Banana Festival 2023 headliners announced

The 2023 Banana Festival Committee has confirmed this year’s headlining entertainment, scheduled for Fri., Sept. 15 and Sat., Sept. 16, with both free concerts sponsored by the Fulton Tourism Commission.

On Sept. 15 at 6 p.m., on South Fulton’s Unity Park stage, the 2022 Fulton’s Got Talent winner Madison Scott will open for Friday’s headliner, Parmalee, set to perform at 7:30 p.m.

ACM “New Vocal Duo/Group of the Year” nominee Parmalee, the Platinum-selling band of brothers is one of only four groups since 2001 to earn three consecutive Top 10 singles from a debut Country album. Since their debut at Country radio, Parmalee has earned over 1 billion on-demand streams.

Heralded as “Country Music’s Breakout Stars” by MSN Entertainment, Parmalee has supported Brad Paisley and Jake Owen on national tours while finding time to perform on NBC’s Today show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Late Late Show, FOX & Friends All American Summer Concert Series, MLB Central’s Studio 21, The Queen Latifah Show, and more.

Comprised of brothers Matt and Scott Thomas (lead vocals/guitar and drums, respectively), cousin Barry Knox (bass), and life-long friend Josh McSwain, the North Carolina natives had a legendary return to the top of the charts with their PLATINUM-certified No. 1 single with Blanco Brown, “Just the Way,” with their follow up single, “Take My Name” from their new album For You, then becoming a multi-week No. 1 hit at Country radio.

Their latest single “Girl In Mine” is available now. For more information, visit:  http://www.parmalee.com.

The band has made eight entries on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, with three number one singles on the latter: “Carolina” in 2013, “Just the Way”, a collaboration with Blanco Brown, in 2021, and “Take My Name” in 2022. Two more singles have reached the Top 10: “Close Your Eyes” (No. 4, 2014) and “Already Callin’ You Mine” (No. 10, 2015).

Parmalee also released a live acoustic album entitled Unplugged and a documentary-style DVD, Inside Live. In 2006, they went to Los Angeles to begin recording with producer Stevo Bruno. They split their time between touring the East Coast and recording in California. They recorded the majority of the tracks in Los Angeles (Nikki Sixx, bassist of Mötley Crüe, collaborated with Parmalee on several tracks, both writing and producing), then travelled to Nashville to write, produce, and mix the remainder of the record with producer Kevin Beamish. Parmalee released the EP Complicated in 2008.

On Sept. 16, the winner of the 2023 Fulton’s Got Talent competition will take the stage at 6 p.m., to perform as the opener for Saturday night headliner, RaeLynn, who will perform at 8:30 p.m.

An opening band for that night is still to be determined, set to perform at 7 p.m.

Two-time ACM “New Female Vocalist” nominee RaeLynn continues to carve her unique lane in country music with her gift for storytelling through songwriting, accented by a one- of-a-kind, electric personality.

Her most recent 2023 release “It’s Happening Right Here” is the human trafficking awareness featured title track from the Original Documentary by Operation Underground Railroad. She released multiple new songs in 2022 including “I Love My Hometown,” “If God Took Days Off,” and “Raisin’ Me A Country Girl,” amassing over one billion total career streams which includes “God Made Girls,” “Lonely Call,” and “Queens Don’t.”

Her upcoming release Broken One has been a fan favorite on TikTok garnering countless requests for the full track.

“The idea behind this song stemmed from thinking about life after being raised in a divorced home. What happens after the “LoveTriangle”? That’s Broken One-- finding a love that can break a cycle. I truly believe that God can fix, heal and restore. I have so many friends that grew up like me and found an everlasting love. I love the realness of this song. I teased it in December ‘22 and fans shared it over and over-- I knew we had something special,” RaeLynn has said.

Her 2021 independently-released full-length album Baytown has earned over 100 million global streams and is the full expansion of her 2020 EP of the same name, which scored high- profile features with People, American Songwriter, and Entertainment Tonight and was lauded as “a confident, joyous effort” (Billboard) that’s “equally tender-hearted and fiercely fun” (The Tennessean).

RaeLynn has both gold (“Love Triangle”) and platinum (“God Made Girls”) singles to her name and 2.5 million followers across her engaging online platforms.

Past touring includes Kane Brown’s Blessed & Free Tour and she has previously shared the stage with Garth Brooks, Keith Urban, Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, and Blake Shelton.

RaeLynn auditioned for the second season of The Voice after being encouraged by a contestant on Team Adam who wrote songs with her.

Her audition song was “Hell on Heels” by Pistol Annies, Miranda Lambert’s group. Both Adam Levine and Blake Shelton wanted her on their team, but she eventually chose Team Blake. She sang “Free Fallin’” against Adley Stump in the Battle Rounds and won.
She then went on to the live shows to perform “Wake Up Call” by Maroon 5 and “She’s Country” by Jason Aldean and the latter later became her best selling cover on the show.