The Soybean Festival isn’t just about soybeans.
It’s a true community celebration filled with music, laughter and fun. Downtown Martin comes to life starting the parade and ending with a blowout concert on Saturday night.
Each year, Martin is flooded with people from all over the west Tennessee area. Some even come from Kentucky to watch their favorite band perform. Friends and memories are made. It’s a great time for the entire community to pull together for a week of fun.
Wednesday night is always Faith and Community night at the Soybean Festival. Many of the churches around the area come out and set up booths. They tell their denomination and a little bit about what they believe. There is always a free dinner then live entertainment.
This year’s entertainment will be Shane & Shane.
Consisting of Shane Barnard and Shane Everrett, Shane & Shane formed in Texas in 2001 when they were at Texas A&M University. Shane Barnard already had a recording career when he met Shane Everrett. After Barnard put out a couple solo albums in 1998 and 2001, the duo renamed themselves Shane & Shane.
With their name changed, the rereleased 2001’s Psalms in 2002. Three self-written albums followed Psalms and the duo took an extensive in 2005. They returned in 2007 with Pages.
In 2010 the duo put out Dare 2 Share: Unending Worship. It contains many worship songs such as “Revelation Song”, “Forever Reign” and “Everlasting God”.
Their most recent album, The One You Need, hit stores October 4, 2011. It contains songs the duo has written themselves, as were most of their other albums. The title track “The One You Need” is written from a father to his daughter.
Thursday night is UTM Student Night and Bowling for Soup will rock the stage at Festival Stage by the C.E. Weldon Public Library downtown. Bowling for Soup, or BFS by their fans, formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The members consist of Jaret Reddick at rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Chris Burney on lead guitar, Erik Chandler on bass, and Gary Wiseman on drums.
The band has released eleven albums in the eighteen years they have been recording. From those eleven albums, there have been many hits. The most popular one is “Girl All the Bad Guys Want” from 2002’s Drunk Enough To Dance album. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Pop Perfomance by a Group or Duo.”
Two of their songs satirize events that have happened in Hollywood or the world. “High School Never Ends” talks about celebrities such as Tom Cruse and Katie Holmes, Mary-Kate Olsen and Brad Pitt. Another is “No Habla Ingles.” It pokes fun at people who use Spanish to get out of doing things they have no desire to do.
Besides writing their own songs, they have also covered songs from other artists and are on regular television. The band covered the song “1985” from band SR-71. They have also covered songs “I Melt With You” by Modern English for Disney’s movie Sky High and Flock of Seagulls “I Ran” for anime Knights of the Zodiac.
Recently Bowling for Soup has recorded the theme song
“Today Is Gonna Be a Great Day” for Disney Channel’s Phineas and Ferb.
Friday the featured performers are Grand Funk Railroad. Grand Funk Railroad formed in 1969 and has been steaming down the tracks of stardom ever since.
Known by as The American Band, the group came together in Flint, Michigan, under the tutelage of Terry Knight, who named them from a well-known rail line in Michigan. The band’s style is now considered as Classic Rock, meaning any music from the Golden Oldies of the mid-sixties until the late seventies. Grand Funk laid the groundwork for bands such as Foreigner, Journey, Van Halen and Bon Jovi.
Besides being stateside, Grand Funk has also toured overseas in countries such as Japan, Europe and South Africa. Their popularity overseas was almost as big as their fan base in the States. According to their official website, www.grandfunkrailroad.com, their 1971 performance at New York’s Shea Stadium sold out faster than the Beatles.
Over their forty year career, the group has had 19 charted singles, 8 Top 40 hits and two Number One singles. Their most famous Number One single “We’re An American Band” sold more than a million records.
They’ve accumulated 13 gold and 10 Platinum records with record sales in access of 25 million copies worldwide.
On Friday Sept. 7, they will roll into Martin and light up the stage with their hits such as “We’re An American Band”, love song “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “Locomotion.” Old listeners and new can come together to enjoy a musical treat.
Saturday the featured performer is Travis Tritt. Travis Tritt is one of country music’s most notable artists.
Tritt was born on Feb. 9, 1963, in Marietta, Georgia. Singing became his passion after his Sunday school choir before “Everything is Beautiful.” He received his first guitar when he was eight and taught himself to play. By the time he was a teenager he was playing and singing at his school. His parents gave him a new guitar when he was fourteen even though his father didn’t think he could make it as a musician.
Tritt began recording demos and in 1987 was sighed to Warner Bros.’ Nashville Division.
In 1989, he recorded his first record. The second single from the record, “Help Me Hold On”, was his first number one single in 1990, a month after its release. The third and fifth singles, “I’m Gonna Be Somebody” and “Drift Off to Dream”, peaked at numbers two and three on the Hot Country Singles Tracks chart.
Since his first album’s release in 1989, Tritt has had seven of his albums certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. He has charted more than forty times on the Hot Country Songs with songs “Help Me Hold On”, “Anymore”, “Best of Intentions” and “Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares).”
He has received two Grammy Awards for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. The first was in 1992 for a duet with Marty Stuart titled “The Whiskey Aint’ Workin’.” The second was for “Same Old Train”, another collaboration with Stuart.
When Tritt takes the stage Saturday Sept. 8 , there is no doubt “Help Me Hold On”, “T-R-O-U-B-L-E”, “I’m Gonna Be Somebody”, “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive” and “Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)” will definitely be on the set list. He will bring his soulful voice and play to the crowd as if it was his very first concert.
