The North Carolina State Fair always sports a great music lineup and this year is no exception. Its “Homegrown Music Fest” concert series features 11 days, three stages and 117 performances from Oct. 11-21. My advice is that while you’ll certainly want to catch some of the headliners — Raleigh’s own American Aquarium, the War and Treaty, New Reveille, Summer Brooke and the Mountain Faith Band, RaeLynn and Bucky Covington — make sure you catch some of the lesser-known acts on the Waterfall andHeritage Circle Bluegrass stages.

It wasn’t that many years ago that I discovered country, rock superstar singer-songwriter Eric Church, who as you may recall is a North Carolina native, playing for a small crowd at the fairgrounds’ Dorton Arena. Tickets were $5 because at the time you had to pay extra for concert tickets. Good luck finding a $5 or even $50 ticket to one of Church’s shows today.

Dorton Arena shows begin at 7:30 p.m. each night. Lineup for the show begins no earlier than 6 p.m. and doors are at 7 p.m. Each show is free with State Fair admission, and seating in the arena is first-come, first-served general admission.

I recommend making time to see Jack the Radio, the Pinkerton Raid, Katie Basden, Jump Mountain, David Childers, Big Fat Gap and Carolina Line Bluegrass Band among many others too numerous to list on the Waterfall and Heritage Circle Bluegrass stages.

For specific show times visit http://www.ncstatefair.org/2018/Attractions/HomegrownMusic.htm