FRYEBURG — Thursday night’s entertainment at the Fryeburg Fair drew the largest crowd of concert-goers the fair had ever seen, according to the announcer.
From the time he stepped on the stage, country music singer-songwriter Clint Black had the audience laughing at his natural sense of humor as much as he had them singing along to his hits.
“How do you pronounce the name of this town?” he asked the audience.
“Fryeburg,” they responded in unison.
“No, I don’t think that’s it. I read the sign and it’s much more complicated than that,” he said.
Throughout the show, between his famous songs like “A Good Run of Bad Luck” and “Like the Rain,” Black joked about the cold and shared stories with the audience about songwriting, his colleagues in the country music business and his home life.
People came from all over New England to hear the iconic musician perform at what Black said was his farthest-north show in “a long time.” Some, including Lenny Roghelia of Falmouth, arrived at the fair early in hopes that he might run into Black wandering the fairgrounds before the performance.
“We tried to find him today,” Roghelia said. “We went over to his trailer and I’m looking here and I’m looking there, but he was probably incognito.”
Bill and Kathy Horton of Warwick, R.I., were visiting the fair while on vacation and made sure to include the evening show in their plans. Kathy, who is a big fan of Black, said she had difficulty deciding which song of his was her favorite.
“All of them, really. They’re all good,” she said.
The Hortons spent the entire day at the fair, like many others in attendance. The show, however, was a highlight and a perfect way to end the day, they said.
More than 200 entertainers perform at the fair throughout the week, but the night shows feature more well-known entertainers and tend to draw larger crowds.
Jon Bliss and Tony Martineau spend all year planning the night entertainment for the fair with the help of a booking agent. They try to keep with a country music theme, but they do vary from that occasionally. This year’s Saturday night entertainment, for example, is Resurrection, A Journey Tribute.
“We’ve had all kinds of different acts over the years,” Bliss said. “We are very proud of the agricultural aspects of the fair, but we feel people need to be entertained, as well. I think these shows are very important to the fair. It’s all about entertaining the public.”
The stage Black and three band members performed on was simple, with a large American flag hanging on the wall behind Black, who sang and played guitar and harmonica.
For Ron Currier of Thornton, N.H., the performance was about the music, not a fancy stage.
“I’m just a guy who likes music,” said Currier, who handles the advertising and program design for the White Mountain Boogie Festival.
“I like country music — I like all music, really,” he said. “(Black is) an excellent artist.”
In fact, Black is quite accomplished. In addition to his more than 100 songs, a third of which were released as singles, and 20 million albums sold worldwide, Black also has forayed into the acting business, appearing alongside the likes of Mel Gibson and Jody Foster in a 1994 cameo appearance in “Maverick.”
Black has appeared in other television and movie roles and is working on a Broadway production. He has won numerous awards, including 1989 Album of the Year for “Killin’ Time,” Top Male Vocalist and Top New Male Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music in 1989, Favorite Country New Artist at the American Music Awards in 1990, and 1990 Male Vocalist of the Year from the Country Music Association.
mjerkins@sunmediagroup.net
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