Middle Tennessee State University alumni will continue to return to campus to perform at this season’s final Party in the Grove events, the official pregame tailgate of Blue Raider Football.
Hip-hop artist Tyrone Stroble—better known as Tyke T—will take the stage before the Saturday, Nov. 9, noontime game against Liberty University, while country-folk performer Chloe Kimes will be in the Grove before the called 1:30 p.m. contest on Saturday, Nov. 23 against New Mexico State University.
Party in the Grove activities begin three hours before kickoff in Walnut Grove, the traditional campus gathering point in an open field between Peck Hall and the Cope Administration Building. In addition to the performance stage, the Grove will also feature Raider Walk by the football team, food trucks and several sponsor tents and activities.
The tailgate winds down 45 minutes before 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 serve as the emcees.
“This has been a great addition to our pregame experience, all shows featuring alumni,” said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee.
As a nod to the Nov. 9 game’s Salute to Veterans and Armed Services, the 129th Army Band will open the show in the Grove. Tracing its lineage back to 1780, the 129th has represented the state of Tennessee and the Tennessee Army National Guard at events ranging from two World’s Fairs to marching in a presidential inaugural parade, as well as numerous VIP performances. It was one of two reserve bands called to active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm.
Tyke T is a Billboard-charting hip-hop artist based in Memphis. A 2009 graduate in marketing and a 2011 graduate of MTSU’s Master of Business Administration program, his music has been featured in several television shows. He was featured during a show by Forbes magazine held at the legendary Orpheum Theater in Memphis, during which he was awarded an honorary professorship in MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry.
Kimes, a 2019 graduate of the commercial songwriting program, released her debut album in 2022, a self-titled live effort that landed her a spot on NPR Music’s Top 10 Nashville Artists on the Rise list in 2022 and also received Listener’s Choice Album of the Year recognition from Michigan’s WYCE Radio Jammie Awards. Kimes went viral with a live performance of the single “Coors Light” on the Blue Plate Special radio program out of Knoxville, attracting over 4 million views across her social media platforms.
Carly Rose Ratcliffe, currently a commercial songwriting student at MTSU, is set to open in the Grove on Nov. 23. She performs both covers and originals in her shows and cites artists such as Dolly Parton, Tyler Childers, Miranda Lambert and Sara Evans as influences.
Party in the Grove is produced through a partnership with the MTSU Division of Student Affairs, the College of Media and Entertainment and Blue Raider Athletics.
