A Guide to the Must-See Concerts at the 2022 State Fair of Texas
Lucinda Williams, Night Ranger, Joshua Ray Walker, La Mafia and almost a dozen more bands that are worth planning your State Fair trip around.
By Jesse Hughey, September 30, 2022
Below are excerpts from “A Guide to the Must-See Concerts at the 2022 State Fair of Texas” that features Joshua Ray Walker, Matt Hillyer, and Squeezebox Bandits:
Joshua Ray Walker
7:30 p.m. Friday, September 30, Bud Light Stage
East Dallas native Joshua Ray Walker had a breakout 2021 with the success of his single “Sexy After Dark” off the album See You Next Time, the final installment in a honky-tonk trilogy that also includes 2019’s Wish You Were Here and 2020’s Glad You Made It. D readers already know the dude is the whole package: a fantastic voice that channels a little Strait and Yoakam, a talented writer, and smoking guitarist, whether he’s fingerpicking behind his own songs or shredding slide solos as lead guitarist for local country-punk outfit Ottoman Turks. He’s a star in Dallas, and the rest of the world is catching on fast.
Matt Hillyer
2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m. every Monday of the fair at the Wine Garden
7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 15 at the Bud Light Stage
Even if his set weren’t a highlight, Matt Hillyer is playing so many sets at the fair that there’s a good chance you’ll end up at one, intentionally or not. Hillyer is the former frontman for one of most reliably great country acts to ever come out of Dallas, Eleven Hundred Springs, which called it a day late last year after 23 years. Hillyer has a fine new solo single, “Glorieta,” from his upcoming album of the same name.
The O’s
7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 8, Bud Light Stage
If “John Pedigo” rhymed with “separation,” you could replace “Kevin Bacon” with his name and run the table on the Six Degrees party game for any performer at this year’s State Fair of Texas — and probably even cut it down a couple moves. It seems like he produces more music than he doesn’t for State Fair Records (no formal relation to the State Fair of Texas as far as I can tell, though the label has a near-monopoly on the concert lineup so I could be wrong);
Squeezebox Bandits
4, 5:45 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 12, Chevrolet Main Stage
1, 3, 5 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 20, Bud Light Stage
Squeezebox Bandits leave no doubt: Accordions are cool. Frontman Abe Casillas sharpened his squeezebox skills in Tejano bands as a youngster before forming his current band, which adds elements of Tejano, blues, and conjunto to honky-tonking country music to make something so quintessentially Lone Star they named their 2019 sophomore album Sounds of Texas. That was followed by this year’s Check to Check. You’ll have several chances during the fair to witness them win over crowds by the end of a set.
See D Magazine’s full list of artists HERE.
