As the most nominated artist at the 2023 CMA Awards with a record-breaking nine nominations, and five wins including Entertainer of the Year, Lainey Wilson has earned the enthusiasm of the industry. Critically acclaimed and touted as a top “artist to watch,” to being the leading female nominee and winner at the 2023 ACM Awards and CMT Music Awards, the Louisiana native has made a name for herself in the industry as one of music’s hottest and most buzzed-about new artists. Landing her first No. 1 with her PLATINUM Certified ACM Song of the Year, “Things A Man Oughta Know,” nearly 10 years to the day after leaving her small farming community in a camper trailer to chase her dreams, she has won over legions of fans with her signature Bell Bottom Country sound and aesthetic, which blends traditional Country with a modern yet retro flare. A prolific and sought-after songwriter (having co-writer credits on songs by artists including Luke Combs, Flatland Calvary, Ashley McBryde, Jackson Dean, Ashley Cooke, Mackenzie Porter, and more). With a rockstar stage presence, her artistry has taken her across the globe, performing for sold-out crowds throughout the US, UK, and Germany with notable names like Jon Pardi, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, HARDY, Jason Aldean, and more. Earlier this year she achieved her third and fourth No. 1 songs with “Heart Like a Truck” and HARDY collaboration “wait in the truck”. Her most recent singles, “Watermelon Moonshine” and “Save Me” with Jelly Roll topped the Country charts marking her fifth and sixth No. 1’s, making her the lead female artist with the most No.1’s this decade. Her critically acclaimed album, Bell Bottom Country, rose up Billboard’s Top Album Chart and Country Albums Chart, amassing over 700 million streams to date and has earned her the title of CMA and ACM Album of the Year and a Grammy nomination for Country Album of the Year.  Wilson made her acting debut in Season 5 of the smash hit series “Yellowstone” as a musician character named Abby, where she premiered her original “Smell Like Smoke” as well as showcased other hits off her recent album including “Watermelon Moonshine” and “Hold My Halo”. Adding to her growing list of endeavors, Wilson was honored at Billboard’s Women in Music Awards with the Rulebreaker Award, and most recently joined forces with Wrangler as the face of their 2023 fall/winter women’s collection.

Lainey Wilson

North Dakota State Fair Center

Hold onto your cowboy hats, because Thomas Rhett is rewriting the country music rulebook! Ten years after signing with Big Machine Label Group’s The Valory Music Co., this arena-packing superstar has racked up an impressive streak of 21 No. One singles, making him the reigning monarch of consecutive hits. His latest album, WHERE WE STARTED, isn’t just music; it’s a demand for a massive crowd, according to Esquire.

Thomas Rhett

mgk is a GRAMMY-nominated multi-platinum recording artist who is an atomic force in music, entertainment, film and fashion. In 2020, the Cleveland, Ohio native eclipsed genre expectations releasing a Rock/Pop Punk album, the widely acclaimed Tickets to My Downfall. The platinum album topped the Billboard 200 and became his first No. 1 effort. Tickets to My Downfall landed 18 tracks on the Hot Rock Songs chart and spawned two No. 1 songs on the alternative side with “bloody valentine” and “my ex’s best friend,” which both went platinum. In 2022 he followed with mainstream sellout, his second album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 cementing his status as a chart-topping artist. The album was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award for “Best Rock Album” and was supported with a sold-out stadium and arena North American and Europe tour. The US leg ended in his hometown of Cleveland at the FirstEnergy Stadium playing to 50,000 fans, making him the first and only Ohio native to sell out the stadium. As of 2022, mgk has had a record 45 entries on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, the most among any solo artist. For his contributions to music, he was named as one of 2022’s Time 100 Next, a list honoring the emerging leaders from around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. The genre-bending icon has amassed numerous awards over his career including “US Artist About to Go Global” at the 2012 MTV EMA’s, MTV’s 2012 “Breaking Woodie” Award, 2013 “Woodie of the Year,” “Favorite Rock Artist” for the 2021 and 2022 AMAs, “Top Rock Album” and “Top Rock Artist” for the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, 2020 and 2021 MTV VMA’s for “Best Alternative Video,” a 2021 iHeart Radio Award for “Alternative Rock Album of the Year” and 2022’s “Alternative Artist of the Year.” He’s appeared on Saturday Night Live, The Voice, The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Ellen, The Kelly Clarkson Show, BET’s 106 & Park, Good Morning America, The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and several other programs and award shows.

Sawyer Brown: It’s hard to know where to start when talking about Sawyer Brown. More than 4500 shows and counting. More than a million miles behind them and still seeing the highway miles click by outside their bus window. Twenty-three albums. More than 50 chart singles. CMA, ACM, and CMT awards on the shelf. To pull a line from one of the band’s enduring hits: “This is the life and times of a travelin’ band.” A traveling band, indeed. Always on the move—on the road, on stage, and in their career. When asked about what keeps him motivated on the road, lead singer Mark Miller says, “It’s playing the next show. Be grateful for where you’ve been and be excited about where you’re going.” The band’s live shows are legendary. Having been described as “the Rolling Stones of Country Music,” the band bounds onto the stage night after night, delivering its own unique brand of high-energy entertainment, and the band remains a perennial favorite at fairs, festivals, theatres, and casinos. That excitement has been on display since the very first time Sawyer Brown stepped foot onstage in the early 1980s. Beginning as the road band for another singer, Sawyer Brown broke out on their own playing everything from clubs to pig roasts in those earliest days. “There’s no such thing as a gig we wouldn’t take,” Miller laughs, remembering the beginning of the ride. “We knew that we wanted to play music and we knew that we wanted to work at being the best live band there was—and the only way to do that, was to get out and play shows. And so we did.” The band has earned its place as one of the premier live acts in music. The band began by playing 275-300 nights a year for the first decade or more of its career—and has never come off the road. Tireless road warriors, the band thrives on playing live. “Live is where it all comes together for us,” keyboardist Hobie Hubbard says. “The audience brings its own energy, we bring our own energy and the music—and the combination of all of that is what makes playing live so unique. We’re blessed to be able to be a part of those moments night after night.”

Sawyer Brown

Everybody loves a good comeback story. After releasing five genre-defining albums and building a fiercely loyal fanbase, Turnpike Troubadours — the Tahlequah, Oklahoma kings of Red Dirt music — all but fell apart in 2019, taking a three-year hiatus to find clarity amidst the noise of a red-hot career. But after the break, something remarkable and even unprecedented happened: the band returned more popular than ever. Not to mention stronger. The proof is in the group’s sixth studio album, A Cat in the Rain. Produced by three-time Grammy winner Shooter Jennings and recorded at the legendary FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and in Los Angeles, the 10-song album is a tale of reliability, rebirth, and redemption. It’s the story of brothers — frontman and chief songwriter Evan Felker, fiddler Kyle Nix, steel player Hank Early, guitarist Ryan Engleman, bassist RC Edwards, drummer Gabe Pearson — six musicians who ran the gauntlet of success, scrutiny, and even personal troubles, and would fight tooth and nail for one another. Turnpike Troubadours’ fans can feel this. That bond is in the band’s songs and in their live performances — they’ve racked up 1.5 billion streams globally and are selling out arenas and headlining festivals. Still, to some, they remain a mystery…the most popular band they’ve never heard of. But with A Cat in the Rain, that’s all about to change.

Turnpike Troubadours

As the founder of Young Money Entertainment, Lil Wayne has reshaped the music industry in his image,” Rudland continued. “With over 100 million records sold worldwide and numerous accolades, including 11 BET Awards and four Billboard Music Awards, Lil Wayne stands as one of the best-selling artists of all time.”

Lil Wayne

Hailing from Los Angeles, CA, Mötley Crüe —Vince Neil (vocals), Nikki Sixx (bass), Tommy Lee (drums) and Mick Mars (guitars) — has commandeered the rock pantheon for 40+ years. The band has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, garnered 7 USA platinum and multi-platinum albums, 22 Top 40 mainstream rock hits, 6 Top 20 pop singles, 3 Grammy nominations, 5 New York Times best-selling books, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Netflix hit movie. Mötley Crüe continues touring the world with John 5 on guitar as they push the visual limits of live performance. The quartet has amassed over 5 billion streams across digital platforms and the band has over 8 million followers on social media. Known for their iconic live performances, the band has sold-out countless tours across the globe in front of millions of fans with groundbreaking production highlights such as Tommy Lee’s drum-rollercoaster and Nikki Sixx’s flame-throwing-bass. They pioneered the Las Vegas rock residency with a sold out run in 2012. Mötley Crüe’s hit songs such as “Kickstart My Heart” and “Home Sweet Home” are frequently licensed by major brands such as NASCAR, Dodge, Coldwell Banker, Carl’s Jr. and KIA to name a few and their music can be heard on TV hit shows such as Stranger Things and Cobra Kai amongst many others. The band’s biography “The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band” became a New York Times best-seller in 2001 and has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Members of the band have authored 4 additional New York Times best-selling books since. In 2019 Netflix premiered “The Dirt” biopic based on the bestselling book which became a global hit movie scoring a 94% positive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. As a result, Mötley Crüe gained an entire new generation of young fans who discovered the band through the movie and further solidified their iconic status, relevance and the timelessness of their songwriting. Mötley Crüe remains a huge global draw 40+ years into their career and, in the summer of 2022 co-headlined a nearly sold out North American stadium tour with Def Leppard. The tour continues to travel to stadiums around the world throughout 2023 with John 5 on guitar as the band pushes the limits of live performance.

North Dakota State Fair Center

Jul 27, 2024

Lainey Wilson

Jul 26, 2024

Thomas Rhett

North Dakota State Fair Center