Country Thunder returns to Florence, bringing any number of the genre’s biggest names to Arizona for four days of assorted revelry and song. This year, the bill is topped by Jason Aldean and Miranda Lambert, who picked up male and female vocalist of the year — again — at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards. Also turning in headlining sets are last year’s ACM top vocal duo, Thompson Square, and this year’s ACM vocal group of the year, the Band Perry. Here’s a look at those artists and a handful of the other main attractions on the bill.
Details:Â 2:30 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, April 10-13.20585 E. Price Road, Florence. $220 for a four-day pass. 866-802-6418, countrythunder.com.
Thursday
Thompson Square
This husband-and-wife team won top vocal duo two years in a row at the ACM Awards, also winning vocal duo of the year at the 2012 Country Music Awards. Their biggest hit remains their double-platinum breakthrough single, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not,” which topped the country charts in 2010. Their other hits include “I Got You” and “If I Didn’t Have You.” 9 p.m.
Will Hoge
This Grammy-nominated country singer co-wrote “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” a platinum smash the Eli Young Band took to No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart. The closest Hoge has come to matching that success with a recording of his own was hitting No. 42 with last year’s “Strong.” 7 p.m.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
These country-rockers hit the mainstream hard in 1970, going Top 10 on the Hot 100 with “Mr. Bojangles.” They may be best-known, though, for “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” a 1972 collaboration with some of the more respected names in bluegrass. 5:30 p.m.
Friday
The Band Perry
Singer Kimberly Perry and her brothers, Reid and Neil, went triple platinum, toppingBillboard’s country chart with “If I Die Young” (a second single on which, as the title suggests, the singer explains what she’d like you do if she dies young). Largely driven by that breakthrough hit, they took home top new artist at the ACM Awards and new artist of the year at the CMAs, where “If I Die Young” picked up song and single of the year. Two subsequent singles, “All Your Life” and “Better Dig Two,” also topped the country charts. 9 p.m.
Easton Corbin
Released in 2010, his self-titled debut sent two songs, “A Little More Country Than That” and “Roll With It,” to No. 1 on Billboard’scountry chart. Two singles from his second album, “Lovin’ You is Fun” and “All Over the Road” cracked the country Top 10. 7 p.m.
Sawyer Brown
These country-pop sensations got their first taste of fame via “Star Search,” winning vocal group in 1983. They dropped their first chart-topping country single, “Step By Step,” in 1985, returning to the top with “Some Girls Do” in 1992 and “Thank God For You” in 1993. 5:30 p.m.
Cassadee Pope
There aren’t a lot of Warped Tour veterans on your average Country Thunder lineup. But this singer fronted Hey Monday before a winning season on “The Voice” (with country superstar Blake Shelton as her mentor) set the stage for her transition into a chart-topping country star. 4 p.m.
Saturday
Miranda Lambert
The woman has the perfect voice for country, cracking in all the appropriate places to telegraph heartache and vulnerability with vast reserves of personality and grit for the feistier numbers that require her to throw a little attitude. And she’s amassed her share of classic country hits since riding “Nashville Star” to Nashville stardom, from ballads as tender as “The House That Built Me” and “Over You” to “Mama’s Broken Heart.” But it’s her innate likeability that gives Lambert the edge, as anyone who’s seen her live could tell you. 9 p.m.
Craig Morgan
His biggest hit, “That’s What I Love About Sunday,” spent four weeks at No. 1 onBillboard’s country chart and was named the biggest country song of 2005 in that same publication. Four other Morgan songs have cracked the country Top 10, “Redneck Yacht Club” climbing all the way to No. 2 in 2005. 7 p.m.
Mark Chesnutt
This Beaumont, Texas, singer has been at it since the ’80s, sending 30 singles up theBillboard country charts, with eight songs going all the way to No. 1, from 1990’s “Brother Jukebox” to 1998’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (yes, the Aerosmith song). 5:30 p.m.
Charlie Worsham
This Mississippi native toured with Taylor Swift in 2011 and released his debut single, “Could It Be,” in 2013. Released the same year, “Rubberband,” the singers debut album, hit the country charts at No. 12. 4 p.m.
LoCash Cowboys
A Baltimore duo composed of Chris Lucas and Preston Brust, they peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s country chart with “Keep in Mind.” Although that song remains their biggest single four years after its release, they also share a writing credit on “You Gonna Fly,” which topped the country charts. 2:30 p.m.
Sunday
Jason Aldean
Since breaking through with “Hicktown” in 2005, this Nashville star has topped the country singles charts with eight songs. Three of those songs, “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson, “Big Green Tractor” and “She’s Country,” went double-platinum. But his biggest hit is 2011’s “Dirt Road Anthem,” a quadruple-platinum smash that also gave the country star his only Top 10 entry on the Billboard Hot 100. 9 p.m.
Colt Ford
This former professional golfer co-wrote Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem” with Brantley Gilbert. And although he’s yet to go Top 40 on the country singles chart with one of his own records, Ford is popular enough to have debuted at No. 1 onBillboard’scountry chart with his latest album, “Declaration of Independence.” 7 p.m.
Tyler Farr
The title track to last year’s “Redneck Crazy” took him all the way to No. 2 onBillboard’s chart while going platinum. And he followed through with “Whiskey in my Water,” his second song to go Top 40 on the country charts. 5:30 p.m.
Joe Diffie
Known for his novelty hits, he’s topped the country charts with five songs — “Home,”,”If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “Third Rock from the Sun,” “Pickup Man” and “Bigger Than the Beatles.” 4 p.m.
Gord Bamford
This Canadian country singer is a bigger deal in Canada, where last year’s “Country Junkie” hit No. 11 and earned a Juno nomination for country album of the year. A review in Country Standard Time said, “There are plenty of funny songs and party songs, but Bamford excels when he uses his voice to channel emotion into love ballads.” 2:30 p.m.
