The Country on Campus tour featuring Thomas Mac, Lauren Weintraub and Sarah Allison Turner in a live acoustic performance is coming to Davis & Elkins College Saturday, Oct. 8 as part of the Mountain State Forest Festival. The free concert gets underway at 7 p.m. at the Citizens Bank of West Virginia Amphitheatre on the D&E campus.
Presented by Sponsored Tours, Country on Campus is taking the stage at colleges throughout North America this fall. The three-act show is sponsored by Roku, JLab, Clif Bar and locally by Citizens Bank of West Virginia. Tour sponsors will provide free giveaways while supplies last and Citizens Bank will be launching T-shirts into the audience prior to the show.
Thomas Mac
Mac has found a way to walk the line between modern and traditional country. The successful Nashville recording artist has more than 3 million followers on TikTok and millions more on other social media platforms.
His newest single, “More Like a Bar,” from the EP by the same name was recently released on digital platforms. Last year, Mac’s EP “One Week and a Beach” produced the title track single and a few others, “Real Good” and “It’s Cool.” Fans are still scrambling for some of his earlier work such as “I’ll Be Your Man” and “About Last Night.”
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Mac started giving live performances when he was 14 playing on the stage at a local Opry House in Lebanon, Ohio. After performing for the first time that night with a live band, he had one goal in mind – to work hard, perfect his craft and one day become a Nashville recording artist.
Learning on his own, Mac listened to great country performers he admired and respected in the industry, such as Johnny Cash, George Strait, Brad Paisley and Kenny Chesney.
After a song he wrote went viral on social media, he moved to Nashville and started catching the eye of people in the industry. He was offered his first record deal at the age of 20 and performed for the first time on The Grand Ole Opry stage that same year. In 2019, he played the Ohio Country Concert stage and has opened for big time country artists Tracy Lawrence, Lee Brice, Sawyer Brown and Clay Walker.
Lauren Weintraub
Weintraub has found success as a singer/songwriter after earning first place in The Recording Academy’s Grammy U songwriting contest and “Top Shelf” designation in NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series. Earlier this year, the Nashville and viral TikTok artist signed with Virgin Music Label and Artist Services.
Her new single, “Missing You,” is the first song from the new partnership. Her viral video of the track earned her a nomination for the 2022 iHeart Radio Music TikTok Songwriter of the Year Award.
The Boston native-turned-Nashville resident has cultivated a massively engaged fanbase with a cumulative social reach of nearly 750,000, earning 10-plus million likes and 450k-plus followers on TikTok alone. Her music has generated more than 20 million combined streams, including a staggering 11 million on her 2021 debut single “She’s Mine,” and 11-plus million streams combined on her three latest track releases. Weintraub has blown away audiences at CMA Fest and opened for acts including A Girl Named Tom, Chris Lane, Filmore and Bone Thugs n Harmony, while also being named a HITS Magazine “One to Watch” for 2022.
Sarah Allison Turner
In August, Turner signed an exclusive songwriting deal with Ebach Entertainment and Kobalt Music Nashville. As a performer, she recently released “John Denver,” “Bad For Me,” was co-written with Emily Falvey and Hayley McLean, “Intervention,” “The Idea of You” and “Never Gonna Break Up.”
The Bluefield, West Virginia, native began writing songs at 15 and interned for Seagayle Music Publishing during her time at Middle Tennessee State University. She signed her first publishing deal in 2015 with Horipro Music Publishing (now Mojo Music).
Since then, her songs have been recorded by Alan Jackson, “The Older I Get”; Randall King, “Dent In It”; Tyler Farr, “I Should Go To Church Sometime”; and Gretchen Wilson, “A Little Loretta.” Her song “Hope” was picked up for an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2020. Turner has shared the stage with artists such as Jackie Lee, Cody Johnson, Colt Ford, Corey Smith, Jake Owen and Erich Church, among others.
The Citizens Bank of West Virginia Amphitheatre at Davis & Elkins College will be the site of additional events throughout the week including the coronation of Maid Silvia LXXXIV at 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 and the Lumberjack Contest at 8 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 8. The Country on Campus Tour closes out entertainment for the 84th Mountain State Forest Festival.
Thomas Mac
Lauren Weintraub
Sarah Allison Turner
