Sawyer Brown slated for Houlton fair shows

HOULTON – Some girls don’t like boys like these, but some girls do.

Organizers of the Houlton Agricultural State Fair hope that most girls will like the Sawyer Brown band when it performs two shows at the fair at 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday July 7 at the John Millar Civic Center. They’re also hoping that their boyfriends, husbands, aunts, uncles and friends will like them too,

“It’s the biggest step the fair has even taken for a group,” said Paul Cleary, fair spokesman, during an interview on Friday to announce the deal.

Typical attendance at the fair has ranged between 15,000 people and 17,000 people. But over the past two years, it’s been more than that, as the fair association has worked to sign on better-recognized bands to perform.

In 1999, close to 20,000 went to the four-day fair, which included a performance by Blackhawk, and last year, attendance was over 18,000 when Joe Diffy performed.

“We’ve had two great years in a row,” said Cleary. “I think that’s attributable to the groups.”

With the signing of Sawyer Brown, he said fair organizers hope to continue the trend for increased attendance by getting a band that is better known.

Cleary said the band’s mix of both rock ‘n’ roll and country songs is expected to draw an equally diverse audience of listeners who have come to recognize such songs as “Some Girls Do,” “The Dirt Road,” “Cafi on the Corner,” and “Six Days on the Road.”

It was in 1983 when the band made its debut on Ed McMahon’s “Star Search” and walked away with the $100,000 prize and an eventual recording contract in 1984 contract with Capital-Curb records.

Since then, the band has produced 16 albums, including six with sales of more than a half million. The band also has had 18 top-five singles, including eight that reached No. 1.

Band members are Mark Miller, vocals; Gregg Hubbard, keyboards; Jim Scholten, bass guitar; Duncan Cameron, keyboards; and drummer Joe Smyth, who was born in Westbrook.

Last year, they received Top Vocal Group honors from the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Sawyer Brown comes with a price tag of almost $50,000, Cleary said, more than double what the fair has spent in the past. Additional preparations for the band will push the figure closer to $70,000.

“It scares the heck out of me to think what we’ve spent, but you have to take that step,” Cleary said.

“We looked at groups in our normal price range of $15,000 to $20,000,” he said. “You look at the names that were there and there was nothing around.”

“We had a choice of a non-name at $20,000 or a group that everybody knows,” Cleary said. “Everybody’s heard of Sawyer Brown.”

Because of the added cost to bring a higher caliber band to the Houlton fair, Cleary said ticket prices will be more than in the past.

In previous years, the $8 gate fee on concert day also included admission to the concert. This year, the gate fee will be $6, but it will cost another $14 to include the concert, if tickets are purchased in advance.

“Where can you go for a concert like that in the state of Maine for $14?” asked Cleary.

Tickets are expected to go on sale by the middle of next month throughout Aroostook County and in Bangor.