By Brainerd Dispatch and Jennifer Kraus

July 09, 2019 at 11:00 PM

Iconic Fest, with music from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, will celebrate its fifth year since its inception, featuring two days of outdoor music Friday-Saturday, July 12-13, at the Green Lantern, east of Brainerd off Highway 18.

This year’s line-up features its first female headliner with Terri Clark taking the stage on Saturday night. To commemorate the fifth anniversary, The Kentucky Headhunters were invited back after being such a big part of the success during year one of the festival. Joining the celebration with their own reasons to party are Head East, who will rock out on Friday as a part of their 50th anniversary; and David Ball, who is touring to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of his song “Thinking Problem.”

The Green Lantern offers an intimate and relaxed outdoor concert setting, created for a night of making new memories while listening to live music of the past, organizers stated in a news release.

“There is a lot of celebration happening this year not only Iconic Fest but with the artists and their milestones.” said Erik Huff, founder of Iconic Fest and co-owner of Huff Entertainment Solutions. “Carolyn and I couldn’t have built Iconic Fest without a lot of great people in our corner who embraced our vision. We are thankful to Carl and Dee of the Green Lantern who have been beyond amazing as a venue, always going the extra mile to help us create the best outdoor venue for an event like this.

“We want to thank our loyal sponsors, most who have been with us since year one, and we want to thank the hard-working volunteers and staff who are always there to lend a hand without question. We have a really great team in place.”

Gates open at 4 p.m. each day. The Green Lantern will have its kitchen and bar open. Parking is free. The Iconic Fest Campground has been sold out for a while, however just a mile down the road, Paul Bunyan Land -- www.paulbunyanland.com/campground -- opened a campground with plenty of availability, Huff stated.

Iconic Fest will provide a couple shuttle pick-ups at the start of each night and a couple post-show drop offs to transport campers safely back and forth to the concert. Iconic Fest’s Campground will open at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 11. VIP passes are sold out, but there are still plenty of Friday, Saturday and weekend tickets.

Advance tickets through Thursday, July 11, are $30 for Friday or $40 at the gate; $35 for Saturday or $45 at gate and $50 for a weekend pass or $60 at the gate. All advance tickets are available for purchase at the Green Lantern, Cub Foods in Brainerd and Baxter, Pine Square, College Square, Nitro Square, Raceway Square and online in the form of e-tickets at www.iconicfest.com .

Additional activities during Iconic Fest include a fiesta pre-party Thursday sponsored by Roger Clyne’s Mexican Moonshine Tequila at the Green Lantern, music with DJ Tina and games/contests. There will be a bean bag tournament Saturday, with registration at 11 a.m. A $20 fee per team.Information and tickets are available at www.iconicfest.com and Info on the Iconic Fest Facebook page.

The lineup

Friday: Rock-A-Billy Revue, 5 p.m, Head East, 7 p.m., The Kentucky Headhunters, 9 p.m.

Saturday: Shane Martin at 5 p.m., David Ball, 7 p.m., Terri Clark, 9 p.m.

Terri Clark

Hailing from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, Terri Clark is a three-time Juno Award winner and eight-time Canadian Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year and she has taken home the Female Vocalist of the Year award five times. She still holds the honor of being the only Canadian female artist to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Clark has sold more than four million albums worldwide and has made her mark on radio with 13 top 10 singles, including “Better Things To Do,” “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Girls Lie Too” and “I Just Wanna Be Mad.”

Clark is the host of Country Gold With Terri Clark which airs on more than 100 stations across the U,S, and Canada and features guest artists and country music’s best music from the ‘80s and ‘90s. In 2017, Clark was nominated for a CMA Award for National Broadcast Personality of the Year.

The Kentucky Headhunters

The Kentucky Headhunters created a hybrid of honky tonk, blues and Southern rock

that appealed to fans of both rock and country music, it stated on the group’s biography. The origins of the Kentucky Headhunters lie in 1968, when Fred and Richard Young began playing together with their cousins Greg Martin and Anthony Kenney at the Youngs’ grandmother’s house. Mark Orr also later joined them. The first incarnation of the band was called the

Itchy Brothers, and the group played together informally for over a decade. After about 13 years, the band members began launching separate careers: Richard Young went off to write songs for Acuff-Rose, while Fred Young began touring with country beauty Sylvia. Martin became a member of Ronnie McDowell’s band, while Kenney dropped out of music. In 1985, Martin decided to reassemble the Itchy Brothers. When Kenney declined to rejoin the group, Martin remembered Doug Phelps, whom he had met while on tour with McDowell. Phelps joined the new project, which was named the Kentucky Headhunters. Besides Martin and Phelps, the band also included the Young brothers and Doug’s brother Ricky Lee Phelps.

The Headhunters started playing twice monthly on The Chitlin’ Show, a program on Munfordville, Kentucky radio station WLOC. From these 90-minute performances, the Headhunters built up a following. They sent an eight-song demo to Mercury, and soon after, the label signed the group. The original demo tape was remixed, and became the basis of the band’s first album, 1989’s “Pickin’ on Nashville,” which received positive reviews upon its release and quickly became a hit. “Dumas Walker” reached number 15 in the spring of 1990, followed by the group’s biggest hit, “Oh, Lonesome Me.”

In summer 1992, the Phelps brothers left the group and the remaining Headhunters brought ex-Itchy Brothers Anthony Kenney and Mark Orr to the group, and the rehashed lineup released “Rave On!” in 1993. The album marked a progression toward bluesy Southern rock. In 1996, Doug Phelps returned on lead vocals, and a year later the band issued “Stompin’ Grounds.”

In 2015, the Headhunters released another collaborative album with Johnnie Johnson, “Meet Me in Bluesland,” drawn from unissued sessions recorded in 2003, two years before Johnson’s death.

David Ball

Grammy-winning country legend David Ball celebrates his 25th anniversary tour of his hit song “Thinkin’ Problem” this year. Making its 1994 debut, the song spawned five hit singles to country radio from 1994-1996, including the chart-topping title cut.

Ball continues to write and his new single “Pretty Baby” is now available on his 10th studio album.

Ball grew up in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and it’s where he learned to play guitar but later honed his skills on the upright bass, which led to a gig playing bass in Uncle Walt’s Band, credited as the first Americana act.

The legendary trio was headed by Walter Hyatt and also included Champ Hood. A solo career led Ball to Nashville where he signed a publishing deal and later, a recording contract. Ball’s music came full circle when Lyle Lovett reached back into Uncle Walt’s Band repertoire to include one of David’s early songs, “Don’t You Think I Feel It Too” on his 2009 disc, “Natural Forces.” Ball won a Grammy Award for “Old Folks At Home (Swanee River)” from the album “Beautiful Dreamer - The Songs of Stephen Foster.” in 2005.

Fourteen of his singles have entered the Billboard charts, including “Thinkin’ Problem”and “Riding With Private Malone,” which made Ball one of the first artists to take an indie single to the Country Top 5. He has recorded a total of seven studio albums.

Head East

Head East, the legendary classic rock band for more than four decades with founding member, Roger Boyd has long set the standard for authentic, full-vocal, good-time rock harmonies and superb musicianship that few bands can equal, a news release stated. Their high-energy shows are filled with flashy guitar work, memorable keyboard melodies and vocals that continue to rock audiences of all ages.

Signature song, “There’s Never Been Any Reason (Save My Life I’m Going Down for the Last Time)” continues to be one of the most recognized and requested songs from the Golden Age of Rock and Roll. In fact, “Reason” is considered by many radio stations and rock-o-philes to be the national anthem of rock ‘n’ roll. Single releases of “Reason,” “Love Me Tonight” and “Since You’ve Been Gone” were all chart toppers on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart.

Head East has logged more than 5,000 shows and has been featured in movies “Dazed and Confused” and “Sahara” and television shows “Friday Night Lights,” “That 70s Show” and “CBS Sports.”

“Raise A Little Hell” hit the airwaves in 2013 with 12 tracks on their new live album released on Constant Motion Entertainment Records distributed by Sony with rave reviews.

UPDATE: This story was updated to correct the lineup for Iconic Fest. The Dispatch regrets the error.