Middle Tennessee State University’s Walnut Grove will host live musical performances prior to Blue Raider Football’s home games. Billed as the Party in the Grove, the concerts will begin three and a half hours before kickoff.
Hip-hop artist Legendary Nedge, rising country star HunterGirl and country-rock trio The Cadillac Three, all with strong MTSU alumni ties, will be the first three acts set for what the university hopes will become a new pregame tradition on the campus, said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee.
Nedge, who as Nick Edgerson graduated in May from MTSU with a music business degree, headlined the show before the season opener on Saturday, Aug. 31. He’s a two-time Telly Award winner and was a featured artist on the MTSU College of Media and Entertainment’s “We Do It All” television commercial that won a regional Emmy. He has recorded on MTSU’s student-run Match Records label.
HunterGirl, who as Hunter Wolkonowski graduated in 2020 from MTSU with a music business degree, will take the spotlight before the home game on Saturday, Sept. 14, against Western Kentucky University. She was the popular runner-up of Season 20 of American Idol in 2022, where she was championed by show judge Luke Bryan, who said she was his “favorite female country voice.” This summer, HunterGirl toured with Bryan’s Mind of a Country Boy Tour. She was named an honorary professor of recording industry at MTSU in 2022.
The trio of Jaren Johnston, Neil Mason and Kelby Ray will take the stage as The Cadillac Three before the homecoming game against Duke University on Saturday, Sept. 21. Johnson is a former MTSU student and Ray graduated from the university in 2003 with a music business degree. The group has released three albums through Big Machine Records, and has charted three singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts.
“We are thrilled to welcome back our alumni to campus to help us launch the Party in the Grove,” McPhee said. “We’re proud of their success and accomplishments and grateful that they will return to campus so our students can not only enjoy their performance but also learn their stagecraft.”
The September shows will begin in Walnut Grove at 2:30 p.m. with kickoff for the games set for 6 p.m. at nearby Floyd Stadium. In addition to the performance stage, the Grove will also feature food trucks and several new sponsor tents, and activities will be added to the mix as well.
Bluegrass artist Jaelee Roberts will be in the spotlight before the 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, game against Kennesaw State University.
The party will wind down 45 minutes prior to kickoff with a “Follow Me to Floyd” parade led by Student Government Association President Michai Mosby and Blue Zoo President Bretlyn Warner, who will also be emcees for the Party in the Grove events.
Party in the Grove, located in the traditional MTSU campus gathering point in an open field between Peck Hall and the Cope Administration Building, is led by the Division of Student Affairs, the College of Media and Entertainment and Blue Raider Athletics.
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