Dustin Lynch brings 'Cowboys and Angels' to 2013 Festival of the Bells

Year after year, the Festival of the Bells attracts some of country music's most promising rising stars. So much so, in fact, that the annual Fourth of July weekend celebration in historic uptown Hillsboro might be considered the launching pad for up-and-coming musicians.

Many of today's country music greats have performed on the Festival of the Bells stage before they became household names.

Maybe you've heard of Brad Paisley? He played the Festival of the Bells. Dierks Bentley? Ditto. Taylor Swift? She had one of the biggest crowds in festival history. The Band Perry? Yes, they were in Hillsboro. Rascal Flatts? Of course. Neal McCoy? Always a fan favorite.

For 2013, Festival of the Bells committee member and entertainment chairman Rick Williams says another rising star will take center stage at 9 p.m. Saturday, July 6.

Dustin Lynch will bring his hits "Cowboys and Angels" and "She Cranks My Tractor" – which he co-wrote with Brett Beavers and Tim Nichols – to Hillsboro as one of the entertainment headliners of the summer 2013 Festival of the Bells.

"We're very pleased to welcome Dustin Lynch to the festival," Williams told The Highland County Press this week. "We think the community will really enjoy his music."

Lynch, 27, wrote his first song, "Solitude," at age 15. His debut single "Cowboys and Angels" has been a C&W chart-topper this summer.

Visitors to Lynch's website – dustinlynchmusic.com – can read about the young star's emphasis on writing his own music.

"Bluebird Café’s Facebook page says it all: Customers who visit the Nashville songwriters club – instrumental in the development of Garth Brooks, Faith Hill and Kathy Mattea – are expected to keep quiet and listen to the words from some of Music City’s most influential composers. Listening has an added benefit – it gives the listener a chance to learn, Lynch says.

That’s how Lynch used the Bluebird. He rented an apartment behind its parking lot and literally "walked to the Bluebird several times a week to listen and learn about the mysterious art of creating songs from some of Nashville’s most important writers."

“I was soaking it in, trying to be a sponge,” Lynch says. “I was mainly trying to hear the story behind the song, how it came about, what it’s really about. There’s something about understanding the songwriter’s realm. You get a little more grip on the way it was written and why it was written and how they got to the finished product.”

That education has paid off. Lynch has signed with Broken Bow Records – the home of Jason Aldean.

In keeping with the Festival of the Bells' tradition of attracting country music's rising stars, Lynch is among those considered for the Horizon Award, according to Williams.

"We won't know that until next October, but Dustin will be in the running."

(By the way, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Dierks Bentley, Taylor Swift and Hunter Hayes are some of the Horizon Award – or New Artist – winners to have performed at the Festival of the Bells.)

According to Lynch's website, he says, "If I could shop at just one store it would be Bass Pro Shops."

There's nothing wrong with Bass Pro Shops, of course. But maybe Rick Williams can arrange for Dustin to visit Town and Country Department Store while he's in Hillsboro…

The 2013 Festival of the Bells will be July 4-6 in uptown Hillsboro.