Feb. 9, 2024

SAC spring concert to feature Russell Dickerson April 19

Updated: March 27, 2024

The Student Activities Council (SAC) at Northwest Missouri State University has announced country artist Russell Dickerson as the headliner of its spring concert with opening acts Hannah Ellis and Shelby Darrall.  

The concert begins at 7 p.m. Friday, April 19, in the Carl and Cheryl Hughes Fieldhouse. Doors to the facility will open at 5:30 p.m.

Northwest student and employee tickets are $10 in advance or $15 on the day of the concert. Tickets for the public are $20 in advance or $25 on the day of the show. Tickets will be available for purchase online at lwvq.ngskmc-eis.net/getinvolved/sac/, beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14.

“We picked Russell Dickerson because he gives the country-pop vibe we were looking for,” Olivia Rubsam, a SAC concert director and graduate student from Urbandale, Iowa, said. “His stage presence is unmatched, and he’ll bring the liveliness we are looking for at the Hughes Fieldhouse.”

A Tennessee native from a musical family, Dickerson rose from a church choir to coffee-house gigs and eventually to Nashville’s Music Row, with three studio albums and three EPs to his name. His latest, a self-titled LP spurred by pandemic isolation and released in 2022, focuses on themes of love, family and friendship with the hit singles “She Likes It” and “God Gave Me a Girl.”

After learning piano at an early age, Dickerson took up drums in high school and formed his first band, trading athletic promise for the rush of the performance stage. A dynamic frontman who lifts crowds with his wild-eyed energy, Dickerson grew up in the shadow of Nashville as a student of ’90s and 2000s country giants.

He hit the road as a singer-songwriter after graduating from Belmont University and hit on a creative breakthrough with 2015’s “Yours.” The success of that single led to the release in 2017 of his debut album by the same title, which produced chart-toppers “Blue Tacoma” and “Every Little Thing.”

Dickerson’s second album, “Yours and Southern Symphony,” features the single “Love You Like I Used To.”

Country music singer-songwriters Hannah Ellis and Shelby Darrall will perform as the opening acts.  

"We picked Hannah Ellis and Shelby Darrall as concert openers because they’re up-and-coming artists and feel like they will bring good energy into Hughes,” Rubsam said. “Their stage presence combined with Russell's will create the concert atmosphere we have been looking for and will fill Hughes with a good time.”

Ellis’ journey has taken her from Campbellsville, Kentucky, to Nashville, where writing nights, meetings, making friends and trying to find her way placed her on Rolling Stone Country’s “Artist To Watch” list. She has written songs recorded by artists and featured as a vocalist with Russell Dickerson, Carly Pearce, King & Country, Emily Weisband, Cassadee Pope, Filmore, and Sidewalk Prophets. She has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry multiple times and has toured with Carly Pearce, Billy Currington, Gavin DeGraw, Dwight Yoakam and Devin Dawson, as well as CMT’s “Next Women of Country” Tour.

Darrall has crafted a career as a country storyteller, from performing in tasting rooms of wineries around Calistoga, California, to Nashville. Her charisma, powerful vocal ability and natural talent quickly gained respect on Music Row and access to writing rooms with some of the most esteemed songwriters in town. She has since shared the stage as an opening act for Sam Hunt, Little Big Town and Brett Eldredge, among others. Her tracks have appeared on Apple Music’s Today’s Country and Country Risers playlists and Spotify’s Fresh Country and Next From Nashville playlists.

Northwest’s Student Activities Council plans and administers activities for students to contribute to a more well-rounded social, recreational and cultural life on the Northwest campus and its community. For more information about SAC and its programming, visit lwvq.ngskmc-eis.net/getinvolved/sac/ or follow SAC on Twitter and Instagram at @NW_SAC or on Facebook at NorthwestSAC.