Merle Haggard
After 33 Riverbend Festivals, Friends of the Festival has finally landed the big fish when it comes to Country music – Merle Haggard. The man with the 38 number one hits will play Riverbend on Sunday, June 7th, at 9:30 p.m. Only George Strait, with 60, and Conway Twitty, with 40, had more number one hits than Haggard. That includes the Beatles with 20, Elvis with 18, and Michael Jackson with 13. George Strait has retired from touring and Conway Twitty passed away several years ago, leaving Haggard as the performer with the most number one hits to still tour.
With all the hundreds of big names to grace the Riverbend stages over the years, Merle Haggard will be the one that played Riverbend with the most number ones.
The featured performer at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 7th will be Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Leon Russell. Russell was last in Chattanooga 3 years ago with Elton John. That means Riverbend will feature a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member at 6:30 p.m. and a Country Music Hall of Fame member in Haggard at 9:30 p.m. It doesn’t get much better than this. Both are members of the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.
Leon Russell may have more credits to his name on the music of others than just about anyone in history. From Michael Buble to Willie Nelson to The Beach Boys to Eric Clapton to George Harrison, the list is practically endless. See for yourself at http://www.allmusic.com/artist/leon-russell-mn0000816387/credits.
At 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 7th, the Bud Light Stage will feature new Country sensation Sam Hunt. Hunt is coming off a recent release of the number one Country album “Montevallo”. He also scored a number one with a single off Montevallo with “Leave The Night On”. Fifty bucks says Sam Hunt will also be there to see the master, Merle Haggard, play on the Coke Stage. Look for Sam Hunt to have a couple more number one songs by Riverbend time.
Also announced for Thursday, June 11th on the Unum Stage, is Suzy Bogguss. Bogguss has two gold records and one platinum record, along with six top ten hits. She will appear on the Unum Stage from 8:00 p.m. until 9:15 p.m. Her most recent album released 11 months ago is “Lucky”, a collection of Merle Haggard tunes.
Future Riverbend Coke Stage announcements will feature genres other than Country music. According to Joe “Dixie” Fuller, the next set of announcements will include classic rock, rock & roll, R&B, and funk. Ten Coke Stage acts are yet to be announced for 2015.
Friends of the Festival, the organization that manages the Riverbend Festival, previously announced that it will double the number of Coke Stage acts at the 2015 Riverbend Festival. For all nights, except Family night on Tuesday, there will be an additional, different Coke Stage act at 6:30 p.m. The 9:30 p.m. Coke Stage act will continue as usual. The Family night Coke stage act begins earlier at 9 p.m.
The Riverbend Festival 8-day wristband will cost just $39 for 2015, including the seven new Coke Stage Acts. With a total of 15 Coke Stage acts, festival attendees can enjoy all of them for less than $3 each with the $39 wristband, plus all of the additional acts on the side stages included in the price.
Riverbend has already made their first announcements to go along with this new structure – Martina McBride will be the featured 9:30 p.m. entertainer on Saturday, June 6th. Hunter Hayes will be the 9:30 p.m. featured act on Thursday, June 11th. Little River Band will be the 6:30 p.m. featured act on Thursday, June 11th.
Corporate wristband sales have begun and people are encouraged to have their employers contact Karen at the Friends of the Festival office at 423-756-2211 to discuss the benefits, or write to Karen@riverbendfestival.com. A recent survey revealed that 91% of festival attendees would prefer to buy the wristbands from their employer. Many employers offer the wristbands to their employees at a discount or help them pay for it with a payroll deduction plan. Corporate sales need only to purchase a minimum of 50 wristbands to qualify for the plan. Remember, most employees buy at least 2 wristbands and many buy 3 or 4.
Wristbands are also on sale at the Riverbend website (www.riverbendfestival.com). Reserved Star Seats are also available at the Riverbend website. One nice feature is that purchasing Star Seat for the night gets you two shows. For example, if you buy a Star Seat for Sunday, June 7th, you get it for both Leon Russell and Merle Haggard.
Wristbands will be available at local Kangaroo Stores beginning May 1, 2015.