Brice headlines today on Festival stage

When Curb Records recording artist Lee Brice isn't selling out arenas, writing and recording songs or building new brands like American Born Whiskey, the family man is with his wife, Sara, two young boys, and daughter. 

Brice will headline the Festival stage tonight, Aug. 1.

With over 3.7 billion on-demand streams and over 4 billion spins on Pandora, Brice enjoys massive success at country radio, digital streaming services and on the road.

He reached the No. 1 spot at Country Radio with platinum-selling “Memory I Don’t Mess With,” which consecutively follows three prior No. 1s: The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers’ 2021 Country Song of the Year and three-time platinum track, “One of Them Girls;” “I Hope You’re Happy Now” with Carly Pearce; and the four-time platinum hit “Rumor,” which was nominated in the category Single of the Year at the 55th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

One of the most-played country artists of all time on Pandora, Brice was the second country artist behind Keith Urban to receive the Pandora Billionaire plaque. He is a Grammy nominee, a Country Music Awards and ACM award winner and he's taken nine radio singles to No. 1.

Garth Brooks, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney and others have recorded Brice's songs, and he's performed on numerous TV shows, including NBC's "Today," ABC's "The Bachelor," NBC's "The Voice" and FOX's Miss USA 2018. Brice performed as part of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song honoring Brooks, aired on PBS March of 2020.

Brice’s latest album, "Hey World," has been certified platinum and features several multi-platinum-selling hits. This year, he will go on the special acoustic "Me and My Guitar Tour and he is releasing a collaboration track with Australian group King and Country, "Checking In," which will be featured in the upcoming biographical film, "Unsung Hero."

Joining Brice on the Festival stage as opening act for the concert is Madeline Merlo, who was raised in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, near Vancouver, Canada. Merlo spent her childhood riding horses with a natural playground of the ocean, woods, mountains, waterfalls, and glaciers as a backdrop. The setting contributed to her musical influences of Motown, soul, rhythm and blues as well as country music’s strong female voices, listening to artists like Etta James and Aretha Franklin as well as Shania Twain, Dolly, Martina McBride, and Faith Hill.

A lyric-driven artist, Merlo zeroed in on building her own immediately recognizable sound. Blending fresh and cool melodies with catchy, relatable lyrics balanced out with traditional instruments like the steel, dobro, and banjo, her sound pays homage to where she grew up while delicately layering iridescent beats with her classic roots.

After being discovered on YouTube and signing her first record deal at the age of 18, radio success, tour dates, and awards quickly followed, being honored with the Canadian Country Music Association’s Rising Star Award in 2015.

More recently, following the release of her debut 4-track EP Slide, Merlo released the resonant track “Same Car” via BBR Music Group accompanied by an official music video. 

The concert is a seated and standing show, meaning the area in front of the stage is general admission and is standing and dancing only.

Early entry and sponsor gates open at 5:45 p.m.; general admission and season pass gates open at 6 p.m. Music begins at 7:30 p.m.

Free parking is available at Sandpoint High School, 410 S. Division and a free SPOT bus shuttle service to and from Memorial Field runs continuously from 4 to 11 p.m.

Tickets and info: festivalatsandpoint.com