BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Country music artist Walker Hayes, who topped the charts last year with the hit "Fancy Like," will headline the main stage at Bethlehem's Musikfest festival in August, it was announced Tuesday.
Hayes will perform on Aug. 7.
Tickets for Hayes, at $30-$79 and $214 for Steel Terrace, go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday at the ArtsQuest Center box office at 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, at www.musikfest.org and 610-332-3378.
- Musikfest has announced country music star Walker Hayes will headline the festival this summer
- Morris joins Maren Morris and duo Dan + Shay as the third country act among six headliners announced so far for the 10-day festival
- Tickets go on sale Friday at www.musikfest.com
Hayes is the third country music act among the six headliners announced so far for Musikfest's 40th year, which will run Aug. 4-13 in downtown Bethlehem and the SteelStacks campus in South Bethlehem.
Previously announced was Grammy Award-winning country music duo Dan + Shay on Aug. 6 and Maren Morris on Aug. 12.
Also set for the main stage are alt-rockers Goo Goo Dolls and O.A.R. on Aug. 9, and indie-pop trio AJR on opening night Aug. 4. Comedian Gabriel Iglesias is coming to Musikfest | LehighValleyNews.com
The performance will mark Hayes’s second visit to Bethlehem since bursting onto the country scene and earning national prestige. He previously offered up selections from his songbook during a free concert at SteelStacks as part of the Levitt Pavilion Summer Concert Series Aug. 17, 2017.
Hayes released a self-titled EP in 2010, and it peaked at No. 66 on the country chart.
His debut full-length album “Reason to Rhyme” in 2011, and it gave him a Top 40 hit with the song “Pants.”
A sophomore album, 2017’s “Boom,” hit No. 6 on the country chart and Top 40 overall and produced the Top 10, double-platinum hit “You Broke Up With Me.”
But Walker had his biggest success last spring, when another EP, “Country Stuff,” which hit No. 4 on the Country chart and No. 32 on Billboard’s overall chart.
It also gave the singer his No. 1, four-times-platinum hit “Fancy Like,” which spent more than six months at the No.1 spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart, hit the Top 5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Songs and was featured in a nationwide Applebee’s commercial.
It also gave Hayes his first Grammy Award nomination as an artist for Best Country Song.
"Country Stuff" also produced the Top 30 gold hit “U Gurl” and the No. 3 platinum hit “AA.”
Walker followed that with a full album, “Country Stuff The Album,” released Jan. 21. It hit No. 2 on the country chart and Top 10 on the overall chart, and already has reached gold status.
His most recent single, “Y’all Life,” featuring R&B/pop superstar Ciara, is in the Top 30 on the Country chart.
Hayes also has crossed genres with “High Heels” featuring rap/hip-hop star Flo Rida and “Jesus’ Fault” featuring Christian rock artist Zach Williams.
Musikfest for the past two years has not only returned from the pandemic restrictions, but added an 11th headline act by offering a Thursday “preview” concert. It was country star Darius Rucker in 2021 and Boyz II Men last year.
