Time for a New York State Fair music quiz.

Question one–What do these musical acts have in common?

Rick Springfield, Grand Funk Railroad, .38 Special, Bad Company, Vince Neil, The Roots, Blood, Sweat and Tears and Jackyl.

If you said they’re all booked to play one of the big stages at the 2019 New York State Fair, that’s correct.

If you said they were popular acts before 2000, that’s also correct.

An evening in 2017 at Chevy Court.

Question two–What do these musical acts have in common?

Alabama, Brooks and Dunn, Vince Gill, Sara Evans, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, Lorrie Morgan, Kathy Mattea, Diamond Rio, Pam Tillis, Steve Wariner, Lee Ann Womack, Marty Stuart, Suzy Bogguss, John Anderson, Joe Nichols, Rhonda Vincent, Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Trisha Yearwood, The Whites, Connie Smith, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Gene Watson, Johnny Rodriguez, John Conlee, Tanya Tucker, Janie Fricke, Asleep at the Wheel, Becky Hobbs, Radney Foster, Clint Black, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Ricky Van Shelton.

Yes–They also have decades of popularity playing shows from coast-to-coast. But none of these country acts will perform at the 2019 New York State Fair, although most of them appear to have some  availability during the Fair time frame and several will be touring the northeast at that time.

Several of them are in the Country Music Hall of Fame while many are winners of awards including Grammys and Country Music Association awards. There are probably many more acts beyond those named above that would also be good choices for Fair stages.

A recent news report revealed that Live Nation is no longer booking Fair acts and that’s good news. The Triangle agency is back as the concert promoter, but improvement in results has so far been elusive. With the exception of the rock gray-hairs and a couple of other acts, fans beyond their thirties could add the prefix, “Who-the-hell-is” to the names of the acts booked.

Meanwhile, we’re still seeing few country shows, limited to young acts that flirt with country at best. One hot young act, the band Midland, will be a rare exception at Chevy Court. Otherwise, the loyal country fans who had packed Fair concert venues for decades continue to be ignored.

The big question is, if classic rock concerts can be successfully booked here, why can’t classic country? There is no acceptable explanation for such neglect. Country fans are tired of excuses.

The appearance Sunday of singer Hunter Hayes at Chevy Court gives Live Nation, the New York State Fair’s booking agency, plausible deniability on the issue of country music.

Hunter Hayes is projected on the screen at Chevy Court.

Now in its third year of turning its back on country fans, long among the Fair’s most loyal concert patrons, the booking monster throws hungry fans a couple of morsels of country lite, with the whiny Hayes to be followed on Labor Day by popish Maren Morris. In between, they toss in the novelty act sideshow called Big and Rich to complete their country cover.

There’s fierce debate over what constitutes country music, but Hayes, Morris and most of the acts Live Nation books at the amphitheater are obviously not the same genre as the fiddle-and-steel-guitar stars that dominated concert halls, honky-tonk dance clubs, radio stations–and New York State Fair venues–in the 20th century.

Dave Mason and a back-up singer perform at  Chevy Court Aug. 23.

Back in 1989, the year before Hayes was born, Chevy Court, then known as Miller Court, featured Hall of Fame outlaw Waylon Jennings, spunky hitmaker Tanya Tucker and southern rockers the Charlie Daniels Band. The trend took hold with such country stalwarts as Trisha Yearwood, Steve Wariner, Marty Stuart, Diamond Rio, Martina McBride, Toby Keith, Patty Loveless, Suzi Bogguss, Crystal Gayle, Mark Chesnutt, Ronnie Milsap, Brad Paisley, Asleep at the Wheel, and a traveling troupe of Grand Ole Opry stars lighting up the stage in the years that followed.

Fans of retro-country deserve a chance to hear their favorites at the Fair and when they had a chance, as with Vince Gill, Sara Evans, Ronnie Dunn, Sawyer Brown, Trace Adkins, the Gatlin Brothers, Gary Allan, Sawyer Brown and the Oak Ridge Boys in recent years, they generally came out in large numbers. Most of the acts mentioned above continue to roll their tour busses over the nation’s highways every summer and there’s no reason a few of them couldn’t park behind Chevy Court for a one-night stand.

No reason except ineptitude and neglect by Live Nation.

Center stage for music at the New York State Fair is the Chevrolet Court concert series, featuring national acts from across the music spectrum. But Chevy isn’t the only place to get your music fix as smaller stages in various locations around the grounds offer some fine talent.

Just a few steps from the court, for instance, the Pan African Village has nightly entertainment with its own spirit and character. You can listen while sitting in the picnic area, enjoying the exotic food that makes the village an unusual Fair locale.

Stop into the Dairy Building where its small stage comes alive several times each day, mostly with singles or duos who play in the shadow of the Milk Bar.

At the other end of the grounds, the large rigging at the edge of the New York Experience pond hosts full bands on a regular schedule, this year presenting some national acts. The Experience stage has a bright future with tons of potential.

Several food stands along Restaurant Row and on Broadway set up bands to keep customers happy while they gobble a meal or sip a drink.

The Grange Building also features live acts, primarily music and dancing on its small stage.

Music schedules are available on the Fair website, nysfair.ny.gov.

With one day of concerts in the books, the Chevrolet Court concert series at the 2018 New York State Fair is underway. Evaluation of the lineup is completely subjective, but it’s hard to view this one without tempering optimism with some doubt. 

State Fair hound is not a fan of big, multinational companies booking acts for our Fair, especially if it’s the monopolistic Live Nation. For many years the Fair did its own booking. That’s a difficult, challenging process, but it produced better results, probably because acts were selected solely for their marketability to State Fair fans. The agency that booked acts before Live Nation–Triangle if memory serves–was also far better. Live Nation is too focused on its own corporate interest to focus on satisfying Fair fans.

Though there are some sure winners among the 26 acts on the bill, the continuing tendency to snub traditional-style country is disturbing and self-defeating. More on that in a later post. The final flurry of acts announced includes several local CNY bands, a real oddity on the Stan Colella Stage. They may be talented and popular, certainly cheaper, but they lack the draw of real Chevy Court acts. There are numerous stages around the grounds that regularly host local acts. Chevy Court, one of the Fair’s top drawing cards, shouldn’t be one of them.

Then there’s a tribute band, which is musicians you don’t know playing a famous act’s music. There was one Johnny Cash and he died in 2003.

One big positive is that this year’s lineup is unquestionably diverse, just as the state that hosts it. With 26 concerts in 13 days, there’s bound to be something for almost every fan.

It’s always interesting to see how things shake out when a court act draws an overflow crowd, which is challenging for fans and Fair organizers alike.

Rock fans will need to show up early Thursday afternoon when legendary guitarist Steve Cropper (photo from website) joins Dave Mason for a pickin’ good time at Chevy Court. The afternoon show will launch at 2 p.m., two hours earlier than the usual CC kickoff.

It’s a sure bet the hits will be flowing, including many credited to soul stars who benefitted from the virtuoso fretwork of Cropper.

The songs may be oldies, but don’t be late to hear them.