Performers announced for upcoming ALWS concert in August

Country artists Craig Morgan and Cooper Alan will be closing out the evening of The American Legion World Series Festival Saturday, Aug. 10, with free concerts in Uptown Shelby. Morgan previously performed for the ALWS for a limited audience event in 2022.

“When Craig performed here for us in 2022, our audience responded wholeheartedly to the music and the man,” Chairman of the local ALWS committee Eddie Holbrook said in a press release. “We are excited for his performance on a larger stage with a much larger audience.

To lead off the evening performances, The Vinyl Junkies Band, a 10-member group based in Greenville, South Carolina, will take the stage before the co-headliners perform. They have performed or recorded with artists such as Lady A, Darius Rucker and Mother’s Finest. They perform music from a cross-section of genres.

A native and current resident of Tennessee, singer-songwriter Morgan served 17 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve; in August 2023 on the stage of the Grand Ole Apry, he surprised the sold-out audience by reenlisting in the Reserve.

Respected for both his distinctive voice and his range of talent, Morgan is known for his “God, Family, Country” priorities and began his “God, Family, Country Tour 2023” last fall. The tour is in partnership with Operation Finally Home, which provides or improves homes for veterans, first responders, and their families.

In 2022 co-headliner Cooper Alan sold over 40,000 tickets during his Cooped Up Tour and had 38 sold-out shows. His 2023 spring tour consisted of 21 dates across the United States and Canada.

Morgan’s songs have charted 17 times on the Billboard country charts. “That’s What I Love About Sunday” spent four weeks at the top of the country charts in 2004-2005. His other Top 10 singles are “Almost Home,” “Redneck Yacht Club,” “Little Bit of Life,” “International Harvester,” “Love Remembers,” and “Bonfire.”

Morgan has made more than 16 overseas trips to perform for America’s troops. In December 2022, he performed three concerts for troops and their families stationed at USAG Bavaria in Germany. He received the USO Merit Award in 2006.