Country star entertains state fair crowd

Phil Vassar opened a spectacular concert Monday night at the Alaska State Fairgrounds with a dazzling performance of one of his well-known songs, Carlene.

He was full to the brim with energy, and that energy bounced through the crowd and was reverberated back at him with 10 times the magnitude.

Throughout the concert, people were constantly rushing up to the stage to see if he would sign anything from a miniature guitar to napkins, from cowboy hats to their plastic beer cups.

Vassar was happy to oblige and signed as many autographs as he was able.

Although Vassar is largely considered to be a country-western singer, he threw in a few surprise songs throughout the performance, mainly as he introduced his band members.

There was everything from AC/DC to Aerosmith.

As he introduced the members of the band, they came to the front of the stage and sang with him.

He and his guitarist sang the Jackson Browne song Stay, and his violin player sang Takin' Care of Business.

During the concert Vassar sang his rendition of the Billy Joel song Piano Man, which many have come to know as his unofficial theme song.

Vassar also sang some of his better-known songs such as American Child, the song that won him the Best New Male Vocalist award at the 2000 Academy of Country Music Awards, and That's When I Love You, and Just Another Day in Paradise.

Before he was a singer, Vassar was a songwriter, writing songs for people like Tim McGraw and Martina McBride.

One of McBride's better-known songs, Bye, Bye My Baby Bye Bye was written by Vassar, and he sang it Monday night, altering it slightly to fit.

The evening was rounded off with a rousing performance of Play That Funky Music.

In Vassar's own words, it was, "Just another day in paradise."