By Lindsey Frazier, Features Editor
The voices behind some of country music’s most recognizable hits will open a new chapter in Hokes Bluff when The Frontmen headline the inaugural concert at The Bluff Amphitheater on June 6.
For many fans, the evening will be more than just a concert. It will be a return to a venue once known as Gold City Music Park and a chance to hear the songs that helped define a generation.
After renovations by owners Josh Santos, Chad Lee and Drake White, what was once a kudzu-covered lot has been transformed into an 18-acre entertainment complex featuring a campground and recording studio. The stadium-style seating built into the terrain can accommodate about 7,000.
“It feels great to come back to a place where we kind of took for granted all those years and then to be able to do something special,” Santos said. “We want to do community-focused events, family events, on top of the concerts.”
Fittingly for the venue’s first major concert, The Frontmen will headline the night. The band consists of Tim Rushlow, formerly of Little Texas; Richie McDonald, formerly of Lonestar; and Larry Stewart, formerly of Restless Heart, who were all frontmen for each respective band.
Collectively, the trio has sold more than 30 million records and produced dozens of hits. Rushlow said the group’s appeal comes from bringing together the voices of three successful country bands.
“To have three singers that are the voices of three of the biggest bands in country history on one stage at one time, in one band, it’s pretty historical,” Rushlow said. “It’s an event… People are starting to realize, ‘This isn’t a tribute band or a cover band; these are the guys who sing these songs.’”
Although the group had performed together a couple of times, they didn’t really begin touring until Rushlow was invited to play for the United Service Organizations and the Navy for their entertainment.
The band continued traveling in January to perform for the troops for about eight years, landing on aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf and traveling across the globe to play for the women and men, giving them a little slice of home, Rushlow said.
For The Frontmen, being selected as the first act to perform at the newly reopened venue is a distinction Rushlow said the group doesn’t take lightly.
“It’s an honor,” Rushlow said. “The country music fans in Alabama are passionate. We’re excited to be coming there and showing people who the Frontmen are.”
That sense of nostalgia makes the band’s selection as the amphitheater’s inaugural act especially fitting. As The Bluff Amphitheater opens its gates, fans will gather under the stars once again to celebrate both the venue’s grand opening and the music.
“To walk out there and sing those songs and see people’s eyes light up, it’s a thrill, it really is,” Rushlow said. “It’s pretty endearing when you have so many people come up to you after the show and go, ‘Man, you guys were the soundtrack of my life.”
The Bluff Amphitheater, located at 1820 US HWY 278 E, in Hokes Bluff, will open its gates at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets can be purchased from The Bluff’s website and range from $35.20 to $87.20, depending on the zone and parking is $10.
