Allen was named New Male Artist of the Year at the 2021 Academy of Country Music Awards
One of country music’s hottest rising stars will perform on the first night of the Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge this fall, a press release said.
Jimmie Allen, who made history as the first black artist to launch a career with two consecutive No. 1 hits on country radio, including his debut single “Best Shot,” and his latest single “Make Me Want To,” was named ACA’s best new male artist of the year in 2021, a press release said.
“We are excited to bring a rising talent to perform in Oak Ridge,” said Naomi Asher, marketing chair of the festival. “Our lineup this year will appeal to a wide array of people and include all the fun activities and vendors that festival-goers have been used to seeing for years.”
The festival is scheduled from September 24-26 at Alvin K. Bissell Park. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the opener taking the stage at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at https://www.secretcityfestival.com.
Saturday’s musical headliner is ’90s R&B hit-making group All-4-One, the press release said. Their No. 1 hit “I Swear” won a Grammy Award in 1995 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. They have been nominated for a total of three Grammys, the press release said.
“Our performers reflect the diversity of our community in Anderson County and East Tennessee,” Asher said. “We’ll have a little bit of everything this year. And we’re excited to bring the festival back to the community after being forced to take a year off in 2020.”
After pausing the 2020 festival due to the pandemic, the Secret City Festival this year will commemorate the Oak Ridge 85, the first and largest desegregated high school class to enter a school during the Civil Rights Movement in the Southeast. The festival will be held again in Bissell Park in Oak Ridge and host thousands of visitors to the Secret City. There will also be a juried art exhibit, along with food vendors, crafting vendors, a significant children’s area, technology exhibits, live entertainment on the pavilion stage, and acts such as Allen, the press release said. “All of the things that everyone has come to love and expect from the Secret City Festival,” Asher said.
About Jimmie Allen: “Rolling Stone” raved about Allen’s debut in its review, saying his music, “challenges the narrowly defined model of what constitutes a next big thing in country music in 2018,” and The New York Times dubbed it one of 2018’s strongest, calling it “a conventional country album, filled with songs about the small details.” Jimmie’s most recent single, “This Is Us,” features Noah Cyrus and has had 30 million streams to date. His latest project, Bettie James, released in July 2020, is a star-studded collaboration EP featuring Brad Paisley, Charley Pride, Darius Rucker, Mickey Guyton, Nelly, Cyrus, The Oak Ridge Boys, Rita Wilson, Tauren Wells, and Tim McGraw.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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