[August 12, 2011] Andy Grammer A Part Of Festival On The Border Tweet Aug 12, 2011 (Times Record - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Singer-songwriter Andy Grammer will play for Fort Smith fans for the first time next month. The voice behind the songs "Keep Your Head Up," "Lunatic," "Fine By Me," "Slow," "Biggest Man in Los Angeles" and "Miss Me," Grammer will play as part of the new Festival on the Border event at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith's Campus Green. "These days, I've been touring like crazy," said the 27-year-old Los Angeles resident during a recent telephone interview. "Touring is fun. You usually have 30 days to make your way all around the country, but the Fort Smith show will be part of a two-month tour, so that's exciting." Grammer, whose award-winning video for "Keep Your Head Up" features "The Office" star Rainn Wilson, was booked for the festival to attract all ages, said organizers for the event. Other festival performers include Travis Tritt at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 and Dierks Bentley & Randy Rogers Band at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 9, both at Harry E. Kelley Park, north of the Garrison Avenue bridge; Boom Kinetic, Girl Talk and The Fray beginning at 6 p.m. Sept. 10 at the UAFS Campus Green; Mark O'Connor and the Fort Smith Symphony at 8 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Arkansas Best Corporation Performing Arts Center, 55 S. Seventh St. "I know I've played somewhere in Arkansas before, but it wasn't Fort Smith, so we are excited to come and play there," Grammer said. "We'll have a great time." Grammer said he'll bring his experiences to local fans via his songs, which are based, he said, on real-life relationships and occurrences. He started his professional musical journey as a street performer in L.A., where he would sing and play his Guild guitar for each and every passerby. "It was a scary time, emotionally," Grammer said. "You, as an artist, put yourself out there and people who don't know you say, 'Yeah, you stink.'" Grammer then laughed. "It's a process where you build up your skin, but then, someday, people stop saying that you stink," he said. "I had to learn what to do to make them stop and look at me." Initially harmonizing with a friend on the streets, Grammer found himself alone, playing and singing for rent and supper money. He played his music and a revolving choice of covers for three years, usually from 8 a.m. to get "a good spot" to 10 p.m. "My manager, Ben Singer, heard me and then we started working together," Grammer said. "I found myself plucked from the streets, thankfully." Grammer then made his debut album, "Andy Grammer," whose lead-off track is "Keep Your Head Up," a Top 10 Billboard hit and a No. 2 video on VH1. "It's just a real privilege to play for so many people and to have that kind of help from radio," he said. "I'm so lucky, because I know that fortune like that doesn't happen to a lot of people. I'm very, very blessed." For information, visit www.andygrammer.com. AT A GLANCE Festival On The Border Sept. 8-11 Sept. 8 at Harry E. Kelley Park -- 7 p.m. -- "Cox Community Concert with Travis Tritt" Sept. 9 at Harry E. Kelley Park -- 7:30 p.m. -- Randy Rogers Band -- 9 p.m. -- Dierks Bentley Sept. 10 at the UAFS Campus Green -- 6 p.m. -- Boom Kinetic -- 7 p.m. -- Andy Grammer -- 8:30 p.m. -- Girl Talk -- 10 p.m. -- The Fray Sept. 10 at the Arkansas Best Corporation Performing Arts Center -- 8 p.m. -- Mark O'Connor and the Fort Smith Symphony Sept. 11 at the Arkansas Best Corporation Performing Arts Center -- 4 p.m. -- Young Actors Guild's "Hairspray" Tickets for the free Travis Tritt concert will be at area Cox Communications locations beginning Aug. 19. Tickets are $10 for the Bentley concert. Tickets for the UAFS Campus Green concert are free for UAFS students and $10 for the general public, and tickets for the Mark O'Connor concert are $25. Tickets can be purchased by calling 788-7300, at UAFS' box office and at www.festivalontheborder.com and www.uafortsmith.edu. To see more of the Times Record or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.swtimes.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Times Record, Fort Smith, Ark. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]