Country Music

L eon Kagarise was such a hoarder that when a country music treasure trove turned up 10 years ago in his overstuffed Towson house, only one person at a time could squeeze in there with him to have a look and listen. The team from the Country Music Foundation, the group from the Library of Congress Folklife Center, the Today Show crew, one by one, all took their turns. Now the rest of the world gets a peek. Just-published Pure Country: The Leon Kagarise Archives presents 140 color pictures of the biggest country and bluegrass stars of the 1950s, '60s and '70s.

PASADENA, Calif. - John Rich, half of the country music sensation Big & Rich, achieved stardom the old-fashioned way: He earned it. The Texas native, with pal Kenny Alphin, spent years playing jam sessions at Nashville bars and at fairs across the country before they landed a record deal. He didn't have a show like NBC's Nashville Star to give his career an instant boost. In five previous seasons on the USA Network, the American Idol-style competition show for country singers has launched the careers of Buddy Jewel, Miranda Lambert and Chris Young.

For the tens of thousands of people who descended on M&T Bank Stadium for Kenny Chesney's Poets and Pirates Tour, the highlight of the full day came when Chesney emerged from beneath the stage about 9 p.m., unleashing an uninhibited roar of cheers. In a sleeveless Bruce Springsteen Live 1975-85 T-shirt, Chesney channeled the Boss' renowned high energy for a roughly 100-minute set that ran through all his major hits and wrapped up with "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." Slowing down only for the occasional ballad, Chesney held the crowd convincingly in his sway, some of whom had anticipated the moment for up to 12 hours.

Sarah Johns herself will tell you she's a "traditional kinda girl." For her debut CD, Big Love in a Small Town, the country-music newcomer didn't want too much pop polish applied to her sound. "Honey, I love Hank Williams, music like that - real country music," says the native Kentuckian. "If it was up to me, I would've put fiddles and steel all over [the album]. It would've been nothing but shuffles." In concert Sarah Johns and George Strait perform at 1st Mariner Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St., at 7:30 Friday night.

Jesse "Jim" Wilder, a retired barber who held Friday night country music jam sessions in his Sykesville shop, died of emphysema Feb. 17 at the Golden Living Center in Westminster. He was 69 and lived in Gaither in Carroll County. For several decades, Jim's Barbershop was a gathering place for men and boys who wanted an old-fashioned, non-unisex shop. For a time, there was plenty of county music, too. Mr. Wilder, a native of Rockville, drove an Army tank while in military service in Germany in the late 1950s.

;(lines=ql);(dclead=((bodlead)*(clines)) +(2*(bodlead)));(adjcl=dclead);(clines=( A-1));(bodadj=(bodpt)*25);(bodadj=bodadj /32);(psize=((bodlead)*(clines))+(bodadj ));(psize=psize*32);(dcptsize=psize/22); (adj=dcptsize/33);cf21,(dcptsize),(dclead);ec8,Q,capQ;ec7,1,cap2Leon R. Kagarise, a retired audio technician whose collection of photos and tapes of country and bluegrass musicians he began recording in the late 1950s caught the attention of the Library of Congress Folklife Center and the Country Music Foundation, died of congestive heart failure Saturday at his daughter's Perry Hall home.

George Strait's successful country music career has spanned more than three decades. The native Texan, who in 2006 was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, has more than 50 No. 1 hit singles and has won dozens of awards, including honors from the Country Music Association and the American Music Awards. Strait, a current Grammy nominee, performs Saturday at 1st Mariner Arena. Country music group Little Big Town will also perform. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $54.50-$64.

Stella C. Gersuk, a retired Northern High School English teacher who was also a well-known Baltimore square dance instructor, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Saturday at Milford Manor Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in Pikesville. She was 90. The former Stella Cohen was born and raised in Baltimore. She graduated in 1932 from Western High School. After earning a teaching certificate from what is now Towson University in 1934, she began teaching in Baltimore elementary schools.

PORTER WAGONER, 80 Country music star Porter Wagoner, a country singer who mixed rhinestone suits, a towering cotton-candy pompadour and cornball jokes with direct, simple songs over a career best known for his partnership with Dolly Parton, died Sunday in Nashville, Tenn. He was 80 and lived in Nashville. He had been hospitalized with lung cancer, the Grand Ole Opry said in announcing his death. Mr. Wagoner had 81 singles on the country charts, including 29 Top 10 records. His hits included "Green, Green Grass of Home," "Skid Row Joe" and "The Cold Hard Facts of Life."

Gretchen Wilson? Lonestar? Sounds like the lineup of the Country Music Association awards or a big festival in Nashville, Tenn. But these two acts are headlining the Great Frederick Fair. Kicking off this weekend, the 145th annual fair will offer nine nights of carnival rides and games, food, agricultural education and, of course, live entertainment. In past years, the fair has attracted such popular acts as George Jones, Boxcar Willie, LeAnn Rimes and the Charlie Daniels Band. According to Jim Grimes, chairman of the fair's entertainment committee, the caliber of artists at the fair is a big draw for people from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.