Diamond Rio to headline New Albany’s Tallahatchie Riverfest in October

New Albany, Miss. – New Albany’s Tallahatchie Riverfest, now in its 21^st year, will feature four-time CMA Group of the Year recipient, Diamond Rio as the headline act for this year’s event.

Formed in 1989 in Nashville, TN the band consists of Gene Johnson (mandolin, tenor vocals), Jimmy Olander (lead guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo), Brian Prout (drums), Marty Roe (lead vocal), Dan Truman (keyboards), and Dana Williams (bass guitar, baritone vocals).

Multiple award-winning Diamond Rio to headline 21st Tallahatchie Riverfest

Diamond Rio recently released I Made It, their tenth studio album. The title track was co-written by the band’s lead guitarist Jimmy Olander and features 11 new songs.  Produced by Olander and Mike Clute, I Made It is available on iTunes and www.diamondrio.com.

Diamond Rio signed to Arista Records and in 1991 with the release of “Meet In The Middle” became the first country music group in history to reach No. 1 with a debut single.  The band is also known for their hits “How Your Love Makes Me Feel,” “One More Day,” “Beautiful Mess,” “Unbelievable,” “In A Week or Two,” and more.  They released their first-ever autobiography, Beautiful Mess: The Story of Diamond Rio on Thomas Nelson in 2009.

The band known for playing every note on every album recently celebrated their 25th Anniversary, has sold more than 10 million albums, won a Grammy Award, a Dove Award, six Vocal Group of the Year wins (CMA and ACM), released two Greatest Hit albums, a live and Christmas project, earned five multi-week no. 1 singles, 22 Top 10 singles, three certified Platinum and five gold albums, released an autobiography – and with zero band member changes.  Known for their charity commitments including long-time spokespersons for Big Brothers Big Sisters, the band has raised over $1,000,000.00 for non-profits and received the Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award.

The fall festival, which takes place each year around the beginning of October (this year’s festival is October 6-7), features a downtown arts market, free concerts and a carnival midway on the banks of the Tallahatchie River, which flows through the downtown.

“We are very excited and delighted to be bringing Diamond Rio to New Albany,” says Sean Johnson, the city’s tourism director. “These guys have had a slew of number 1 hits and are sure to bring back some fond memories and help create some great new ones. We’re very happy to have them play in our little city.”

Diamond Rio will perform in New Albany on the evening of Saturday, October 7 to close out the festival. Supporting acts have not yet been named.

The Friday night (October 6) shows will feature local and regional acts. “We feel like we’re going to have a solid line up for Friday night, but I can’t name them yet. And we’re also working on some non-musical entertainment for Saturday during the day that will be a lot of fun,” says Johnson.

The festival will open unofficially with the opening of the carnival midway on Thursday, October 5. There will be a concert on Friday night, a Saturday downtown arts market, pet parade and some other events that are still being planned. Diamond Rio and special guests will close out the festival on Saturday evening.

Tallahatchie Riverfest is a family-friendly and pet-friendly festival that is free and open to the public. To keep up with festival announcements, there is a Facebook page. The website for the festival, www.tallahatchieriverfest.com, will updated with the new schedule later this summer.