Summerfest 2021 Festival Stage Headliners for Week One:
Chris Janson - September 3
Phil Vassar - September 3
Blanco Brown - September 4
GA Tickets available here for the weekend, individual days, or the whole festival.
Chris Janson
Who is Chris Janson? He’s a “live legacy in the making” (Rolling Stone). Breakout country star Janson is a platinum-selling recording artist, high-octane entertainer, multi-instrumentalist, and award-winning singer/songwriter. In the five years since the release of his debut album, the three-time CMA nominee has collected prestigious accolades that place him amongst country music greats. He took home the trophy for ACM Video of the Year for his Gold-certified, inspiring hit song “Drunk Girl,” which also earned the Song of the Year title at the 2018 Music Row Awards and was named one of the “Ten Songs I Wish I’d Written” by NSAI. His chart-topping, triple-Platinum smash “Buy Me A Boat” earned the same NSAI honor, making him one in a handful of the industry’s most elite artists to earn the title multiple times, as well as the iHeartRadio Music Awards Country Song of the Year.
Janson has 4 #1 hits including multi week chart topper” Done”, “Good Vibes, Fix a drink, But me a boat & award winning Drunk Girl . His current single, “Waitin’ On 5,” can be heard now on the airwaves. In addition to his own successes, the talented songwriter has lent his pen to industry peers including Tim McGraw (“Truck Yeah,” “How I’ll Always Be”), LOCASH (“I Love This Life”) and the legendary Hank Williams Jr. (“God Fearin’ Man,” “Those Days Are Gone”) & many more. Chris is a Grand Opry member.
Phil Vassar
Country music hitmaker Phil Vassar is a piano-pounding powerhouse on stage who taps into his audiences via social media for song requests throughout his more than 135 shows a year. Phil’s reign of signature songs includes10 No. 1 singlesand26 Top 40 hits, including Carlene, Just Another Day in Paradise, Six-Pack Summer, When I Love You; and many more. Vassar was racking up hits on the radio long before he even began his own recording career that has seen the release of six albums, two ASCAP Songwriter of the Year trophies, ACM’s Top New Male Vocalist, and sold-out shows across the country. Vassar's songwriting career blossomed in the mid- ’90s when he landed a publishing contract with EMI and penned hits for Collin Raye(Little Red Rodeo), Alan Jackson(Right on the Money), Tim McGraw(For a Little While), Jo Dee Messina(Bye Bye, Alright),and Blackhawk(Postmarked Birmingham). He signed a record deal of his own with Arista in 1998 and was named ASCAP's Country Songwriter of the Year in 1999. Vassar continues to churn out incisive, soulful lyrics and infectious melodies that capture the heart and soul in the unique and special way that only he can.
Blanco Brown
Blurring the lines between Country and hip-hop music, Blanco Brown makes a southern sound that he proudly calls "trailer trap." It's a boundary-breaking, multicolored genre of his very own — which draws upon the rawness and storytelling abilities of his two biggest musical influences, Johnny Cash and Outkast. His debut EP, Blanco Brown, showcases the full range of its creator, who juggles multiple roles as the project's songwriter, producer, vocalist, visionary, and multi-instrumentalist.
Years before he rose up the ranks as a Grammy-nominated engineer and major-label solo artist, and one of Billboard’s “7 Country Acts to Watch in 2019” Blanco— grew up in two very different worlds, both in the state of Georgia, splitting his time between the city projects and the rural countryside. During the school year, he'd spend his months in Atlanta, where the crime that filled his neighborhood was offset by the love and musical connection shared by his family. Every summer, he’d head out of town temporarily moving in with relatives in the small rural town of Butler, GA.
During those summers in Butler, the soundtrack that had filled his days back home in Atlanta — the R&B harmonies he'd sing with his brothers; the rap he'd hear blasting from the cassette players in passing cars; the gospel music he'd howl every Sunday morning in church — gave way to the laidback, rootsy sounds of Johnny Cash songs and Bobby Blue Bland records. It was there, far away from city life, that Blanco became a fan of Country music. As each summer drew to an end, though, he'd head back to the city, leaving behind the twangy sounds of Butler and returning once again to the projects of Atlanta.
Those two worlds come together with Blanco Brown, an EP that strikes a balance between Blanco's contrasting backgrounds. A mix of countrified influences and street-smart lingo, the EP finds Blanco dressing up his rapid-fire lyrics and melodic hooks with layers of lap steel, thumping kick drum, harmonica, spoons, tambourine, banjo, synthesizers, 808 percussion, guitar, and plenty of vocal harmonies. The result is a debut EP that's both urban and rural, blending the sounds of Blanco's diverse upbringing into the world's very first trailer-trap project.