carrie Underwood, Brooks & Dunn and Reba McEntire. This year, the lineup includes Oklahoma/Texas artists such as Cross Canadian Ragweed, Stoney LaRue, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Thursday night’s headliner, Robert Earl Keen.

What the fans say
Weatherford residents Ryan Teply and Staci Eustace hauled their travel trailer on the three-hour drive and camped out Wednesday night so they could see the bands. They said they prefer the red-dirt bands to mainstream country artists who perform songs written for them by someone else.

"These songs, the stuff they’re singing about, it’s stuff you can relate to,” Teply said. Bill and Linda Edlin of Bristow love country and country-rock music, so they didn’t mind the switch to red-dirt bands, who often are described as too rock for country and too country for rock. Bill Edlin said he was looking forward to watching icons Walker and Billy Joe Shaver perform.

The artists at the event hope more people will be discovering their music. The red-dirt/Texas music scene lately has been getting more attention from the country establishment; for instance, Eli Young Band, who will play Country Fever Sunday, performed Tuesday at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville.

"It’s just a sign that it’s (the music is) getting out to so many more people,” performer Wade Bowen said.