35th annual country show

PRINCETON — The 35th annual country music show at this year’s Bureau County Fair will feature Billy Currington.

From small-town son of the south to hot new artist to bona fide country star, Billy Currington has seen it all. In 2003 he burst onto the Nashville scene with his self-titled debut album, and proceeded to burn up the charts with Top 10 singles “I Got a Feelin’” and “Walk a Little Straighter”. It wasn’t long before the legendary Shania Twain tapped him to be her duet partner in their smash hit “Party for Two”. In the accompanying video, Currington swung from an enormous chandelier and straight into the hearts of Americans everywhere.

Currington got his start in Nashville after some of his songwriting work found its way to producer Carson Chamberlain, who promptly put one of Billy’s songs on hold. A few weeks later, Carson and Billy ran into each another at the Longhorn Steakhouse; as a result of their conversation that night, the boys got together and started penning songs. A handful of Currington-Chamberlain demos landed on the desk of Universal Music Group Nashville’s (UMGN) Chairman Luke Lewis, and Billy Currington’s dream of landing a record deal finally came true. In 2001, he signed on as an artist with Mercury Nashville, a division of UMGN.

Currington has had a number of hits, including the No. 1 hits “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right” and “Good Directions,” as a duet partner on Shania Twain’s “Party for Two,” “Tangled Up,” “Don’t,” “Walk a Little Straighter,” “I Got a Feelin,’” and “Why, Why, Why.”

Currington’s show will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Curb/Asylum recording artist Heidi Newfield will open for Currington.

A true performer with an explosive stage persona, Newfield’s current tour and new album, “What Am I Waiting For,” marks her first foray into solo territory since her departure from Trick Pony, the platinum-selling band that earned four top 20 singles, an ACM Best New Artist award, and an army of fans for their rabble-rousing honky-tonk brand of country music. She is set to take the stage at 7:30 p.m.