The Meramec Community Fair has been known for bringing the biggest and brightest upcoming talent in country music to its main stage for fair entertainment. This year the fair could have some of its strongest young talent to date.
“I’m so excited about our entertainment this year. I feel they are going to bring us some very large crowds and I can’t wait for people to start realizing just what kind of talent we have coming to this year’s fair,” said 2009 President and Entertainment chairman, James Bartle.
“On Friday night, we will have a double bill that brings Ashton Shepherd and Jimmy Wayne to the main stage, followed by local act, Alderwood, on Saturday night opening the show for headliner, Jason Michael Carroll.”
Shepherd will bring fans to their feet with her traditional country sound and sassy vocals. She is nominated for the Academy of Country Music New Female Vocalist of the Year and has had hits with “Takin’ Off This Pain” and “Sounds So Good.”
Her album, “Sounds So Good,” was one of the hottest country albums on Amazon and she has recently been featured on several GAC and CMT events. Shepherd hails from the tiny town of Leroy, AL and is on the MCA record label.
Jimmy Wayne has more hits out than most people can imagine, and is becoming a mainstay on the country charts. He was recently selected to be an opening act on the Brad Paisley Tour.
Wayne, who is part of the Valory Music Group, a division of Big Machine Records, has a hit list that includes “I Love You This Much,” “You Are,” “Stay Gone,” “Paper Angels,”  and a number one hit off his latest album entitled “Do You Believe Me Now.” His latest single is tearing up the country charts with “I Will.” The song was breaking out of the top 20 and moving fast on the Hot 100 Country Music Charts.
Jason Michael Carroll brings his earth shattering deep vocals to the Meramec Community Fair coming off his debut album, “Waitin’ in the Country,” which produced hits, “Alyssa Lies,” “I Can Sleep When I’m Dead,” and the number one smash, “Livin’ Our Love Song.”
His latest album, set for release soon, has spawned the hit, “Where I’m From,” which is also in the top 20 of the Hot 100 Country Music Charts and is paced to hit the Top 10 soon due to its requests for airplay to country radio.
“We have a strong fair lineup that I’m just extremely proud of and I feel people, as the months draw near for the fair, will become very familiar with and see that we have some full-blown major country stars coming to our fair,” said Bartle.
Tickets for the Meramec Community Fair preseason  will begin in the next couple of weeks with the early bird price of $17.50. These tickets will be on sale for only 30 days and will increase to $25 each. The fair board did not raise any ticket prices for the 2009 fair.