Contributed
Sawyer Brown includes (l-r: Joe Smyth, Shayne Hill, Gregg Hubbard, Jim Scholten and Mark Miller.
Sawyer Brown coming to 2020 Perkins County Fair
Sawyer Brown will be headlining the 2020 Perkins County Fair entertainment.
Perkins County Fair Board member Kasey Kroeker made the big announcement at last Saturday’s Whiskey Bent concert, the final event of this year’s fair.
Whiskey Bent, who performed this year, will open for Sawyer Brown on Saturday, July 25, 2020.
Country music band Sawyer Brown formed in 1981. Members include Mark Miller (lead vocals), Gregg “Hobie” Hubbard (keys/piano), Jim Scholten (bass), Joe Smyth (drums/percussion), Shayne Hill (lead guitar).
The band signed their first record deal in 1984 after winning Star Search.
Their discography includes 18 studio albums, one live album and five compilation albums. Three of their albums have been certified gold in the U.S.: The Dirt Road (1992), Outskirts of Town (1993) and Greatest Hits 1990-1995 (1995).
The band has released 60 singles, 51 of which have charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart between 1984 and 2005. Three singles have reached No. 1: “Step That Step”, “Some Girls Do”, and “Thank God for You”.
Sixteen singles have reached Top Ten, including “Used to Blue”, “The Race Is On”, “The Walk”, “All These Years”, “This Time” and “Treat Her Right”.
Sawyer Brown received the CMA Horizon Award in 1985. They won Vocal Band of the Year at the TNN/Music City News County Music Awards six consecutive years from 1993-98, and the Video Group of the Year at the CMT Country Music Awards three years in a row from 1993-95. In 1997, they received the ACM Vocal Group of the Year.
Sawyer Brown also has a special connection to Nebraska. A friend of late Husker Quarterback Berringer’s, Mark Miller began writing “The Nebraska Song” before Berringer was killed in a plane crash on April 18, 1996.
The band was scheduled to play the song at the national championship ring ceremony at Memorial Stadium on April 19, 1996, but the celebration was cancelled after Berringer’s death the day before.
The song was first performed at the Devaney Center in Lincoln in 1997.