Las Vegas Weekly

December 5, 2008 · 12:12 PM

Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire and Jake Owen are NFR’s star titan trio this weekend

By Robin Leach

Brooks & Dunn.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Oklahoma had hosted the National Finals Rodeo for 20 years until 1984. Then in a tiebreaker vote decided by Pro Rodeo Hall of Famer Shawn Davis, NFR was moved to Las Vegas.

Back then our town and valley had a population of 590,000 with14.2 million visitors a year. Hotel rooms totaled 53,000 -- and we now have 135,000! As the residents grew to 1.7 million and the visitor count increased to 37 million, so did the rodeo grow. At the first-ever rodeo, there were 47,027 attendees -- and now the record stands at 176,625 on the 50th anniversary!

Prize money grew from a measly $50,000 way back then, and next weekend here the prize purse is more than $5.5 million!

The good news to celebrate is that with participation from Wrangler, the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association has signed an agreement to keep the NFR right here in Vegas through 2014. Last year, Trevor Brazile became its first triple-crown winner since 1983 and broke the single-season record with $425,115 in earnings.

Tonight’s second NFR performance begins at 6:45 and moves an hour earlier to 5:45 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday. A highlight of the weekend will be this afternoon’s introductions of the 26 contestants competing in the Miss Rodeo America Pageant at our Convention Center, and tomorrow morning are the final performances and coronation over at the Orleans showroom.

Here’s our rundown of the stars on stage to open the Thomas & Mack challenges each night: Jake Owen tonight, Reba McEntire tomorrow and Brooks & Dunn on Sunday.

And here’s our NFR country roundup of weekend shows:

*I can’t begin to count the number of awards country superstar duo Brooks & Dunn have won, and they are still touring strong on the heels of their big 2007 hit album and title track Cowboy Town, which is now the official song of the NFR. “Slim & Howdy,” as they’ve nicknamed themselves, start a three-night run this evening at the Las Vegas Hilton as part of the NFR happenings. You can bet the last dollar in the barrel that they will perform “Only in America,” which ironically both George Bush and Barack Obama selected as a presidential victory rally song!

*My personal Stetson salute, though, goes to feisty beauty and two-time Grammy Award nominee Miranda Lambert, who shot to stardom on the competition Nashville Star. Even country star Blake Shelton, who appears here next weekend, fell in love with her -- as did most of America! Miranda, 25, stars at the Golden Nugget tonight and tomorrow, and it’s a definite she’ll perform hits from her most recent album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I hope Blake and she keep their romance on track because, if they break up, I wouldn’t want her to come after him with the bow and arrow he bought her for hunting -- only joking!

*Veteran country king Merle Haggard, who helped create the Bakersfield Sound with Buck Owens with that unique twang and rough-edged music, plays the newly opened Aliante Station in North Las Vegas for one show only tonight.

*Patriotic Lee Greenwood, who is proud to be an American, presents his Tennessee Christmas show at The Orleans on Sunday night.

*Country star Travis Tritt is in town for the NFR, and he’s got two nights of concerts at the Tropicana -- that’s a triple TNT explosion!

*Sawyer Brown, who were the first-ever winners on Ed McMahon’s Star Search (our sister Lifestyles show), have performed more than 3,500 shows in the 23 years since their victory. They have been named Vocal Group of the Year and add to the kick of country out at the Boulder Station this weekend.

*Clay Walker has two nights at the Silverton Casino Lodge before Flynnville Train starts a five-night run Sunday.

*Redneck funnyman Ron White has them laughing in the aisles at The Mirage for two shows tonight and tomorrow.

*At the “Country Future Stars” concert series in the downtown Four Queens, energetic vocal trio Due West plus Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real perform tonight with Nashville’s favorite four talented musicians who make up Gloriana tomorrow night.

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue will be filing his fabulous photos from the NFR events, and we’ll post them promptly upon receipt -- so check back here often as we update all the Cowboy Town charms.

Commenting about these first photos from overnight, he told me: “In all my years of photography and photojournalism, this was and is the first time I have ever shot a rodeo. It was super. I am hooked, and you could feel the passion, the love and the pain through my camera.”

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