This year’s Linn County Fair concert headliners cover a 30-year gamut of flavors and genres.
The summertime perennial runs Thursday through Saturday, July 13-15, at the Linn County Expo Center, 3700 Knox Butte Road, Albany.
Country superstar Clint Black boot-kicks the three-day weekend off Thursday, followed by ’90s alt-rock faves Smash Mouth and singer-songwriter Granger Smith on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
All main stage concerts begin at 8:30 p.m., preceded by opening acts at 7.
“This is an extremely talented and popular lineup,” Linn County Fair board member and Linn County commissioner Roger Nyquist said in a news release. “We hit all of the demographics with this trio; they are all great performers. I can’t wait for the fair to get here.”
Black — who has sold more than 20 million records — will bring more than three decades of hits to the mid-valley, including his first smash, 1989’s “Killin’ Time.” The Houston native’s tallied 22 No. 1 singles, nearly two dozen gold and platinum awards in the United States and Canada, one Grammy and numerous Country Music, Academy of Country Music and American Music awards. He released his latest album, “Out of Sane,” in 2020.
San Jose outfit Smash Mouth exploded on the national rock scene in 1997 with the sweltering, Farfisa-fueled “Walkin’ on the Sun,” followed by party-starter “All Star” and “Then the Morning Comes” in 1999 and hit the new millennium running with a raucous cover of The Monkees’ classic “I’m a Believer” in 2001. Newer fare includes a rendition of Rick Astley’s rickroll standard “Never Gonna Give You Up” and a 2022 single, “4th of July.”
Like Black, Granger Smith is a born-and-bred Texan and official leader of the Yee Yee Nation (there’s even a Yee Yee Apparel) guiding a social-media following of more than 12 million fans who’ve sent his videos past 1 billion online views in a career that began more than 20 years ago, when the then-19-year-old signed his first recording contract and released his 1999 debut, “Waiting on Forever.”
He topped the Billboard U.S. Hot Country Songs chart with “Backroad Song” in 2015 then dove into the Top 10 with “If the Boot Fits.”
Subsequent album “When the Good Guys Win” (2017), which reached No. 2 on the Country Albums chart, yielded the gold-selling “Happens Like That.” He even has one of the greatest honors of the recent past, winning a CMT award for Best Quarantine Song with “Don’t Cough on Me.”
Smith’s no stranger to other media either, becoming an author with the top-selling page-turner “If You’re City, If You’re Country” in 2018 and starring in the Pure Flix film, “Moon Rise,” a companion to his 2022 full-length disc of the same name.
Concerts are free with paid fair admission, although reserved seating is available starting at $25. Tickets go on sale Monday, May 1, at www.linncountyfair.com.