ALLENTOWN, Pa. — One of country music’s best-selling and most-awarded performers will return to headline Allentown Fair’s grandstand stage, it was announced Wednesday.
Brad Paisley, who has sold more than 10 million albums and won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards and 14 Country Music Association Awards, will headline the fair’s main stage on Aug. 30, the fair said in a news release.
He is the first grandstand headliner announced for this year's fair, which is scheduled for Aug. 28-Sept. 2.
Tickets, at $89-$109, go on sale to the public starting at 10 a.m. Feb. 2 at the fair box office or at Ticketmaster.com. Special box office hours will be 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 2 and Feb. 8. All show tickets include admission into the fair.
It will be Paisley’s third time headlining the fair. He performed to a crowd of 9,451 in the 10,500-seat arena in 2009, and in 2007 drew 8,218 people with Taylor Swift as his opening act.Allentown Fair news release
It will be Paisley’s third time headlining the fair. He performed to a crowd of 9,451 in the 10,500-seat arena in 2009, and in 2007 drew 8,218 people with Taylor Swift as his opening act.
Paisley most recently played the Lehigh Valley in 2019, when he headlined Bethlehem’s Musikfest festival before an audience of about 6,000.
Paisley is scheduled to release his 13th original album — his first in seven years — called “Son of the Mountains,” this year.
He has released two singles from it — "Same Here," featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in February 2023, and "So Many Summers" in June.
A record-setting career
Paisley’s debut album, “Who Needs Pictures” in 1999, sold platinum and produced two No. 1 hits — “He Didn’t Have to Be” and “We Danced.”
He since has released 12 more studio albums, seven of which have sold gold or platinum and nine of which hit No. 1 on the Country Albums chart. Both 2003’s “Mud on the Tires” and 2005’s “Time Well Wasted” sold double-platinum.
He has had 44 singles hit the Top 30 on the Country Airplay chart, the latest of which was “No I in Beer” in 2020. Twenty-one of those singles hit No. 1; the latest to do that was “Perfect Storm” in 2014.
His songs now have a total of more than 5 billion streams.
In 2009, Paisley set a record for most consecutive singles (10) reaching No. 1. It started with the 2005 hit “When I Get Where I’m Going” with Dolly Parton, and lasted through 2009’s “Then.”
After 2009’s “Welcome to the Future” peaked at No. 2, Paisley had four more No. 1 hits in his next six singles, through 2011’s “Remind Me” with Carrie Underwood.
In all, Paisley has sold more than 20 million singles, with 18 of his hits going gold or platinum. He’s had four double-platinum hits: 2004’s “Whiskey Lullaby (with Alison Krauss),” 2006’s “She’s Everything,” 2009’s “Then” and “Remind Me.”
He has the recognition as the most successful CMA Award co-host in history, alongside Carrie Underwood, for 11 consecutive years.
