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| Russell Dickerson/courtesy LA County Fair |
Once again, the LA County Fair hosts a diverse spring
concert series slate, which features returning favorites, veteran hitmakers and
other artists currently making waves on the music charts. Stage performers span Latin, R&B, hip-hop, country, classic rock, and pop genres.
May 3: War
A fixture on the Fair’s concert stage over the past few
decades, this LA soul, funk, and jam band – still led by founding singer/keyboardist
Lonnie Jordan – recently put out a box set surrounding its pop chart-topping
1972 album The World is a Ghetto.
Hit singles: “Spill the Wine” (with Eric Burdon), “Low
Rider,” “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” “Summer,” “The Cisco Kid,” “Gypsy Man” and “The
World is a Ghetto.”
Fun fact: Influential jazz pianist Bill Evans is one
of the War front man’s all-time favorites and someone whose playing style Jordan
says is reflected in his own.
May 4: Montell Jordan,
TLC, Ceelo Green (see interview elsewhere on this blog)
Montell Jordan, an LA native and Pepperdine graduate, was
among the initial signings to Def Jam Records and became an immediate sensation
upon the release of million-selling 1995 debut album This is How We Do It.
The R&B singer’s next three studio releases were certified gold.
Hit singles: “This is How We Do It,” “Falling,” “Let’s
Ride,” “Get it on Tonite”
Fun fact: In 2017, Jordan and wife Kristin authored a
book about making marriages work.
TLC also reigned supreme during the Nineties and
Beyonce once cited the female hip-hop trio as an influence on Destiny’s Child.
TLC’s multiplatinum albums CrazySexyCool and FanMail accounted
for two of its four Grammy awards.
Hit singles: “Waterfalls,” “No Scrubs,” “Creep,”
“Unpretty”
May 5: Ramon Ayala
“The King of the Accordion” specializes in Norteño
music and is a two-time Grammy winner. The Mexican musician’s current single
“El Reten” arrived in conjunction with a farewell tour that caps a 60-year
career with Los Relampagos del Norte and Bravos del Norte.
May 10: Nelly, T.I.
Among the most successful rappers to emerge in the
2000s, Nelly came up in the St. Louis hip-hop scene and immediately found favor
with debut album Country Grammar. His next four albums continued on a winning
streak. Besides pop collaborations with Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake,
Janet Jackson and ‘N Sync, he has also created music with country acts Florida
Georgia Line, Tim McGraw, and Jimmie Allen.
Hit singles: “Hot in Herre,” “Dilemma,” “Grillz,” “Over
and Over,” “Just a Dream”
Fun fact: Nelly has acted in the film and television series
“The Longest Yard,” “Snipes,” and “CSI: NY,”
T.I. (real name: Clifford Harris Jr.) began rapping at
age 8 in Atlanta. His 2003 sophomore full-length Trap Musik kicked off a
run of seven platinum or gold-certified albums. T.I. simultaneously launched an
acting career in the mid-2000s.
Hit singles: “What You Know,” “Whatever You Like,” “Live
Your Life” (with Rhianna), “Dead and Gone” (with Justin Timberlake”)
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| Berlin photo courtesy LA County Fair |
May 11: Pat Benatar &
Neil Giraldo, Berlin
A classically trained mezzo-soprano, Brooklyn-born Pat
Benatar was the first female - and second-ever - musician played on MTV in 1981
(for the video “You Better Run”). Two years prior, her hard rocking debut In
the Heat of the Night made minor inroads, but the follow-up Crimes of
Passion set a successful career course alongside guitarist, co-songwriter,
and future husband Neil Giraldo, that continued through the Eighties.
Hit singles: “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” “Love is a
Battlefield,” “We Belong,” “Shadows of the Night,” “Invincible”
Fun fact: Benatar & Giraldo’s love story inspired the
musical Invincible which premiered in Beverly Hills in ‘22.
May 12: Chase Rice,
Parmalee
A football player in college, Rice worked in
professional auto racing before pursuing a country music career. After
co-writing Florida Georgia Line’s country chart topper “Cruise,” the North
Carolina singer began landing hits of his own in 2013.
Hit singles: “Ready Set Roll,” “Gonna Wanna Tonight,” “Eyes
on You”
Fun fact: Rice was runner-up on TV’s “Survivor:
Nicaragua” in 2010.
May 17: The Manhattans
featuring Gerald Alston, Ohio Players, The Original Lakeside
The Manhattans, an R&B vocal group from New Jersey,
began in 1962, gained widespread success in 1976 with the No. 1 pop crossover
single “Kiss and Say Goodbye,” and four years later with “Shining Star.” The two
Midwestern funk acts in this lineup had their own chart-toppers with “Love
Rollercoaster,” “Fire” (Ohio Players), and “Fantastic Voyage” (Lakeside).
May 18: Dustin Lynch, Russell
Dickerson
Russell Dickerson emerged on the Nashville music scene
during the early 2010s. Since then, the Tennessee native has notched five Top 10
country singles and toured with Thomas Rhett, Lady A and Kane Brown. In 2020, Florida
Georgia Line guested on “It’s About Time,” from Dickerson’s second album Southern
Symphony. The summer-themed EP Three Months Two Streets Down arrived
last year.
Hit singles: “Yours,” “Blue Tacoma,” “Every Little
Thing,” “Love You Like I Used To”
May 19: Banda Machos,
Banda Maguey, Mi Banda El Mexicano
The 12-piece Banda Machos combines cumbia, ranchera
and banda music elements for an electronic-based, danceable performance style
called Quebradita. Debut album Serian las dos was released in 1990. Five
years later, the Mexican norteño group’s tune “Zappa Mambo” was featured on the
soundtrack to “My Family,” a drama film starring Edward James Olmos and Jimmy
Smits. Concert album Festejando el Aniversario en Vivo Desde Las Vegas
came out in 2022.
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| Midland photo courtesy LA County Fair |
May 24: Midland, Stephen
Walker Jr.
Frequently creating a New Traditionalist country vibe
in the vein of George Strait with Eagles-style harmonies, Midland immediately
struck a chord with its 2017 gold debut On the Rocks. After making a
second Stagecoach appearance in ‘22, the Texas trio put out The Last Resort:
Greetings From, filled with what guitarist Jess Carson called “honky-tonk
truths” and a Jon Pardi guest spot.
Hit singles: “Drinkin’ Problem,” “Make a Little,”
“Burn Out”
Fun fact: Frontman Mark Wystrach had acting roles in
the Oscar-winning film “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” TV soap opera “Passions,” and “CSI:
Miami.”
May 25: 38 Special, Molly
Hatchet, the Outlaws
All these of these Florida classic rock bands were
mainstays on Album Oriented Rock radio at some point during the Seventies or Eighties,
with 38 Special enjoying the longest and most successful chart run.
Hit singles: “Caught Up in You,” “Hang on Loosely,” “If
I’d Been the One,” “Second Chance” (38 Special); “Flirtin’ with Disaster,”
“Satisfied Man” (Molly Hatchet); “There Goes Another Love Song,” “(Ghost)
Riders in the Sky” (Outlaws)
May 26: Los Tucanes de
Tijuana
Known for composing narcorridos - narrative songs that
recount heroic struggles of outlaws and drug lords – the Tijuana norteño group
has issued more than 60 albums since forming in 1987. It won the Best Norteño
Album at the Latin Grammys for 2012’s 365 Dias and was featured in “Hecho
en Mexico,” a documentary about Mexican culture. The group also has
soundtracked songs for film (2016’s animated 3D film El Americano and TV
(Telemundo telenovela “Senora Acero: La Coyote”), while singer/guitarist Mario Quintero
Lara served as a judge on Telemundo reality show Yo soy el Artista.
Fun fact: Los Tucanes de Tijuana performed at
Coachella 2019.
All concert tickets include admission to the fair. For more information, go to lacountyfair.com/concerts.
A version of my roundup originally appeared in SoCal News Group (SCNG) papers in print and online.
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