Stars Light Up Night At Interstate Fair

Country music and fairs go together like a pair of Naconas and a set of good stirrups.

So it seems only right that two of country music’s hottest young stars will appear at the Spokane Interstate Fair, which opens Friday at the fairgrounds.

Toby Keith appears Monday while Tracy Lawrence plays Wednesday.

By now, practically everybody knows the Tracy Lawrence story. He had barely gotten his feet wet in Nashville - in fact, he was in the process of recording his debut album - when he was shot four times by armed robbers on Music Row.

“So that’s how we started off,” said Rick Blackburn, president of Atlantic Records, which had just signed Lawrence. “Here’s a kid laying up in the hospital with no insurance and two bullets still lodged in him. I went to New York to get an advance for him. I told Ahmet (Ertegun, Atlantic’s co-chairman and CEO) that I needed $10,000 to cover Tracy Lawrence’s medical bills, and Atlantic said, ‘Who is she?’ So that’s how his career started.”

Blackburn’s confidence paid off: Lawrence’s first single, “Sticks and Bones,” from the album of the same name, went to No. 1 and two others followed, pushing the album’s sales past the platinum mark (1 million copies sold). His second album, “Alibis,” went multiplatinum and his third, “I See It Now,” launched four No. 1 singles and achieved platinum status.

A live LP followed and then this year’s “Time Marches On.”

Not bad for a guy who arrived in Nashville six years ago driving a battered and rusted Toyota with 200,000 miles on the odometer.

Toby Keith took a more traditional route into Nashville circles. A veteran of the Texas/Oklahoma/ Louisiana club circuit, he had a tour bus and a manager before he ever hit town to shop for a label.

But, like Lawrence, Keith landed with a bang: His debut, “Toby Keith,” was good for two No. 1 singles and two more that made it into the Top 5. He was named the top new country artist in 1993 by Billboard. Since then, he’s released two more albums, “Boomtown” and “Blue Moon.”

Keith’s background practically screams country music: He grew up on a farm in Oklahoma and worked for a rodeo during summer vacations. He worked the Oklahoma drilling rigs, test-rode bulls and broncos for rodeos and played for two seasons with the Oklahoma City Drillers of the old United States Football League.

The USFL didn’t last long and the oil boom went bust, too, leaving Keith with time on his hands and a singing career to pursue.

See Friday’s Weekend guide for a full preview of the fair and a complete schedule of events.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Toby Keith will perform on Monday and Tracy Lawrence on Wednesday at the Spokane Interstate Fair. Both concerts begin at 8 p.m. Admission is free with regular fair admission: $7 for adults; $5 for seniors 65 and older and juniors 12-17; and $3 for children 6-11.