The AFG Fun Fest 2001 Concert!
Keith Urban and Trace Adkins performed at Fun Fest!

The Rabbit and 96.9 WXBQ proudly welcomed country music stars Keith Urban and Trace Adkins to the AFG Fun Fest 2001 Concert on Tuesday, July 17th. There were thousands of country music fans in J. Fred Johnson Stadium to see this exciting show. The annual concert is sponsored by AFG Industries. The concert was moved from Sunday to Tuesday this year because of scheduling conflicts with other Fun Fest events, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd.

Keith Urban Destined To Be a Star!
An Australian born singer with lots of country music roots!

A seven-year-old boy in Australia listens to his parents' records as he learns to play the guitar. Charley Pride pours out of the speakers, followed by Don Williams and Dolly Parton. He learns every note, sings every line. He declares with utmost certainty that when he grows up, he will move to Nashville, Tennessee, where he will make his own country music records. And, that's exactly what he did. Today, keith Urban is one of country music's fastest-rising stars. Just this year he's been nominated for a Grammy, an American Music Award and an Academy of Country Music Award. His self-titled solo album has been certified gold, and spawned three hit songs: "It's A Love Thing", "Your Everything", and "But For The Grace of God" (his first American #1 song).

"Music, to me, is breathing," says Keith who was born in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia, on October 26, 1967. Keith says he learned to play guitar as a six-year-old in Australia when a young woman wanted to place an ad in his dad's shop window offering guitar lessons. His parents made a deal with her that they would advertise in return for lessons for their young son. He had a natural ability and young Keith was winning talent shows by the time he was 8. He also was involved in a youth acting company which required him to sing, dance and memorize lines, all of which led to an ease on stage that would serve him well in his music career.

After admiring the guitar playing of a bandmate who said he modeled his style on Dire Straits, Keith bought an album by the band and learned every single note. As he became more and more adept at the guitar, he threw what he learned into his solos onstage. The resulting fusion of rock-style guitar work with country music became Urban's signature style. In 1988, he formed a three-piece band whose distinctive take on country music led to solid success in their home country of Australia. After charting four #1 country singles there, he decided the time had come to move to Nashville.

Soon after settling in, he formed another three-piece band, The Ranch. Their live shows caused a buzz in town, eventually leading to a record deal with Capitol Nashville and the release of a self-titled album. Critics raved about the album's unique take on country music and on keith's virtuoso guitar playing.

He focused on the music first. "I tried to find a common trait in all the records that I liked," Keith recalls. " I realized that the rhythm was what was getting me - the melody and the rhythm and the freshness of it all. In my studio I started sampling bits of records that I'd collected, the bits of them that I liked, and then added banjo to them."

Trace Adkins Has Lived the Songs He Sings!
Trace Adkins will perform at the AFG Fun Fest 2001 Concert!

"I grew up in the oilfield, and that’s who I am and what I am. I’m a Southern gentleman--polite, hospitable, and respectful--but I’m not going to try to be squeaky clean. I’m not that kind of person. I’m a roughneck, and I won’t try to hide it," words from Trace Adkins.

Whether you’ve seen 6-foot-6, 250-pound Trace Adkins performing onstage or signing autographs or debating fellow articulate celebrities on television, you know he could hardly hide his ruggedness if he wanted to. An attentive observer also will notice that Adkins’ essence is nowhere near as one-dimensional as his self-description. A complex mixture, he’s a burly former college football lineman who sometimes dances onstage. He’s an ex-offshore oil driller who’s sufficiently informed and well-spoken to contend with authors and other knowledgeable observers on ABC-TV’s "Politically Incorrect" (a consistent guest - he’s appeared 4 times). He’s a former gospel singer who confesses he cusses too much. He is a happily married husband with an unhappy past. He is a thrice-wed critic of the national divorce rate and a divorced father concerned about damage to children of broken homes. Trace is a serious guy who loves to laugh. He’s a macho man sensitive enough to blink back tears.

"Pain and sex," he defines the lyrical essence of his genre of music. "That’s life, man," he adds with his deeply resonant laugh. "I’ve never been one that looked for the rainbow. I’m too busy standing in the rain."

"Son of a papermill worker, Tracy Darrell Adkins was born in Springhill, Louisiana, and grew up in the nearby town of Sarepta. He worked at selling the national rural newspaper "Grit" and hauling hay before going off to Louisiana Tech to study petroleum technology for a couple of years. He then spent nearly a decade on offshore oil rigs. He also worked as a carpenter and a pipefitter while tirelessly mounting every stage he could get onto on his way to capturing the attention of Nashville.

But his employment history hardly tells the story.

Most recently, he spent months recuperating from a complicated ankle fracture that occurred when he stepped into a hole on his farm near Nashville. Offshore, he rode out a hurricane. He had to have a finger sewn back on following an industrial accident. His nose had to be reattached after a highway crash. He was run down by a bulldozer and had a 400-barrel oil tank explode as he was repairing it. He dropped out of college to marry his high school sweetheart and experienced his first divorce after four years and two daughters. A second wife accidentally shot him through the heart, yet two years later he not only was still alive, he had signed a Capitol Records/Nashville recording contract.

Success came quickly for Trace. His first single "There’s A Girl In Texas" got well into the top 20. His second "Every Light In The House Is On" reached number three, and his third and fourth "(This Ain’t) No Thinkin’ Thing" and "I Left Something Turned On at Home" rose to number one. His initial album, "Dreamin’ Out Loud," was certified platinum.

The WXBQ Crew had a great time at the AFG Fun Fest 2001 Concert!
Both Trace Adkins and Keith Urban had great performances at this year's event!

The concert presented by AFG Industries, WJHL-TV, and the Rabbit Station...96.9 WXBQ is an annual part of Fun Fest. The thousands of country music fans who attended certainly enjoyed the performances of the two exciting stars all on one night. Keep listening to WXBQ for more information about great concerts coming to the area, and plan now to join us next year for the AFG Fun Fest Concert!