In 2012 the festival included major acts Rik Reese & Neon Highway, Dierks Bentley, Alabama, and Rascal Flatts.
The 2012 State Fair, the centennial of the event, was held from August 11-18th, with singer Dierks Bentley headlining the first ever sold-out concert at the fair in Douglas.
Bentley | Richard Bentley | Dierks Bentley | Fonzworth Bentley | Elizabeth Bentley | John Bentley | Eric Bentley | Wilson Bentley | John Bentley (rugby player) | Great Bentley | Bentley University | Bentley Mulsanne | Bentley Boys | Bentley Speed Six | Bentley's Miscellany | Bentley Continental GT | Arthur F. Bentley | Wes Bentley | Scott Bentley | Robert J. Bentley | Robert Bentley Todd | Peter J. Bentley | Nelson Bentley | Matt Bentley | Jon Bentley | John Francis Bentley | Great Bentley railway station | Dick Bentley | Bentley State Limousine | Bentley's Pub |
In 2003, just as his first single When You Come Around was released, he celebrated his first No. 1 as a songwriter when friend and collaborator Dierks Bentley took the Ruttan/Bentley/Brett Beavers co-write "What Was I Thinkin'" to the top of the charts in the US.
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Outside of writing for his own albums, Ruttan has co-written songs for many artist including; "What Was I Thinkin'" and "Lot of Leavin' Left to Do" by Dierks Bentley, "Hold My Beer" and "My Way" by Aaron Pritchett, "Guys Like Me" and "Hell on the Heart" by Eric Church, "Promise Broken" by Gary Allan, "Shotgun Girl" by The JaneDear Girls, and many more.
In his 200+ shows during 2012, he opened for the likes of Gary Allan, Brooks & Dunn, Rodney Atkins, Luke Bryan, and Dierks Bentley, among others.
Glasmire worked as a construction worker while trying to break into the country music scene, self-producing a number of CDs and EPs throughout the 1980s and '90s. In 2009 Glasmire released Life Goes On, a 12-song CD co-produced by John Albani, who had also worked with Steve Azar, Monty Holmes and Randy Boudreaux, which led to Glasmire sharing stages with other country music acts such as Dierks Bentley and Guy Clark.
On August 21, 2011 McKenna opened the Sonoma Country Music BBQ in Santa Rosa, California, playing with country music superstars Dierks Bentley, Thompson Square and Luke Bryan to a crowd of more than 7,500 people.