“Come to the State Fair,” said Jimmy Fortune, country music singer and performer at this year’s State Fair of West Virginia. “Come see me, come take in the fair, it’s one of the absolute best in the whole country. We’re gonna have a ton of fun, reminisce about The Statler Brothers, [and have a] good time. I’m gonna sign autographs and take pictures with every person that wants one, so come on.”
Fortune, who played with The Statler Brothers for 21 years before the band retired and has now been playing solo for 15 years, is returning to the State Fair this year.
“First we’re going to pay tribute to The Statler Brothers,” Fortune said, “’Flowers On The Wall,’ you’ve got to start with them. Then I’ll play some of my new songs from the last 15 years. Of course, the tribute to the veterans who’ve served us. There will also be a gospel segment, that’s my background. I always go back for that.”
Beginning his journey into music at age 8 with a guitar he found behind a dumpster that was missing four of the six strings, Fortune knew early that music is what he wanted to do.
“I found a guitar when I was 8 with two strings. Mom and dad got me a real one the Christmas after I turned 12. I told dad that music was what I wanted to do, and he called me crazy. He told me, ‘You can’t make a living playing music, why you think they call it playing?’ There were two brothers that lived down the street, and we formed a little band. The first gig I ever played was with them at our elementary school for a dollar a piece. Afterwards, as we walked the three miles home, we each blew our dollar on a milkshake. We played our instruments and made money that we bought actual stuff with. That’s one of my favorite memories.”
Fortune continued to reminisce saying, “Music was my main income, and there was no way I would quit. I put my heart and soul and life into it. Becoming wealthy over it was not the idea; I just did it because I love it. I was playing six days a week, four hours a night, and would have liked to write music, but didn’t have the time. I had to learn covers, and give the audiences what they wanted. I was 26 when The Statler Brothers found me. In a rural area, it was a literal godsend.”
Fans hoping to hear songs from his latest album, “Jimmy Fortune Sings The Classics,” are in luck, with the album being a huge section of the performance. The album is a collection of songs that mean something special to Fortune.
“A lot of the songs I’m going to play are off of the new album,” Fortune said. “The fans had a huge influence on the lineup of the album; some are covers we got from fan suggestions, but all are songs that shaped my life. For example, the Michael Martin Murphy song, ‘Wildfire,’ I used to sing to my kids. It was a common folk song my grandparents would sing, and I brought it back for the album.”
Fortune continued, “John Denver’s, ‘Country Roads Take Me Home,’ that song has always been in my show, but ‘Annie’s Song,’ another John Denver song, shows up sometimes, too. My wife’s best friend got cancer, and that was her favorite song. She passed away in April, and I played it for her at the funeral. I added it to the [new] album as a result. She was one of my best friends, too. We miss her very much. I think about it every time I hear it and every time I play it.”
Growing even more serious, Fortune said, “Then there’s ‘More Than A Name On A Wall,’ the Vietnam memorial song. I wrote it after I heard a story from a mother who lost her son. That song broke down some barriers. After I performed it once, a man in a wheelchair [came up to me and said] ‘I want to tell you something,’ a story he had not even told to his family. He was the head of platoon and during a battle, he was seriously wounded, and they were trying to helicopter him out. He didn’t want to go back, but they forced him on, then all the soldiers were killed. When he came home, people spit on him for being in Vietnam. That is how people felt. People don’t feel like that now. ‘I want to thank you for that song; it broke down a lot of barriers,’ he told me, and that’s why it’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.”
This is not the first time Fortune has come to the State Fair, having played with Josh Turner in 2004 and with The Statler Brothers many times while the band was together.
“I always look forward to coming up there,” Fortune said.
Fortune will play the State Fair of West Virgina on Tuesday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Read more in the Tuesday, August 15, edition of The West Virginia Daily News.
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