More than Garth: Twin Cities a country-music mecca

Garth Brooks, with his record-setting 11 shows starting Thursday night at Target Center, is just the beginning.

Next year the Twin Cities will see an unprecedented four stadium concerts by country superstars — a sign of how much Minnesotans love that music and how much it loves us back.

"St. Paul/Minneapolis, I'd put it in the top five [places] in the world to play," says Brooks, who sold 200,000 tickets here.

While country's comeback king is prone to hyperbole, there's truth in his statement. The metro area ranks 16th nationally in population, but it's the No. 4 market for country ticket sales, according to a top Nashville booking agent.

The Twin Cities has become one of the nation's country capitals for a variety of reasons. People here are willing to listen to new music rather than oldies. They like going out. The economy is solid. Ticket prices are reasonable.

But most of all, the music hits home. "The Upper Midwest is a perfect storm for country music. This music generates from the middle of America," said IRS Records President John Grady, a longtime Nashville record executive who grew up in Nebraska and got his start in the Twin Cities.

Grady uses this market as a key indicator: "If I couldn't sell an act in Minneapolis/St. Paul, I couldn't sell them anywhere."

"They have a story in every song," said the preschool teacher, who screamed like a 'tween last week when Scotty McCreery and Brett Eldredge performed at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis. "It can be about girls, boys, relationships, trucks. And it's not dirty."

Country has gone mainstream in recent years, now ranking as the nation's most popular radio format. In the Twin Cities, country stations K102 and BUZN 102.9 account for 12 percent of all listeners.

"There's no one definition for country anymore," says Minnesota-bred promoter Gary Marx. "It's so broadened. It lends itself to a wide swath of the population."

Unlike pop, the music appeals to listeners both old and young.

"People in their 40s and 50s who used to listen to Cities 97 and KDWB when they were younger are now listening to country," said Minnesota State Fair deputy general manager Renee Alexander, who filled the fair's grandstand this summer with concerts by Toby Keith and Tim McGraw.

"I like anyone who can put on tight jeans and I can stare at," she said.

Chesney was the first country star to play a Twin Cities stadium when he inaugurated Target Field as a concert venue in 2012. He came back the following summer.

Now he's teaming up with Jason Aldean for two shows there in July (only one has been announced so far).

Also coming next summer: Fast-rising country heroes Bryan and Florida Georgia Line will share a June bill at TCF Bank Stadium and Zac Brown Band, country's biggest group, is expected to headline a local stadium in August.

"There's an insatiable appetite for country shows in this market," said CBS Radio market manager Mick Anselmo, who oversees BUZN.

"People in Minnesota, as a whole, are more active physically and willing to go out the door," said label exec Grady.

Rod Essig, booking agent for such Nashville superstars as McGraw, Brown and Carrie Underwood, credits the aggressiveness of the two country stations with developing newer acts — both with airplay and concerts in clubs such as BUZN's Mammojam last week featuring McCreery.

"Our market is more accepting of new music," said iHeart Media vice president of programming Gregg Swedberg, who oversees K102. "New country music always works here no matter what style — bro-country or Shania Twain bellybutton pop."

Ticket sales aren't the only measure of Minnesota's love for the music. The Twin Cities ranks No. 1 among the Top 20 markets in viewership of ABC's country soap opera "Nashville."

Concert promoter Marx thinks the bottom line is that "country is all about entertainment.

Twin Cities country fans clearly like a good time.

When Eric Church played Target Center in September, he chalked up the arena's second-highest-ever beverage sales per person — topped only by a mixed-martial-arts card starring Minnesota's own Brock Lesnar.