Country music artist, rapper, YouTube star Upchurch coming to Stark County Fairgrounds

CANTON − Upchurch will perform his distinct mix of country, rap, hip-hop and rock on June 1 at the Stark County Fairgrounds.

The fairgrounds recently announced the mid-summer show, a rarity for the venue, which usually showcases live music only during the Stark County Fair.

Canton will be a stop on Upchurch's Tune-In Tour, which begins March 9 in Nashville followed by stops in Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Alabama and Indiana before the Stark County show.

Alternating between rap, hip-hop, traditional country and hard rock, and sometimes fusing the genres, Upchurch is musically prolific, having released more than 10 albums or collections of songs, including "Pioneer" and "Blue Gene's" in 2023.

Upchurch expected to sellout Stark County concert

Ticket sales have been strong since opening this past weekend, said Aaron Green of Project Live, an entertainment consulting and production company that includes The Country Fest and books musical acts for the Stark County Fairgrounds.

Green expects a sellout.

"His fans are passionate and our mission is to create great experiences for them," he said.

"When we had the opportunity to bring Upchurch to this area, we jumped on the opportunity," Green said. "Upchurch hasn't been around this area in quite some time, and with our partnership at the Stark County Fair, we felt (it was) the right place to bring this tour, too."

Opening acts on Upchurch's tour will be t2., rapper Brodnax, country music artist JJ Lawhorn and other guests, according to Upchurch's website.

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Upchurch has made music with Jelly Roll

Upchurch's songs include "Hillbilly," "Ballad of a Country Boy," "Country Way," "Necks Too Red," "Silver Circles," "Son of the South," "Bloodshed" and "Bells." The music video for "Holler Boys" has 111 million views on YouTube and the video for "Rolling Stoned" has 132 million views.

Upchurch's 2017 song, "Running on Fumes" features Jelly Roll, who has achieved mainstream country and crossover pop radio success. Jelly Roll, who also was featured on Upchurch's 2021 song, "Blame Us" and 2022 song, "Vows," has been nominated for two Grammys, including earlier this month for the best country duo/group performance category for his song "Save Me" with Lainey Wilson.

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Video with Luke Combs created controversy

Ryan Upchurch first gained popularity on YouTube performing funny skits as Upchurch the Redneck and other characters. Upchurch's YouTube channel has 3.2 million subscribers.

Performing as Upchurch, he released the album "Heart of America" in 2016.

Songs from "Heart of America" included "Hell Yeah," "Backwoods" and "Outlaw," featuring Luke Combs before the country music artist became a breakout mainstream star.

Combs was in the spotlight recently performing a cover of the song "Fast Car" during the Grammys television broadcast with its original artist Tracy Chapman.

After Combs became an award-winning country artist, his appearance in the 2015 "Can I Get A Outlaw" video with Upchurch drew backlash in 2021 because of the appearance of confederate flags. Combs issued an apology for having associated himself with the symbol and said he was now aware of how painful the image could be to others. Upchurch, however, criticized Combs apology, saying in a social media post, "I'm from the South; I'm allowed to be proud to be from the South."

The music video has nearly 100 million views.

Tickets for the Stark County show — $55 general admission on the track standing and $45 general admission seated — are for sale at https://www.upchurchmerch.com/tour.

Reach Ed at ebalint@gannett.com.

On X (formerly) Twitter @ebalintREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Upchurch, country music artist and rapper, bringing tour to Canton